FitBit

PeekABooGirl

I know there are a zillion threads on FitBit and I can't seem to find one that has the exact answer I need. Can anyone tell me exactly what it WILL monitor and how you find it useful?

Will it track how many calories I burn on Wii Just Dance? A kettle bell workout? Riding a stationary bike? Elliptical? Walking around the mall? House cleaning? Or is a HRM better for those things? What other benefits to you find from it?

ALSO - is it $99 everywhere? Or is there any way to get it any cheaper?

THANKS!

jhefti13

Bump

bv202

My understanding is it tracks ALL of your motion. I love mine. I spent an entire day cleaning my garage and it had tracked all of my motion; up and down stairs, carrying chairs outside, etc. Even though I logged no exercise on MFP, it gave me 1200 additional calories at the end of the day,and I knew it was accurate based on how exhausted I was.

I think Amazon has it cheaper than Best Buy, etc, at around 88 dollars.

Simmie69

Hi,
I have a fitbit and I love it. So in order to get your workout logged you will need to hold it down as you would when you go to sleep to start the stop watch. And you would stop after the workout! Check the activity log and you should see let's say if you ran- steps, the calories burned, pace, time etc.. It tracks all your workouts but the trick is to start the stop watch and stop once completed. You also would not log your exercise on MFP as the fitbit syncs all the info to your account!

It always does track your steps and I believe you have to log 5K steps before it sends an adjustment to MFP.
You can get it on Amazon for about $80 new.

Wenzday7777

you can find them on ebay for a bit cheaper some times. I have hesitated because of the price myself but people who use it say its amazing

mfjutras

I use my fitbit all day for everything. It never comes off my bra (I clip it there) unless it's being charged. It tracks my workouts but for me the main thing I love it for is that it monitors my activity all day long. I have MFP at sedentary since I'm a grad student sitting at a computer all day. I workout everyday and log it here but my fitbit gives me those extra calories if say I went shopping and walked more than what I normally would in a day.

I would definitely recommend it

Leesa22

110% worth it. It has been my lil motivater to keep going and I have lost 6.3 pounds in 3 weeks , it seems to keep me honest about things. Sounds strange but it is my own lil personal trainer to me.

rrshult

I bought my FitBit yesterday and right away synced it to MFP but I'm not seeing the calories burned being transferred over to MFP. I know its synced correctly, my food in take is being transferred to FB. Any ideas? I'd like to have it also move the info over to MFP. Other than that so far I love it.

maggiepz

I have a fitbit ultra. It counts my steps and has an altimeter to get credit for stairs and walking up hills. It also has a process to log your sleep and calculate the time and quality of your sleep. It's supposed to have a 3d motion sensor to track your steps, distance, calories burned better than a pedometer. It won't be able to tell the difference between you riding your bike or doing kettle bell. It has "activities" where you enter those things. Fortunately it syncs with MFP since I like to use this exercise data base better.

It has really helped increase my activity. I've been known to walk or climb stairs because I'm soo close to earning another badge. My grandchildren ask how big my flower is...it grows with activity and will shrink with inactivity.

Money is tight but I think the purchase is worth it.

Krissy366

For some of those things an HRM might be better as fitbit really only monitors steps. I love my fitbit, though, because I've found nothing else that motivates me the way it does. It tracks all of my steps and calories, and also stairs climbed (by flight). I used to hate stairs, but now I do extra just to see what fun fact it will give me. Like today I have only done 3 flights (I've been in the house most of the day, but did the 3 flights back into my house when I came home from the one errand I ran). So, as of right now, I have climbed the "world's tallest cornstalk." yesterday, I climbed "godzilla." It's silly, but it totally makes me smile. And because you can click on the link, I've totally learned about some landmarks I never knew about. I love checking my steps and going out of my way to get to 10,000 (my daily goal) and meeting my other little challenges. I also very much like that I can wear it to bed and get a summary of my sleep - how often I was awake, how long it took me to fall asleep, etc. I suffer from serious bouts of insomnia and I'm hoping to eventually see a pattern emerge that will shed some light onto what triggers it for me.

fda1210

24hourfitness.com shop you don't have to be a gym member but if you register as a shop member you get 10 bucks off and free shipping

songbyrdsweet

I got mine for $84 at Amazon. I wear it all day and it picks up all my normal activity and floors climbed. The only thing I add to MFP is my weightlifting, but I don't use stationary cardio equipment.

