FAQ - Syncing, logging food & exercise, calorie adjustments, activity levels, accuracy
Replies
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I have a Fitbit Flex and I love it. I golfed Saturday and walked 11 miles while pulling my clubs. I was given a calorie burn of 814 calories. I am assuming that the calculation is for the steps but not for the actually golfing itself.....correct? I am on maintenance and not looking to lose weight. I do not eat back my exercise calories and I think I may have to start if I am golfing 2 times a week or more. I just do not want to be fooled and gain weight by eating these calories. Would you advice I eat back half or all the allotted calories?0
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I have a Fitbit Flex and I love it. I golfed Saturday and walked 11 miles while pulling my clubs. I was given a calorie burn of 814 calories. I am assuming that the calculation is for the steps but not for the actually golfing itself.....correct? I am on maintenance and not looking to lose weight. I do not eat back my exercise calories and I think I may have to start if I am golfing 2 times a week or more. I just do not want to be fooled and gain weight by eating these calories. Would you advice I eat back half or all the allotted calories?
The calories are for detected activity - mainly steps. Did you pull the clubs using the arm where you wear your Flex? That could affect the number and intensity of steps detected and, as a result, throw off the distance your Flex thinks you walked and your calorie count. It would be better to pull the clubs with your other arm or put your Flex in your pocket while golfing.
If you still don't understand about eating the calories you get from your Fitbit, read the FAQ again. You've trusted MFP's rough estimate of calories based solely on your stats, why not trust the better estimate of your Fitbit based on the activity it detects? Trust it, but test it. Eat back the calories it gives you, within reason, while keeping an eye on your weight over the long term (that is, don't fret over minor fluctuations, but adjust if you see a significant, sustained change). After a month, use the numbers available on your Fitbit profile page to see if it was accurate.0 -
I have a Fitbit Flex and I love it. I golfed Saturday and walked 11 miles while pulling my clubs. I was given a calorie burn of 814 calories. I am assuming that the calculation is for the steps but not for the actually golfing itself.....correct? I am on maintenance and not looking to lose weight. I do not eat back my exercise calories and I think I may have to start if I am golfing 2 times a week or more. I just do not want to be fooled and gain weight by eating these calories. Would you advice I eat back half or all the allotted calories?
The calories are for detected activity - mainly steps. Did you pull the clubs using the arm where you wear your Flex? That could affect the number and intensity of steps detected and, as a result, throw off the distance your Flex thinks you walked and your calorie count. It would be better to pull the clubs with your other arm or put your Flex in your pocket while golfing.
If you still don't understand about eating the calories you get from your Fitbit, read the FAQ again. You've trusted MFP's rough estimate of calories based solely on your stats, why not trust the better estimate of your Fitbit based on the activity it detects? Trust it, but test it. Eat back the calories it gives you, within reason, while keeping an eye on your weight over the long term (that is, don't fret over minor fluctuations, but adjust if you see a significant, sustained change). After a month, use the numbers available on your Fitbit profile page to see if it was accurate.
Thank you replying...
I golfed twice this weekend and at the same golf course. I wore the Fitbit on both wrists to see if there was a difference from one day to the other. The first day on my right wrist ( I am right handed) it logged me at exactly 11 miles. On the left wrist (pulling a 15 lb golf bag and cart) it logged me at 10.31 miles. I also have a tracker on my phone that agrees with the number of steps and miles walked. Are you concerned that I am not walking the distance I claim? I average 130 miles a month walking. I guess next week I could put the tracker in a pocket and see what that tracks. Hmmm.
I have never trusted MFP estimate of calories burned to reach my goals or maintain my weight. I have never eaten back my exercise calories. I figure I was better safe than sorry by not over estimating calorie burns. Not eating back those calories also allows me to enjoy birthdays and holidays with no weight gain.
I guess I will wing it from here.
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I have a Fitbit Flex and I love it. I golfed Saturday and walked 11 miles while pulling my clubs. I was given a calorie burn of 814 calories. I am assuming that the calculation is for the steps but not for the actually golfing itself.....correct? I am on maintenance and not looking to lose weight. I do not eat back my exercise calories and I think I may have to start if I am golfing 2 times a week or more. I just do not want to be fooled and gain weight by eating these calories. Would you advice I eat back half or all the allotted calories?
