FAQ - Syncing, logging food & exercise, calorie adjustments, activity levels, accuracy

heybales

Perhaps for all new inquiries that come in, we can just point to this thread for someone to read first, until the moderators see perhaps a good idea to sticky it for easier access.
These are either facts on the way things work, or my personal recommendation for settings.

First section I'm just going to lay out the basics of how and brief why.
Second section I'll get into more details as to why for those curious.

Section One - The Basics

How do I set up a sync between MFP and Fitbit?
Best place seems to be your MFP web account first, as it seems to cut down on syncing issues later.
MFP - Apps - Fitbit Tracker - Connect - follow process described (instructions on logging will be covered further below).

You may still have syncing issues, usually seen as Fitbit stats not coming to MFP (steps, daily calorie burn, weight, BF%), but sometimes MFP stats not going to Fitbit (meal totals, workouts, weight). Usually effects those using the apps more.

One method for getting around syncing issue, is unsync accounts totally from web accounts, and start process above again. Close your mobile apps, stop them from actually running, for this process.
MFP - Apps - Your Apps section - Fitbit Tracker - Disconnect
Fitbit - View Settings - Settings - Applications section - Revoke Access
Start initial sync as instructed above.

Do I log all my exercise in MFP per instructions MFP gave?
Don't need to at all. That is merely so you use MFP more, and more usage is more ad dollars.

Fact is for the non-HR devices any step based exercise (walking, running, gym classes, ect) will have a pretty good estimate for calorie burn from Fitbit (if stride length is correct), unless the walking/running is at good incline for good amount of time, because it assumes flat. You would need to log non-step based workouts though (swimming, rowing, biking, elliptical, stair climber, resistance training with weights or machines), because the steps seen are not related to the calorie burn at all.

For the HR devices any cardio is going to be decent enough estimate. Though here again, lifting should be manually logged as it's not aerobic steady-state, and calorie burn will be inflated using HRM formula. Manually logged in database as - Weights on Fitbit, Strength Training on MFP.

So for what should be manually logged, it can be logged in MFP or Fitbit. Fitbit's database uses a better method of calculating calorie burn, and for some non-step based exercises has more intensity options, more about that below. It also prevents the need for an extra sync from MFP to Fitbit, before updated daily burn is synced back to MFP.
If you want friends to see your workout, just make a wall post about it, with more details than you'd normally get. The Fitbit Activity diary has better view and options anyway compared to MFP.

Where do I log my food?
Only on MFP. It will sync over as meal blocks of total calorie and macro stats to Fitbit for display there.

Why doesn't my MFP Exercise Diary - Fitbit calorie adjustment equal my workout calorie burn?
Because that MFP figure is not exercise.
That figure is the difference between Fitbit's total daily burn which includes your exercise, and what MFP thought you'd burn with no exercise.
Any difference includes exercise and daily activities. You could have no exercise and big positive adjustment from being very active. You could have big exercise and no positive adjustment from being very inactive that day outside of exercise.
You can see this fact by clicking on the "i" for more info on that Fitbit calorie adjustment line.

You should enable Negative Calorie adjustment too for sick or lazy days.
MFP - Settings - Diary Settings - Calorie Adjustments - Enable Negative Adjustments.

The reason it's put under exercise is so MFP correctly increases your eating goal, so the same deficit is maintained. You do more, you eat more, same deficit. MFP is merely correcting it's estimate of daily burn, which is based on your selection of activity level, and if you selected wrong, you get big adjustments, and then deficit is taken.

What activity level on MFP should I select?
It's usually better to select an activity level closer to reality so the adjustments are smaller, and you can plan your day better without big surprises too late to do anything about, more on this below. Bigger deficit is NOT better, just an unneeded stress on body. Stressed out body loses muscle mass along with fat mass - not good. Or it adapts so you don't burn as much - not good.

How do I link in my other accounts for exercise, MapMyRide or Walk, or Digifit?
You could link them to MFP and get the minor wall posting about the workout, then they will sync over to Fitbit and replace the calorie burn there.
Or if able, can sync them to Fitbit directly. Then you make a wall post about the workout for friends to see with more details.
Just confirm time zones are correct between accounts.

Am I doubling up on calories by manually logging a workout, what about the activity record from the device?
No you are not - hence the reason for the start and duration time - so Fitbit can replace whatever it came up with for calories.

The activity record from the device button press is merely to allow viewing those stats for that block of time, you can manually make an activity record too for same purpose. Not logging those calories, merely viewing what Fitbit came up with already.
If you know you'll manually log a workout to input more accurate calorie burn, the activity record does make it easier to see when the start time was, and figure out duration, and allow seeing the Fitbit stats for that time, rather than buried in the daily stats.

If you log workout with an existing activity record, it does NOT replace the calorie burn in the record, just the daily stats. If you create activity record manually after logging workout, calorie burn is whatever you entered, though the other stats will be shown for steps & distance.

How do I adjust my stride length for more accurate calorie burn?
Treadmill is best so you can have set pace and known distance. For running you want average running pace, not the sprinting pace, not the recovery pace. For walking you want purposeful pace, not high exercise level, not slowest shopping level. You want between so the device can adjust as needed both directions. So if normal exercise walking pace is 3.8 mph, and store strolling is 1 mph, then 2.4 is average to use for test.

