Anyone using Garmin VivoFit? Have questions.

uvi5

I just got my Garmin VivoFit and set it up (not yet with MFP). I have been wearing it and syncing it (testing how it works) walking to bathroom, kitchen...etc. It's already given me 116 steps and 114 calories burned. I have my goal set to 10000 steps. This seems like a lot of burned calories for 116 steps. I'm a bit confused still. I just installed it and am wearing it now. Anyhow, if any users of this can give me some tips, I'd so appreciate it:) Below is the print screen of what I got now after syncing the device.

martina1606

Have long have you had it on for? Because you burn calories even when you are not taking steps.. ?

uvi5

martina1606 wrote: »

Have long have you had it on for? Because you burn calories even when you are not taking steps.. ?

I just got it yesterday. Set it up a few hours ago. I'm still reading stuff about it now. I put in weight, height, gender, birthdate. I understand that we all burn a certain amount of cals (bmr), but I am reluctant to sync with mfp, because it's showing every calorie burned. I've been up and about tonight (or this morning actually) and it has me at 264 steps @ 253 calories burned. I set my goal for 10000 steps (although i believe I'm doing much more before I got this yesterday), just to test it. Anyway, I have much to learn about this device. I can return it in (now) 14 days to walmart, if I don't like it. So far it seems to be funtioning well. I only would eat calories i intentionally burn and only about 1/2 at that.

martina1606

Sound about right then. When I wake in the morning, my fitbit is usually showing between 400-500 calories burned. That's since midnight.
Have you actually measured how many steps you take in 2 or 3 metres?
You can set it so that its more accurate

uvi5

martina1606 wrote: »

Sound about right then. When I wake in the morning, my fitbit is usually showing between 400-500 calories burned. That's since midnight.
Have you actually measured how many steps you take in 2 or 3 metres?
You can set it so that its more accurate

no, not yet. is that for stride? I will check this when i wake. going into sleep mode now. thank you very much

laropmet

it doesn't add every single calorie you burn. It only adds activity calories to MFP. If I go for a walk for about 30 minutes, I'll get around 40 extra calories

macgurlnet

I'm assuming the vivofit does the same thing as my Fitbit - it shows your TDEE calories (as of the current time) in its dashboard, and forwards on adjustments to MFP if/as needed.

You may find that the numbers are pretty close by the end of the day. Earlier in the day they probably will be different.

~Lyssa

uvi5

So it's normal to wake up to 500 calories burned and 247 steps made? It's probably odd to me right now, because I am doing the NEAT method on Mfp. But, it's startng to make sense. I think

uvi5

I just linked garmin with Mfp. The top left corner of the below screenshot is garmin dashboard with what it says on my device, the top right corner is the Mfp linked, and the bottom is Mfp. Will it only show earned calories after a certain amount burned? Anyhow, still learning to use this. Seems quite cool once I understand what I'm reading and looking at. Thanks again all

laropmet

yes it's normal to have woken up with 500 calories burned. You are still fueling your body while you sleep. 250 steps seems a little high but I guess that depends on how far away your bedroom is from your bathroom. Are you putting it into sleep mode before you go to sleep. If not it may be counting sleep movements as steps.

It'll show all calories burned based on your RMR, which you set up when you input'ed your age and weight etc. The vivofit works out how many calories you burn over the course of the day and counts them up as you go through your day. If your activity level is higher than your vivofit expects for sedentary behaviour you are rewarded with extra cals (woohoo). So you go for several walks through the day your calories will increase as you go through your day. There is no magic number that you hit, then suddenly get extra calories. It's more of a cumulative thing.

I do think that it calculates calorie burn a touch on the high side though. If I walk 10 miles I'm rewarded with 500 extra calories. But it's more likely to be around the 300 calories, so watch how much of the calories you eat back.

uvi5

laropmet wrote: »

yes it's normal to have woken up with 500 calories burned. You are still fueling your body while you sleep. 250 steps seems a little high but I guess that depends on how far away your bedroom is from your bathroom. Are you putting it into sleep mode before you go to sleep. If not it may be counting sleep movements as steps.

It'll show all calories burned based on your RMR, which you set up when you input'ed your age and weight etc. The vivofit works out how many calories you burn over the course of the day and counts them up as you go through your day. If your activity level is higher than your vivofit expects for sedentary behaviour you are rewarded with extra cals (woohoo). So you go for several walks through the day your calories will increase as you go through your day. There is no magic number that you hit, then suddenly get extra calories. It's more of a cumulative thing.

I do think that it calculates calorie burn a touch on the high side though. If I walk 10 miles I'm rewarded with 500 extra calories. But it's more likely to be around the 300 calories, so watch how much of the calories you eat back.

I've been running errons (spelling??) and earned 98 calories extra so far I have not done any intential workouts yet today. I'm taking it easy. I walked a lot yesterday and did not sleep much, learning about my new toy Thank you again for your help