Fitbit - map my walk advice.
MrsNonsense
Posts: 55 Member
I have a Fitbit Charge HR and I've been using it 24/7, but for walks/hikes/runs I also use Mapmywalk.
I went on a hike today, 4.2 miles, using both my Fitbit and the MMW app. A while into the hike I checked both and Fitbit said 500ish cals vs 700ish from MMW.
At the end of the hike it logged 900ish cals, I didn't check on My band, I'm sure it's from MMW.
Been reading the FAQ and, for what I saw, MMW replaces whatever Fitbit says. Is there a way to fix this?
Is MMW reliable at all? Should I keep using both or just Fitbit?
And should I enter my results from yoga manually on Fitbit, go with what the band says or use MMW for that?
Sorry about all the questions but I'm very confused
I've had my band for about two weeks now, so definitely still learning the ropes.
I went on a hike today, 4.2 miles, using both my Fitbit and the MMW app. A while into the hike I checked both and Fitbit said 500ish cals vs 700ish from MMW.
At the end of the hike it logged 900ish cals, I didn't check on My band, I'm sure it's from MMW.
Been reading the FAQ and, for what I saw, MMW replaces whatever Fitbit says. Is there a way to fix this?
Is MMW reliable at all? Should I keep using both or just Fitbit?
And should I enter my results from yoga manually on Fitbit, go with what the band says or use MMW for that?
Sorry about all the questions but I'm very confused
I've had my band for about two weeks now, so definitely still learning the ropes.
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Replies
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In my experience mapmywalk is not very accurate for both distance and calorie burn. Runkeeper was very accurate (even when compared with a GPS watch). But you should be able to edit the calories that mapmywalk puts into mfp, I know I'm able to for runkeeper.0
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Should I switch to run keeper then? Or just stick to Fitbit only?0
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MrsNonsense wrote: »Been reading the FAQ and, for what I saw, MMW replaces whatever Fitbit says. Is there a way to fix this?
Is MMW reliable at all? Should I keep using both or just Fitbit?
And should I enter my results from yoga manually on Fitbit, go with what the band says or use MMW for that?
The only way to stop MMW from overwriting your Fitbit burn is to disconnect your accounts.
I would just trust your Fitbit & stop using MMW, but it'll take trial & error to find what works for you.
Fitbit tracks step-based activity. You need to log non-step exercise—including yoga. Since MMW is for walking, I definitely wouldn't log it there.0 -
editorgrrl wrote: »MrsNonsense wrote: »Been reading the FAQ and, for what I saw, MMW replaces whatever Fitbit says. Is there a way to fix this?
Is MMW reliable at all? Should I keep using both or just Fitbit?
And should I enter my results from yoga manually on Fitbit, go with what the band says or use MMW for that?
The only way to stop MMW from overwriting your Fitbit burn is to disconnect your accounts.
I would just trust your Fitbit & stop using MMW, but it'll take trial & error to find what works for you.
Fitbit tracks step-based activity. You need to log non-step exercise—including yoga. Since MMW is for walking, I definitely wouldn't log it there.
The reason why I was using MMW for Yoga is because MMW has a huge list of activities, including yoga. Figured it'd accurate.
How do I know how many calories I burn during yoga in order to manually log them on Fitbit?
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You don't manually log burns in Fitbit—it calculates them for you. In the app, tap the tile that says "Track exercise," then the stopwatch at top right. Choose your activity, start time & duration. Then tap "Add" at top right.0
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I'm not sure why, but for me, MMW doesn't seem to override my FitBit burn. Or, if it does, I can't tell. The accounts are linked. When I take my daily walk, I start up MMW and put my FitBit into exercise mode. MMW almost always thinks I burned more calories than FitBit, but it isn't so far off that I worry about which one is right (or which one is used).0
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Since you have the HR, you don't have to manually add yoga.
Just use the start button in the band to put it into activity mode. When you're done, push the button again and it will automatically add to Fitbit. You can then go in and just adjust the name.
