fitbit whilst bulking

charlieaulert

Thinking about getting a Fit-Bit Blaze, could I get some opinions on here?

I’m just about to start a ‘lean bulk’ with a surplus of around 300kcals per day.

I’ve watched some reviews on Youtube and read reviews online, they all seem quite decent.

Can get one from Argos for about £130-150.

Are they actually good for tracking calories burnt etc...

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charlieaulert

Thanks for the reply!

I think I might borrow my mates for a day or two and avoid the gym, as an attempt to get my maintenance calories.

I could then approximate my calories burnt during a workout and then add them to my ‘surplus’ calories to show me how much I need to be eating on training days.

I guess this would be more accurate than online calculators, or at least I can go for something in between the two numbers!

GuitarJerry wrote: »

If you're bulking, that means you are lifting. If you are lifting, a Fitbit is completely useless. It only tracks steady-state cardio. It's reasonably good at that, sort of. But, it's horrible with lifting. Has no idea what you are doing and gets confused by your heart rate. I bought one and sold it 3 months later. I found it absolutely useless.

mixa4u

It is a good idea. Track your daily activity to make sure that you are in a surplus

sardelsa

You could use it to give you a ballpark of your calories, that is what I did while I was at maintenance. Is it accurate? Who knows but it worked for me. But after that, I didn't use it because I found myself always trying to get more activity in, more steps in etc. It would have been counterproductive while I bulked since I would have been chasing my surplus. But that's just me.

steph2strong

sardelsa wrote: »

You could use it to give you a ballpark of your calories, that is what I did while I was at maintenance. Is it accurate? Who knows but it worked for me. But after that, I didn't use it because I found myself always trying to get more activity in, more steps in etc. It would have been counterproductive while I bulked since I would have been chasing my surplus. But that's just me.

^^ exactly me

If anything it underestimated my burn with the intense weight training because it didn't recognize my training as a workout only when I walked. It did give me an idea of a bare minimum of what I needed and let me see that I wasn't eating enough (MFP greatly underestimated my needs, even set at high activity and gain 1 lb per week, that just got me to maintenance). So helpful for motivation to eat more.

charlieaulert

sardelsa wrote: »

You could use it to give you a ballpark of your calories, that is what I did while I was at maintenance. Is it accurate? Who knows but it worked for me. But after that, I didn't use it because I found myself always trying to get more activity in, more steps in etc. It would have been counterproductive while I bulked since I would have been chasing my surplus. But that's just me.

Thanks!

I'm just going to track maintenance with it and ensure I'm eating plenty more than that on training days!

brandonation_81

I'm currently bulking and my Fitbit doesn't really do much for me. I'm not really doing any cardio(don't want to have to make up the calories from it) and so.... It's not really tracking like it's meant to. It's good for reminding you of any goals you've set. But that's about it. I'd hold off on buying one until you start cutting.

Gallowmere1984

Interestingly, following Fitbit +mfp on my first bulk had me gaining 2.5 lbs. per week when set to maintain. Not conducive to a lean bulk.

However, on this one, doing the same, I've been barely breaking 0.5 per week. Two things different:
1: I stopped logging the lifting in the Blaze. I just leave it as normal when lifting.
2: apparently Fitbit takes a while to collect data and get used to you specifically. During the first bulk, I had just bought it. This time, I've been using it for about six months.

not_a_runner

I like using my Fitbit to keep track of my rest times during lifting (lol), but I agree the calorie burn us usually way off. I assume partially because I do log the lifting with it.
If you do borrow someone else's to see what it gives you for TDEE, keep in mind you usually have to go to the App/website and change the stats. If your buddy is 3 inches taller and weighs 30 pounds more it's going to give extra calories just for that, so the TDEE will definitely be off.
You'd probably have just as much luck going to a TDEE calculator online to figure your maintenance cals as you would trying to get it from a fitbit. Mine generally tells me I've burned 700+ calories more than what I've figured to be my maintenance, according to my food logs/body weight.