1) Set pace, and walk/run normal stride until 0.4 miles is displayed.
2) Now count every right foot impact until 0.5 miles is displayed.
3) Double the foot count for total steps.
4) 528 ft / Steps = decimal feet.inches per step stride length.
5) Feet is used in MFP setting under View Settings - Settings - Stride Length.
6) take 0.inches x 12 = decimal inches to use in that setting.
(for example 2.85 becomes 2 ft., and 0.85 x 12 = 10.2 in.)

How accurate can this device be?
Decently accurate, if you recognize the limitations. The devices will actually under-estimate usually, because of the following:
All non-moving time is assigned sleeping calorie burn (BMR), but when awake you actually burn more (RMR).
When standing not moving you burn more.
When digesting/processing food you burn more, about 10% of calories eaten.
All that is unaccounted for in your daily burn.

Moving calorie burn is based on steps, so accurate stride length is important.
Even the HR formulas are likely to be off, likely inflated though, as assumptions are made for several key stats.

But 1 hr of exercise how many times a week is what % of your total weekly time and calorie burn? Usually it's less than 5% of both, so even a 30% difference in that 1 hr of exercise is minor compared to the weekly total time and calories.
The activity tracker is great for the other 23 hrs of the day. It may be great, or need adjustment, for that other 1 hr.

heybales

Section Two - More Details

Why should I manual log a workout?
For non-HR devices, the calorie burn for movement is totally based on steps and distance seen and your weight.
This can actually be very accurate, more than HRM if flat and distance is correct.
Your device does dynamically adjust stride length as you walk, but it is based on the set stride length and your weight, which gives an expected impact on each step. The amount of actual impact compared to that figure results in a stride length that is actually used right then.
So dynamic stride length and time = pace and weight = calories burned.
Different formulas for walking and running lead to that accuracy, and are only valid for walking and running flat, since the device has no idea of incline, or even carrying extra weight (which would effect impact seen) for that matter.
So other exercise that is not step based, would not be valid calorie burn based on those formulas, and that's assuming all the non-"steps" are even seen, which they probably aren't. Like biking or elliptical.
Some exercises don't even have steps for all the hard effort, like rowing, lifting, swimming, yoga, pilates.

For HR devices, calorie burn for daily activity is still step based as that is more accurate, but for exercise it's based on HR formula. HR formula is used when you start an activity record with button press, and your steps are high enough to indicate the higher HR is indeed from exercise, or HR and steps go up to show exercise is being done. Otherwise it thinks elevated HR due to something else and just uses step calculation.

HR formula is only a decent calorie estimate when the exercise is steady-state aerobic, same HR for 2-4 min. Anything anaerobic, like good lifting or interval workout, which is also non-steady-state HR, is not valid use of formula and will result in inflated calorie burn. Step based would actually be best for intervals.

So lifting should be manually logged with either device type.
MFP has Strength training for 5-15 reps and sets and rests of 2-4 min, Circuit training for 15 plus reps and rests of 1 min or less and several circuits, Calisthenics for body weight usually over 20 reps and brief rests. Fitbit has Weights, Circuit Training, Calisthenics to match.

Reasons for Fitbit estimating better calorie burn on manual logging than MFP.
Mainly applies for non-HR devices, or if HR seen is not accurate.
MFP and Fitbit and many other sites use the same METS database that is publicly available. Results of database for activities are given as a multiplier of your resting metabolism - 1 MET.

For MFP to use it based on your weight, they use a common assumed conversion (1 MET = 1 cal/kg/hr). But it can be clearly seen that 2 people with the same weight can have very different resting metabolism (RMR), so those assumptions can have some inaccuracy. A young muscular goal weight male could have the same weight as an older overweight female. Guess who's MET calorie burn is actually higher? Guess who receives inflated calorie burn using MFP's database? Yes, MFP could indeed improve this, but that's why they sync with activity trackers now. Same as Fitbit won't improve their food log because just easier to sync with MFP and others for that.

So Fitbit leaves the database at METS, and actually uses the calculated BMR they use for all non-moving calorie burn, as the basis for exercise calorie burn.
Their database also has some exercises with more options for intensity, like swimming or biking based on actual speed, or elliptical and spinning with choices of intensity, at least giving a chance to get better accuracy.
So yes you could manually log either place, especially if you have a more accurate calorie burn anyway, but Fitbit is better if using the database entry.
To inform your friends that you are indeed working out, just make a wall posting about the workout, including more useful info than 1 line would provide. More inspiring that way too I think.

Why does MFP have a different eating goal than Fitbit's?
So even if you have both sites setup for same 500 cal deficit say, they will not match for eating goal until the day is finished. While the day is progressing, they use different methods, more on that later.
Recommend don't follow 2 roads to same destination, use MFP for food and eating goals, use Fitbit for daily movement goals and exercise logging.

How does the Fitbit calorie adjustment work?

