logging exercise into fitbit

chuckyjean

So I do 30 minutes of weight, I enter it into fitbit. Same day I do 30 minutes of aerobics, I enter it into fitbit. However it seems only one of those exercises transfers over to MFP, and on the main fitbit screen, where it says steps, calories, exercise, etc, it only shows one exercise on there. What am I doing wrong, or can you only record one exercise per day o fitbit.

macgurlnet

The actual exercises will not show up on MFP. You could log 6 different workouts on one day, and you'll still just see one entry on MFP. All Fitbit sends over is your total calories burned, which MFP compares with its projection and adjusts accordingly.

As for only see one exercise on Fitbit, are you looking at the phone app? If you tap on where it's showing the one exercise, does it then show both on the next screen?

~Lyssa

chuckyjean

well it just seemed strange because weight was 98 calories and aerobics was 120 calories, but mfp was only showing 84 calories burned. Shouldn't it have shown 98 + 120 so that would be about 210 calories. This stuff has me very confused.

macgurlnet

Not necessarily.

Have you joined the Fitbit group and read Heybales' FAQ? If not, I highly recommend you do so.

MFP is not showing you the calories burned from your exercises. It's showing you the difference between the calories you burned as reported by your Fitbit and compared to the estimate MFP is making.

Here's the link for the Fitbit group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

~Lyssa

chuckyjean

yeh, I tried to read it, it just confused me more. So if MFP isn't showing the true calories I burned from the exercises I did, then how would I know how many calories I should be eating. This is all so confusing.

macgurlnet

Follow what MFP gives you for a calorie goal.

Log your exercise in Fitbit.

Eat all the calories MFP gives you for 4-6 weeks.

MFP is showing you the true calories you burned. However, MFP calculates your calorie goal using an estimate based on the activity level you picked, and this activity level doesn't include exercise. You're expected to log that separately. With a Fitbit, you don't have to log anything on MFP - the Fitbit will send its info over.

From the FAQ:
Why doesn't my MFP Exercise Diary - Fitbit calorie adjustment equal my workout calorie burn?
Because that MFP figure is not exercise.
That figure is the difference between Fitbit's total daily burn which includes your exercise, and what MFP thought you'd burn with no exercise.
Any difference includes exercise and daily activities. You could have no exercise and big positive adjustment from being very active. You could have big exercise and no positive adjustment from being very inactive that day outside of exercise.
You can see this fact by clicking on the "i" for more info on that Fitbit calorie adjustment line.

Does that help at all?

~Lyssa

chuckyjean

no, not really, lol, i'll just have to keep reading all the posts from Heybale, and see if I can figure this out. So you recommend though logging exercise into fitbit and not mfp? Thanks for trying to explain this, this is my third week and it is a never ending learning process.

macgurlnet

Yeah, it is a bit confusing. I think, with time, it'll make more sense

Yes, log exercise in Fitbit - it will give you a better estimate of calories burned than MFP will.

~Lyssa

chuckyjean

See I am still confused even after reading all this. Ok, I log 30 minutes of weights in fitbit with a calorie burn of 98, then I log 30 minutes of aerobics in fitbit with a calorie burn of 112. this all gets synced to MFP, but the calorie adjustment only shows 83. This is where my confusion comes into play. So my calorie goal for the day is 1200, does this mean I only get to eat 83 extra calories, where it looks like I should be able to eat an extra 210 (the 98 + 112.

macgurlnet

Did you enable negative adjustments? When you set up your MFP profile, what options did you pick (ie: lose 1lb/week, Sedentary activity level)?

If you didn't enable negative adjustments, that could explain part of your issue.

MFP assumes some amount of movement for each activity level. Until you've moved enough (that is, burned enough calories) to reach that level, you won't start earning calories.

For example:

I have a calorie allowance of 1220 (lose 0.5 lb/week, sedentary). With negative adjustments enabled, I lose 20 calories right off the bat, making my goal 1200. Once I've gotten in enough movement (for me, about 2k-3k steps), I start earning calories back.

Also, 1200 is the absolute minimum that MFP will give you. It's possible that you need to adjust your weight loss goal so you can get a more-realistic number.

~Lyssa

chuckyjean

lose weight, sedentary, negative adjustment, 1/lb a week.

kshama2001

chuckyjean wrote: »

See I am still confused even after reading all this. Ok, I log 30 minutes of weights in fitbit with a calorie burn of 98, then I log 30 minutes of aerobics in fitbit with a calorie burn of 112. this all gets synced to MFP, but the calorie adjustment only shows 83. This is where my confusion comes into play. So my calorie goal for the day is 1200, does this mean I only get to eat 83 extra calories, where it looks like I should be able to eat an extra 210 (the 98 + 112.

How many steps had you taken when this happened? If you hadn't yet gotten the 2k-3k steps mentioned above, that could be where the discrepancy lies.

chuckyjean

I was at around 4000

chuckyjean

OK, so I tried an experiment and logged my exercises into fitbit. They did transfer over to mfp. I think yesterday I was kind of lazy, so mfp took away some of my fitbit adjustment numbers. Another thing I don't understand