The calories are for detected activity - mainly steps. Did you pull the clubs using the arm where you wear your Flex? That could affect the number and intensity of steps detected and, as a result, throw off the distance your Flex thinks you walked and your calorie count. It would be better to pull the clubs with your other arm or put your Flex in your pocket while golfing.
If you still don't understand about eating the calories you get from your Fitbit, read the FAQ again. You've trusted MFP's rough estimate of calories based solely on your stats, why not trust the better estimate of your Fitbit based on the activity it detects? Trust it, but test it. Eat back the calories it gives you, within reason, while keeping an eye on your weight over the long term (that is, don't fret over minor fluctuations, but adjust if you see a significant, sustained change). After a month, use the numbers available on your Fitbit profile page to see if it was accurate.
Thank you replying...
I golfed twice this weekend and at the same golf course. I wore the Fitbit on both wrists to see if there was a difference from one day to the other. The first day on my right wrist ( I am right handed) it logged me at exactly 11 miles. On the left wrist (pulling a 15 lb golf bag and cart) it logged me at 10.31 miles. I also have a tracker on my phone that agrees with the number of steps and miles walked. Are you concerned that I am not walking the distance I claim? I average 130 miles a month walking. I guess next week I could put the tracker in a pocket and see what that tracks. Hmmm.
I have never trusted MFP estimate of calories burned to reach my goals or maintain my weight. I have never eaten back my exercise calories. I figure I was better safe than sorry by not over estimating calorie burns. Not eating back those calories also allows me to enjoy birthdays and holidays with no weight gain.
I guess I will wing it from here.
No, I'm not doubting the distance you claim, just noting that your Fitbit is sensitive to the intensity of your steps as well as the number, and pulling something like a golf bag might throw it off. But, I don't know because I've never pulled a golf bag around a golf course and it sounds like you do a lot of it, so inaccuracies could be significant. So, testing it and/or comparing to other things is warranted. But, it seems like you've done that (with your phone and by wearing on the opposite wrist).
As far as eating back your exercise calories - you do what works for you. If I limited myself to the calories allotted to me by MFP based solely on my non-exercise activity level, I'd have quit years ago, because I can't function when I'm that hungry. By exercising, and eating the calories that earns me, I have lost slowly, but steadily, for 3 years now.0 -
I have used MFP on and off for a couple of years with varying degrees of commitment. I have been very happy with the program taking into account my accuracy of input. It is FREE too.
I was given a Fitbit Charge HR early in January and have been using it since, synced to MFP. I am very pleased with the Fitbit, although I have to take into account that my exercise sessions are mainly rowing machine and exercise bike due to joint problems. I therefore do not rely too heavily on step measurements. The sleep log is an "interesting" feature. Floors can be a bit erratic too. Calories in v calories out is my main interest.
I input all food via MFP and rely on Fitbit to track exercise with my input too.
However due to "bugs" in syncing, I now find that the calorie reports in MFP are inaccurate and therefore not very useful. I rely on Fitbit for graphs and trends etc.
I find it very frustrating that the MFP reports are skewed and have wasted enough time trying to adjust and correct the differences.
At the end of the day, between the two programs, I have lost half a stone in the last month. So I am highly motivated to keep logging and losing.
Just my observations, for what they are worth!
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my UA calories burned in MFP is completely off from what my fitbit app shows. Yesterday for example it says my estimated brun from UA was like 3200 but in fitbit my end of day was 2500. I had about 250 cals of nonstep activity logged in mfp, but even that wouldn't make up for the difference. It's been like that at least the last few days too. By the time I sync the morning after shouldn't those #s match?0
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Since this FAQ in the stickies isn't viewed by all - I'd suggest finding or starting a topic in the main group topics that most will see and could comment on.
You might include the actual terms used so anyone is on the same page.
Because MFP saying your estimated burn from UA is one thing, and your Fitbit burn is something else - doesn't sound wrong.
UA isn't Fitbit, right, so unless Fitbit is syncing with UA, why would they match?
So when you start that topic - confirm if you sync Fitbit to UA or MFP, or both for some reason, and then UA to MFP also, which indeed should get confusing.0 -
ok thanks. I will do that.0
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I've been using Fitbit for several years but this is my first time syncing it with MFP. So of course 4 hours in I'm already confused... So i took a strength training class and yoga class and burned 600 calories per my HRM. I manually put that into MFP. Now, ive also walked about 7,000 steps as of mid-day, and yet MFP has taken away many of my earlier workout calories and has me at a negative for steps? I'm assuming that's because my earlier activities although big calorie torchers did not take up many steps. Those 7,000 steps were in addition to my workout in which i did not step much at all. So, basically i've worked out AND walked about 3 miles and it has me as burning about 530 cals total in exercise. Anyone else have this problem?0
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@bicbic86: Your Fitbit adjustment is not the same as the calories you have burned exercising.