How it works will allow seeing why the differences occur too. But have to understand the basics first.
Laying out some numbers to use for pretend person in below math.
BMR : 1600
Sedentary on MFP gives daily non-exercise calorie burn : 2000
Deficit for 1 lb weekly loss : 500
Eating goal on non-exercise days : 2000 - 500 = 1500

What happens without Fitbit data at end of day.
Log 300 calorie burn exercise.
Daily burn 2000 + 300 exercise = 2300 total estimated daily burn
2300 - 500 deficit = 1800 eating goal
MFP keeps it simple by just adding the exercise to eating goal though.
1500 + 300 = 1800 eating goal. Same 500 cal deficit.

So that activity level may or may not be true, MFP is going to use Fitbit data to correct it, here's how at end of day again.
Fitbit reports daily 2500 calorie burn, perhaps that includes a manually logged workout in it, or that's what it saw anyway so no logging needed.
Fitbit 2500 - 2000 MFP estimate = 500 calorie positive adjustment.
Eating goal 1500 + 500 = 2000 new eating goal. Same 500 cal deficit.

Say you log that 300 cal workout on MFP so it knows about it. And it matches what Fitbit thought you burned anyway, so overwrite on Fitbit causes no change in data.
Fitbit 2500 - 2000 MFP - 300 exercise = 200 cal adjustment.
Eating 1500 + 300 exercise + 200 adj = 2000 new eating goal. Same 500 cal deficit.

Say Fitbit said your daily burn was 2600 prior to manually logging, then after manual logging 300 cal workout it went down to 2500. That means it estimated 400 cal for that workout, but you replaced the calorie burn. Logging the workout in Fitbit or MFP would be the same effect.

So what happens when you have big adjustments but no exercise done?
It means your actual activity is higher than you selected in MFP. If you can still meet your eating goal daily with big adjustments, that's fine.
Otherwise it might be wiser to increase activity level to reduce adjustments, because better planning leads to better success, in most cases.

So what happens when you have smaller adjustments than what the exercise did burn?
It means either your activity level is lower than you selected, or your body is doing the first thing it does when undereating by too much - it makes you move less.
Fitbit tries to help with that effect by having the step goals, to try to keep you moving. Sadly, if the body can't adapt by moving you less, it'll slow you down in other ways to still compensate.
But you may easily see that you have a hard 800 calorie burn workout, but then move around a whole lot less in the evening, leading to an adjustment that is only 700 calories.

So Fitbit 2700 - 2000 MFP = 700 cal adjustment.
Eating goal 1500 + 700 = 2200 new eating goal. Same 500 cal deficit.
If you manually logged that in MFP so you could see it, and it matched what Fitbit saw already, you'd get:
Fitbit 2700 - 2000 MFP - 800 exercise = - 100 cal adjustment. That's negative.
Eating 1500 + 800 exercise - 100 adj = 2200 new goal. Same 500 cal deficit.

Isn't that wonderful the way it works! Helps you to always eat less than you burn. And if you picked a reasonable weekly weight loss goal, you'll always have the same deficit no matter what.

Perhaps you do best with a single daily eating goal though no matter the daily activity which is pretty consistent week to week, so you want to use Weekly average TDEE deficit method.
You need to confirm you are manually logging on Fitbit whatever workouts you should be.
You need to unsync accounts so your manually set eating goal doesn't change.
You need to look at your weekly Fitbit report under Total Cals Burned - Daily Average. Take that x 0.8 for 20% off or x 0.85 for 15% off, ect, and set that new figure as your eating goal, reached every day.
Just adjust as needed if the TDEE changes enough. Your MFP activity level, weight loss goal, ect, don't matter now. But neither will the math that MFP does, because it isn't aware you are doing exercise. Which if you log workouts on MFP too, it must be done as 1 cal, but better just to make a wall post about it anyway.

What happens to those Fitbit calorie adjustments during the day?
Same pretend person as above, but using 3 pm as sync time, or 15:00 hrs, which is 62.5% of the day (15/24), meaning 37.5% is left.

MFP estimated daily burn 2000 x 0.375 = 750 more calories to the day.
Whatever Fitbit reports for the calorie burn up to that point, 750 is added on for Full Day Projection.
Let's say no workout yet, Fitbit reports 1375 burned.
Fitbit 1375 + 750 MFP rest of day = 2125 projected.
Fitbit 2125 - 2000 MFP estimated = 125 cal adjustment so far at 3 pm.

Let's say you did that 300 cal workout 2 - 3 pm and sync right then.
Fitbit 1675 + 750 MFP = 2425 projected
Fitbit 2425 - 2000 MFP = 425 cal adjustment.

So any exercise done early in the day does NOT cause inflated for rest of the day. Rest of the day is based on the activity level you selected in MFP.
This would be a case for seeing if your whole evening is pretty sedentary after work, then setting MFP to Sedentary even though rest of the day is say Lightly active or more, might make sense. Just depends on what you find out the morning after the day has completed. If you met the last eating goal you saw before going to bed, but the morning says you went over by 100 calories or more, then going down an activity level might be good.

