Can a fitness tracker have a negative effect?

BuddhaMom74

... I think what I need is a HRM to wear when working out and running.

This is why I went with the Garmin Vivofit, because it give me "nice" information about my sleep patterns, "motivates" me to get to 11,000 steps per day, but most importantly, it pairs with a HRM to give me a more accurate reflection of calorie burn. As far as I know, the Jawbone and Fitbit do not have that option.

lemurcat12

If person 1 has set their activity level to include their exercise then they shouldn't link their fitness tracker with MFP.

Depends. Linking would allow this person to eat less on days they didn't exercise as much, due to negative adjustments. That might or might not be desireable. I'd say that if you are doing TDEE method you shouldn't link the fitness tracker.

If person 1 logs their exercise on MFP then again they shouldn't link their fitness tracker with MFP.

No reason why not. If you set it up right it won't double count, and various activity trackers (like Fitbit) don't pick up lots of kinds of activity (like weights or biking).

lemurcat12

Love all the different inputs on here. It seems that it might not be a problem if you are in maintenance, but might be if you in deficit, and of course that would be the case, because then the tracker is the ideal maintenance state and the deficit you get should tie in with the deficit you set for yourself more or less on average.

Not sure where you got this. If it accurately figures your maintenance calories (as it does for me), then it also accurately estimates what you need to eat to lose, depending on how you have it set up. Like I said, it is very accurate for me in what my calorie burn of the day is, so I can aim at 750 below or whatever (as I have MFP set up to do).

It's certainly not necessary if it doesn't appeal to you, but I think your scenario isn't a particularly legitimate problem to worry about.

On the other hand, I tried using a HRM, and it didn't appeal to me. I'm skeptical at how much it adds to the accuracy of my running burns, and I have questions about it's accuracy for most other activities (including biking), so I'm better off estimating and just adjusting based on results. So different people like different tools.

Mr_Knight

Over-eating exercise calories is one of the biggest reasons for weight loss failures on MFP.

Until someone is actually fit and actually exercising a lot, I don't think most people should be eating back exercise calories at all.

nicsflyingcircus

I got a fitbit, but I don't sync to MFP. It tells me I burn about 3000 calories a day, and that really doesn't account for my weight lifting. So in theory, according to my fitbit, I could lose eating at about 2500 calories a day. But, I've only had it a few weeks, and twice now I've hit 10,000 steps while driving, and once while I was washing my face in the shower. I would likely gain weight because it's over counting steps.

However, I still find the device useful because it still inspires me to get more steps, even though I know the count isn't accurate. On days that I do cardio, I try to get more than 15,000 steps, and I know I'm making better decisions just so that I can get more steps (I pace while waiting for the train or brushing my teeth, take the stairs, or park far away in parking lots).

I wear the clip on fitbit and have a friend with the wrist wearable one. Mine doesn't add steps for activities like that, hers does (ie, petting the cat).

sympha01

I agree with the people here who say that activity tracker folks probably do best if they don't eat calories back based on the activity tracker. I know I stopped doing that once I got my Fitbit. I find the activity tracker is a great way not only to hold myself accountable for meeting a certain (challenging) minimum level of daily activity, but also for estimating -- over time -- the proportion of each day that is sedentary, lightly active, moderately active, and very active. On any single day sure there might be inaccuracies or weird bumps, but the averages over time are stable and follow trends. Keeping an eye on those averages and trends over time helps me monitor my overall activity level and estimate my TDEE, which along with my results help me confirm that I'm eating more or less correctly for my goals.

But the whole "Person 1" scenario applies equally to ANYONE who eats exercise calories from specific activities back. Lots and lots of people put WAY too much faith in the calorie burn estimates not only of online databases like MFP but also HRMs. Nothing is "accurate."

Any method or tool can be detrimental if people use it wrong.

troutrouter

If Person 1 was successfully losing weight at a healthy rate, why worry about using any fitness tracker? He/she already is exercising. I just think it was a waste of money to purchase the tracker.