To sync or not to sync
WinterCrystal
Posts: 37 Member
I've been debating on syncing my fitbit to MFP but am on the fence about it. Does anyone have both accounts synced and find its pretty accurate calorie wise or am I better of keeping them separated? thanks for any feedback ☺
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Replies
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I have had mine synced since last July and am very pleased with the accuracy.
If you don't like it, you can always undo it.0 -
If you don't sync them, what will be your primary goal for using the Fitbit? (Honest question - meant to be food for thought.)
Generally, people use a Fitbit to track their total calorie burn each day in a way that is (though not guaranteed, as everyone is different) typically a much closer estimate to your TRUE calorie burn than an online activity calculator would give you. You then subtract out your desired deficit (if trying to lose) and eat that number of calories, using Fitbit or one of the sync-able sites like MFP to log your food to meet that calorie count.
If you don't sync the accounts (or otherwise log your food in Fitbit so that you're still utilizing their calories burned number in some way), then what information does the Fitbit provide? Simply data for comparison? Will you be using it just as motivation to hit a certain number of steps or calories? Are you ok with not using your Fitbit to its full potential?
It's 100% an individual decision, but there's certainly nothing to lose by trying it out and seeing if it works for you.0 -
I have had my Fitbit since Christmas and synced it right away. Have eaten back most of the calories my Fitbit has given me and have lost at about the rate I would expect. For me it appears to be very close to accurate.0
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I have mine synced and usually my deficit for the day in MFP is about the same as my Fitbit app shows (I have both MFP and Fitbit apps set to Sedentary maintaince calories and deduct a 500 calorie deficit from the total). The only problem I'm having right now is MFP is sending duplicate meals to Fitbit so my Fitbit app is showing more calories consumed than I actually consumed which messes up my deficit in the Fitbit app, but MFP is still correct as far as exercise calories being transferred over.0
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My fitbit's synced with MFP and I'm very pleased with it, especially the accuracy of the calories burned (Loads better than MFP). I just log my food in MFP, let fitbit count my steps and subtract.
(For example yesterday I went to the cinema and had some sweets. I felt terrible afterwards because I went over my allotted calories, but when I looked at fitbit I still had a 500 cal deficit for the day. Instantly made me feel loads better
)
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RiverMelSong wrote: »My fitbit's synced with MFP and I'm very pleased with it, especially the accuracy of the calories burned (Loads better than MFP). I just log my food in MFP, let fitbit count my steps and subtract.
(For example yesterday I went to the cinema and had some sweets. I felt terrible afterwards because I went over my allotted calories, but when I looked at fitbit I still had a 500 cal deficit for the day. Instantly made me feel loads better )
The two should match actually...
Burned goes over to MFP and food comes to activity tracker through mfp...you should have had and extra 500 in MFP too if you have it set up correctly0 -
If you don't sync them, what will be your primary goal for using the Fitbit? (Honest question - meant to be food for thought.)
Generally, people use a Fitbit to track their total calorie burn each day in a way that is (though not guaranteed, as everyone is different) typically a much closer estimate to your TRUE calorie burn than an online activity calculator would give you. You then subtract out your desired deficit (if trying to lose) and eat that number of calories, using Fitbit or one of the sync-able sites like MFP to log your food to meet that calorie count.
If you don't sync the accounts (or otherwise log your food in Fitbit so that you're still utilizing their calories burned number in some way), then what information does the Fitbit provide? Simply data for comparison? Will you be using it just as motivation to hit a certain number of steps or calories? Are you ok with not using your Fitbit to its full potential?
It's 100% an individual decision, but there's certainly nothing to lose by trying it out and seeing if it works for you.
Edited moved post under ☺0 -
Tbh I got it as an eye opener to see how much I was moving through out the day. I was worried the sync would say to eat more calories so I just stuck with MFP but my weight hasn't budged so that's why I thought I'd check out the sync to see what others thought. I think I'll give it ago everyone's seems pretty happy and hopefully when I step on scale this week there'll be some change0
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WinterCrystal wrote: »Tbh I got it as an eye opener to see how much I was moving through out the day. I was worried the sync would say to eat more calories so I just stuck with MFP but my weight hasn't budged so that's why I thought I'd check out the sync to see what others thought. I think I'll give it ago everyone's seems pretty happy and hopefully when I step on scale this week there'll be some change
Since getting my Fitbit I get more calories almost every day than I did before; however, there are some exercises that I was overestimating before as well. If your weight hasn't budged you may need to tighten up your food logging.0 -
I say try it and if it doesn't work for you then undo it. It doesn't work for me, but I see lots of people who do great with them synced.0
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Thanks for posting this, OP. I just got a fitbit a couple days ago and I've not synced it yet. It was always the intention to sync, but I was wondering how that worked out for others.0
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Hell no.
