Fitbit, HRM and MFP

StarsAreMyOcean

Hello all!

This time around I decided to invest in a Fitbit One and a Polar FT7 HRM. I want this to be the last weigh loss journey ever and then after I just want to be superwoman (can you blame a girl for lofty goals?). What's the most effective way to utilize all these tools together? I'm thinking of always wearing the Fitbit and syncing it a couple times a day to let it do its thing then using the HRM for workouts and manually recording the workouts on MFP.

I'm assuming that's the general gist of using everything together...but I'm always looking to learn from others if there's a better way of doing everything.

Who else has used these two devices in combination with MFP? Any "pro" tips?

NotGoddess

I do this. I have a Polar FT7 (strap/watch model) & use it to manually adjust my calories burned for workouts on MFP & log HR to fitbit. Sometimes MFP is accurate, sometimes way off (in both directions). I also sync with Trendweight via FitBit.

No pro tips, other than I'm looking at switching to the bluetooth cheststrap/phone app so I can sync with digifit or mapmyfitness & auto-upload to FitBit/MFP via them- anything to knock out the manual logging which is my downfall Just not sure I want to carry my phone with me all the time. I have to do more research on that.

IrishHarpy1

Hello all!

This time around I decided to invest in a Fitbit One and a Polar FT7 HRM. I want this to be the last weigh loss journey ever and then after I just want to be superwoman (can you blame a girl for lofty goals?). What's the most effective way to utilize all these tools together? I'm thinking of always wearing the Fitbit and syncing it a couple times a day to let it do its thing then using the HRM for workouts and manually recording the workouts on MFP.

I'm assuming that's the general gist of using everything together...but I'm always looking to learn from others if there's a better way of doing everything.

Who else has used these two devices in combination with MFP? Any "pro" tips?

This is exactly what I've done for the past couple of years. I've set my activity level here to "sedentary" and let the HRM entries/Fitbit adjustments calculate my calorie maximum. Works like a charm

wndrwmn86

Hello all!

This time around I decided to invest in a Fitbit One and a Polar FT7 HRM. I want this to be the last weigh loss journey ever and then after I just want to be superwoman (can you blame a girl for lofty goals?). What's the most effective way to utilize all these tools together? I'm thinking of always wearing the Fitbit and syncing it a couple times a day to let it do its thing then using the HRM for workouts and manually recording the workouts on MFP.

I'm assuming that's the general gist of using everything together...but I'm always looking to learn from others if there's a better way of doing everything.

Who else has used these two devices in combination with MFP? Any "pro" tips?

I do and being superwoman is good with me lol I am working on being wonder woman

I wear my fitbit flex at all times and it syncs automatically with my iphone (you have to have a 4s or higher or any device with the newer bluetooth technology.) I also have a wahoo blue which uses the same bluetooth waves to record to my phone my heart rate. It is a chest strap one and very comfy but I only use it to record workouts. It works the best to get an accurate calorie burn for my actual workout but I use fitbit to give mfp an idea of just me walking around through the day affects my burn and subsequent intake needs. I am just starting on this part of my journey as I just purchased the heart rate monitor last week and I have already dropped 4 pounds because I realized I wasn't burning as many calories as the fitbit predicted during my runs. Also might have to do with tom so I am sure that's a factor in the amount to come off so quickly.

Good luck Superwoman!!! You got this :drinker:

*Wonder Woman*

StarsAreMyOcean

This is exactly what I've done for the past couple of years. I've set my activity level here to "sedentary" and let the HRM entries/Fitbit adjustments calculate my calorie maximum. Works like a charm

Never thought about setting the activity level to "sedentary" and letting the entries of the devices do their thing. I'm going to try it, looks like it's worked fabulously for you.

I wear my fitbit flex at all times and it syncs automatically with my iphone (you have to have a 4s or higher or any device with the newer bluetooth technology.)...I use fitbit to give mfp an idea of just me walking around through the day affects my burn and subsequent intake needs.

Good luck Superwoman!!! You got this :drinker:

*Wonder Woman*

I've been wearing my Fitbit One everyday since I got it and LOVE that I can sync it with my phone (I manually sync every couple hours it with my Galaxy S3 rather than let it auto update so I don't always have to have bluetooth on, draining my battery). Do you leave your Fitbit on when you workout or just wear it for all the times you aren't working out?

Thanks Wonder Woman! Here's to our glorious battles! :drinker:

mikeyrs

I do this. I have a Polar FT7 (strap/watch model) & use it to manually adjust my calories burned for workouts on MFP & log HR to fitbit. Sometimes MFP is accurate, sometimes way off (in both directions). I also sync with Trendweight via FitBit.

No pro tips, other than I'm looking at switching to the bluetooth cheststrap/phone app so I can sync with digifit or mapmyfitness & auto-upload to FitBit/MFP via them- anything to knock out the manual logging which is my downfall Just not sure I want to carry my phone with me all the time. I have to do more research on that.

I do this more or less. But I use the Withings Pulse (in conjunction with the Withings blood pressure monitor, and Withings Smart Body Analyzer scale) instead of a Fitbit. I have the Polar FT7 wrist band watch which I pair with the Polar H7 BlueTooth Smart HRM strap so I can monitor my heart rate simultaneously on the FT7 while logging heart rate data to Digifit iCardio on my iPod Touch. Both Withings and Digifit automatically post to MFP and Withings adjusts its calorie burn data in recognition of moderate and intense Digifit workouts. Digifit calorie burns are based upon Polar H7 HRM data and custom Heart Rate Zones that were established from the results of a recent iCardio Fitness Assessment. It truly works GREAT!

Now, you should be aware that there is a documented issue mentioned in the Digifit Blog regarding sequential connection of iCardio to Fitbit and Fitbit to MFP. I chose to circumvent the entire issue by going with the Withings Pulse instead of the Fitbit One. Just read the Digifit Blog entry before you connect MFP to Fitbit. The sequence of connection is explained well in the Digifit blog entry.

The Web App, My.Digifit.com - where all the data integration occurs is very Withings-friendly and the two Web Apps from Digifit and Withings play together really well, both with each other, as well as on MFP with no double entry issues. I found a minor double entry annoyance when I later connected Digifit to both MFP and RunKeeper. Anyway, the RunKeeper double entry issue is easily corrected. You only need to delete the RunKeeper entry from MFP, which is easy to do. Otherwise, you could easily cure this minor annoyance if you disconnect Digifit from MFP and just allow Runkeeper to post to MFP. Me? I really like seeing the Digifit WebApp and the Withings links within MFP. It's readily apparent that there is a very close and effective collaboration between the three companies.

I have to assume the same is true between Digifit and Fitbit, but I have no direct experience with a Fitbit device. I have explored the Fitbit WebApp, even the most recent release which is just a few days old. I concluded the Withings WebApp provides me with more useful information and My.Digifit.com provides additional information using the Withings data as well as fitness insights beyond my expectations.

The Polar FT7 with Polar H7 HRM strap, Digifit iCardio, and Withings are as seamlessly integrated with MFP as I've ever seen elsewhere on my iPod Touch. It's all really very good on an Apple iOS platform.