FitBit sync question

llkristyll

I have my FitBit synced to the MFP app. It will create a calorie adjustment according to the data it's pulling in from my FB. Is it necessary for me to log my daily walks as "Exercise" in MFP? I've noticed that after my walk, I'll get a positive calorie adjustment for 100-300 upon syncing with my FB. BUT then if I log any cardio I do (usually in the form of pilates, push-ups or sit-ups), it will decrease my calorie adjustment. So it's almost like I'm getting "penalized" when I'm logging exercise. I'm sure there's a perfectly simple algorithm for all this, but I'm curious as to what it is. Should I still log all my exercise then sync at the end of the day and let it adjust calories at that time?

ktekc

think if you log excersize it overwrites the calories burnt from fitbit for that time period. . not sure

naynaytater

Don't log step based activity as exercise and log any other exercise you do in the FB app and not MFP. It will then sync up to MFP correctly.

Christine_72

Log food in mfp, log exercise in fitbit.

@editorgrrl is really helpful at explaining the specifics.

Have you checked out mfp's fitbit group? There's tons of info in the FAQ sections

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

editorgrrl

llkristyll wrote: »

I have my FitBit synced to the MFP app. It will create a calorie adjustment according to the data it's pulling in from my FB. Is it necessary for me to log my daily walks as "Exercise" in MFP?

No need to log any step-based activity—your Fitbit is tracking it for you. Log non-step exercise (like swimming or biking) either in Fitbit or in MFP—never both. Exercise logged in MFP overwrites your Fitbit burn during that time.

You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

shadow2soul

llkristyll wrote: »

I have my FitBit synced to the MFP app. It will create a calorie adjustment according to the data it's pulling in from my FB. Is it necessary for me to log my daily walks as "Exercise" in MFP? I've noticed that after my walk, I'll get a positive calorie adjustment for 100-300 upon syncing with my FB. BUT then if I log any cardio I do (usually in the form of pilates, push-ups or sit-ups), it will decrease my calorie adjustment. So it's almost like I'm getting "penalized" when I'm logging exercise. I'm sure there's a perfectly simple algorithm for all this, but I'm curious as to what it is. Should I still log all my exercise then sync at the end of the day and let it adjust calories at that time?

So your Fitbit calorie adjustment is a comparison of your Fitbit TDEE and what MFP expected your TDEE to be.
Logging exercise in MFP increases MFP's estimated TDEE for you.
Fitbit is fairly accurate with walking/running calorie burns, so there isn't really any need to log them at all.

A more technical break down of Fitbit adjustments:

MFP expects that I will burn 1859 calories by midnight based on my activity Level being set at Lightly Active.
This breaks down to:

• 77.45xxx per hour
• 1.29xxxx per minute

Fitbit sent over a calorie burn of 1315 @ 4:40 pm.
Since there is still 7hrs 20 mins left in the day, MFP does this:

• 7 * 77.45 = 542.15
• 20*1.29 =25.8

542 + 25 = 567
1315 + 567 = 1882
MFP expects that Fitbit will send over a calorie burn of 1882 at the end of the day.
Currently with no exercise logged the adjustment is 1882 - 1859 = 23 calories.

If I log a workout on MFP, that let say burns 200 calories.
My expected burn on MFP becomes 1859 plus 200 for a total of 2059.
Lets say Fitbit originally was giving me 100 calories for the time frame of the workout (to make math easy). This means that when the new log gets sent over from MFP, it will only increase my calorie burn by 100 from what it was before (since it was already giving me calories for the time frame before I decided to log it). So the expected burn changes to 1982.

1982 - 2059 = -100
So now, because of the logged exercise on MFP, my MFP expected calorie burn surpasses what Fitbit tracked. In this case I either lose 100 calories from my goal for the day or get no adjustment at all (if negative adjustments is turned off).

Hope that isn't too confusing. (I'm really not the best at explaining things).

llkristyll

Thank you all for your replies! Very helpful!
Time to go for a 10-mile walk. I'll be tailgating tomorrow and know I will eat and drink poorly. Trying to be proactive.