However, it seems likely that you've been caught up in a recent MFP bug. You need to check to make sure MFP is using your Fitbit as its step source. You can do it under Steps in the phone app or on the website, go to Apps->Steps and make sure it is set to "Fitbit Tracker" as the source. If it isn't, then MFP will mess up how many calories it expects you to burn when it does the calculation for your Fitbit Adjustment, which ends up giving you a smaller adjustment than you've earned. (MFP should have automatically set your step source to "Fitbit Tracker" when you linked your accounts, but it is spontaneously changing this setting on people who have had it correct for ages, so I wouldn't trust it to do it right. Check it.)
Second - make sure you read the FAQ that is at the top of this thread. In it, you'll see the recommendation to log exercise in Fitbit's site or app, not MFP. It won't make too much of a difference when you use an HRM to determine your calorie burn, but for exercise where you're asking Fitbit or MFP to estimate your calories, Fitbit is thought to have the superior method of doing that.0 -
I have spent the last hour and a half reading through this entire FAQ - and rereading the actual FAQ several times. I have a page and a half of notes of things I am still a bit uncertain on. I apologize if this is frustrating but I thank you SO much for taking the time to help us all by supplying this great information.
I just finished treatment for breast cancer and am now working on getting my weight/stamina back on track. I received a Fitbit One for Christmas. Just this past week I started using MFP as well.
I fully understand to have exercise info in Fitbit and food info in MFP. Works great for me! (And I will take your suggestion to remove those tiles from my web dashboard for Fitbit too.)- My One has a button but it is for logging sleep. I keep reading about "pressing the button" to make an activity record. Another person asked about this fairly recently and was directed to the manual for her device. I have read the manual. Am I misunderstanding? Can I also use the button to log an Activity Record?
- My workouts (at this point in time) consist of walking - either treadmill or in my neighborhood. Pace is steady and no incline. I currently do 45 minutes at 3.1mph.
- A. I believe you said that since it is a step-based activity there isn't really a need to even add a workout record as the Fitbit already is logging the active minutes and steps.
- B. For non-GPS activity, like the treadmill, it doesn't show the exercise on the Exercise line in the App though. It counts the steps and active minutes, yes, but am I missing out on anything other than the "workout 5x/week" goal I can see in the App (I can't see this in the web interface - I don't think.)
- Perhaps a large portion of my confusion is the difference between an Activity Record vs. an Exercise Record. Again - I apologize as I know you have explained this several times - but I don't honestly know if I even have Activity Records. I have the manual logs of my workouts (enter date, time, duration, and calories if overwriting). I have the Exercise Record when I use the GPS walk via the App. But what is an Activity Record? Where do I see it? (I feel like this is a critical piece to me understanding everything and I am likely WAY overthinking but I'm so frustrated at not "getting it.")
- Lastly, and I again apologize as I know you have gone through this several times, when I do my treadmill walk, I enter my weight into the treadmill and it has a heartrate monitor. The calories burned are much higher from the treadmill vs what Fitbit suggests. For example, my 45 minutes last night at 3.1mph with no incline, Fitbit said 173 and treadmill said 265. It's rather disheartening to think all that sweating and huffing and puffing is only worth 173 calories but if you confirm for me that Fitbit's estimate is more accurate, I will use that. I keep confusing myself from reading all of the different posts within this sticky.
I originally came here looking to see how to fix an incorrect step log - which came about when I had initially logged the exercise in MFP per their instructions but then logged it in Fitbit and erased it from MFP per reading the FAQ. I'm still working to fix that issue (I'm assuming I have time entered somewhere incorrectly) but your assistance with these last few confusing areas is greatly appreciated!0 -
I can't answer all your questions thoroughly, but I'll tackle some of them:
- The button is for logging sleep and for logging exercise.
- You don't have to add a workout record (by pressing the button), but you can and if you do, that will get you the workout 5x/week credit.
- To be honest, I get confused by those terms, too. I just have my routine and don't worry about what is what.