Now, there is a twist to this depending on how often you sync, and that is what Fitbit reports to MFP. Fitbit has 2 options for calculating your per min burn until you sync device and it has real stats to look at.

Sedentary or Personalized under Log - Food - Food Plan section - settings icon, some older accounts also call this Calorie Estimation under View Settings - Settings.

Sedentary means Fitbit is estimating a per minute calorie burn barely above BMR and much less than MFP's Sedentary setting, and until a sync gives updated stats, that's what it reports to MFP.
So if you don't sync until late in the day, Fitbit could be reporting to MFP very underestimated calorie burn and you'd see negative calorie adjustments, until you finally synced and possibly got a big surprise you might have problems meeting as an eating goal.
If you sync often it wouldn't matter as much, as each new device sync causes a new sync with MFP with that new data. Or at least sync before final meals.

Personalized means Fitbit is estimating a per minute calorie burn based on historical daily data (week and weekend different), and until a device sync that gives updated stats, that's what is reported to MFP. If each day is close that's not so bad, and if you sync at end of day, there wouldn't be as much of a difference. Calorie adjustments would slowly increase but not jump after a workout that you didn't sync yet, but by end of day it would be in there if it was normally done.
Again, if you sync often it doesn't matter.

Fitbit syncs to MFP after daily calorie burn goes up by 100, or a device sync or change of stats that it syncs over.
So if Fitbit is set at Sedentary, it should take longer than 1 hr to sync new daily burn to MFP, if set to Personalized, it should be under 1 hr. Or quicker if device syncs or manually logged workout.

heybales

Pictures of the intra-day sync and adjustment math from my example.



1994 reported by Fitbit at 10:03 pm, or 22:03 hrs, or 1323 min / 1440 total = 91.875% of day done, or 8.125% of day left.

MFP estimated daily burn 2116 x 0.08125 = 172 for rest of day.

Fitbit 1994 + 172 MFP rest of day = 2166 Projected.
2166 - 2116 MFP estimated = 50 cal adjustment.

And that 1994 included a 133 cal workout manually entered on Fitbit. But I'm sick too, so slept lots. It could have been entered on MFP, but it's not used in that projected math. Only calorie adjustment and eating goal math.

I sure hope I got everything in here that is common enough questions, I got some great feedback from several that frequent or used to the forums, or recently got Fitbits.

DonPendergraft

Thank you for this!

retirehappy

Bumping so I can follow this. It should be a sticky in here.

heybales

Hey hey - made it as sticky!

Drat, now I wish I'd made some other changes. Oh well.

leooftheyear

I have been logging my classes on MPF Core Class (Les Mills CXWORX), its a strength training class using a mix of weights, body weigh and resistance bands and Les Mills Body Combat which is essentially an MMA class, given the fitbix flex is pretty good a step based activity, should i not be logging my Body Combat class in MFP and let Fitbit take care of it?

taylorsm88

OK, maybe this was answered and I overlooked it, but I have a questioned related to exercise being reflected in MFP.

For example, I went for a brisk walk today for about 30 minutes. Fitbit recognized this as 30 active minutes. Therefore showing more calorie burn than if I had just walked casually.

Does MFP take these active minutes into account when making adjustments or does it just take the step count from Fitbit?

Should I log my brisk walk into MFP? If I do log it as 30 minutes of brisk walk, does that double dip into calories burned?

fairleee

I've just got my Surge, and I've synced it today with MFP. Today, I went to the gym, and did a spin class (which I tracked on my surge), hit the treadmill (which I tracked as a general 'workout' on my surge), and then did some weight/bodyweight exercises (which I tracked as 'weights'). I used the logs that Surge created to then create exercises on MFP with accurate calorie burn info (so, a 45 minute spin class burned 540 calories, 25 minutes of weights burned 160 etc.). However, when I then synced MFP with my Fitbit, it duplicated all those activities into my exercise log on Fitbit, and manually added the calories burned onto my calorie-burned log (so I jumped from about 2200 calories burned to over 3000 calories burned) - basically, each exercise was duplicated, and as a result it manually adjusted my calories burned figure on Fitbit by adding on the duplicated calories.

So, my question is, what is the best workaround for this? I don't mind where I track the exercises I do, as long as I am tracking them, but clearly I can't track them with both Fitbit and MFP, because it creates duplicates. I'd prefer to track with Fitbit, because that way I have more usable data - I can track the time spent on each exercise more accurately, track my heart rate patterns over the exercise duration etc. Would it therefore make sense to continue using my Surge to track the exercises as I do them, then not log the exercises into MFP, but simply rely on the Fitbit adjusted calorie figure to adjust my daily calories burned figure in MFP?

sandishmily

I have a charge hr and log all activities through it, i don't log any activities on MFP, yet i still get double logs on all my activities on fitbit. When i try to delete one of the duplicated logs both get deleted. Any suggestions?

retirehappy

I log food only in MFP, I let my Charge HR do all the calorie burn data. Works fine for me. I do get the synching issue from time to time but it usually works itself out over night so far.

