On my 4th fitbit Charge, FRUSTRATED; other options?

jeepinshawn

Thanks for the replies. Fitbit actually sent me a charge HR, as an upgrade/replacement for free so I guess I will give it a shot.

dyrec

I think they are a waist of money? If you can put yourself together a weekly program and excessive to do in the gym... Your golden. No need for tracking! You'll see results from your work ethic in the mirror at night.

MeanderingMammal

dyrec wrote: »

I think they are a waist of money?

Whilst you might see a step tracker as a waste of money from your perspective, different people are motivated in different ways, and indeed are less able to devote time to a training programme. When we're talking about weight management, whether loss, maintenance or gaining, there is value in knowing what ones basic level of activity might be.

When I started using a Garmin VivoSmart it exposed that I was probably undereating as my background activity level was more than I anticipated. It also helps to account for variations in activity. As an example for two weeks after my last marathon I did very little, so needed to eat significantly less.

What I would say is that the HR tracking element of these is of questionable value for many. The only useful bit of HR data from my VivoSmartHR is my resting HR, which I can use to indicate improvement in CV fitness, and also indicate when I need to think about overtraining risk.

The bigger value is that it can then transmit on the ANT+ protocol, so that my Forerunner or Edge devices can take an HR input without the need to use a chest strap.

You'll see results from your work ethic in the mirror at night.

Which is fine if one is vanity motivated. It's of limited value when one is looking at measuring performance in otehr ways.

chassp8pooh

I tried a Garmin Vivofit and the display inside broke and crystallized within 3 days of having it...and I promise I was gentle with it. It also didn't keep accurate step count nor did it give me accurate time active. Now I'm using a little bitty clip on thing called a wego elite + and I couldn't be happier. It keeps accurate time,calorie burn,steps,miles and--accurate time active! Plus seamlessly syncs to the wego android app!

Jesslane93

I got fitbit alta. So far so good and i like that you can just buy replcement bands for them and change it out whenever you want. I got this one because it seemed most like the fitbit one but in a wristband style.

jeepinshawn

I just disconnected my fitbit and MFP. I have been struggling with the supposed calorie burn amounts for quite awhile now. I had been at 165lbs pretty stable and was eating at what MFP/fitbit said was a deficit that ranged from 300 on some days to 1000 on others, just depended on activity and I just stopped losing weight. I figured I was at a good enough weight and wanted to focus on muscle building anyway. So for the past 22 days I have been running and lifting weights 3 days a week. I have eaten at pretty close to the amount of calories that MFP/fitbit said I should(with the exercise adjustment), still most days leaving a couple hundred calories left for things I may have missed. In that 22 days I have gained between 5-7 pounds!!! Most of it around my belly, although some increase in my quads and arms. So my plan now is to keep my activity level set at lightly active, eat at that specific goal(2340), and just use the fitbit to make sure I am staying lightly active. With the two disconnected I won't be tempted to eat the stupid exercise calories back. Yeah I guess I'm a little bitter and fed up with needing to replace the tracker as often as I have and to have the calorie burn be substantially inaccurate is frustrating.

I keep reading to build muscle you have to eat at a surplus, it has been incredibly frustrating to try and find out exactly what it takes to maintain much less an appropriate surplus. I can't continue to live my life counting every damn calorie and wondering why I'm gaining weight or not losing weight, or if I ate enough to build muscle.

meshashesha2012

if you want to stick with fitbit or need gto take advantage of that discount they will give you to replace the broken fitbit (i know because i got a 45% off discount on my alta after my surge band broke), i'd suggest the alta since the band can be replaced

i'm also looking at a Moov Now which is much cheaper

PAV8888

jeepinshawn wrote: »

I just disconnected my fitbit and MFP. I have been struggling with the supposed calorie burn amounts for quite awhile now. I had been at 165lbs pretty stable and was eating at what MFP/fitbit said was a deficit that ranged from 300 on some days to 1000 on others, just depended on activity and I just stopped losing weight. I figured I was at a good enough weight and wanted to focus on muscle building anyway. So for the past 22 days I have been running and lifting weights 3 days a week. I have eaten at pretty close to the amount of calories that MFP/fitbit said I should(with the exercise adjustment), still most days leaving a couple hundred calories left for things I may have missed. In that 22 days I have gained between 5-7 pounds!!! Most of it around my belly, although some increase in my quads and arms. So my plan now is to keep my activity level set at lightly active, eat at that specific goal(2340), and just use the fitbit to make sure I am staying lightly active. With the two disconnected I won't be tempted to eat the stupid exercise calories back. Yeah I guess I'm a little bitter and fed up with needing to replace the tracker as often as I have and to have the calorie burn be substantially inaccurate is frustrating.

I keep reading to build muscle you have to eat at a surplus, it has been incredibly frustrating to try and find out exactly what it takes to maintain much less an appropriate surplus. I can't continue to live my life counting every damn calorie and wondering why I'm gaining weight or not losing weight, or if I ate enough to build muscle.

