Good Grief ;0 Fit Bit One Users Please read!

decreasing_me

I got my fit bit last Friday. I \now there is a learning curve with all new toys...but I'm not getting the support I need on the Fit Bit web site. Please someone ta\e me under your wing.

Every day I am wor\ing harder...and every day it says I am "under".
I thin\ that means I didn't burn as many calories as I wanted to for my goal..fyi it's said that EVERY DAY. I am trying to eat what it says on the food plan...but the numbers are always changing.

ANYWAY is there anyone who can shed some light on that whole concept. I too\ me 10 hours to get a reply on that website.
Ain't nobody got time for this


Can I sync my fit bit to my fitness pal and how?

Neeser926

You can synch. Is under apps. I've been using the fitbit since Jul 2012. It works.

jdelot

Is it your calories in vs calories out dial that says "under?" Are you entering food on the Fitbit site? The changes in the calories you're seeing is the adjustment to your caloric "budget" so to speak, based on your activity level for the day.
You can sync your fitbit to your MFP account. Just go to the APPS tab and pick your device.

crazybusymama

Hi.

I am not a Fit Bit user, but I do see that under APPS for being able to sync to MFP. I use the apps Runtastic and Runtastic Pedometer & the sync is automatic. I would also recommend a quick Google search to find forums that will likely provide a faster response than the company website. Best of luck to you.

Amitysk

There is also a great Fitbit forum here (Fitbit Users). There are some very knowledgable people that can explain what it may be doing.

JenX15

I have mine since May (it's a Fitbit One), as perviously mentioned - you can sync it under apps. I log all food and activity on MFP, I track distance and "steps" on FitBit.

I sync my Fitbit at night before "closing" my MFP diary and the apps "communicate" - I sometimes get an boost in burn factor based on my actual measured activity by Fitbit. I have a few fitbit "friends", mostly for friendly competition on daily/weekly steps - but the support community is absolutely MFP.

Good luck, feel free to PM me if you have any specifit questions.

KarenJanine

The numbers change because they adjust up and down based on your activity levels throughout the day. Therefore you will never know what your total burn was for the day until after midnight when the next day begins.

After you've used it for a few weeks you'll get to know what your average burns look like and can make estimates on what your food intake should be based on that.

You'll also get to know how many steps you need to get calorie credits. The starting point depends on what you set your activity level to. if you set it to sedentary, I think it expects you to do up to 5000 steps in a day. Anything above that you will get extra calorie credit for, which tends to work out at around 100 cal per mile or 2000 steps.

As others have said - sync it to MFP. Your MFP calorie goal will then adjust in line with your calorie burn according to Fitbit.

There is a Fitbit Users group here on MFP where you will find many helpful people and it is much more active than the forum on the fitbit website.

kingtermite

Some of what you said was a tad confusing. So 1st thing you need to do is make sure the fitbit is synced with MFP. Go to the APPS tab, then in the apps gallery, select fitbit tracker. There should be a button to sync with or something like that. It may redirect you to the fitbit website to log in to complete the sync.

After that, it basically communicates with MFP your calorie burn. So depending on how you chose your activity level, MFP computed a TDEE for you (e.g. estimate of your average calorie burn in a day). Once sync'd, MFP will actually deduct a little bit of your calories allowed because now it can KNOW if you are really burning what you said. Once your fitbit sync's with a certain minimum calorie burn, it will start adding calorie burn (giving you more calories you can eat).

Sounds confusing, so let me try to use myself as an example.
When I start my day my calorie count looks lower than it should. In the food tracker it says " *You've earned -223 extra calories from exercise today" at the bottom. This is because I haven't burned enough calories (according to fitbit) to meet what I said my activity level was. Once I burn a certain amount that number will change. Eventually it will go positive and say something like " *You've earned 356 extra calories from exercise today" telling me that I've "earned" an extra 356 calories from extra activity.

This is how it works...but you need to update a setting in your account settings too. From home page, click "settings" and under "diary settings". Under there is a section titled "Change Handling of Partner Adjustments". Click the "enable negative adjustments" checkbox for that.

But all this is only AFTER you sync with the fitbit account. You need to do that first.

decreasing_me

WOW Have I mentioned how much I love this community?! Well than\ you to ALL. I have now synced my MFP and FITbit accounts.

Some general fit bit questions I have.
1) When it has a trac\er for calories burned and at the end it says 2154 does that mean I NEED to burn that many or is it )ust a suggested goal?
2) On the food plan when it says "YOU have 1400 calories to eat" .... that number changes throughout the day...but at the END of my day if I'm within 50 calories on either side of the number then it should say "in the zone" for that day........IS THIS ACCURATE THIN\ing?
3) Will I need to change something on MFP in order to get my plan the same as fit bit...or will it "communicate" that?

Sorry if I seem not too bright. I )ust need to get this down before school starts! Than\s in advance.

kingtermite

WOW Have I mentioned how much I love this community?! Well than\ you to ALL. I have now synced my MFP and FITbit accounts.

Some general fit bit questions I have.
1) When it has a trac\er for calories burned and at the end it says 2154 does that mean I NEED to burn that many or is it )ust a suggested goal?
2) On the food plan when it says "YOU have 1400 calories to eat" .... that number changes throughout the day...but at the END of my day if I'm within 50 calories on either side of the number then it should say "in the zone" for that day........IS THIS ACCURATE THIN\ing?
3) Will I need to change something on MFP in order to get my plan the same as fit bit...or will it "communicate" that?

Sorry if I seem not too bright. I )ust need to get this down before school starts! Than\s in advance.

1) The number from fitbit website is it's estimate of your TDEE (should be similar to what MFP calculated, but not necessarily same as they use slightly different estimation formulas). They won't match, but don't sweat it. I just let the Fitbit do it's thing in the background and pay attention to numbers on MFP.
2) That number of calories is based on what it computed for your TDEE (calories out in one day) - deficit calories computed (for your weight loss goal). For example, if your TDEE was computed at 1900 calories, then you could in theory not change lifestyle and eat exactly 1900 calories and maintain weight. But....you put a weight loss goal in. If you put in 2 lbs per week, then MFP would subtract 2 lbs worth of calories (3500x2=7000) and divide them over 7 days. In other words, it would set your goal to be 1000 calories (7000 / 7) less than your TDEE or 900 calories. There may be some other considerations (like the fact that 900 calories is too low) and adjust accordingly, but that's the basic gist of it.
3) As stated above, they use different estimation formulas so they won't match up...but don't sweat that. It should be close. Just use MFP.

*PS don't forget to check that setting I mentioned in last post.

Another "rule of thumb" of mine is to try not eat back the "extra" calories you earn from fitbit reporting activity. It's hard not to, but I try not to eat them back (or eat a smaller amount back).

hannahthesoundgirl

On the fitbit website (which is what you're talking about, i'm guessing) The "under" is saying that you're under your calorie goal and you need to eat more. When you say that the number keeps changing, you can change your setting to "Sedentary". If you go to the "food log" and scroll down to the thing that says "today I can still eat ____". There is a blue gear looking thing there. If you click that, you can check sedentary instead of personalized. That way, the number will keep getting bigger as you move more, but won't ever get smaller at the end of the day. That should help.

Ready2Rock206

I assume you're talking about the FItBit dashboard? I just ignore that for anything food related. I just go by what MFP says - although some days I'd rather use FitBit because I can eat a ton more over there! :drinker:

dettles

:happy: