Fitness Tracker question

laurenebargar
laurenebargar Posts: 3,081 Member
edited November 18 in Health and Weight Loss
I have a fitness tracker that does not sync to MFP, Both my tracker and MFP are set to sedentary, should I be adding to calories it says I have burned for my daily steps? If so should I be eating them(Id only eat half of them back)?

Replies

  • need2belean
    need2belean Posts: 358 Member
    laurenebargar wrote: »
    I have a fitness tracker that does not sync to MFP, Both my tracker and MFP are set to sedentary, should I be adding to calories it says I have burned for my daily steps? If so should I be eating them(Id only eat half of them back)?
    I say only input the calories you burn during a workout. Not for what you typically burn in a day walking at work. I also say, don't add them at all and if you do, only eat back half or less of those calories burned just in case you over estimate.
  • laurenebargar
    laurenebargar Posts: 3,081 Member
    If it helps, I typically walk around 7,000-10,000 steps, more on the weekends.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,242 Member
    I say you have to figure out what your daily burn is. And what you would have to eat to create the deficit you want. That's if you want to have targets. And targets are good because they ensure an appropriate deficit. One that is neither too small or too big.

    Your unconnected tracker is giving you an estimate of your complete daily burn based on what your tracker has detected.

    MFP has made a guess of what your daily burn will be based on your stated activity and the exercises you logged.

    If you believe your tracker's estimate you would adjust mfp's estimate based on the tracker's results.

    That's what integration does.

    I believe my tracker (to be off by about 5% for the day) based on my food logging abilities and type of exercise.

    The performance of your tracker in conjunction with your food logging abilities can only be evaluated by you based on your weight trend over time...
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,242 Member
    You are lightly active to active based on your steps and assuming you don't log your steps as a separate exercise on top.
  • laurenebargar
    laurenebargar Posts: 3,081 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    You are lightly active to active based on your steps and assuming you don't log your steps as a separate exercise on top.

    Have previously added some of my steps back, but realized I wasnt sure if I should actually be doing that, I didnt add them every day, just for a few days. But yes I set it at sedentary because Im in an office all day and most of my steps come from after work
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    Honestly.. I'd buy a tracker that syncs with MFP, it'll make things so much easier for you. If money is an issue, the fitbit zip is around $60 and is pretty damn accurate.
  • laurenebargar
    laurenebargar Posts: 3,081 Member
    Christine_72 wrote: »
    Honestly.. I'd buy a tracker that syncs with MFP, it'll make things so much easier for you. If money is an issue, the fitbit zip is around $60 and is pretty damn accurate.

    Ill look into that! I bought an inexpensive one when I was just starting out, wsnt sure if it was going to stick this time, so I didnt want to make a huge investment. It will be a few weeks before I can buy one that syncs just bought a bike tonight, but im going to research that!
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,242 Member
    Quick estimates:
    >5k steps exceeds sedentary MFP setting
    >7.5k steps exceeds lightly active MFP setting
    >12k steps exceeds active MFP setting
    >15.5k steps exceeds very active MFP setting

    You can log the excess steps as an exercise or ignore based on size of deficit or goal and based on food logging accuracy.

    I most certainly did log and adjust my calories based on my activity both when I was actively losing weight and subsequent to that.
  • ronjsteele1
    ronjsteele1 Posts: 1,064 Member
    Christine_72 wrote: »
    Honestly.. I'd buy a tracker that syncs with MFP, it'll make things so much easier for you. If money is an issue, the fitbit zip is around $60 and is pretty damn accurate.

    I had mine synced with MFP and was not "double dipping" and I ended up gaining 5#'s before I realized what was happening. MFP was giving me calories for my steps taken and I don't normally do that. Even though I exercise on top of my regular steps taken, I was gaining. Once I un-synced my tracker from MFP and just recorded my exercise calories I started losing again. It stinking took weeks to lose that 5#'s I had gained from that fiasco. Personally, I would not sync my tracker to MFP.
  • ronjsteele1
    ronjsteele1 Posts: 1,064 Member
    laurenebargar wrote: »
    Christine_72 wrote: »
    Honestly.. I'd buy a tracker that syncs with MFP, it'll make things so much easier for you. If money is an issue, the fitbit zip is around $60 and is pretty damn accurate.