- I'm not certain that the treadmill calorie measurement would be more accurate, but if you want to use them, just log the walk in Fitbit manually.
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1 - Yes - that button push starts what is called an Activity Record.
Think of it as a snapshot of the Fitbit stats for that block of time it covers.
You could manually create a Workout Record (which is always manually created, or by synced in from another account, like MFP or Stravia, or MapMyWalk, or even the Fitbit app using GPS) and overwrite the miles and calories and steps - and the snapshot remains of what it used to be. It is no longer included in daily stats since overwritten, but still for comparison.
Notice my Activity Record and Workout Record for same exercise. Now in my case, no button, so I manually created the Activity Record first to see the Fitbit Stats, then overwrote those by manually creating a Workout Record. My Garmin HRM told me the time and duration of the workout. If not viewing this link on Sun, you'll need to go back a day to see it. And I did manual entry because biking and Fitbit Zip has no accuracy - as you can tell from the stats.
https://www.fitbit.com/user/2FBZWW/activities
2 - If you want to see stats on review - you'll want to create an Activity Record - otherwise the stats are just buried in the daily totals.
So if interested if you are going faster, burning more or less, more or less steps with less weight, ect, there must be a record to review a month down the road.
I think I've found that per minute stats are lost down the road at some point, merely daily totals are maintained. So if you attempted to created Activity Record later - nothing to create with.
2B - which app are you referring to?
3 - Activity Record you can edit - so trash can and pen are available icons. Workout Record you can only delete, no edit.
4 - Did Fitbit say you had gone the same distance?
Activity Record will let you know, and since calories is based on weight and distance - they'll probably match if distance does.
Also - the HRM on the machine is merely for viewing and doing certain programs - not used in calculating calories, because you can remove your hands and it would have nothing. Besides, formula based for walking and jogging is more accurate than HRM.
Oh - to fix your issues - delete the workouts in MFP first.
Now check Fitbit - should be gone too.
If you know the start time and duration - you can create a workout record and overwrite the Fitbit stats which is sounds like showed up in an activity record.
Also - if using HR-based device - kind of sounds like it - it'll get more accurate after couple weeks of knowing your stats of resting HR and workout amount. Right now treadmill more accurate.0 -
I am very confused. My Exercise Journal in MFP always claims I have burned zero calories, but I burn around 3,100 calories daily according to Fitbit. I am an avid exerciser, I sync constantly... is something wrong, or do I not understand the algorithm? My goal is to eat 1750 calories daily and that never changes. I am every confused, should I be logging my cardio workouts still!? What needs to happen so I can see how many calories I should be consuming? Thanks.0
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@jacobchapman518 : It sounds as if your accounts aren't syncing. Are you sure they're connected? Do you get meal summaries from MFP in your Fitbit Food Log? Do you show a line on your MFP Exercise Page for "Fitbit Calorie Adjustment"? If you don't show both of those, your accounts aren't syncing. If they are syncing, then on the MFP web site or app go to Steps (on the website, go to Apps, then select Steps at the top of the page; on the App, go to Steps) and make sure that "Fitbit Tracker" is selected as your step source. Also, make sure that MFP is set to allow negative adjustments (although it doesn't sound like that is your problem since you should be getting positive adjustments).0
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jacobchapman518 wrote: »I am very confused. My Exercise Journal in MFP always claims I have burned zero calories, but I burn around 3,100 calories daily according to Fitbit. I am an avid exerciser, I sync constantly... is something wrong, or do I not understand the algorithm? My goal is to eat 1750 calories daily and that never changes. I am every confused, should I be logging my cardio workouts still!? What needs to happen so I can see how many calories I should be consuming? Thanks.
Mine is the same. MFP not pulling any burn in from Fitbit. the app is showing in MFP as my fitness tracker. Clearly MFP has no freaking clue whatsoever how to integrate from Fitbit. Since i've begun this process in Dec there has been more issues than you can imagine.
It is truly frustrating.
Fitbit has no issue getting info synced from MFP however. all the calories eaten are reliably pulled over day after day, meal after meal.0 -
Tomk652015 wrote: »jacobchapman518 wrote: »I am very confused. My Exercise Journal in MFP always claims I have burned zero calories, but I burn around 3,100 calories daily according to Fitbit. I am an avid exerciser, I sync constantly... is something wrong, or do I not understand the algorithm? My goal is to eat 1750 calories daily and that never changes. I am every confused, should I be logging my cardio workouts still!? What needs to happen so I can see how many calories I should be consuming? Thanks.
