syncing MFP and fitbit
HOOVEY17
Posts: 59 Member
My food that is entered on MFP transfers to my fitbit fine but if I enter in exercise on MFP, I feel like it doubles because those steps have already been counted on fitbit. So I have just been using MFP to enter my food and I also don't add exercise to fitbit because it's already tracking those steps, is this correct?
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Close. Read the sticky FAQ in the group for lots of detail. It is long, but worth it.
I log all my food in MFP, and all my exercise in FitBit. Since most of what I do is step based (walking, Zumba), I don't long very much manually. However, if you do exercises that aren't step based - yoga, bicycling, weight lifting, swimming - you will want to log those exercises manually either in FitBit (preferred by most of us here) or MFP, but not both.
If you log something that is step based in MFP, it won't double count. What you enter just over-writes what your FitBit recorded. So, you don't need to do that but it doesn't hurt as long as you get the calorie count right. However, you might as well not log it in MFP and trust FitBit with the calorie counting. That's why you've got it.0 -
I have just been using MFP to enter my food and I also don't add exercise to fitbit because it's already tracking those steps, is this correct?
No need to log any step-based activity, since your Fitbit is already tracking it for you. Non-step exercise (like swimming or biking) can be logged either in Fitbit or in MFP—never both.
Exercise logged in MFP overwrites your Fitbit burn during that time, so there's never any "double-dipping."0 -
Nancy 75
I just synced my Fitbit with MFP. The problem i have is there is no "+" count on my exercise. All that appears is a negative. Instead of adding to my calories still left it takes away from the calories. Which doesn't make sense.![:\](https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/resources/emoji/confused.png ":\")
Cam you shed some light. I'm really confused. 0 -
If you burn fewer calories than your MFP activity level, you will get negative calorie adjustments. Move more, or lower your activity level: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided
Click on any adjustment to see the math MFP used to calculate it.0 -
I see when I make the adjustment for my activity the calories change. I also updated the diet profile using the link you attached. I saw the change. I kinda understand that part.
The one that's throwing me for a loop is in the exercise category. It shows my FB tracker calorie adjustment with no calories burned. It has a 0 with *. When I go to fitbit app it shows calories burned. Shouldn't those calories show in my exercise section on my Diary?
Thanks for your help and patience.
My mind is at a loss. Can't seem to grasp this.0 -
I see when I make the adjustment for my activity the calories change. I also updated the diet profile using the link you attached. I saw the change. I kinda understand that part.
The one that's throwing me for a loop is in the exercise category. It shows my FB tracker calorie adjustment with no calories burned. It has a 0 with *. When I go to fitbit app it shows calories burned. Shouldn't those calories show in my exercise section on my Diary?
Thanks for your help and patience.
My mind is at a loss. Can't seem to grasp this.
Your fitbit calorie burn has to be higher than your MFP calorie burn to see an adjustment.
Click the little "i" next to where it says Fitbit Calorie Adjustment and it will show you the math breakdown.0 -
I see that so in la men's terms. With the FB I have to exceed the calories MFP has put for the whole day.
If so, Why does it do that? It seems real complicated. I thought it would just track my calories burned and put it in the exercise section of my MFP diary and be a positive. leaving me with a higher calorie remaining.0 -
Thanks shadow2soul0
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I see that so in la men's terms. With the FB I have to exceed the calories MFP has put for the whole day.
If so, Why does it do that? It seems real complicated. I thought it would just track my calories burned and put it in the exercise section of my MFP diary and be a positive. leaving me with a higher calorie remaining.
Because your calorie goal on MFP already accounts for a certain number of calories burned. You only want your adjustment to be what is extra or you'd end up double counting by a large chunk.
MFP estimates your calories burned by taking your BMR and adding some calories for daily activity based on whatever activity level you selected.
Fitbit gives you an estimated TDEE which includes BMR + daily activity + exercise.
Because MFP already accounts for your BMR + some daily activity, you want Fitbit to only give you calories above what is already taken into account. If Fitbit added your full TDEE to your exercise log, you would end up double counting BMR (which is a large chunk of your calorie burn) and some daily activity calories.
An example:
MFP estimates 1990 calorie burn for me without exercise. Lightly Active Setting.
Based on MFP BMR calculator, approx 1421 calories of that is my BMR. MFP gives me 569 calories to account for daily activity.
Fitbit estimates 2830 calorie burn for me yesterday with exercise. Fitbit gives me approx 1440 calories for my BMR. I burned approx 508 on the treadmill and 882 calories were from daily activity.
Fitbit and MFP have both counted BMR. So I don't want Fitbit to add that to my day.
MFP has counted 569 for daily activity. So about 550 of the daily activity calories from Fitbit (because of BMR difference of 19 calories) is already counted. So Fitbit should only add what MFP hasn't counted which would be 332 for daily activity and 508 for exercise. So what it adds is the extra calories that it would be safe for me to consume.
Here is a visual for you:
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Sweet!!!
First, thanks for the clarification.
For the most part it's making a lot of sense. You cleared a lot of things up. Thanks alot!!!
The 508 (in the image) that's in red, this is going to be a positive. It will be added to the remaining calories in MFP as a positive, right?
The negative that gets added is because you have not reached or passed what MFP has put as for the whole day calories. Would it mean that since you haven't passed those calories set by the activity and MFP it's a minus, lessening your remaining calories so you stay within your daily calories. Am I understanding correctly?
So, it would be best to check the box for negative adjustments?0 -
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Thanks!!! Makes complete sense now.0
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Sweet!!! First, thanks for the clarification.
For the most part it's making a lot of sense. You cleared a lot of things up. Thanks alot!!!
The 508 (in the image) that's in red, this is going to be a positive. It will be added to the remaining calories in MFP as a positive, right?
Correct. I just picked different colors to show the difference between the daily activity, exercise, and BMR. In the picture above, a total of 840 calories was added to my log. (508 from exercise plus the fact that I was more active in daily life got me an additional 332)
Yep. If you have negative adjustments enabled it will take away calories when you don't meet MFP's expectations. It does this to keep you at a constant deficit (500, 750, 1000 or whatever custom deficit you have). I leave it enabled, because for me it's a nice reminder to be active. When it's not enabled and you don't meet MFP's expectation, your deficit will get smaller.The negative that gets added is because you have not reached or passed what MFP has put as for the whole day calories. Would it mean that since you haven't passed those calories set by the activity and MFP it's a minus, lessening your remaining calories so you stay within your daily calories. Am I understanding correctly?
So, it would be best to check the box for negative adjustments?0
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