Fitbit and exercise
nooshi713
Posts: 4,877 Member
I recently synched my fitbit to MFP. I logged my exercise today (only half) in MFP and noticed fitbit also gave me extra calories based on how many steps I got in the day. Should I still log my exercise separately and eat these calories back? When I logged only half my exercise calories, it is about the same amount of extra calories that fitbit gave me. I dont want to double dip though.
0
Replies
-
When you log exercise on MFP and you have Fitbit connected you're replacing what Fitbit detected during the time frame of your "exercise" with the exercise you manually entered.
Why don't you let Fitbit figure out your calories out while just logging your calories in on MFP?
You can then eat all or part of your adjustment. The adjustment uses the exercise mechanism to transfer values; but it does not only reflect exercise. It is just a value that brings up your mfp calories (which were determined based on your selection of activity level) to the level of expenditure that Fitbit detected.5 -
My fitbit is linked to MFP so I just let it sync itself, I dont trust the calories they give me though. I eat about half.1
-
-
I don’t trust mine because I get a vastly bigger burn just for stepping on the spot in my kitchen, than I do when I’m out running!1
-
WinoGelato wrote: »
I believe it overestimates calories burned. I've read several articles stating that it is not 100% accurate when it comes to calories burned. I can get 100 "steps" doing my hair
5 -
WinoGelato wrote: »
I believe it overestimates calories burned. I've read several articles stating that it is not 100% accurate when it comes to calories burned. I can get 100 "steps" doing my hair
I’ve had one synced with MFP for years and it’s accurate for me, countless members on here have used the two programs successfully trusting the data and eating back the exercise adjustments.
Usually when someone doesn’t trust the data it’s because they’ve for themselves set as Sedentary when they average 10k or more steps (NOT Sedentary) so they see big adjustments and don’t think that can possibly be accurate.
Maybe take it off while doing your hair if that bothers you - 100 steps is 1% of my total day and I’m not going to sweat about little inaccuracies like that - I mean, I don’t get “credit” for calories burned while the thing is charging so in the end it’s kind of a wash... I’ve lost the weight I set out to lose and am currently maintaining by trusting and eating back the calorie adjustments. Blanket skepticism doesn’t seem warranted in a device I paid money for...9 -
WinoGelato wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »
I believe it overestimates calories burned. I've read several articles stating that it is not 100% accurate when it comes to calories burned. I can get 100 "steps" doing my hair
I’ve had one synced with MFP for years and it’s accurate for me, countless members on here have used the two programs successfully trusting the data and eating back the exercise adjustments.
Usually when someone doesn’t trust the data it’s because they’ve for themselves set as Sedentary when they average 10k or more steps (NOT Sedentary) so they see big adjustments and don’t think that can possibly be accurate.
Maybe take it off while doing your hair if that bothers you - 100 steps is 1% of my total day and I’m not going to sweat about little inaccuracies like that - I mean, I don’t get “credit” for calories burned while the thing is charging so in the end it’s kind of a wash... I’ve lost the weight I set out to lose and am currently maintaining by trusting and eating back the calorie adjustments. Blanket skepticism doesn’t seem warranted in a device I paid money for...
That's funny because my Calories still go up when I'm not wearing mine eg if I take it off to go in the bath etc also people that don't wear it at night wake up to calories burned I've only had mine since February and have found its 200-300 calories over per day based on calories burned and weight loss5 -
Angelsja, Fitbit estimates your base calorie burn at rest. Mine says I burn 16 calories every 15 minutes when I’m completely stationary (dead to the world at night). Even if I didn’t wear the Fitbit, I’d still see that calorie burn regardless.9
-
Angelsja, Fitbit estimates your base calorie burn at rest. Mine says I burn 16 calories every 15 minutes when I’m completely stationary (dead to the world at night). Even if I didn’t wear the Fitbit, I’d still see that calorie burn regardless.