    Ill look into that! I bought an inexpensive one when I was just starting out, wsnt sure if it was going to stick this time, so I didnt want to make a huge investment. It will be a few weeks before I can buy one that syncs just bought a bike tonight, but im going to research that!

    Look into a Misfit Shine. They just came out with the Shine 2, but you can get a plain Shine on ebay for like $30 or $40 now. I LOVE mine and have never had reliability issues with it (I've had it 1.5 years). Fitbits seem to have unending reliability issues. That was a large part of the reason I bought the Misfit (mine was $90 before the Shine 2 came out).
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    ronjsteele1 wrote: »
    Christine_72 wrote: »
    Honestly.. I'd buy a tracker that syncs with MFP, it'll make things so much easier for you. If money is an issue, the fitbit zip is around $60 and is pretty damn accurate.

    I had mine synced with MFP and was not "double dipping" and I ended up gaining 5#'s before I realized what was happening. MFP was giving me calories for my steps taken and I don't normally do that. Even though I exercise on top of my regular steps taken, I was gaining. Once I un-synced my tracker from MFP and just recorded my exercise calories I started losing again. It stinking took weeks to lose that 5#'s I had gained from that fiasco. Personally, I would not sync my tracker to MFP.

    @ronjsteele1 I answered your post in this thread re your comment on steps and calories, last post on page 1:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10547655/its-not-as-simple-as-just-being-under-your-calorie-count-for-the-day/p1
  • ronjsteele1
    ronjsteele1 Posts: 1,064 Member
    Christine_72 wrote: »
    ronjsteele1 wrote: »
    Christine_72 wrote: »
    Honestly.. I'd buy a tracker that syncs with MFP, it'll make things so much easier for you. If money is an issue, the fitbit zip is around $60 and is pretty damn accurate.

    I had mine synced with MFP and was not "double dipping" and I ended up gaining 5#'s before I realized what was happening. MFP was giving me calories for my steps taken and I don't normally do that. Even though I exercise on top of my regular steps taken, I was gaining. Once I un-synced my tracker from MFP and just recorded my exercise calories I started losing again. It stinking took weeks to lose that 5#'s I had gained from that fiasco. Personally, I would not sync my tracker to MFP.

    @ronjsteele1 I answered your post in this thread re your comment on steps and calories, last post on page 1:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10547655/its-not-as-simple-as-just-being-under-your-calorie-count-for-the-day/p1

    Thanks for letting me know. I don't always get back to follow up on reading (even though I'd like to!). I'm not sure I completely understood what you were saying in terms of your fitbit and steps. I understood the part about how many steps you were normally taking, etc. Just not sure I understand what you meant about your fitbit and hitting 15,000 steps. Did you mean that once you starting hitting 3000 steps (and now 15,000 steps) that you let MFP give you calories back for those since you were sedentary prior? Sorry. It's late. I may just be wonky in the head after a long day. :s I generally hit 12,000 steps on a daily basis and if I take any of those in calories I'm toast when it comes to weight loss. I am set to sedentary on my calories. But I can eat back all of my workout calories (and skip the step calories) and lose weight. Go figure. :p

    I think so long as someone is paying attention to what their weight is doing in terms of eating back step calories, etc. it can be done. I just didn't have success doing that. I also have other complicating factors though that do require me to eat less to lose then maybe someone else with the same stats (PCOS, hypothyroid, damaged pituitary, etc).
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,242 Member
    ronjsteele1 wrote: »
    Christine_72 wrote: »
    Honestly.. I'd buy a tracker that syncs with MFP, it'll make things so much easier for you. If money is an issue, the fitbit zip is around $60 and is pretty damn accurate.

