question about tracking steps vs exercise

TuraCasey

i have been using the fitbit for a couple of weeks now and i am not sure if i should be wearing it while i workout or not. it seems to me that my calorie burn is being counted twice. i got to thinking about this since i am supposed to track food and exercise here and steps and sleep on the fitbit. so, should i take off my tracker for my workout and enter it on here and then put it back on for non workout activity?

editorgrrl

Leave your Fitbit on. Log your workouts either in Fitbit or in MFP—never both. Exercise logged in MFP overwrites your Fitbit burn during that time, so you never double-dip your calorie burns.

shadow2soul

As long as you are logging the correct start time and duration, you won't be double dipping (like editorgrrl said).

Here's an example of what happens using a 1 calorie burn:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8duevx9y9TY&feature=youtu.be

NancyN795

I recommend that you read the FAQ written by heybales that you can find in the stickies for the group.

Most of us with Fitbits only log food on MFP. We use Fitbit to track all of our exercise. Some people do exercise that can't be tracked properly by their Fitbits, and only then do they log it manually - usually using the Fitbit site, not MFP.

I know that MFP told you, when you connected your Fitbit to your MFP account, that you should log your exercise in MFP, but it is unnecessary. As long as your manual entry is accurate, it doesn't hurt - as editorgrrl and shadow2soul already said - because when you log it manually in MFP that info gets sent to Fitbit and it overwrites what Fitbit detected for that period, but it is extra work. The only way it is bad is if you log too many calories as burned when you do that manual logging (for instance, the MFP database is said to frequently award way too many calories for some exercises). Then you're overwriting Fitbit's accurate estimate with a less accurate, inflated estimate and you could end up eating too many calories.

The great thing about having a Fitbit, IMO, is NOT having to worry about logging most exercise. It does it for me and gives me a reasonably accurate estimate of how many calories I burn each day.

indianne

I work out on an elliptical machine and my fitbit charge doesnt track those steps or calories accurately. This is a known issue on fitbit - their FAQ says that the Charge doesnt track "non step" exercises well. So I'm entering the calories burned from my elliptical machine as a manual entry into MFP. Am I double dipping?

NancyN795

indianne wrote: »

I work out on an elliptical machine and my fitbit charge doesnt track those steps or calories accurately. This is a known issue on fitbit - their FAQ says that the Charge doesnt track "non step" exercises well. So I'm entering the calories burned from my elliptical machine as a manual entry into MFP. Am I double dipping?

No, you're not double dipping. MFP will send the start time, duration and calories that you enter over to Fitbit and Fitbit will overwrite the data it has for that time with the data from MFP.

However, most of us would log it as a manual entry into Fitbit instead. I understand their exercise database is considered to be a bit better.

I recommend that you read the FAQ that heybales wrote, that you can find in the stickies for the group. It explains this - and much more - in detail.

retirehappy

And when you do manually add an activity like the aerobics example, your active minutes will decrease. In case that is something that matters to you.

I just go by what Fitbit says. If I do burn a few more cals. because something isn't step based. I just figure that adds to my weekly deficit and don't worry about it. I eat some, not all of my exercise cals. most days, anyway. I am tracking the 1 lbs per week very well so far and I am over 60+, we have a hard time with consistent results in weight loss. YMMV.

And do as Nancy says and read the FAQ, it is rich with good information. Thanks to Heybales for your efforts in creating it.