Glad to see this FAQ as a sticky I had emailed the owners of the group about doing that. Heybales did a great job and I am thankful for it.

heybales

leooftheyear wrote: »

I have been logging my classes on MPF Core Class (Les Mills CXWORX), its a strength training class using a mix of weights, body weigh and resistance bands and Les Mills Body Combat which is essentially an MMA class, given the fitbix flex is pretty good a step based activity, should i not be logging my Body Combat class in MFP and let Fitbit take care of it?

That's not step based based activity.

The steps seen and calorie burn estimated from pace have no relation to strength training. You could do 50 squats in 2 min and 2 steps are seen. You think you'll get a big calorie burn for 2 steps in 2 min type pace, that is anywhere near what you burned doing 50 squats?

heybales

taylorsm88 wrote: »

OK, maybe this was answered and I overlooked it, but I have a questioned related to exercise being reflected in MFP.

For example, I went for a brisk walk today for about 30 minutes. Fitbit recognized this as 30 active minutes. Therefore showing more calorie burn than if I had just walked casually.

Does MFP take these active minutes into account when making adjustments or does it just take the step count from Fitbit?

Should I log my brisk walk into MFP? If I do log it as 30 minutes of brisk walk, does that double dip into calories burned?

Yes, you missed it, reread the question headers.

heybales

fairleee wrote: »

I've just got my Surge, and I've synced it today with MFP. Today, I went to the gym, and did a spin class (which I tracked on my surge), hit the treadmill (which I tracked as a general 'workout' on my surge), and then did some weight/bodyweight exercises (which I tracked as 'weights'). I used the logs that Surge created to then create exercises on MFP with accurate calorie burn info (so, a 45 minute spin class burned 540 calories, 25 minutes of weights burned 160 etc.). However, when I then synced MFP with my Fitbit, it duplicated all those activities into my exercise log on Fitbit, and manually added the calories burned onto my calorie-burned log (so I jumped from about 2200 calories burned to over 3000 calories burned) - basically, each exercise was duplicated, and as a result it manually adjusted my calories burned figure on Fitbit by adding on the duplicated calories.

So, my question is, what is the best workaround for this? I don't mind where I track the exercises I do, as long as I am tracking them, but clearly I can't track them with both Fitbit and MFP, because it creates duplicates. I'd prefer to track with Fitbit, because that way I have more usable data - I can track the time spent on each exercise more accurately, track my heart rate patterns over the exercise duration etc. Would it therefore make sense to continue using my Surge to track the exercises as I do them, then not log the exercises into MFP, but simply rely on the Fitbit adjusted calorie figure to adjust my daily calories burned figure in MFP?

Reread the first half of the FAQ for question that says activity record, it's in there what happened.

Edit - which half.

njpatentdad

Thanks for the post heybales. I was a little confused on how to record a particular workout even though all the info is in the original post. I will set out my question and answer in case its helpful.

I logged a workout on the Fitbit Charge HR while using an elliptical that took into account my weight, age, HR (had chest strap too). Periodically, I compared HRs and they corresponded very well each time. At the end of the workout the machine reported about 1100 calorie burn while the fitbit app reported about 649.

From heybales helpful post, I concluded that elliptical is not step based and so is given to inaccuracy. Since the machine manufactures account for machine resistance, had HR, weight and age, it should be much more accurate.

So how to switch the 649 for the 1100?
The trick is to make sure the data entered is a switch and not an addition. In the fitbit app you can enter the time started and duration. That information is reported for the workout I recorded and so the manual entry I made with the machine reported 1100 calories had the same time stamp information and fitbit could do the swap, make the adjustments and report it out to MFP. I dont recall ever seeing timestamp info in MFP so I could not figure how I would have edited there. All that was in my exercise log there was the daily adjustment and not a workout.

Thanks.

glassyo

njpatentdad wrote: »

I dont recall ever seeing timestamp info in MFP so I could not figure how I would have edited there. All that was in my exercise log there was the daily adjustment and not a workout.

Thanks.

I've been entering exercise on mfp because of the syncing problems but all you have to do is add an exercise in mfp and it asks you straight out what time you started and how many minutes you went.

In case you ever need to log it on mfp.

dabni

heybales wrote: »

Perhaps for all new inquiries that come in, we can just point to this thread for someone to read first, until the moderators see perhaps a good idea to sticky it for easier access.
These are either facts on the way things work, or my personal recommendation for settings.

First section I'm just going to lay out the basics of how and brief why.
Second section I'll get into more details as to why for those curious.

Section One - The Basics

How do I set up a sync between MFP and Fitbit?
Best place seems to be your MFP web account first, as it seems to cut down on syncing issues later.
MFP - Apps - Fitbit Tracker - Connect - follow process described (instructions on logging will be covered further below).

You may still have syncing issues, usually seen as Fitbit stats not coming to MFP (steps, daily calorie burn, weight, BF%), but sometimes MFP stats not going to Fitbit (meal totals, workouts, weight). Usually effects those using the apps more.

One method for getting around syncing issue, is unsync accounts totally from web accounts, and start process above again. Close your mobile apps, stop them from actually running, for this process.
MFP - Apps - Your Apps section - Fitbit Tracker - Disconnect
Fitbit - View Settings - Settings - Applications section - Revoke Access
Start initial sync as instructed above.

