FitBit stopped working - how to log on MFP

ChelleBelle2708

FitBit charge HR seems to have died... it had battery but screen wouldn't turn on, and now HR lights have gone off too.

How do I log my average day of steps on MFP without it? I plan to go for a run at lunchtime, but I have Garmin for that which total's calories burned, distance etc

editorgrrl

Did you contact Fitbit customer service? They'll walk you through the troubleshooting steps, and replace your Charge HR if it's defective.

Your Fitbit burn is TDEE, so if you average your last 10 days of burns (or look at your last weekly Fitbit report) then subtract your deficit (250 calories for every 25 lbs. you're overweight), that's how many calories you can eat every day.

But do not add your running calories—they're included in your TDEE. Eating them back would be double-dipping.

ChelleBelle2708

haven't called them yet. Someone on FitBit forum has told me how to reset it which I'll do when I get home as I don't have charging cable to do it. Fingers crossed all will be ok

I got by my calorie allowance on MFP which is 1600 calories... obviously its not logging my steps like it would do normally. That said I have just been for run and Garmin has said I have burnt 360 calories, so i guess for today I could just pretend to "add them" on to the 1600 I get - would that be right?

So I can't log what my garmin is saying? as an activity

NancyN795

Log what your Garmin is saying as an activity, absolutely.

I think you can switch MFP to getting steps from your phone (although I'm not sure of how to do that) - assuming you always have your phone on you - but that won't affect calorie burn. So, I suspect that editorgrrl's advice is the way to go until your Fitbit is working again. Look at your TDEE for the past few days, subtract off your deficit, adjust up or down by a reasonable amount if today's activity is unusually high or low compared to your typical day, and eat that. You could even log your estimated adjustment into MFP so that it doesn't look like you've exceeded your calorie goal.

ChelleBelle2708

ok so looking over the days where I run for 30mins (I'm doing Couch 2 5k) i'm burning an average 650 calories - steps, running etc. So I guessing I can say I have my usual 1600 calories for the day, plus 650 calories for running/steps I would have got from FitBit

Does that sound about right?

How would I log those additional calories? I've added my Garmin ones (330 calories) as jogging at xMPH which gave me same amount of burnt calories.

NancyN795

You could either add a custom exercise or choose something like walking. You'll need to choose an arbitrary start time and duration and manually enter the calories (which would be 650 average adjustment-330 Garmin=320 estimated adjustment). If you choose an exercise from the database, such as walking, you could pick a duration that will give you that calorie adjustment.

Funny how dependent we become on these devices, isn't it? I love having a reasonably accurate assessment of how many calories I burn. I hope yours comes back to life with a reset.

ChelleBelle2708

Thank you for your help, will do that... and yes, I couldn't move when I realised it had stopped working. I love it too much... just hope it works again.