Yes exactly that's why I was saying it's weird to not get "credit" when it's charging etc2 -
Yes exactly that's why I was saying it's weird to not get "credit" when it's charging etc
Does it not!? I’ll have to have a look next time I charge. The base burn, I assumed, was automatically calculated within the Fitbit app itself and communicated to the Fitbit at the next sync.3 -
Angelsja, Fitbit estimates your base calorie burn at rest. Mine says I burn 16 calories every 15 minutes when I’m completely stationary (dead to the world at night). Even if I didn’t wear the Fitbit, I’d still see that calorie burn regardless.
Exactly. It’s a total activity tracker and it estimates calories burned all day based on your stats to calculate your BMR. I charge mine while I’m in the shower and getting ready for work because I like getting the sleep data every night, so yeah there are times it might add a few extra steps ( I’m an animated hand talker) and there’s times when I’m moving and it isn’t on me. It’s all an estimate and the important thing with weight loss is to be directionally correct as consistently as possible and I think FitBit supports that well.
I’m just always curious why people have automatic skepticism when they maybe don’t understand how the tool works and how to optimize results.8 -
No it does but someone above said they didn't get credit when it was charging so discrepancies like getting steps when brushing your hair etc don't matter as it all evens out4 -
Angelsja, Fitbit estimates your base calorie burn at rest. Mine says I burn 16 calories every 15 minutes when I’m completely stationary (dead to the world at night). Even if I didn’t wear the Fitbit, I’d still see that calorie burn regardless.
Yes exactly that's why I was saying it's weird to not get "credit" when it's charging etc
Sorry I should have said “credit for steps taken while it’s not on me” not calories burned. I would go back and amend my post but it will make this discussion really confusing.3 -
WinoGelato wrote: »Angelsja, Fitbit estimates your base calorie burn at rest. Mine says I burn 16 calories every 15 minutes when I’m completely stationary (dead to the world at night). Even if I didn’t wear the Fitbit, I’d still see that calorie burn regardless.
Yes exactly that's why I was saying it's weird to not get "credit" when it's charging etc
Sorry I should have said “credit for steps taken while it’s not on me” not calories burned. I would go back and amend my post but it will make this discussion really confusing.
Ah that makes more sense
0 -
WinoGelato wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »
I believe it overestimates calories burned. I've read several articles stating that it is not 100% accurate when it comes to calories burned. I can get 100 "steps" doing my hair
I’ve had one synced with MFP for years and it’s accurate for me, countless members on here have used the two programs successfully trusting the data and eating back the exercise adjustments.
Usually when someone doesn’t trust the data it’s because they’ve for themselves set as Sedentary when they average 10k or more steps (NOT Sedentary) so they see big adjustments and don’t think that can possibly be accurate.
Maybe take it off while doing your hair if that bothers you - 100 steps is 1% of my total day and I’m not going to sweat about little inaccuracies like that - I mean, I don’t get “credit” for calories burned while the thing is charging so in the end it’s kind of a wash... I’ve lost the weight I set out to lose and am currently maintaining by trusting and eating back the calorie adjustments. Blanket skepticism doesn’t seem warranted in a device I paid money for...
Gaining steps from doing my hair doesn't bother me. I have myself set for sedentary because I have a desk job but I get about 12-15k steps a day. I don't sweat about it I dont even think about it. I just don't eat all of the calories I'm given because I understand slight movements can add steps/calories, I even gain steps driving...understanding that the number is not 100% is not blanket skepticism, it's reality. I'm losing the weight .5-1lb per week so I'm eating right about what I should for my goals. I do think the fitbit is accurate as it can be, and accurate enough to warrant the $150 I spent on it.
2 -
When you log exercise on MFP and you have Fitbit connected you're replacing what Fitbit detected during the time frame of your "exercise" with the exercise you manually entered.
Why don't you let Fitbit figure out your calories out while just logging your calories in on MFP?