I think you are conflating a number of issues. Only you know whether the results are or are not worth it to you, whether you can or cannot obtain the results with other means, and what you can or cannot take! Personally I am more than 20 months into using MFP on a daily basis and have no plans to stop tracking.

Errors in CICO estimation can come from your logging, from your activity tracking, and from your scale. Furthermore the assumption that 1lb of underlying weight change is the result of 3500 Cal is usually wrong since people lose and gain both lean mass and fat, all at the same time.

While 1lb of fat is close to 3500 Cal on both the way up and the way down, a lb of lean mass can be 800 Cal going down, and a good 4-5000 Cal on the way up. And of course your scale weight is mostly changing because of changes to your water balance.

Some people on my friends's list find the concept of % TDEE error useful in estimating what they can or cannot eat back based on their usual tracking and use a spreadsheet I've cobbled up to help them figure things out.

I would suggest that each fitbit/different device/change in method of calculating CI or CO gets its own spreadsheet as each device contributes its own inaccuracies.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VDmqNpLPu7sbQSochUJNXdp2F7AN15AGgkvS3zLw1GU/edit?usp=sharing

The spreadsheet assumes 3500 Cal explains 1lb of change. as discussed already this is not the case...

ckwilson254

I have been through two Fitbits. Both of them eventually got water in them from the shower. I now have a Garmin Forerunner 920XT and I love it. It's pricey but not your average tracker. It's built for the Triathlete in mind. I am not a Triathlete but its tough and has lots of data. I have been through others too and this is my favorite.

jeepinshawn

PAV8888 wrote: »

jeepinshawn wrote: »

I just disconnected my fitbit and MFP. I have been struggling with the supposed calorie burn amounts for quite awhile now. I had been at 165lbs pretty stable and was eating at what MFP/fitbit said was a deficit that ranged from 300 on some days to 1000 on others, just depended on activity and I just stopped losing weight. I figured I was at a good enough weight and wanted to focus on muscle building anyway. So for the past 22 days I have been running and lifting weights 3 days a week. I have eaten at pretty close to the amount of calories that MFP/fitbit said I should(with the exercise adjustment), still most days leaving a couple hundred calories left for things I may have missed. In that 22 days I have gained between 5-7 pounds!!! Most of it around my belly, although some increase in my quads and arms. So my plan now is to keep my activity level set at lightly active, eat at that specific goal(2340), and just use the fitbit to make sure I am staying lightly active. With the two disconnected I won't be tempted to eat the stupid exercise calories back. Yeah I guess I'm a little bitter and fed up with needing to replace the tracker as often as I have and to have the calorie burn be substantially inaccurate is frustrating.

I keep reading to build muscle you have to eat at a surplus, it has been incredibly frustrating to try and find out exactly what it takes to maintain much less an appropriate surplus. I can't continue to live my life counting every damn calorie and wondering why I'm gaining weight or not losing weight, or if I ate enough to build muscle.

I think you are conflating a number of issues. Only you know whether the results are or are not worth it to you, whether you can or cannot obtain the results with other means, and what you can or cannot take! Personally I am more than 20 months into using MFP on a daily basis and have no plans to stop tracking.

Errors in CICO estimation can come from your logging, from your activity tracking, and from your scale. Furthermore the assumption that 1lb of underlying weight change is the result of 3500 Cal is usually wrong since people lose and gain both lean mass and fat, all at the same time.

While 1lb of fat is close to 3500 Cal on both the way up and the way down, a lb of lean mass can be 800 Cal going down, and a good 4-5000 Cal on the way up. And of course your scale weight is mostly changing because of changes to your water balance.

Some people on my friends's list find the concept of % TDEE error useful in estimating what they can or cannot eat back based on their usual tracking and use a spreadsheet I've cobbled up to help them figure things out.

I would suggest that each fitbit/different device/change in method of calculating CI or CO gets its own spreadsheet as each device contributes its own inaccuracies.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VDmqNpLPu7sbQSochUJNXdp2F7AN15AGgkvS3zLw1GU/edit?usp=sharing

The spreadsheet assumes 3500 Cal explains 1lb of change. as discussed already this is not the case...

I have been logging on mfp for for something like 465 days. I went from almost 300lbs to a low of 165. I understand how to log and what to log, Im just frustrated by how far off the exercise calories or rather the tdee that fitbit gives me seem to be. I'm on my phone but will check out your spread sheet in the morning.

PAV8888

jeepinshawn wrote: »

I have been logging on mfp for for something like 465 days. I went from almost 300lbs to a low of 165. I understand how to log and what to log, Im just frustrated by how far off the exercise calories or rather the tdee that fitbit gives me seem to be. I'm on my phone but will check out your spread sheet in the morning.

As mentioned before there is estimation and there is reality.

And the confounding effects of water weight and body composition changes which make each lb change NOT equal to 3500 Cal.

Furthermore, depending on the size of your deficit and the amount and type of exercise you chose to do, there is a component of thermogenic adaptation that takes place during weight loss (a TDEE reduction that is not explain by a changes in metabolicaly active mass). These adaptations may take a long while to reverse (if they every do). Exercise adaptations sometimes reverse after a few weeks of not doing the activity you've adapted to)