MFP and FitBit

ChelleBelle2708

Apologies if this has been asked before, I'm very new and easily confused!

I've been using MFP to log my food and start logging activity. I've just started Couch25K program and also attending a Gym.
I have purchased the FitBit Charge HR and synced them together. How is best to keep track of the calories used and activity I do etc. (Hope that makes sense)
Also I'm 79kg and want to get down to 70kg how do I work out how many calories I should actually be ratting against the activity/excercise I am doing?
Thanks x

DemoraFairy

If all your exercise is things like walking and running, then you can just go by what the Fitbit says. If you've synced it to your account then it should add extra calories burnt automatically for you, you don't then need to manually add things like going for a run yourself.

If you're doing other exercise like weight lifting that your Fitbit doesn't measure you'll need to add that in yourself. That said, I'm not sure if you need to do that if you've got a heart rate monitor, I just know you need to do that with Fitbits like the One and the Flex. Someone else may know.

Go by the calories MFP has recommended for you. With a Fitbit you're usually ok to eat back all your exercise calories as they tend to be quite accurate (often if people are using the calories estimated by MFP they eat 50-80% instead of all of them as MFP tends to overestimate). I have a Fitbit One and eat all of mine back.

ChelleBelle2708

Thank you... my activity will be mainly walking, jogging and running for now. I have the Charge HR which has heart rate monitor too.

So to clarify... MFP has recommended I eat 1870 calories a day in order to loose 9kg over a period of time. Do I then set my FitBit at 1870 calories too?
I went through the Food Plan and its saying I can have 2050 calories per day

Wow, this is confusing! I suffer bad brain fog so find it hard to understand technical stuff like this!

Katiebear_81

I do it a little bit different with my CHR. I enter everything into MFP that I eat, however, I use the calorie allotment on my fitbit, as it adjusts through the day. You can see this all really easily by downloading the app. I find that MFP gives me more calories than fitbit, and I figure it's a bit better to under eat the exercise calories so I go by the fitbit. You can set weightloss goals through the fitbit, too.

When you're exercising, hold the button down until it vibrates, and it will log your exercise for you. You get far fewer calories for non-step activities (lifting), but it still recognizes that you're exercises.

Katiebear_81

You can set to a "harder" weightloss goal on your fitbit, and it will reduce the calories (which will look more like MFP levels).

DemoraFairy

ChelleBelle2708 wrote: »

Thank you... my activity will be mainly walking, jogging and running for now. I have the Charge HR which has heart rate monitor too.

So to clarify... MFP has recommended I eat 1870 calories a day in order to loose 9kg over a period of time. Do I then set my FitBit at 1870 calories too?
I went through the Food Plan and its saying I can have 2050 calories per day

Wow, this is confusing! I suffer bad brain fog so find it hard to understand technical stuff like this!

I've never really touched the food plan on the Fitbit website, I just go by MFP and let Fitbit add on extra calories burnt.

ChelleBelle2708

Thank you both... how do I make them both the same then?

and thank you for telling me how to record activity... I hadn't got that far LOL. I'm hoping to try it out properly tomorrow when work are doing our first group run for Couch25K!

HOOVEY17

When you're exercising, hold the button down until it vibrates, and it will log your exercise for you. You get far fewer calories for non-step activities (lifting), but it still recognizes that you're exercises.
[/quote]

Is there a way to log exercise on the fitbit flex? There isn't a button to hold down?

HOOVEY17

is there a way to track exercise with the fitbit flex?

shadow2soul

HOOVEY17 wrote: »

is there a way to track exercise with the fitbit flex?

@Hoovey17 tap it the same way you would to put it into sleep mode. The flex can tell the difference between a sleep log and an activity log by the amount of steps. Little to no steps = must be sleep, sleep log is created. Lots of steps = must be doing something active, Activity Log gets created.

HOOVEY17

thanks!

jessicawood172

DemoraFairy wrote: »

If all your exercise is things like walking and running, then you can just go by what the Fitbit says. If you've synced it to your account then it should add extra calories burnt automatically for you, you don't then need to manually add things like going for a run yourself.

If you're doing other exercise like weight lifting that your Fitbit doesn't measure you'll need to add that in yourself. That said, I'm not sure if you need to do that if you've got a heart rate monitor, I just know you need to do that with Fitbits like the One and the Flex. Someone else may know.

Go by the calories MFP has recommended for you. With a Fitbit you're usually ok to eat back all your exercise calories as they tend to be quite accurate (often if people are using the calories estimated by MFP they eat 50-80% instead of all of them as MFP tends to overestimate). I have a Fitbit One and eat all of mine back.

Hey y'all, how do I link Mfp to my fit bit charge hr?

ChelleBelle2708

Just go to the app section on MFP and FitBit will show up as a device you can sync with, then press connect.

ChelleBelle2708

So I think it's worked...

MFP synced with FitBit at 2359 and last stats showed....

Under exercise section in MFP is says... Fit bit total calories burned 2434 (this is same as FitBit shows)
MyFitnessPal calories 1914
FitBit calorie adjustment 520

Guessing this is all present and correct.

So idea is I use MFP to log food and track calories. Aim to eat up to 80% exercise calories given! and only log exercise through FitBit.

I think I'm finally getting it lol