You can then eat all or part of your adjustment. The adjustment uses the exercise mechanism to transfer values; but it does not only reflect exercise. It is just a value that brings up your mfp calories (which were determined based on your selection of activity level) to the level of expenditure that Fitbit detected.
I'm sorry but this just made me more confused. I thought I was supposed to log exercise calories and eat some, in my case half, back. If I wear fitbit, I shouldnt do that?
For example, 1/2 of yesterdays exercise calories for me was 90, so I logged that, but then fitbit gave me 80 calories also. Im not sure if I should be eating both of those back or not.0 -
Also, I would think fitbit is pretty accurate. My BMR is 1260. On a day when I got 6000 steps, it says I burned 1700 calories. On a day I burned 12000 steps, it said I burned 1900 calories. These numbers seem to line up with my calculated TDEE bases on a "lightly active" level. Actually, according to TDEE, I should be burning 1650 a day when sedentary, and I wouldn't consider 6000 steps a day sedentary. So it seems to underestimate calorie burn if anything.1
-
When you log exercise on MFP and you have Fitbit connected you're replacing what Fitbit detected during the time frame of your "exercise" with the exercise you manually entered.
Why don't you let Fitbit figure out your calories out while just logging your calories in on MFP?
You can then eat all or part of your adjustment. The adjustment uses the exercise mechanism to transfer values; but it does not only reflect exercise. It is just a value that brings up your mfp calories (which were determined based on your selection of activity level) to the level of expenditure that Fitbit detected.
I'm sorry but this just made me more confused. I thought I was supposed to log exercise calories and eat some, in my case half, back. If I wear fitbit, I shouldnt do that?
For example, 1/2 of yesterdays exercise calories for me was 90, so I logged that, but then fitbit gave me 80 calories also. Im not sure if I should be eating both of those back or not.
You can log your exercises on Fitbit (or just let it take care of everything if you have a HR-based model) and get one total adjustment.3 -
3
-
Also, I would think fitbit is pretty accurate. My BMR is 1260. On a day when I got 6000 steps, it says I burned 1700 calories. On a day I burned 12000 steps, it said I burned 1900 calories. These numbers seem to line up with my calculated TDEE bases on a "lightly active" level. Actually, according to TDEE, I should be burning 1650 a day when sedentary, and I wouldn't consider 6000 steps a day sedentary. So it seems to underestimate calorie burn if anything.
it's accurate enough to give us the info we need to meet our goals. I know most people underestimate their calorie input and over estimate their calorie burn so by eating back about half, some days more, some days less it seems to be working pretty well for me. .5-1lb a week is what I'm losing and thats right about where I should be for my weight since I am obese.1 -
When you log exercise on MFP and you have Fitbit connected you're replacing what Fitbit detected during the time frame of your "exercise" with the exercise you manually entered.
Why don't you let Fitbit figure out your calories out while just logging your calories in on MFP?
You can then eat all or part of your adjustment. The adjustment uses the exercise mechanism to transfer values; but it does not only reflect exercise. It is just a value that brings up your mfp calories (which were determined based on your selection of activity level) to the level of expenditure that Fitbit detected.
I'm sorry but this just made me more confused. I thought I was supposed to log exercise calories and eat some, in my case half, back. If I wear fitbit, I shouldnt do that?
For example, 1/2 of yesterdays exercise calories for me was 90, so I logged that, but then fitbit gave me 80 calories also. Im not sure if I should be eating both of those back or not.
What you're supposed to do is accurately estimate your calories burned and eat them back.