    I had mine synced with MFP and was not "double dipping" and I ended up gaining 5#'s before I realized what was happening. MFP was giving me calories for my steps taken and I don't normally do that. Even though I exercise on top of my regular steps taken, I was gaining. Once I un-synced my tracker from MFP and just recorded my exercise calories I started losing again. It stinking took weeks to lose that 5#'s I had gained from that fiasco. Personally, I would not sync my tracker to MFP.

    Errors can come from:
    --Incorrect food logging
    --Being an outlier and having a lower or higher than predicted NEAT
    --Being an outlier and during exercise burning a lower or higher than predicted amount of calories
    --Errors related to technology or understanding. For example many people enter an activity on MFP that propagates to the tracker over-writing what the tracker had detected during that time frame. Then, when the tracker ends up with an incorrect estimation of their caloric expenditure they blame the tracker for not detecting things correctly, yet it is they who have over-written what the tracker detected on its own!
    --And this can be compounded by the incorrect detection or interpretation of one's weight trend.

    Furthermore, the effect of any of these errors is highly dependent on the degree of deficit or overage that the user is trying to achieve and the size of their TDEE.

    In spite of all these potential problems, **many** people use trackers and many people find these trackers reliable enough to work with. Some trackers and brands do seem to yield more accurate results than others.

    My usual recommendation would be that you should start by trusting your tracker and that you should adjust after 30 days based on your trending weight results.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    ronjsteele1 wrote: »
    Christine_72 wrote: »
    ronjsteele1 wrote: »
    Christine_72 wrote: »
    Honestly.. I'd buy a tracker that syncs with MFP, it'll make things so much easier for you. If money is an issue, the fitbit zip is around $60 and is pretty damn accurate.

    I had mine synced with MFP and was not "double dipping" and I ended up gaining 5#'s before I realized what was happening. MFP was giving me calories for my steps taken and I don't normally do that. Even though I exercise on top of my regular steps taken, I was gaining. Once I un-synced my tracker from MFP and just recorded my exercise calories I started losing again. It stinking took weeks to lose that 5#'s I had gained from that fiasco. Personally, I would not sync my tracker to MFP.

    @ronjsteele1 I answered your post in this thread re your comment on steps and calories, last post on page 1:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10547655/its-not-as-simple-as-just-being-under-your-calorie-count-for-the-day/p1

    Thanks for letting me know. I don't always get back to follow up on reading (even though I'd like to!). I'm not sure I completely understood what you were saying in terms of your fitbit and steps. I understood the part about how many steps you were normally taking, etc. Just not sure I understand what you meant about your fitbit and hitting 15,000 steps. Did you mean that once you starting hitting 3000 steps (and now 15,000 steps) that you let MFP give you calories back for those since you were sedentary prior? Sorry. It's late. I may just be wonky in the head after a long day. :s I generally hit 12,000 steps on a daily basis and if I take any of those in calories I'm toast when it comes to weight loss. I am set to sedentary on my calories. But I can eat back all of my workout calories (and skip the step calories) and lose weight. Go figure. :p

    I think so long as someone is paying attention to what their weight is doing in terms of eating back step calories, etc. it can be done. I just didn't have success doing that. I also have other complicating factors though that do require me to eat less to lose then maybe someone else with the same stats (PCOS, hypothyroid, damaged pituitary, etc).

    I guess I'm muddling in regular steps with intential exercise steps. Long story short, i have no problems eating back the calories i get from fitbit steps, because if i didn't purposefully make an effort to walk, then my regular day to day steps wouldn't even be enough to get a positive adjustment on mfp.
    My only exercise is walking, so it makes sense for me to have mfp and fitbit synced.

    I'm probably not explaining this very clearly. Getting my thoughts down on paper/keyboard succinctly is definitely not my forte' :wink:

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