Do I log all my exercise in MFP per instructions MFP gave?
Don't need to at all. That is merely so you use MFP more, and more usage is more ad dollars.

Fact is for the non-HR devices any step based exercise (walking, running, gym classes, ect) will have a pretty good estimate for calorie burn from Fitbit (if stride length is correct), unless the walking/running is at good incline for good amount of time, because it assumes flat. You would need to log non-step based workouts though (swimming, rowing, biking, elliptical, stair climber, resistance training with weights or machines), because the steps seen are not related to the calorie burn at all.

For the HR devices any cardio is going to be decent enough estimate. Though here again, lifting should be manually logged as it's not aerobic steady-state, and calorie burn will be inflated using HRM formula. Manually logged in database as - Weights on Fitbit, Strength Training on MFP.

So for what should be manually logged, it can be logged in MFP or Fitbit. Fitbit's database uses a better method of calculating calorie burn, and for some non-step based exercises has more intensity options, more about that below. It also prevents the need for an extra sync from MFP to Fitbit, before updated daily burn is synced back to MFP.
If you want friends to see your workout, just make a wall post about it, with more details than you'd normally get. The Fitbit Activity diary has better view and options anyway compared to MFP.

Where do I log my food?
Only on MFP. It will sync over as meal blocks of total calorie and macro stats to Fitbit for display there.

Why doesn't my MFP Exercise Diary - Fitbit calorie adjustment equal my workout calorie burn?
Because that MFP figure is not exercise.
That figure is the difference between Fitbit's total daily burn which includes your exercise, and what MFP thought you'd burn with no exercise.
Any difference includes exercise and daily activities. You could have no exercise and big positive adjustment from being very active. You could have big exercise and no positive adjustment from being very inactive that day outside of exercise.
You can see this fact by clicking on the "i" for more info on that Fitbit calorie adjustment line.

You should enable Negative Calorie adjustment too for sick or lazy days.
MFP - Settings - Diary Settings - Calorie Adjustments - Enable Negative Adjustments.

The reason it's put under exercise is so MFP correctly increases your eating goal, so the same deficit is maintained. You do more, you eat more, same deficit. MFP is merely correcting it's estimate of daily burn, which is based on your selection of activity level, and if you selected wrong, you get big adjustments, and then deficit is taken.

What activity level on MFP should I select?
It's usually better to select an activity level closer to reality so the adjustments are smaller, and you can plan your day better without big surprises too late to do anything about, more on this below. Bigger deficit is NOT better, just an unneeded stress on body. Stressed out body loses muscle mass along with fat mass - not good. Or it adapts so you don't burn as much - not good.

How do I link in my other accounts for exercise, MapMyRide or Walk, or Digifit?
You could link them to MFP and get the minor wall posting about the workout, then they will sync over to Fitbit and replace the calorie burn there.
Or if able, can sync them to Fitbit directly. Then you make a wall post about the workout for friends to see with more details.
Just confirm time zones are correct between accounts.

Am I doubling up on calories by manually logging a workout, what about the activity record from the device?
No you are not - hence the reason for the start and duration time - so Fitbit can replace whatever it came up with for calories.

The activity record from the device button press is merely to allow viewing those stats for that block of time, you can manually make an activity record too for same purpose. Not logging those calories, merely viewing what Fitbit came up with already.
If you know you'll manually log a workout to input more accurate calorie burn, the activity record does make it easier to see when the start time was, and figure out duration, and allow seeing the Fitbit stats for that time, rather than buried in the daily stats.

If you log workout with an existing activity record, it does NOT replace the calorie burn in the record, just the daily stats. If you create activity record manually after logging workout, calorie burn is whatever you entered, though the other stats will be shown for steps & distance.

How do I adjust my stride length for more accurate calorie burn?
Treadmill is best so you can have set pace and known distance. For running you want average running pace, not the sprinting pace, not the recovery pace. For walking you want purposeful pace, not high exercise level, not slowest shopping level. You want between so the device can adjust as needed both directions. So if normal exercise walking pace is 3.8 mph, and store strolling is 1 mph, then 2.4 is average to use for test.

1) Set pace, and walk/run normal stride until 0.4 miles is displayed.
2) Now count every right foot impact until 0.5 miles is displayed.
3) Double the foot count for total steps.
4) 528 ft / Steps = decimal feet.inches per step stride length.
5) Feet is used in MFP setting under View Settings - Settings - Stride Length.
6) take 0.inches x 12 = decimal inches to use in that setting.
(for example 2.85 becomes 2 ft., and 0.85 x 12 = 10.2 in.)

How accurate can this device be?
Decently accurate, if you recognize the limitations. The devices will actually under-estimate usually, because of the following:
All non-moving time is assigned sleeping calorie burn (BMR), but when awake you actually burn more (RMR).
When standing not moving you burn more.
When digesting/processing food you burn more, about 10% of calories eaten.
All that is unaccounted for in your daily burn.

Moving calorie burn is based on steps, so accurate stride length is important.
Even the HR formulas are likely to be off, likely inflated though, as assumptions are made for several key stats.

