Calorie tracker

elmusho1989

Hey,

I'm looking to buy a not very expensive calorie tracker online. Just wondering do things other than fitbit sync with mfp? I know aldi have one and I was thinking of getting it. I would spend up to 100 euro on something worth it though.

heybales

In MFP online account go to the Apps section, and view all the external devices and accounts that can sync with MFP.

It's not up to MFP to reach into those devices or accounts and grab info - kind of a security issue there.
The other side has to spend the money to send it to MFP - which some do.

Sometimes there is a convoluted way to get the info to MFP, like the device syncs with Google Fitness, and then Google Fitness syncs with issues to MFP.

Or at minimum - this devices tells you your normal daily burn, and you can pick the correct activity level on MFP based on non-exercise days.
Then add workouts when really done the way it's designed. But at least you aren't guessing from 4 activity levels.

elmusho1989

Thanks, I guess I can just buy a cheap but accurate one then and log the calorie burn myself.

AnnPT77

elmusho1989 wrote: »

Thanks, I guess I can just buy a cheap but accurate one then and log the calorie burn myself.

Decent ones will be accurate for most people, because most people are pretty average. Be aware that they're not measuring calories, they're still just estimating. What's helpful is that they estimate in a more personalized way.

You'll still want to monitor your results, and you may need to adjust your intake. Any tracker - even the very best tracker on the market today - will tend to be somewhat high or low for a few people, and significantly high or low for a very rare few. It's not that the tracker is no good, it's that those people are not very average (though why may not be obvious). But most people are pretty close to average, so odds are that it will work out fine, for you.

elmusho1989

Thanks, this is more complicated than I thought!

AnnPT77

elmusho1989 wrote: »

Thanks, this is more complicated than I thought!

Nah, just get one, rely on its data for 4-6 weeks (at least one full menstrual period if you're a premenopausal woman, so you can compare the same relative point in two different monthly cycles). At the end of that, calculate your average weekly weight loss. If it's close to your goal rate of loss, you're golden: Keep relying on it. If not, there are various ways to adjust.

The trackers are fine, plenty close enough for most people.

My good brand/model tracker is *way* off on all-day calorie burn for me (as is MFP, BTW). I'm one of the weirdo non-average people, don't really know why. Nonetheless, I still use the tracker for exercise calories when I don't have a better formula, and I've been managing my weight fine for nearly 6 years now, through loss from obese to healthy weight, and around 5 years of maintenance since.

Tracker + MFP is a good strategy. I just think it's important to point out to folks that it's an estimate, not a magical insight: We see posts here relatively frequently from people who aren't losing, or aren't maintaining, or whatever they want to accomplish. Blind faith in a fitness tracker or heart rate monitor is one of many possible points where problems can happen.

Statistics suggest it'll work fine for you, and even if it doesn't, you can adjust and achieve your goals.

Best wishes!

Kaysmile012015

Trackers being calorie accurate is an ongoing concern these days. In GOOGLE There are list that rate the most accurate devices. I have a Garmin watch, I take my calorie burn number from it, then search the exercise in MFP,
MFP it has tons of searchable exercise options, you just input your time, and it fills in calories, you can adjust it to reflect correct calories, if the system calculation is wrong too.

heybales

Garmin should be syncing over a workout if you have accounts linked - removing much of that work.

sijomial

elmusho1989 wrote: »

Thanks, this is more complicated than I thought!

It's as complicted or as simple as you choose to make it.
The choice to have an all day tracker is entirely optional - there's loads of people who don't feel the need to do anything beyond using MyFitnessPal or TDEE sites without any linked devices and are successful in managing their weight.

Personally a rough average of my non-exercise activity worked perfectly well, Lightly Active when I was working, Active when I retired. I used the step counter on my phone to get a rough idea of my movement when working (6,000+ steps) which clearly showed I wasn't Sedentary despite a desk job.
How did I know my activity went up when I retired despite a lot of my activity now not being closely related to steps?
I started to lose weight on what had been maintenance calories - simple as that.

Back to square one - what are you looking to get from using a tracker?

bcalvanese

I would recommend a Garmin.

Kaysmile012015

heybales wrote: »

Garmin should be syncing over a workout if you have accounts linked - removing much of that work.

Actually, don't want to sync my Garmin to MFP, I know it can be done but I prefer not to, and adding exercise( manually) in MFP is simple and easy enough for me, plus it saves your workouts so im usually just hitting a key and it fills it.:) no sweat.