Lissakaye81

I love my fitbit, it is addicting. Mine goes everywhere with me, and I pet it often I love mine becuse I love the visual graphs and I do a lot of walking and hiking. It is great for those activities. It depends on how accurate you want and what activities/how often you want to track. It is not accurate for stuff like weight lifting. I have heard of people clipping it to a leg for stationary bikes. For me I love it because with the hiking I do it gives me a general idea of elevation gain, it tracks sleep, pace, cals burned every 5 minutes. I am a data junkie so I love all the graphs, I track all kinds of stuff on my fitbit dashboard and it plots it all out, All my measurements, weight BMI, body fat. You can also keep a journal, track allergies, glucose, blood pressure, and add your own stuff to track as well, like I track how many minutes a day I spend on fitness, you can set all kinds of goals, like how many steps, how far, how high, how many cals you want to burn in a day. You can sign up for the site just to check some stuff out. I bought mine used on ebay for 84$ USD including shipping, downside it had data from previous user on it, and it keeps lifetime data, so I spent a whole day breaking all previous records on it, so if you don't care about someone elses data get a used one.

tenunderfour

Fitbit is great because it helps you track your daily activities which all add up and help with weight loss. The amount you burn during exercise is great... but realistically it's only a very small percentage of overall daily burn. Using the Fitbit has encouraged me to just move more.... park farther away from the store entrance, take the stairs at work, etc. Plus it's just super cool. And I love toys.

elis_mama

bump

etvazquez

I bought my FitBit yesterday and right away synced it to MFP but I'm not seeing the calories burned being transferred over to MFP. I know its synced correctly, my food in take is being transferred to FB. Any ideas? I'd like to have it also move the info over to MFP. Other than that so far I love it.

Hello
Did anyone get back to you about this question? I'm having the same issue.
-Evelyn

etvazquez

My understanding is it tracks ALL of your motion. I love mine. I spent an entire day cleaning my garage and it had tracked all of my motion; up and down stairs, carrying chairs outside, etc. Even though I logged no exercise on MFP, it gave me 1200 additional calories at the end of the day,and I knew it was accurate based on how exhausted I was.

I think Amazon has it cheaper than Best Buy, etc, at around 88 dollars.

Hello,
So it gave your extra calories at the end of the day? Mine did that yesterday but it showed a lot less calories burned on MFP than it showed on the Fitbit display.
-Evelyn

Ready2Rock206

My understanding is it tracks ALL of your motion. I love mine. I spent an entire day cleaning my garage and it had tracked all of my motion; up and down stairs, carrying chairs outside, etc. Even though I logged no exercise on MFP, it gave me 1200 additional calories at the end of the day,and I knew it was accurate based on how exhausted I was.

I think Amazon has it cheaper than Best Buy, etc, at around 88 dollars.

Hello,
So it gave your extra calories at the end of the day? Mine did that yesterday but it showed a lot less calories burned on MFP than it showed on the Fitbit display.
-Evelyn

The way I understand it is MFP already factors in that you will burn X # of calories each day - so the amount shown under exercise is the amount beyond that that you earned. Otherwise you'd be getting double for all the calories MFP already gives you.

cygnetpro

It will count those calories. I find it to be pretty accurate. I hear that other people find HRMs to be more accurate, but I do love my Fitbit.

One small quibble I have is that, because it does NOT calculate heart rate, that it doesn't always take the intensity of a workout into consideration. It seems to calculate the calories burned similarly to other measures for the same exercise that I find on websites, etc. But I hiked straight up a mountain a week ago, and it measured my activity as "moderate", although I was out of breath and sweating. Other things it calculates as "intense". So I do question that at times.