My fitbit gave me numbers that made absolutely no sense. I would burn more calories on a day with less steps and less active minutes. No sense. I definitely wouldn't base my diary on that. I had the One (well I still have it... in a box somewhere).
I just used mine to give me an idea of my TDEE, and just ate 20% less calories than the average number it gave me.0 -
Hell no.
My fitbit gave me numbers that made absolutely no sense. I would burn more calories on a day with less steps and less active minutes. No sense. I definitely wouldn't base my diary on that. I had the One (well I still have it... in a box somewhere).
I just used mine to give me an idea of my TDEE, and just ate 20% less calories than the average number it gave me.
Do you think fitbits might have changed a little bit since you had the One?0 -
rileysowner wrote: »Hell no.
My fitbit gave me numbers that made absolutely no sense. I would burn more calories on a day with less steps and less active minutes. No sense. I definitely wouldn't base my diary on that. I had the One (well I still have it... in a box somewhere).
I just used mine to give me an idea of my TDEE, and just ate 20% less calories than the average number it gave me.
Do you think fitbits might have changed a little bit since you had the One?
http://www.wthr.com/story/31285468/sometimes-your-fitness-tracker-lies-a-lot-fitbit-jawbone-garmin-ifit-misfit-accuracy
Food for thought.0 -
blues4miles wrote: »rileysowner wrote: »Hell no.
My fitbit gave me numbers that made absolutely no sense. I would burn more calories on a day with less steps and less active minutes. No sense. I definitely wouldn't base my diary on that. I had the One (well I still have it... in a box somewhere).
I just used mine to give me an idea of my TDEE, and just ate 20% less calories than the average number it gave me.
Do you think fitbits might have changed a little bit since you had the One?
http://www.wthr.com/story/31285468/sometimes-your-fitness-tracker-lies-a-lot-fitbit-jawbone-garmin-ifit-misfit-accuracy
Food for thought.
Yikes.rileysowner wrote: »Hell no.
My fitbit gave me numbers that made absolutely no sense. I would burn more calories on a day with less steps and less active minutes. No sense. I definitely wouldn't base my diary on that. I had the One (well I still have it... in a box somewhere).
I just used mine to give me an idea of my TDEE, and just ate 20% less calories than the average number it gave me.
Do you think fitbits might have changed a little bit since you had the One?
It was 1.5 year ago. That's hardly a very long time, especially when, you know, the One is still available.0 -
I don't sync.
I track my food here and use my Fitbit Charge HR for activity/TDEE info.
I see no need to sync. I have no problem looking at the two sets of data independently of one another and easily figuring out what they mean. It ain't rocket science.
And I read of way too many problems with syncing. Who has time to fool with that?
FWIW, I've had my Fitbit for almost eight months. I find it to be very accurate. If anything I believe it slightly under estimates my TDEE.0 -
kaylajane11 wrote: »WinterCrystal wrote: »Tbh I got it as an eye opener to see how much I was moving through out the day. I was worried the sync would say to eat more calories so I just stuck with MFP but my weight hasn't budged so that's why I thought I'd check out the sync to see what others thought. I think I'll give it ago everyone's seems pretty happy and hopefully when I step on scale this week there'll be some change
Since getting my Fitbit I get more calories almost every day than I did before; however, there are some exercises that I was overestimating before as well. If your weight hasn't budged you may need to tighten up your food logging.
My weight wasn't budging until I starting syncing my Fitbit to MFP. I wasn't eating ENOUGH food.
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RiverMelSong wrote: »My fitbit's synced with MFP and I'm very pleased with it, especially the accuracy of the calories burned (Loads better than MFP). I just log my food in MFP, let fitbit count my steps and subtract.
(For example yesterday I went to the cinema and had some sweets. I felt terrible afterwards because I went over my allotted calories, but when I looked at fitbit I still had a 500 cal deficit for the day. Instantly made me feel loads better )
The two should match actually...
Burned goes over to MFP and food comes to activity tracker through mfp...you should have had and extra 500 in MFP too if you have it set up correctly
Actually...the two should not match.
Sounds like she has a 1000 calorie deficit set on MFP, which means if she overeats her allotted calorie amount by 500 calories, then it will appear as -500 on MFP (e.g. MFP tells her to eat 1400, she eats 1900, and therefore is -500 on MFP). However, on her Fitbit dashboard, it will still indicate (as you can see from the picture) that she is still in a 500 calorie deficit, which she was.
So, she ate 1900 calories and it shows up as -500 on MFP, but her Fitbit shows her that she ended up burning 2400 calories that day - in which case, 2400 - 1900 = 500 calorie deficit.
Even though she is -500 on MFP, she is still in a deficit of 500 calories (1000-500=500). The Fitbit reminded her of this fact and she didn't feel so bad anymore about going over.0 -
blues4miles wrote: »rileysowner wrote: »Hell no.
