New to FitBit, activity question

fillingame

Hi all! My husband bought me the fitbit force for my birthday today! (Excited, which is was a pretty color like flexs).... I am super excited. I'd like to buddy up with someone who could help me learn the ropes... I have one question.. that I may find the answer to, but wanted to ask.

I do a lot of "classes" at the gym... Spinning and BodyPump, Zumba.... I read somewhere about changing it to "activity" not steps... is this right or did I make it up.. I want to best see the calories I burn in the classes, and have it be on my fitbit/mfp not just the generic one mfp generates its self... does this even make sense?!

Thanks y'all!!!

k98speedy

Hello,

I have to same FitBit and I have never seen changing the steps into activities, but if you log into your fitbit you can manually enter in the activity you have done, the duration, etc. Like I do P90X stuff with weights, so I just put in for how long I have done the exercise for, the reps and the amount of weight used and it calculates the rest. Also, I have to manually enter in the duration I ride my bike at work all day and the approximate speed for the day. It will equate what it feels your activity level was and the amount of calories used.

Hope this helps.

luckydays27

To accurately determine exercise cals burned, you need to have a heart rate monitor. The fitbit only measures steps and step like activities. It may not accurately give you credit for zumba etc.

I love my fitbit one. It's helped me really lose weight.

You should enter your workouts here on mfp of you sync the fb to mfp.

fillingame

Thank you! I was reading so much I think I got cross-eyed for a little. I have not gotten a heart rate monitor yet, as I want to make sure I really stick to everything; that will be the Christmas present. I figure I can always wear the fitbit, and just use the hrm during workouts!

jaz050465

Lots of people use a fitbit for daily activity and a HRM for exercise.

donnaleighh

All of the above - there is also a group called Fitbit Users here which has tonnes of threads with lots of info in it - worth sending out a request to join ... enjoy your Fitbit, they are big fun, but as others have said above - it really is there to measure steps/walking etc, not for other forms of exercise.

AHASRADA

I figure I can always wear the fitbit, and just use the hrm during workouts!

This is what I have been doing. I got the Fitbit Zip a little over a month ago (I couldn't wait for the Force to come out, and didn't see the point in paying more for the One just for sleep and step counting). I wear it all day, but add my HRM during workouts. I enter the workout info. including calories from the monitor, into MFP and that overrides the calories counted by the Fitbit during that time (just make sure you enter the correct time you started the workout and the length so the right time period of calories is overridden).

I just used a calculation another member posted to compare my calculated deficit (logged calories eaten vs. logged calories burned from the Fitbit and HRM) to my actual deficit (based on weight lost) over the past month. It was insanely accurate, like to within 50 calories per day averaged over the month!

For now, with the Fitbit alone, your calories may be low if you are doing non leg-movement cardio (like on the bike), but that's better than it being high and thinking you can eat more than you really can! Some people have mentioned tying the Fitbit to your shoe during spin classes.

The huge benefit I have found with my Fitbit is that it pushed me to move more during the day. I had been putting in a good 60 min. workout in the AM, but then being sedentary for the rest of the day other than going up and down a few flights of stairs and standing periodically. I set my calorie goal to what I need it to be to get the weekly deficit I want based on my diet. Whether I hit 10,000 steps or 5 mi., I keep going until I get my calories. I now walk for 20 minutes after both lunch and dinner, and if I didn't burn as many calories in my workout that day (floor work/weights vs. cardioI), I add another walk mid-morning. It's freezing outside, so I just pace a straight path through my house, back and forth, reading my Kindle or watching YouTube videos on my iPod, but at a reasonably brisk pace. It has made an enormous difference in how I feel, my energy level, my leg muscles and glutes, and the extra calories burned allow me to eat a little more on the weekends.

I hope your Fitbit will be as motivating and keep you accountable as it has me. It's a wonderful tool!

scrapjen

The Fitbit (and sometimes this even varies between models) doesn't calculate all activities correctly, it is good to have a HRM and then compare the readings on the two (you can use the settings on the Fitbit to find out exactly what it calculated for a specific workout/time period).

I've done this with my Fitbit and HRM ... I've found they are really close for jogging (the treadmill itself seems to overestimate) ... anything with incline/hills then the HRM comes in higher. For walking, the HRM drops and FB is higher. For my elliptical, the machine comes in highest, followed by the FB, then the HRM (a total difference of about 50 calories for a 20 minute workout). For the bike, the FB (on my sock) comes in WAY high, followed by the bike, then the HRM (online estimates are between the bike and HRM). For DVD workouts like Jillian's 30DS, the HRM comes in higher than the FB by about 50 calories.

Once you get a pretty good idea of how the FB is reading your activities, you know better when to override it or not. I tend to go with the FB estimate most of the time (it's just easier not to have to come enter things manually) and figure my elliptical/Jillian (one high/one low) workout themselves out a bit ... and I also try to allow an extra 500 exercise calories (on top of my 500 deficit) if I can (not eating back all of the exercise calories, knowing they are all an estimation and could be off).