FAQ - Syncing, logging food & exercise, calorie adjustments, activity levels, accuracy
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Since the API is free from Fitbit's side, it's usually a matter of a 3rd party wanting to spend the money on making it work on their side.
If they stop it's usually because they are either going to handle the functions themselves in their own app and don't want your eyeballs for ad revenue going elsewhere, or they are changing the direction in a new version of their app for the same reason.
So it could be like MFP - they will only receive calories and steps from Fitbit now, and just not send food back to Fitbit.
Hoping a new app version will keep you on their ads.
Sure doesn't sound like they are stopping in general though.
https://www.weightwatchers.com/us/free-fitbitflex2
Or perhaps you are talking about where they make reference to actually sending Fitpoints to the device, like as some value for you to see?
If that's the case, that is much harder to do with all the different models available - is it really useful to have the Fitpoints show up on the device itself, rather than just an app you can look at?0 -
Mine is syncing data in Fitbit app but not the other way. I repeated all the steps multiple times and now just gave up!
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ardavanamini2015 wrote: »Mine is syncing data in Fitbit app but not the other way. I repeated all the steps multiple times and now just gave up!
What steps exactly did you do?
Since there are many ideas of what those steps are to help, so miss some actions that are useful.
Like the final step of confirming the MFP app has step source set to Fitbit, that's a huge one.0 -
Here' you go!! That was it!! Appreciate it.0
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I'm not getting anything synced
No food from mfp to fitbit, no calorie burns fitbit to mfp
I've done the steps suggested - removing from both sides, re-adding.1 -
I am having the same p[roblem, disconnected the fitbit in MFP and revolked access in fitbit, rebooted, reconnected and still nothing, No info travelling either way, seems to be since the MFP update1
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It's broken for everyone. https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/en/portal/articles/2909540-service-went-down-overnight-affecting-sync-4
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it's been down for a few days now, this is stupid!0
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Well this is the second day .. but yeah, that is pretty pathetic, it ought be possible to restore whatever worked on Saturday, unless they've lost the recipe. It's not syncing in either direction (usually when it breaks the food eaten still gets sent to FC, but this time not).0
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Should be made aware that a FAQ is not the place for discussions of issues - let alone the fact MFP doesn't monitor this anyway. 2-3 threads in the main topics to join about the syncing issue if needed to commensurate.0
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Thanks for this but it's created more problems than it's solved with my Ionic. MFP wasn't getting any exercise data from Fitbit so I unlinked and then relinked and now the Fitbit app shows 0 steps after a sync, even though the watch is showing more than 10,000 steps. The ONLY thing that syncs between the Fitbit app and my watch is the battery level. Nothing else syncs. What now?0
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Thanks for this but it's created more problems than it's solved with my Ionic. MFP wasn't getting any exercise data from Fitbit so I unlinked and then relinked and now the Fitbit app shows 0 steps after a sync, even though the watch is showing more than 10,000 steps. The ONLY thing that syncs between the Fitbit app and my watch is the battery level. Nothing else syncs. What now?
MFP never was sent exercise data - only step count and total calorie burn up to the time of the sync.
If you have a sync issue between device and Fitbit app - that has nothing to do with MFP which has no code for syncing devices directly.
Now you go to Fitbit site/forums and troubleshoot where the issue actually is.0 -
If the Fitbit is too loose on your wrist it won't track your sleep correctly. So, if you have lost weight you may need to tighten it up.
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I am having issues with my Blaze, I walk the same route everyday at lunch about 75 min 4 miles, but this week my Blaze is logging me in as anywhere from 3.5-4 miles, not sure what is wrong with it. Could it be because the weather is warmer & the sweat is making the miles inaccurate? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.0
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I am having issues with my Blaze, I walk the same route everyday at lunch about 75 min 4 miles, but this week my Blaze is logging me in as anywhere from 3.5-4 miles, not sure what is wrong with it. Could it be because the weather is warmer & the sweat is making the miles inaccurate? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Miles is calculated from stride length, which is calculated from impact of feet seen.
If worn differently so it doesn't see the same impact, like on flappier clothing, distance could be short.
Sweat couldn't have anything to do with that.0 -
I’m really struggling to understand the calories burned with my Fitbit ionic and MFP.
My MFP cal target is 1990 calories, my Fitbit is saying I’ve burnt in total 3900ish calories at the end of the day with normal activities and exercise (only walking today), I’ve consumed 2200 cals in food so the calorie adjustment on MFP is saying I have 1400 cals remaining to eat, surely this isn’t right?0 -
I’m really struggling to understand the calories burned with my Fitbit ionic and MFP.
My MFP cal target is 1990 calories, my Fitbit is saying I’ve burnt in total 3900ish calories at the end of the day with normal activities and exercise (only walking today), I’ve consumed 2200 cals in food so the calorie adjustment on MFP is saying I have 1400 cals remaining to eat, surely this isn’t right?
