New to Fitbit Flex!

jess_1993

Hey guys! So todays my first day using the fitbit flex and so far it seems to be making sense with calories burned and all that fun stuff but I just had one concern. I synced it with MFP so it adjusts my calories according to my activity. Do you guys just follow MFP for how many calories to consume?? Have you guys had success in losing weight by just following the calories given by fitbit and MFP?? Thanks!

bookwormjoy

I log all my foods and do everything as far as nutrition goes all on MFP... I have negative calorie disabled because it pisses me off (LONG EXPLANATION) which can be done on the settings on MFP... I don't log my runs but I do log my elliptical time since I get more calories for it... I do love my Flex!!

TheThriftstorian

First of all, welcome to the wonderful world of Fitbit! I don't think I could live without my flex. I feel naked if I leave the house without it.

I personally DO follow the calorie adjustment, and have actually started to lose even MORE weight because of it! That being said, from what I can tell on the forums, it really is different for each person. There's a trial and error period.

Another tip: make sure that you add exercise to MFP ONLY, and record your EXACT start time, or else you will get double the calories.

Good luck!

JustSomeEm

I had a fitbit force, and ended up being one of those special snowflakes that got the 'rash' and had to return it, so NOW I have a Jawbone Up... But anyway, I HAVE had success losing weight when following MFP and the Fitbit/Jawbone adjustments. I found that the Fitbit adjustments were a little too high for me, though. My Jawbone has much more modest adjustments, and I love it, and it works well for me.

iRun_Butterfly

Yep, I credit the MPF/Fitbit combo with my success. Log all of your food in MFP as well as any non-step related exercise. Let the two programs talk back and forth and make the adjustments accordingly. It took me a few weeks to trust that the programs were doing it right, but once I stopped over thinking it and just followed along, its been great. Over 50 lbs lost since I started using both, so something must be right!

JenOman

I love that it adds calories if I have walked a lot that day. I have my setting on MFP as sedentary, so I definitely appreciate the extra calories FitBit adds when I am more active. But if you don't want that, you can turn the setting off.

I have learned that if I do an activity that is not walking, to log it on the FitBit end, not MFP. I am talking when I use my HRM for biking/swimming/circuit (taking my Flex off, of course). At least when I first started using my Flex, if I added the activity on here, it would override my Flex. It isn't a big deal to add an activity using the FitBit app, it actually has my exercises from here as options.

Good luck! and enjoy your Flex!

LeahNMe

I love my flex and agree with the poster who said don't over think it. In fact I just wrote this this morning. Once you find the right adjustment for your activities, it's the best combo ever.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1263622-not-rocket-science

JenOman

Another tip: make sure that you add exercise to MFP ONLY, and record your EXACT start time, or else you will get double the calories.

Oh yes! The exact start time and duration is VERY important, but I still found it works better for me to use the FitBit app. Though I may try MFP to log activities again (it has been almost a year since I tried and had issues), that way my friends will know I am not slacking. ha ha

iRun_Butterfly

Another tip: make sure that you add exercise to MFP ONLY, and record your EXACT start time, or else you will get double the calories.

Oh yes! The exact start time and duration is VERY important, but I still found it works better for me to use the FitBit app. Though I may try MFP to log activities again (it has been almost a year since I tried and had issues), that way my friends will know I am not slacking. ha ha

Ditto on this as well. If you do any non-step activity, log your exact start time and duration (I prefer to do this in MFP). MFP will send the info to fitbit and it will be added to your daily calorie burn. Takes some getting used to, but it works well. That being said, I do log my runs on MFP as I don't think Fitbit keeps a very accurate log of calories burned while running, partially because I have a very short stride, but that's just me. Don't be afraid to experiment and find the right combos that work for you.

jess_1993

Thanks for all the helpful input guys! Ill just try following it blindly this week and see how it goes

jess_1993

Another question about the fitbit flex: Do you guys use it to track calories for running or other aerobic exercises? Or do you enter it manually? Thanks!

yallllah

My Flex tracks my 5ks quite nicely! It also seems to realize that I'm expending more energy vs if I were simply walking, and the caloric adjustments are a lot more modest (and imo realistic) than MFP's exercise database.

ie for me:
MFP database: 30 min jog @ 7m/m pace = ~275 kcal
Fitbit tracking: 30 min jog @ 7/m/m pace = ~200kcal

So, I don't manually log runs now.

Will have to let someone else address aerobics.

jess_1993

Thanks thats very helpful!