My fitbit gave me numbers that made absolutely no sense. I would burn more calories on a day with less steps and less active minutes. No sense. I definitely wouldn't base my diary on that. I had the One (well I still have it... in a box somewhere).
I just used mine to give me an idea of my TDEE, and just ate 20% less calories than the average number it gave me.
Do you think fitbits might have changed a little bit since you had the One?
http://www.wthr.com/story/31285468/sometimes-your-fitness-tracker-lies-a-lot-fitbit-jawbone-garmin-ifit-misfit-accuracy
Food for thought.
i looked up mine and the test there you see i have done Misfit Flash, Polar watch and VO2 Max
And indeed about 11% on average off. Everytime again ( had it done 6 times)
Never-less when you know that, what is the problem? its a tool meaning when it says i burn 2500 calories i know it is around 11% off
Very simple
Just for every other tool You learn to know them.
I lost 130 lbs with my "gadgets/tool" because i took the time to know and understand them.
Worked and still works perfect for me.
Now in maintenance i kept a "deficit setting" of 250 calories which is about my maintaining level of eating around 2000 calories lol
Best tool there is and accurate?...data keep your data!!!
weigh your food in grams everything on a scale in grams......take what you daily ate and how much weight you lost.
Daily intake + weight loss is your TDEE/maintenance
Now take your gadget/tool and compare and you know how much it is normally off and work with it.
For me that is around that 11% like given here in the tests. I know it, i can live with it and i adjust accordingly.
Works perfect, everyday again!
Also found out that every 2130 steps is about 100 calories more to add to my BMR. So now i dont calculate even the 11%...i just know that when i walk around the 15000 steps i can safely eat 2000 calories and even lose a half pound a month.
I just kept all my data and learned..... to know my body, my weight loss, my Misfit and Polar, and my maintenance.
Patience and persistence
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I sync mine and I'm loving it so far. Lost 10 lbs since March 1.... I don't eat all my calories back that the Fitbit adds but I do eat some.0
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I didn't like having them sync when I had the fitbit flex. I had to log my workouts separately, and then the fitbit seemed to give me more calories than I thought I should have. Now that I have the fitbit charge I love it. I don't manually add any of my workouts anymore. I use whatever calories the fitbit gives me for exercise on MFP, but I don't pay attention to the calories in vs out on fitbit app.
I also use the endomondo app and have it linked to both fitbit and MFP. I like endomondo to track my route, pace, distance and total time when I run or walk outside.
Since I just synced that with the other two earlier this week, I was surprised when I got on the elliptical and noticed the app pop up on my phone to tell me to start logging the time on it.0 -
I have mine synced and I like it. I've been losing weight so far, but I don't eat back all the extra calories it gives me, so I have a buffer. To me, it feels natural to have more calories available on active days, and fewer on lazy days, rather then a single amount to eat no matter what. It also helps to motivate me to move more.0
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I have my fitbit synced I like it cause I can see how well I'm doing I try to stick to mfp calorie allowance but it help to know if I go over by 5 or 10 cal it's OK because of what I earned from my fit bit0 -
I had a one and it sucked. Now I have a charge HR and love it!0
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.no longer relevant.0
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RiverMelSong wrote: »My fitbit's synced with MFP and I'm very pleased with it, especially the accuracy of the calories burned (Loads better than MFP). I just log my food in MFP, let fitbit count my steps and subtract.
(For example yesterday I went to the cinema and had some sweets. I felt terrible afterwards because I went over my allotted calories, but when I looked at fitbit I still had a 500 cal deficit for the day. Instantly made me feel loads better )
The two should match actually...
Burned goes over to MFP and food comes to activity tracker through mfp...you should have had and extra 500 in MFP too if you have it set up correctly
Actually...the two should not match.
Sounds like she has a 1000 calorie deficit set on MFP, which means if she overeats her allotted calorie amount by 500 calories, then it will appear as -500 on MFP (e.g. MFP tells her to eat 1400, she eats 1900, and therefore is -500 on MFP). However, on her Fitbit dashboard, it will still indicate (as you can see from the picture) that she is still in a 500 calorie deficit, which she was.
So, she ate 1900 calories and it shows up as -500 on MFP, but her Fitbit shows her that she ended up burning 2400 calories that day - in which case, 2400 - 1900 = 500 calorie deficit.
Even though she is -500 on MFP, she is still in a deficit of 500 calories (1000-500=500). The Fitbit reminded her of this fact and she didn't feel so bad anymore about going over.
Thank you! Exactly this You explained it better than I could 0 -
Well I synced and I like it! It counts my steps and adjusts cal so I don't have to. I say to anyone else thinking about syncing do it 0
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I sync. I love the weekly fitbit email. It has all my calorie and activity and weight loss info for the week. I'm either doing great or I can tweak accordingly.