Couple pieces of info missing to help - because target may be 1990, but did you reach it for it to say 1400 cal left?
So required info to help.
what is your deficit you've selected?
That is added to MFP base eating goal to see what MFP estimated you'd burn with no exercise.
Fitbit adjustment on Exercise diary is not saying remaining to eat, Food diary says that - so confusing.
What is the Fitbit adjustment on Exercise Diary for this example day?
Was any exercise logged on MFP also showing in Exercise Diary?
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Hi Haybales, thanks for your response, below are screenshots from yesterday’s MFP diary and calorie adjustment page if this helps.
I never log exercise in MFP now as my Fitbit does that for me.
Ive selected lightly active on MFP settings with a goal of 0.5kg loss a week.
Height 5”10
Weight 86kg0 -
wow - 4186 big burn!
BMR @ 1587, not surprising if indeed normally lightly active (1587 x 1.6 Lightly Active = 2539).
So 549 cal deficit off the 2539 = 1990 base eating goal.
So it would be the following using that day.
Fitbit 4186 - 2539 MFP expected = 1647 adjustment.
1990 base + 1647 adj = 3637 new eating goal.
Burned 4186 (if accurate) - 3637 = 549 deficit still.
In example you had eaten 2203.
3637 - 2203 = 1434 more to eat.
So the math is all correct.
Only question would be how accurate is the Fitbit for MFP to correct to it?
Is step count decently correct, like not 1000's of bogus steps because of truck or motorcycle riding?
Have you ever walked known distance at average daily pace (not grocery store shuffle, not exercise level pace) and confirm Fitbit was correct for distance.
Stride length may need to be adjusted, so big part of active day is as accurate as possible.
Are you doing a lot of time with weight lifting and Fitbit using HR-based calorie burn - which will be inflated. So would intervals for that matter.
Is Fitbit slipping into HR-based calorie burn when doing just normal daily stuff, because in first 2 weeks of using device, or meds cause a high HR?
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That’s brill thank you again for the response. I did a lot of steep hill climbs on that day pushing a push chair uphill so my heart did get a good workout lol. I do wear it for weight lifting and it logs about 200 calories burned for a 30ish minute workout which I think is reasonable. All of the steps it counted were fairly accurate I think because Cat journeys don’t tend to add steps with my ionic, however I know what you mean because that is the reason I returned my Charge HR to the store around 3 years ago for a refund due to phantom step counting on car journeys.
So all in all it seems pretty accurate and the maths work out.
I will persevere and see how it goes then, I don’t appear to be losing any weight but I am seeing fat loss so hopefully on the right track.
Thank you for your time you’ve been a big help.0 -
If all you do for lifting is 30 min say 3 x weekly with that otherwise active lifestyle, that almost 2 x inflated calorie burn won't matter in the scheme of things.
If this was short day at 30 min, and normally at 60-90 min and 5-6 x weekly - then it matters.
Because if this is Weights (what Fitbit database calls it) with reps 5-15 and sets 1-5 and rests 2-4 min, 400 per hr is inflated, likely around 200-250.
If this is Circuit training, reps 15 and up, rests between lifts up to a min, then likely burn more than that.1 -
Okay I just want to double check...
I thought I didn't need to manually add cardio into MFP?
I just did a 30 min walk on treadmill @ 3mph. Fitbit synced and I see it in MFP under the Fitbit calorie adjustment (when I tap on the calorie adjustment the fitbit calories burned are match on both apps).
However I don't think it updates at the top of MFP for goal - food + exercise = remaining.
I'm on keto and need to be able to track my protein/fat adjustments after exercises are added in.
So I manually added it in MFP and the adjustments look better...
I'm just confused hahah.
edit:
After doing another workout (which I'm not even sure how to put in, but besides the point)
I noticed MFP now shows at the top goal - food - exercise = remaining.
So instead of adding exercise it's now subtracting? Extra confused now.
Any clarification is appreciated!0 -
Joycey1127 wrote: »Okay I just want to double check...
I thought I didn't need to manually add cardio into MFP?
I just did a 30 min walk on treadmill @ 3mph. Fitbit synced and I see it in MFP under the Fitbit calorie adjustment (when I tap on the calorie adjustment the fitbit calories burned are match on both apps).
However I don't think it updates at the top of MFP for goal - food + exercise = remaining.
I'm on keto and need to be able to track my protein/fat adjustments after exercises are added in.
So I manually added it in MFP and the adjustments look better...
I'm just confused hahah.
edit:
After doing another workout (which I'm not even sure how to put in, but besides the point)
I noticed MFP now shows at the top goal - food - exercise = remaining.
So instead of adding exercise it's now subtracting? Extra confused now.