1/2 is a baseline "fudge factor" Some people eat more, some less. But it's a convenient and "easy" starting point that acknowledges that many/most estimates are high.2 -
My FitBit overestimates my burn. I’ve been wearing it daily for a year. When I was eating the calories the FitBit sync allowed me based on my activity, I gained weight. Stopped eating those calories, and I’m losing again. It’s a great tool, but it’s not spot on for me.1
-
Fitbit lumps your step calories and your workout calories into one lump sum. I'm not a fan of that. I prefer to have them separated. Steps are usually going to be accurate assuming you have your stride length and physical statistics entered correctly. But exercises.... not all the algorithms are created equal. Strength is almost always too high, Cardio is usually pretty good, but circuit training is all over the place, yoga can be really good at times and others not, etc. So I prefer to keep the two items separated, so that way I can tell if my exercise specific calories are strange. so you may just need to review your exercise cals, and make a judgement call to correct your numbers.0
-
Question, I have a Charge 2. I leave it to record my steps and walking for exercise, (which I find accurate) but I also do Pilates on a reformer. I record the Pilates on MyFitnessPal and it transfers to Fitbit. Is this correct or am I getting “double” credit?0
-
workinonit1956 wrote: »Question, I have a Charge 2. I leave it to record my steps and walking for exercise, (which I find accurate) but I also do Pilates on a reformer. I record the Pilates on MyFitnessPal and it transfers to Fitbit. Is this correct or am I getting “double” credit?
When you log exercise on MFP, it overwrites the data recorded on Fitbit for that time. You don't get double credit.2 -
@workinonit1956 nope that works. no double credit unless you track it specifically as a workout on fitbit2
-
@GottaBurnEmAll, thank you!0
-
Seriously this.
You don't even need to join or post. Just read the introductory information and learn. HeyBales went to a lot of trouble to spell everything out very thoroughly.3 -
I appreciate it, thanks!@workinonit1956 nope that works. no double credit unless you track it specifically as a workout on fitbit
0 -
@workinonit1956 nope that works. no double credit unless you track it specifically as a workout on fitbit
FIFY
Whether the credits are accurate or inaccurate for you depends on many factors (accuracy of logged calories in, whether you are one of the majority of people when it comes to BMR and TDEE or whether you're a serious outlier, etc).
However, and assuming that integration is working properly, the math has been taken care off by both Fitbit and MFP. You may end up with un-intended incorrect values because of what you decide to log; but, you will NOT end up with "double" credit.
You enter an activity manually on MFP --> integration creates the same activity on Fitbit --> it OVERWRITES and REPLACES what Fitbit detected during that same time frame.
You enter an activity manually on Fitbit --> Fitbit OVERWRITES and REPLACES what it detected during that same time frame.
You erase the activity on Fitbit --> Fitbit re-instates what it automatically detected during that time frame.
Fitbit records both your "base activity level" and your "detected activity level". Base activity level is BMR x 1.0 MFP sedentary is BMR x 1.25. Both use the same BMR equation so your base BMR is the same on both.
To me it is pretty obvious that Fitbit has a higher chance of being correct than MFP does. On MFP you've told MFP: hey I am sedentary (x1.25), lightly active (x1.4), active (x1.6), very active (x1.8) and MFP dutifully assumes you're not incorrect in your estimation.
Fitbit detects your activity based on movement and HR. Obviously if you're relatively sedentary and move your hands a lot this will impact negatively on the estimation. If you move a lot that will be so minor as to not matter.
You can micromanage to the degree you're comfortable.
Personally I've found it good enough to just let Fitbit detect whatever it detects. Use trendweight.com to enter my daily weight. Use MFP to record my caloric intake each and every day including normal days, all you can eat days, Thanksgiving, Christmas, off days, on days, and in between days. Some are more accurately recorded than others, but a best effort is made on all (and I mean verified entries and all that jazz).
Then every few weeks you look at your average difference between actual and predicted numbers. That lets you get a good idea as to how much you can or cannot eat back without an overwhelming fear as to how far off you'll be.
Again a reminder: your Fitbit exercise adjustment is NOT calories from exercise.
Your Fitbit exercise adjustment is the difference between Fitbit TDEE and MFP TDEE for the day.
You have two different ways of estimating TDEE and MFP is basically deferring to Fitbit and adopting their number using the adjustment mechanism4
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.2K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 424 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.7K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions