From Fitbit Flex to Garmin Vivofit - Calorie Adjustment?

Lifereclaiming

I have been using the Fitbit Flex for about a year. During such year I have had two trackers as the one suddenly stopped working and the second one required charging every other day. I was really addicted to Fitbit and the hand tracker idea, it has helped me enourmously in my weight loss journey, however I cannot pay for a different tracker every 4 months!! I now belive that the Flex is really a toy! Anyhow, I decided to move to the Garmin Vivofit because I have read that it is really promising and I love the fact that I do not have to charge it for a year!
My problem is how to link the Vivofit with MFP account so I have the daily calorie adjustment that I had with Fitbit. I know that Garmin and MFP are not automatically linked at the moment and I am wondering if there is some kind of trick to solve this.
Any help will be really appreciated

sbarella

Since you need to enter your adjustment manually (just log any exercise then edit the calorie count that MFP gives you) but you can't enter negative calories, you could lower your calories so that you never have to enter a negative adjustement. Does it make sense?

Lifereclaiming

Not really... How do I see the calorie count given by MFP? Could you please explain step by step?

sbarella

Sorry, I don't have a device so I can't really explain step by step... But basically MFP gives you a number of allotted calories, the so-called calorie goal (you can see it at the bottom of your food diary if your device is not connected), then your device makes adjustements which can be negative or positive. If the adjustement is positive the device gives you more calories to eat because you moved more than MFP predicted you would, if the adjustement is negative the calorie goal gets smaller because the device found out that you moved less than usual.

If the device is not connected to MFP or you don't have an activity tracker you can make manual adjustements by logging your exercise (main page: add exercise, then select exercise and duration. MFP will give you an estimate of the calories burned but you can manually edit that number). You are supposed to eat back those calories but you can not subtract calories from the goal if that day you have been lazy.

If you set your activity as sedentary on MFP (My Home -> Goals -> Change goals) you say to MFP "hey, I pretty much sit on my butt all day" and MFP gives you an amount of calories that will make you lose weight without any exercise. That amount will be low, but you can (and should) log your activity to get more calories. How many calories? The device will tell you. I don't know where or how to get that number because I don't have a Garmin, but there has to be somewhere, it's what an activity tracker does.

momma2azoo

Vivofit's do not link to MFP. Go look up DC Rainmakers Vivo review if you didn't before buying one. He has the best product review out there.

I don't know if Garmin will get around to making their software talk to MFP. Lots of debate about it, but most of what I've read seems to indicate that Garmin isn't real motivated to play with MFP and instead is working on making their tracking software better.

So, if you want your MFP calories to match those on the Vivo (which, keep in mind, displays TDEE) you will need to manually adjust them. I'm keeping an eye on what my Vivo says, but not neurotically so. Keep in mind all these gadgets just give us estimates. If you find the Vivofit says you burn a lot more than (or less) than what your setting is at on MFP then go in and adjust your calorie setting. Otherwise, just shoot for a ball park figure.

As I see it, the benefit of the Vivo is that it helps me see my overall activity. I'm hoping it'll help me with calories on days when I'm either exceptionally active or lazy. When I stick to my standard routine, MFP's non dynamic data is fine.

PinkNinjaLaura

I have the Flex (and I love mine) but I ended up unlinking it from MFP anyway. If I do go for an intentional walk or run I'll enter it manually into MFP (when I run I use my HRM for calorie burn), but for the most part I just use my Flex to keep me accountable for moving enough each day, especially my non-running days. I didn't want it giving me calorie credit for movement that wasn't specifically exercise, like wandering around Target for an hour.

redpandora56

Hey, I have a vivo fit. What I'm doing is using MFP's base calorie suggestion on the activity level I gave it. This is because mfp is already suggesting the caloric deficit i need to lose weight. So vivofit might tell me i burn around 2000 calories in the course of a day, but mfp already took that approximately into account by telling me to eat 1400. So vivofit is essentially confirming that MFP is helping me a for a 600 calorie daily deficit.

Then, I'm wearing my heart rate monitor to get vivo fit to log my activity calories. When I log my exercise on MFP, I enter the calories according to garmin connect for that activity. I can then choose to eat back those extra calories or not, and I tend to eat a few of them since I already have a good deficit. Does that make sense?

There's speculation about garmin syncing with MFP in future, but for now there's an extra manual step. Enjoy the vivo fit, I love mine! The reports on garmin connect are great.

editorgrrl

I have been using the Fitbit Flex for about a year. During such year I have had two trackers as the one suddenly stopped working and the second one required charging every other day. I was really addicted to Fitbit and the hand tracker idea, it has helped me enourmously in my weight loss journey, however I cannot pay for a different tracker every 4 months!! I now belive that the Flex is really a toy!

My Fitbit Flex stopped holding a charge. I contacted Fitbit customer service, and they replaced it. Not just the tracker—they sent me a complete factory sealed package with the bands, clasp, charger & dongle.

Edited to add if the Vivofit shows your TDEE (your Fitbit burn is your TDEE), then you can customize your MFP goal to TDEE minus 10 to 20 percent: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/my_goals

Churchbell06

Hi, Can you please break down your explanation for dummy me? I am still up in the air on whether I will keep my vivofit. I am so confused. If I could understand better, I would feel more confident about my purchase. MFP Tells me to eat 1800 calories. (When I walk and use my runtastic pedometer, or log exercise, I do get more). So - and I know this is all approximated - but when my Vivofit tells me I have burned 1261 calories as of 1:27 pm, what do I do with that information? Do I want to make sure that my VivoFit shows at least 1800 burned as well?
I appreciate any light you can shed. Just can't wrap my brain around it? I am really hoping Garmin will sync with MFP. I almost returned it for that reason, but I really like having the display (watch), it is comfortable, and to be able to change bands.

EDITED : okay I THINK I get it now? Thanks to EditorGrrls Link, I see what MFP Is saying I burn. so If my vivofit hits That first number, and I eat the calories that MFP has for me, I should be okay? Ugh I really wish this could be simpler.

Churchbell06

PS Can you please tell me what TDEE means? SOrry if I missed it earlier in the post.

mjterp

I have been using the Fitbit Flex for about a year. During such year I have had two trackers as the one suddenly stopped working and the second one required charging every other day. I was really addicted to Fitbit and the hand tracker idea, it has helped me enourmously in my weight loss journey, however I cannot pay for a different tracker every 4 months!! I now belive that the Flex is really a toy! Anyhow, I decided to move to the Garmin Vivofit because I have read that it is really promising and I love the fact that I do not have to charge it for a year!
My problem is how to link the Vivofit with MFP account so I have the daily calorie adjustment that I had with Fitbit. I know that Garmin and MFP are not automatically linked at the moment and I am wondering if there is some kind of trick to solve this.
Any help will be really appreciated

I have called in for warranty on my fitbit. with the charging thing, customer support helped me to do a reset...been working great since!