Fitbit exercise logging question

JennyL791

I'm new to Fitbit and only slightly less new to MFP. Before I got my One I would log my exercise on MFP by stating what I did and for how long. MFP would give me an approximation of how many calories I burned, so if I did my c25k workout, which is a combo of running and walking, I'd figure out how much total time I spent running, log that, then how much total time walking and log that. Now that I have the Fitbit, I know I only log exercise there, but am I right that I just start running and the One figures it all out for me automatically? Can it tell the difference between running and walking? If I'm alternating will it log more calories when I run, less when I walk, then more, then less, etc? Am I way overthinking this LOL?

NancyN795

To answer your questions directly : Yes, yes, yes, and maybe.

The One uses the speed and intensity of your steps to decide how many calories you're burning and what stride length to give it. Getting stride length exactly correct is probably impossible, but adjusting it so that is close enough is important because there's a direct correlation between what distance Fitbit thinks your traveled and how many calories it thinks you burned. (The Charge HR and Surge also use heart rate to determine calorie burn.)

If you read the FAQ, there is a good, treadmill based, guide for setting your stride length. I think it is better than the advice Fitbit gives on their site for setting it.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10098937/faq-syncing-logging-food-exercise-calorie-adjustments-activity-levels-accuracy/p1

If you press and hold the button on your One before you start your workout and then press and hold it at the end, you can take a closer look at the workout in your Fitbit log. You'll be able to see the difference between when you were running and when you were walking.

editorgrrl

You can log your exercise in MFP rather than Fitbit, if you prefer. Exercise logged in MFP overwrites your Fitbit burn during that time.

heybales

I do a training run that is jog / walk for distance - and usually don't even pay attention to Fitbit stats since I'm going to log more correct HRM/GPS based stats.

I've been shocked how correct it is (within 5% usually) on distance despite that back and forth pace.
Calorie count for today's 90 min 9 mile was only 17 calories.

It's better the longer I go, my short 3 mile runs are off a tad more, which just means it's time to adjust the running stride again if I care too. But running stride length doesn't effect my daily calories - walking stride length does.