Any clarification is appreciated!
As one of the early questions in the FAQ - no you do not need to manually add anything into MFP for exercise.
Yes - it does update the figures.
Unless you are just talking about a time lag, or failed sync after you manually added the workout in because it has to sync to Fitbit, and then back to MFP again - the resulting figures should have been exactly the same.
Reread the FAQ first section - that Adjustment is not your workout only, or at all possibly.
So you got a negative adjustment when it says subtract exercise, just means the total of your exercise and the adjustment is negative - again could be because of lag time between the extra syncs you caused to be required for complete math.
During these times of syncing issues - anything causing more syncs to be required is a BAD thing. Manually logging on MFP is therefore a BAD thing.
You've provided no figures to assist showing you the math, so read the 2nd section of the FAQ, or 3rd one, where it shows what happens with those adjustments and the math.
If using app hold down on adjustment to see what it's based on, time of sync and total. If web site, click the "i" for more info.
Life if it says time of sync was prior to your manual entry - then math will be screwed up until it happens. And Fitbit doesn't send new figures until 100 higher than last sync.0 -
Hello, I am having trouble with my exercise syncing from Fitbit to MFP.
Only my step calories are pulling through to MFP.
Calories burned during any other type of exercise won't pull through.
Does anyone know how to fix this?
Not sure why one lot of exercise will pull through but not the other?
I have tried disconnecting then reconnecting...0 -
There is nothing to fix - Reread the first section of FAQ - workout calories are NOT pulled over separate, Fitbit decided not to do that.
Only the daily calorie burn which is workouts and daily activity is brought over for MFP to do math with to correct itself.
If you want others to see you worked out - just make a wall post about it with more interesting details than you'd normally get.0 -
What is more accurate - I calculated my TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) but that number is nowhere close to what FitBit says my daily calorie burn is on days with no exercise. Which number should I use to base my daily calorie needs on?0
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MrsHungryAsian wrote: »What is more accurate - I calculated my TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) but that number is nowhere close to what FitBit says my daily calorie burn is on days with no exercise. Which number should I use to base my daily calorie needs on?
Was your TDEE calculated from 4-5 rough levels that only discussed time of exercise weekly?
Nothing to do with daily life?
TDEE calc's are also almost always weekly average - so even if dead on correct for a daily average - that means it's never correct for any one day.1 -
MrsHungryAsian wrote: »What is more accurate - I calculated my TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) but that number is nowhere close to what FitBit says my daily calorie burn is on days with no exercise. Which number should I use to base my daily calorie needs on?
Was your TDEE calculated from 4-5 rough levels that only discussed time of exercise weekly?
Nothing to do with daily life?
TDEE calc's are also almost always weekly average - so even if dead on correct for a daily average - that means it's never correct for any one day.
I used tdeecalculator.net - it only asked daily activity which I put in as sedentary. There were no questions about daily-weekly exercise. The website calculates 1,758 (maintenance calories) while FitBit says I burn @2,200 on days with no exercise. That is a huge gap in calories between the two - so I am not sure which value to use to -500 calories per day from to arrive at my daily goal. So confused....0 -
MrsHungryAsian wrote: »MrsHungryAsian wrote: »What is more accurate - I calculated my TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) but that number is nowhere close to what FitBit says my daily calorie burn is on days with no exercise. Which number should I use to base my daily calorie needs on?
Was your TDEE calculated from 4-5 rough levels that only discussed time of exercise weekly?
Nothing to do with daily life?
TDEE calc's are also almost always weekly average - so even if dead on correct for a daily average - that means it's never correct for any one day.
I used tdeecalculator.net - it only asked daily activity which I put in as sedentary. There were no questions about daily-weekly exercise. The website calculates 1,758 (maintenance calories) while FitBit says I burn @2,200 on days with no exercise. That is a huge gap in calories between the two - so I am not sure which value to use to -500 calories per day from to arrive at my daily goal. So confused....
Since steps calculates to a distance, and it's distance and pace that leads to really good calorie burn calculation - steps can give a rough idea if in appropriate range.
Sedentary is below 4K steps each and every day of the week. Outside of exercise.
That is truly a bump on a log - no household responsibilities, no kids or pets, not much for shopping, computer or TV couch potato all evening and weekend.
That is sedentary - and most find they are not when a weekly average is truly taken.
And you might look at that site again - it's the outdate 1919 study with ONLY options about exercise - even says right there on the drop-down. How many days a week of exercise (which is about worthless description)
Go to my profile and find the Just TDEE spreadsheet which is based on more recent research, and including exercise. Follow instructions in red to make your own, and fill it in.
Because if you actually do exercise - then obviously not Sedentary. And you said you did. So you used that tool wrong.
Use tools properly and they can help, not hurt, do something.1