FItBit just bought Fitstar or soemthing that also does yoga programs. that will be integrated as well0 -
editorgrrl wrote: »You don't manually log burns in Fitbit—it calculates them for you. In the app, tap the tile that says "Track exercise," then the stopwatch at top right. Choose your activity, start time & duration. Then tap "Add" at top right.
The Fitbit phone app will also give you an experience similar to MapMyWalk, with GPS overview map, pace, and, a final map (preserved in your walks for posterity) with a red line showing your route. I discovered this quite by accident and then uninstalled MMW. I noticed that as soon as I made this switch, my calories earned by exercise (which seemed too high) lowered by a good amount. I assume this is because Fitbit now knows my pace and heart rate during these walks.0 -
Thanks! How long does it take to adjust? For example, I went on a hike today, used runkeeper (it's connected to MFP but not Fitbit) and my band (connected just to MFP). At first it said I burned 1200 cals, then it went down to 200ish a few minutes later. An hour later was 370, now it's 400. Runkeeper said 545cals.
i stopped my Fitbit over half way into the hike cause we were sitting, so it's 303 cals first leg, 214 cals last leg, wth.
Now it says 405 so it keeps going up. Is it still adjusting? I'm probably stupid but I swear I don't understand what's going on.
I'm about to uninstall run keeper and just stick to Fitbit because this is confusing.0 -
editorgrrl wrote: »You don't manually log burns in Fitbit—it calculates them for you. In the app, tap the tile that says "Track exercise," then the stopwatch at top right. Choose your activity, start time & duration. Then tap "Add" at top right.
The Fitbit phone app will also give you an experience similar to MapMyWalk, with GPS overview map, pace, and, a final map (preserved in your walks for posterity) with a red line showing your route. I discovered this quite by accident and then uninstalled MMW. I noticed that as soon as I made this switch, my calories earned by exercise (which seemed too high) lowered by a good amount. I assume this is because Fitbit now knows my pace and heart rate during these walks.
This is the perfect time to adjust your stride length, which must be off if it lowered by that much. If you only walked, it was probably still step based calorie burn, but the distance between what Fitbit calculated based on stride length, and what GPS saw, were not that close.
Now, I would only do the test with a straight line walk, because you add corners, and a 15 ft accuracy on GPS can start jacking up the distance pretty bad. Add trees, buildings, clouds, ect, and it may not be that accurate after all.
When using the GPS aspect, you may also notice the steps lowering, and active or very active minutes go down.
That's actually the main complaint about that on Fitbit's site, so people generally stop using it.
Because when that workout is logged from the GPS data, it's as if its a manually logged workout, steps, distance, calorie burn all replaced by that data rather than what Fitbit saw and estimated.0 -
MrsNonsense wrote: »I'm about to uninstall run keeper and just stick to Fitbit because this is confusing.
That's what I would do—at least until you understand how MFP works once you connect a Fitbit to your account. Eventually you can experiment by connecting Runkeeper to Fitbit (not to MFP)—or not.0 -
MrsNonsense wrote: »Thanks! How long does it take to adjust? For example, I went on a hike today, used runkeeper (it's connected to MFP but not Fitbit) and my band (connected just to MFP). At first it said I burned 1200 cals, then it went down to 200ish a few minutes later. An hour later was 370, now it's 400. Runkeeper said 545cals.
i stopped my Fitbit over half way into the hike cause we were sitting, so it's 303 cals first leg, 214 cals last leg, wth.
Now it says 405 so it keeps going up. Is it still adjusting? I'm probably stupid but I swear I don't understand what's going on.
I'm about to uninstall run keeper and just stick to Fitbit because this is confusing.
It appears you are also misunderstanding what that MFP Exercise Diary entry is for Fitbit calorie adjustment.
It is NOT your exercise.
This explains the basics, and second section touches on what you are seeing.
Be aware that when manual entries are involved, there is an obvious time lag before data is updated everywhere and synced around.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10098937/faq-syncing-logging-food-exercise-calorie-adjustments-activity-levels-accuracy
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