I hope this helps. I love it, and have no interest in switching to a HRM.

beckybernardo

Not too sure how they work, but I have found them cheaper on Ebay and Amazon, I want to get one eventually also. Good luck

TinnedTuna

Bump

rrshult

Not yet. I understand how it is supposed to adjust but so far nothing is adjusting in MFP.

dasblondie

I bought my FitBit yesterday and right away synced it to MFP but I'm not seeing the calories burned being transferred over to MFP. I know its synced correctly, my food in take is being transferred to FB. Any ideas? I'd like to have it also move the info over to MFP. Other than that so far I love it.

not sure if someone has answered this question yet, but it will adjust your calories once it has reached a point to increase your calorie allowance (hope that make sense) a certain amount of activity is assumed in your original profile (sedetary, lightly active, etc) because the two programs work together it wil adjust accordingly....as long as you see your food showing up on fitbit it is def. communicating

yesthistime

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/1290-fitbit-users

dasblondie

it also takes a little longer for the calories to show up on MFP...not sure why but i do notice my food shows up quicker than my calories adjust

invisibubble

bump for later. Really want to know which to get...

mzhokie

It depends on how you set up your diet profile on MFP too. I was getting more exercise calories when I said I was sedentary. But over time I have started to exercise more and so I changed my profile. It was getting hard to adjust my meal planning when I was getting so many exercise calories. But now saying I'm lightly active with 5 workouts a week, I am getting a smaller bump for exercise calories. I do think it's important to do this.... because I think I wasn't getting enough calories for awhile there before I adjusted it. It's easier to plan my day out when it's only 100-150 calorie adjustment for me.

I get exercise calories now if I go over about 7000 - 7500 steps in the day. Depends on what kind of activity too.

Fitbit also lets you set up a goal weight and a profile with your height, weight, etc. So it will set you a food goal too. Is your food diary transferring to Fitbit? Does it say how many calories you have eaten today? It's under Food Plan. One of the main reasons I joined MFP was for the food data base, it's much better than what's on Fitbit. It's easier to log my food here.

Fitbit will give you a goal range so you know if you are in a good range for the day. It will take 500 calories off like MFP too (if you say you want to lose 1 lb a week)

So you have to burn more calories than your BMR and what you put in for exercise on MFP. Even then, if you are sort of sedentary for the rest of the day..... some of those exercise calories will disappear.

bcgirlerin

BUMP

rileysowner

Not yet. I understand how it is supposed to adjust but so far nothing is adjusting in MFP.

As I understand it, calories will only be added if the calories you FitBit calculates are more than the ones MFP has set as your normal daily calorie burn. To find that out from My Home click on Goals, in the right hand column you will find a section near the top, Calories burned. The number you want is "From normal daily activity". If you Fitbit calories are higher than that number it should be adding the difference to MFP. At least that is how I think it works. I don't have a FitBit so I am not sure.

marzekiel

I've used my fitbit for a long time, and it motivates me every day. I track my sleep too (well, it measures how much you roll around in bed, depending on where you place it, and steps if you get up to go to the loo).

Mine was replaced (cracked) and I had another one, so for several days I wore all three for a transition to one, and I was curious to see how they syncd. They didn't.

Even though worn at virtually the same spot, they all had different results and different measurements. My walks showed different numbers of steps and my sleep was different on each. I posted a question on their forum about how to get the same results, but no one ever responded. Then I realized my question wasn't posted publicly, just on my account! Weird.

Finally, just chose one (the other will be a gift) and I'll stick to it.

Just saying . . .

staps065

I've only had mine 3 days but so far I can see it tracks all of your movements, including during sleep if you want it to! Last night my sleep was 92% effective! Cool! I like the idea of setting goals of XX steps or XX flights of stairs and I'm sure it will get me up and off my butt more. I haven't been working out due to a medical condition, but I'm hoping to be cleared once again today and can't wait to see what I'll log once I'm back in my groove!