But 1 hr of exercise how many times a week is what % of your total weekly time and calorie burn? Usually it's less than 5% of both, so even a 30% difference in that 1 hr of exercise is minor compared to the weekly total time and calories.
The activity tracker is great for the other 23 hrs of the day. It may be great, or need adjustment, for that other 1 hr.

liviakaos

I got my Fitbit Charge 3 or so weeks ago. Last week, I started having syncing issues. Disconnected Fitbit from MFP, then Fitbit, and finally reconnected to MFP. Everything was fine until this week. Syncing issues AGAIN. I have disconnected from MFP, Fitbit, and reconnected to MFP several times. Anyone else experiencing this?

heybales

liviakaos wrote: »

I got my Fitbit Charge 3 or so weeks ago. Last week, I started having syncing issues. Disconnected Fitbit from MFP, then Fitbit, and finally reconnected to MFP. Everything was fine until this week. Syncing issues AGAIN. I have disconnected from MFP, Fitbit, and reconnected to MFP several times. Anyone else experiencing this?

Several other threads on this best handled outside this FAQ sticky, which really shouldn't be bogged down with issues.

44flacaflor

Hi Heybales and all - THANK YOU FOR THE AMAZING SUMMARY ABOVE -- VERY HELPFUL!!!!- I am new to group and FITBIT. I just got a Fitbit Charge HR and I am just learning to navigate it so I'd love tips on a few things.
- Is there a way to search these particular posts if I don't have time to read each one? I was trying to find an answer to my question about manual logging and "pressing the start/finish button" - WHERE IS THAT BUTTON?!?
- I had my HR set to sensitive to sleep because I wanted good tracking since I am such a terrible sleeper...however I am wondering if anyone has thoughts on this...last night it logged me as sleeping only 3.5 hrs and restless 125 times and awake for various moments (which I don't doubt as i am a terrible sleeper) adding up to several hours overall -- that last part is the hard part to understand...I don't remember being awake for longer than 1 hr at time from 1am to 6am....I know i slept more than 3hrs because I feel more rested than days before....
- 3rd - I am concerned about double logging or not logging properly enough - I have a sedentary office job 3-4 days a week from 6:30AM-5PM and then I am in traffic for an hour or more coming home....it is very hard to leave the family to get in a work out and as you can see above, I am not a great sleeper...but I know SOMETHING has to give so I can get more regular workouts in....also I don't belong to a gym right now and the snow only just stopped coming...I don't have a lot of time to log but I do log calories as I eat them or before so I don't forget. I was hoping my HR would take care of the rest of my "real calories burned" whether at work, running errands, exercising, or with home chores, etc....Is that not correct?
- I have used Bodybugg (which I actually loved and hated to see it go), and Bodymedia (which IMO was not anywhere nearly as good or efficient nor did it have as good a website as Bodybug - then I received the Garmin Vivofit for Christmas and I was disappointed that it did not seem to track my miles walking right even after I calibrated my pace into it. The only issue I see with calibrating my pace for exercise here, is that I have to reset that every day so that I don't show fewer miles logged for "office" days, no? I definitely walk at a much more intense pace...about 4.0mi/hr sometimes 4.2 when I am walking my 5-6 miles. How can I make that transition for accurate accounting easy?

Thank you.

tracii88

Thank you for this syncing post! Very helpful!

heybales

44flacaflor wrote: »

Hi Heybales and all - THANK YOU FOR THE AMAZING SUMMARY ABOVE -- VERY HELPFUL!!!!- I am new to group and FITBIT. I just got a Fitbit Charge HR and I am just learning to navigate it so I'd love tips on a few things.
- Is there a way to search these particular posts if I don't have time to read each one? I was trying to find an answer to my question about manual logging and "pressing the start/finish button" - WHERE IS THAT BUTTON?!?
- I had my HR set to sensitive to sleep because I wanted good tracking since I am such a terrible sleeper...however I am wondering if anyone has thoughts on this...last night it logged me as sleeping only 3.5 hrs and restless 125 times and awake for various moments (which I don't doubt as i am a terrible sleeper) adding up to several hours overall -- that last part is the hard part to understand...I don't remember being awake for longer than 1 hr at time from 1am to 6am....I know i slept more than 3hrs because I feel more rested than days before....
- 3rd - I am concerned about double logging or not logging properly enough - I have a sedentary office job 3-4 days a week from 6:30AM-5PM and then I am in traffic for an hour or more coming home....it is very hard to leave the family to get in a work out and as you can see above, I am not a great sleeper...but I know SOMETHING has to give so I can get more regular workouts in....also I don't belong to a gym right now and the snow only just stopped coming...I don't have a lot of time to log but I do log calories as I eat them or before so I don't forget. I was hoping my HR would take care of the rest of my "real calories burned" whether at work, running errands, exercising, or with home chores, etc....Is that not correct?
- I have used Bodybugg (which I actually loved and hated to see it go), and Bodymedia (which IMO was not anywhere nearly as good or efficient nor did it have as good a website as Bodybug - then I received the Garmin Vivofit for Christmas and I was disappointed that it did not seem to track my miles walking right even after I calibrated my pace into it. The only issue I see with calibrating my pace for exercise here, is that I have to reset that every day so that I don't show fewer miles logged for "office" days, no? I definitely walk at a much more intense pace...about 4.0mi/hr sometimes 4.2 when I am walking my 5-6 miles. How can I make that transition for accurate accounting easy?

