Those using fitbit with MFP

zman1313

I've had my fitbit for a couple of weeks now and I've decided that to sync it with MFP. Just have a few questions for those of you doing this about how to set things up.

1. What is your activity level set to (I'd assume sedentary?)
2. Do you also log your other exercise? (weight lifting in particular)
3. How accurate have you found the fitbit calorie burns to be?


In my case, I work out 5-6 times a week. A typical workout is 45-60 minutes of lifting followed by 20-30 minutes of cardio. I also walk around a lot at work and my daily step count is always 15,000+

So, I'm thinking that I set my daily activity to sedentary, don't log the lifting, and eat back all my fitbit calories. Does this seem like a good plan to everyone?

SnuggleSmacks

I use a Bodymedia instead of a Fitbit, but that's how I do it. I set it all to sedentary and let Bodymedia add calories according to my activity level. It's working very well so far.

Showgirlbody

I'm using fitbit. What I did was allow negative adjustments in my settings. That way if you don't hit the calorie burn that is proposed for you throughout the day, it will subtract some of the calories given from exercise. I still log my exercise but if I burned a lot in one exercise but my daily wasn't as high as it should have been, then it will take some away so I don't eat them when I wasn't as active as I thought. I always found the exercise calories to probably be too many for me so I like having the negative adjustments but not everyone does. I find the calculations fairly accurate but then again unless you tell it you did weight lifting or something that doesn't require steps, it may not give you those calories that you may need or want.

malibu927

1. I set mine to lightly active, mainly because I'm moving around a lot at my job and I don't want to start off too low and then have to make up too many calories
2. Lifting, no, due to the inconsistent burn counts. Any other cardio, yes.
3. Pretty accurate...I may eat a bit of my calories back, or all of them, but I'm losing at a good pace.

woofer00

1. Sedentary.
2. Only cardio. Lifting is too hard to estimate.
3. It's ballpark accurate. Close enough to eat back. Everyone has a unique TDEE/BMR, so you'll need to tweak calorie targets over time.

zman1313

So you log other cardio on top of what fitbit gives you for calories? Wouldn't that be "double dipping" though?

mandimahoney5

This, and I love it. I have been able to see, that i burned 3500+ calories on Fitbit, than I ate, and I really did loose a pound that week. or 7000 more burned than ate, and i lost 2. I think it is close enough.
I though like the food tracking in fitness pal better.

Oh i also have allow Negative adjustments turned on.

1. Sedentary.
2. Only cardio. Lifting is too hard to estimate.
3. It's ballpark accurate. Close enough to eat back. Everyone has a unique TDEE/BMR, so you'll need to tweak calorie targets over time.

itsbasschick

1. What is your activity level set to (I'd assume sedentary?)
- yes, sedentary

2. Do you also log your other exercise? (weight lifting in particular)
- i use endomondo (it's a phone app) for weight lifting and many other activities, but especially for weight lifting.

3. How accurate have you found the fitbit calorie burns to be?
- no more accurate than anything else. think of it more as a guideline. i use other apps to count cardio, and mostly use fitbit to log my daily activity - i often make a point of walking extra when shopping, which can add up to an additional 2000 steps fitbit gives me credit for just for a trip to target or up to 6000 steps for target, ralph's and whole foods. disneyland i get credit for 15,000 to 21,000 steps via fitbit, and the count seems very accurate.

regarding double dipping, fitbit won't give you credit for cardio calories if another app has already logged those calories. it will start listing your calories after it calculates you've gone over the burn listed from MFP or the other app.

williams969

1. I have MFP activity level set to lightly active, since it "bothers" me to see 500+ exercise calories earned, when it's just walking across campus all day (not planned exercise). Same difference though, the end result is the same either way. Fitbit tells MFP what your total daily burn is, and MFP shaves off whatever deficit you tell it, and you eat that number. EASY!

2. I log my body weight training (calisthenics) in Fitbit. It gives a reasonable number (100-200 per 30-40 minutes, depending on if I choose heavy or light, workout dependent). So far, my weekly weigh-ins seem to agree that is the "right" number.

3. I've found it pretty spot on. If anything, it underestimates for me. But...I have a tested RMR that is higher than average (~150 calories more per day than Fitbit calculates). I compensate by telling it I'm 6'3" (works out to be what my personal RMR is at). Works brilliantly! Oh, and I eat back most/all of the exercise calories, too.

malibu927

So you log other cardio on top of what fitbit gives you for calories? Wouldn't that be "double dipping" though?

No. If you log the correct times, it will override what Fitbit estimates for your burn in that period.