Mine is the same. MFP not pulling any burn in from Fitbit. the app is showing in MFP as my fitness tracker. Clearly MFP has no freaking clue whatsoever how to integrate from Fitbit. Since i've begun this process in Dec there has been more issues than you can imagine.
It is truly frustrating.
Fitbit has no issue getting info synced from MFP however. all the calories eaten are reliably pulled over day after day, meal after meal.
Actually - you have it pictured backwards.
Each account pushes - the other doesn't pull.
So Fitbit pushes at pre-determined times (used to be when calories went up 100 since last sync), MFP then has to recognize the account the sync goes to and use the figures. There have been some hiccups with accurate data lately - but in general no actual syncing issues - you need to call in or follow the steps in first part of FAQ.
Same as after meal or meal edit - MFP pushes the sum data to Fitbit, which then must do something about it.
And it's been known to duplicate meals sometimes.0 -
what i see regardless of how it gets there is that in the Fitbit app my meal data consistently and reliably show up and agrees to MFP. In the MFP app, i see flaky data on calorie burn that leaves me continuing to wonder whats going on. I shouldn't have to be a "techy" type person and work to troubleshoot. I've paid for premium subscription and this frustrates me. Suddenly today with nothing done on my end i'm seeing exercise calories showing up again. its really ridiculous.0
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Tomk652015 wrote: »what i see regardless of how it gets there is that in the Fitbit app my meal data consistently and reliably show up and agrees to MFP. In the MFP app, i see flaky data on calorie burn that leaves me continuing to wonder whats going on. I shouldn't have to be a "techy" type person and work to troubleshoot. I've paid for premium subscription and this frustrates me. Suddenly today with nothing done on my end i'm seeing exercise calories showing up again. its really ridiculous.
Sadly the premium gives more options - nothing to do with syncing.
did you ever run the fix setting that many of the topics in main forum have been talking about?
Nancy mentioned it above too, but that's not the issue if no figures were being shown from Fitbit at all.
So glad that's working again.0 -
Tomk652015 wrote: »what i see regardless of how it gets there is that in the Fitbit app my meal data consistently and reliably show up and agrees to MFP. In the MFP app, i see flaky data on calorie burn that leaves me continuing to wonder whats going on. I shouldn't have to be a "techy" type person and work to troubleshoot. I've paid for premium subscription and this frustrates me. Suddenly today with nothing done on my end i'm seeing exercise calories showing up again. its really ridiculous.
Sadly the premium gives more options - nothing to do with syncing.
did you ever run the fix setting that many of the topics in main forum have been talking about?
Nancy mentioned it above too, but that's not the issue if no figures were being shown from Fitbit at all.
So glad that's working again.
I didn't run any fixes however i did verify my settings...but they have been set correctly since the beginning in December. my exercise was just 0 for a couple days...and i've experienced the eratic postings others have talked about in other threads. its just flat out unreliable. but i'll not continue to harp on it.0 -
There is a difference between.
1. Pressing the button.
2. Pressing and holding the button till the (Charge HR) vibrates.
Pressing and holding is required to start logging an exercise session.0 -
Hey, I'm still really confused by the calorie adjustment! I'm not sure if something is going wrong.
It's nearly midnight here and myfitnesspal with my fitbit adjustment says that I have 195 calories left to eat, however when I go to the fitbit app it says that I have eaten 100 calories over my allowance. Which one should I be listening to? Why is it so different, I thought at the end of the day that they should be showing the same thing!0 -
@Jaygee13: They should be close at the end of the day. If you've lost a fair amount of weight since you updated your diet/fitness profile in MFP, that can cause a discrepancy. If that isn't the problem, then you might want to check and/or reenter all your settings in both programs, including weight and time zone. (It's probably time for me to update that diet/fitness profile. At the end of the last few days, Fitbit and MFP have differed by about 55 calories.)0
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Fitbit was syncing fine up until today, NOW WHAT? A new bug, an on going bug!? Argh!0
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Not just mine then0
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Mine is doing the same - my OCD self is not happy hahaha.0
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Me too
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Typical I've walked loads today and could do with it syncing!0
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so lame!!!!0
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Ah ok thank you. They stayed quite different and now they aren't syncing at all but it appears thats happening with a lot of people!0