Does anyone else get this?0 -
RiverMelSong wrote: »RiverMelSong wrote: »My fitbit's synced with MFP and I'm very pleased with it, especially the accuracy of the calories burned (Loads better than MFP). I just log my food in MFP, let fitbit count my steps and subtract.
(For example yesterday I went to the cinema and had some sweets. I felt terrible afterwards because I went over my allotted calories, but when I looked at fitbit I still had a 500 cal deficit for the day. Instantly made me feel loads better )
The two should match actually...
Burned goes over to MFP and food comes to activity tracker through mfp...you should have had and extra 500 in MFP too if you have it set up correctly
Actually...the two should not match.
Sounds like she has a 1000 calorie deficit set on MFP, which means if she overeats her allotted calorie amount by 500 calories, then it will appear as -500 on MFP (e.g. MFP tells her to eat 1400, she eats 1900, and therefore is -500 on MFP). However, on her Fitbit dashboard, it will still indicate (as you can see from the picture) that she is still in a 500 calorie deficit, which she was.
So, she ate 1900 calories and it shows up as -500 on MFP, but her Fitbit shows her that she ended up burning 2400 calories that day - in which case, 2400 - 1900 = 500 calorie deficit.
Even though she is -500 on MFP, she is still in a deficit of 500 calories (1000-500=500). The Fitbit reminded her of this fact and she didn't feel so bad anymore about going over.
Thank you! Exactly this You explained it better than I could
and that should be on MFP as well...not the full 2400 but her "extra" calories burned should be on MFP giving her extra food to eat.
If it's sync'd then the two should match.
If it's not sync'd and the activity isn't being logged in MFP then no they won't match.
I know as I have a fitness tracker sync'd and my extra calories burned from movement comes to MFP and gives me the true picture of my day and it brings my food back to my app on my food and bam same thing (might be 50 calories difference)0 -
RiverMelSong wrote: »RiverMelSong wrote: »My fitbit's synced with MFP and I'm very pleased with it, especially the accuracy of the calories burned (Loads better than MFP). I just log my food in MFP, let fitbit count my steps and subtract.
(For example yesterday I went to the cinema and had some sweets. I felt terrible afterwards because I went over my allotted calories, but when I looked at fitbit I still had a 500 cal deficit for the day. Instantly made me feel loads better )
The two should match actually...
Burned goes over to MFP and food comes to activity tracker through mfp...you should have had and extra 500 in MFP too if you have it set up correctly
Actually...the two should not match.
Sounds like she has a 1000 calorie deficit set on MFP, which means if she overeats her allotted calorie amount by 500 calories, then it will appear as -500 on MFP (e.g. MFP tells her to eat 1400, she eats 1900, and therefore is -500 on MFP). However, on her Fitbit dashboard, it will still indicate (as you can see from the picture) that she is still in a 500 calorie deficit, which she was.
So, she ate 1900 calories and it shows up as -500 on MFP, but her Fitbit shows her that she ended up burning 2400 calories that day - in which case, 2400 - 1900 = 500 calorie deficit.
Even though she is -500 on MFP, she is still in a deficit of 500 calories (1000-500=500). The Fitbit reminded her of this fact and she didn't feel so bad anymore about going over.
Thank you! Exactly this You explained it better than I could
and that should be on MFP as well...not the full 2400 but her "extra" calories burned should be on MFP giving her extra food to eat.
If it's sync'd then the two should match.
If it's not sync'd and the activity isn't being logged in MFP then no they won't match.
I know as I have a fitness tracker sync'd and my extra calories burned from movement comes to MFP and gives me the true picture of my day and it brings my food back to my app on my food and bam same thing (might be 50 calories difference)
They are synced, believe me, and the calories burned did show up in mfp! But if calories burned and calories eaten in Fitbit would match I would be in maintenance, which is not what I'm aiming for. Let me explain:
In MFP my daily allowance is set to 1400, because mfp has calculated my maintenance calories at 1900 and I want a 500 calorie deficit to lose approx 1lb per week. That day I did a lot more walking, earning me 500 calories extra in mfp. My allowance on mfp went up to 1900, still accounting for a 500 calorie deficit. So I ate around 1900, which showed in mpf as NET 1400 (1900-500 earned = 1400). Leaving no calories for the day, which is exactly what I want. But seeing net calories is less motivating for me than seeing the actual number of calories burned in fitbit (which for maintenance was 1900 + 500 = 2400).
Which is why I responded to this topic with why I prefer to have the two synced.
I log my food in mfp, and my exercise in fitbit, letting the two talk with each other (aka syncing) to make up my total numbers for the day. If they weren't synced I'd have to log food in fitbit and exercise in mfp separately, which I do not. My devices are synced, and the numbers add up. It's just a personal preference of which I choose to look at (1400 net is less motivating for me than seeing 2400 - 1900).
*edited for typos0
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