Fitbit Force and MFP app together?? (weight loss goal)

minaym
minaym Posts: 1
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello everyone,

I recently got a fitbit force and now confused as to how I am suposed to change my routine / how I use the apps and using them together.

So I gather that I am to continue logging in the food that I eat in MFP, and exercise that may not be captured by the fitbit (yoga, swimming, etc).

HOWEVER, I like how the Fitbit Force is able to track my calories in/out and calories left based on my exercise, but that doesnt match with MFP. (they recommend different calorie deficits for example, or I always need to force sync them if I want to compare -- but then comparing kind of defeats the purpose of making this easy to use as now I am finding myself looking at 2 apps back and forth!!)

So for those who are trying to lose weight how do you use these 2 apps together? What do you track in which, what do you look at consistently throughout the day? The reason I bought the Force was that I had hoped to make things simpler.. now I am just more confused!

This was my ideal (not sure if this is possible):
* Log in food throughout the day using MFP
* Exercise will be tracked by Fitbit Force (except yoga swimming etc which I login MFP manually)
* Once food is logged, MFP automatically syncs it with Force (via mobile phone app) and so when I look at the Force on my wrist, it tells me how many calories left I can consume throughout the day

Help!

Replies

  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    I think your wish list there is basically how it works except you need to change one thing. If you manually log swimming, etc. on MFP, you'll want to use your MFP calories as your guide because that info doesn't get synched back to Fitbit, just your intake.

    If you want to use Fitbit's site to tell you how many calories to eat, you can log your food at MFP but log your swimming, etc. at Fitbit.

    I never had to force synchs when I used them together, but I didn't use the mobile apps or use MFP's calorie goals. I would just log food here and then view the Fitbit charts for everything else. My food was usually over there in seconds after logging it here.
  • arijaycomet
    arijaycomet Posts: 21
    Some of your questions would probably be answered in my blog, namely this post:
    http://arijaycomet.com/2013/12/01/fitbit-force-after-one-week/

    However I'll do my best to answer your questions here.

    FOOD
    Enter anything you eat in MFP. That is the same as what you were probably doing prior to the Fitbit purchase. Basically, if it goes into your body (Food, water, etc) that goes into MFP. That data pushes over to Fitbit, and should be within 1-2 calories accurate on both.

    STEPS & BMR
    Steps are calculated automatically by the Fitbit. In MFP, you basically tell it how many steps you THINK you take when you tell it you are sedentary, or light active etc. So the adjustment you see is based on that--- you already told MFP that you think you are a certain level of active--- the adjustment is above/below that to compensate based on your steps.

    EXERCISE
    Technically you can enter your exercise at either location. However, for the highest level of accuracy and for making sure the figures are correct on BOTH pieces of software, it is suggested that you enter it in MyFitnessPal. By doing this you will need to enter a start time and duration, so that when it sync's over to the Fitbit it will over-ride the steps you recorded. For example, if you rode your bike for 20 minutes, the Fitbit will have recorded some amount of steps (probably from the bouncing around on your wrist as your ride). When you enter this workout into MFP, you enter a start time/duration-- and when that sync occurs, the Fitbit says "ohh okay, so instead of the 254 steps you took, I will disregard that and instead take the caloric burn data MFP just told me for that time period of the day" ... make sense?

    BOTTOM LINE
    When it comes to reviewing your calories allowed for the day, yes, you will see variations between the Fitbit and MFP. This is because the MFP site is adjusting best it can based on activity, but as you pointed out it uses a different deficit program. If you feel confident in the caloric burn data the Fitbit has computed, then using their 250 or 500 calorie deficit from your net/actual is truly the best way to go. On a day you only walk 4000 steps, you should eat less. On a day you did 10,000 steps and maybe some extra cardio, you should be able to eat more calories. That is where the Fitbit comes into play--- more steps, more active, more calories allowed to eat.

    Good luck!

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