Thank you.

I'd suggest reposting that in it's own topic so it's actually seen in the new posts. It won't be seen here.
Check your manual for your device - there is a button.

winterjade

Just a quick question. I synced my fitbit one yesterday and my steps and calorie burn showed under the exercise tab YAY! but today I had more steps and a higher caloric burn, but nothing showed in today's exercise diary? is there something special that I need to do to make it show every day?

gibinel

"Am I doubling up on calories by manually logging a workout, what about the activity record from the device?"

About the above issue, I'm not clear about this. So i go to the gym workout for about 60 min, then when i finish do i also log "weights lifting" on fitbit dashboard? (so doing this it doesn't double my calories burned?).
Also i see that active minutes do double, or am I wrong?
And the last question, how do i know the difference between "low intensity" and "high intensity" weight lifting, what's the difference??

heybales

winterjade wrote: »

Just a quick question. I synced my fitbit one yesterday and my steps and calorie burn showed under the exercise tab YAY! but today I had more steps and a higher caloric burn, but nothing showed in today's exercise diary? is there something special that I need to do to make it show every day?

Hope there isn't a syncing issue with your account.

No, normally you don't change a thing - all automatic.

heybales

Yes log lifting manually no matter what device.
The activity record that is already showing prior to your manual logging is a snapshot of Fitbit stats for that chunk of time.
Your manually logging replaces only calories in the daily totals. Those other stats are already a developed picture, they don't change. But unless curious about steps and distance during lifting - not really useful either, you already got the calories logged.
Active minutes don't double.
Low is like deload weeks, purposely light, not almost failing by last reps on last set.
High is the normal lifting, heavy for you, should be failing almost.

gibinel

heybales wrote: »

Yes log lifting manually no matter what device.
The activity record that is already showing prior to your manual logging is a snapshot of Fitbit stats for that chunk of time.
Your manually logging replaces only calories in the daily totals. Those other stats are already a developed picture, they don't change. But unless curious about steps and distance during lifting - not really useful either, you already got the calories logged.
Active minutes don't double.
Low is like deload weeks, purposely light, not almost failing by last reps on last set.
High is the normal lifting, heavy for you, should be failing almost.

Thank a lot for the answer. I think i understand now

winterjade

Thank you haybales Looks like it was user error...and it is all good now. Although for the day that it did not sync, it still does not show my step adjustment, so I assume that when you sync and update it is just for the current day?

Robbnva

Nvm

swky99

njpatentdad wrote: »

Thanks for the post heybales. I was a little confused on how to record a particular workout even though all the info is in the original post. I will set out my question and answer in case its helpful.

I logged a workout on the Fitbit Charge HR while using an elliptical that took into account my weight, age, HR (had chest strap too). Periodically, I compared HRs and they corresponded very well each time. At the end of the workout the machine reported about 1100 calorie burn while the fitbit app reported about 649.

From heybales helpful post, I concluded that elliptical is not step based and so is given to inaccuracy. Since the machine manufactures account for machine resistance, had HR, weight and age, it should be much more accurate.

So how to switch the 649 for the 1100?
The trick is to make sure the data entered is a switch and not an addition. In the fitbit app you can enter the time started and duration. That information is reported for the workout I recorded and so the manual entry I made with the machine reported 1100 calories had the same time stamp information and fitbit could do the swap, make the adjustments and report it out to MFP. I dont recall ever seeing timestamp info in MFP so I could not figure how I would have edited there. All that was in my exercise log there was the daily adjustment and not a workout.

Thanks.

I don't see an exact time stamp of my exercise on the elliptical yesterday but I just happened to know exactly when I started from the TV show on at the gym and double checking my highest heart rates on FB app, so I get much lower calorie results from the Fitbit app than the elliptical shows. I tried substituting like you suggest by adding a new manual entry for yesterday at almost to the minute start time. When I entered it as elliptical the app showed my 25 minutes should total 145 calories which actually almost exactly matches the elliptical machine readout (with just pressing my charge HR button, the calories were 79). After substituting, it still showed both a workout and elliptical during yesterday for 25 minutes, so I deleted the automated entry. I was surprised to see that my heart rate data was still intact exactly as before but for this elliptical exercise instead. There's a calories burned tab that changed as well as an Impact tab which also changed.

This seems more accurate. Do you think there is a way to enter elliptical at the time we start the exercise? I don't even bring my cell phone to the machine. So I use the long press on the charge to start the exercise.

heybales

No there isn't. A manual entry is overwriting existing data. If that data doesn't exist yet I'm not sure what happens, but I suppose you could test. But not a good idea probably.
And true, once you make a manual workout to correct the calorie burn, the activity record really isn't needed with bad calorie info and distance info, though the steps could be useful I suppose down the road to compare. Then again with changing tension, probably not that either.