People with Fitbits.....thoughts please : )

jutymo

If you're considering buying one, now is the time to jump on it - check out this thread on SlickDeals - http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/73066/24-hour-fitness-fitbit-ultra-wireless-activity-tracker-blue-or-plum

Oh thank you! I was sitting on the fence trying to decide. This deal made the decision for me! Can't beat 25% discount because you almost never see discounts on this kind of stuff unless it's discontinued.

nannabannana

I have both. I use fitbit to give me an overall idea of how active I am (daily stuff) and as a motivational tool to increase my activities in my daily lifestyle. It's pretty effective for that purpose. I use my HRM for certain types of workouts that have varying stride lengths (ie, Zumba, Yoga, Circuit Training). I keep my fitbit on while I'm doing these activities. It registers some steps. I use the stopwatch feature on the fitbit during this time. It creates an activity record on the fitbit website. Then I know when to tell mFP I worked out and for how long. This is required when you sync the websites. This is so that even when steps are registered, you aren't getting counted twice for calories. I override it for that period and enter my HRM data. I wear mine all the time except when I'm in water.

P.S. The whole family gets involved in my fitbit. They ask me what number I'm at. If I'm close to a badge, they will cheer me on or go along with me. One night my husband was out walking with me trying to help me get 20,000 steps (haven't gotten that badge yet. I had an active day and was already almost at 15,000. I got the 15,000 step badge but he didn't realize the time starts over at midnight so I only got up to 18,855 before it rolled to zero steps. So I didn't make it. I had a very late evening date with my husband and it got him out walking too.

As for steps during driving. It doesn't do it for me but I've heard putting it in your bra/chest area seems to stabilize it better of it is a problem for you.


[/quobump Thanks for sharing . I am new to the fitbit. I did not know it stopped at midnight, so I guess I am walking a lot more than I thought when it registered over 16,00. I would just about stay up til it did just to reach that milestone..lol

Figment14300

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SilviCor

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sayoder7

I also own a Fitbit and love mine. I only have previous experience with a Bodybugg and found that it irritated my skin. It was also always out on display and as I tend to be shy, I didn't like having to explain what it was all the time. The Fitbit is very inconspicuous. I haven't had issues with it giving me wacky numbers but I live fairly close to most places I go.

I love all the data the website provides and find myself being more active just to reach goals or the next badge and such. I'll have to tell my co-worker about the deal posted as I was bragging about mine and he seemed interested.

mummytobeslim

do you have to log your food on mfp and the fit bit site or Will it automatically sync the data , didnt really want to l og it twice

mzhokie

do you have to log your food on mfp and the fit bit site or Will it automatically sync the data , didnt really want to l og it twice

your food diary here syncs with Fitbit. that's the main reason some of us Fitbit users are here. The food data base on Fitbit isn't very good. It's much easier to log food here. Now it transfers as totals.... Breakfast total, Lunch total, etc.

annamook

Love my fitbit. It is very accurate with walking, but overestimates my distance when I run. Also, today it reports that I went up 48 flights of stairs, and honestly, I think it was alot closer to 15. The sleep efficiency aspect is very interesting also

mummytobeslim

do you have to log your food on mfp and the fit bit site or Will it automatically sync the data , didnt really want to l og it twice

your food diary here syncs with Fitbit. that's the main reason some of us Fitbit users are here. The food data base on Fitbit isn't very good. It's much easier to log food here. Now it transfers as totals.... Breakfast total, Lunch total, etc.

thank you

mandatory

Just want to know...i see that most people with fit bits also have a HRM... is it necessary to buy both?.. how about the body bugg that they wear on biggest loser>>>

If i am doing zumba,will fit bits calculate the calories burned or is it just for distance?

any help appreciated... i really want to do this right..

kcoftx

For Zumba, my fitbit told me I burned 315 calories. My Polar HRM gave me 599 calories. You decide. It can't calculate every step you take because sometimes you are doing things in place. IF it could, it MIGHT be able to calculate some intensity based on frequency but Zumba is an exercise that doesn't use stride length accurately. I average 450-550 per 60 minute class. (I'm 5'4" and 143lbs).

Each tool has its own purpose. Body Bugg uses sweat as an additional data point and that seems to help some people but it can be skewed as well so it is just a matter of whatever you feel will do the job for you. The body bugg is not an HRM either. It has sweat as an additional data point but from what I understand, it is not as accurate as an HRM tends to be, but it it CAN be more accurate than the fitbit for certain types of activities, provided one of the skewed factors isn't in place (such as you sweat easily, live in a really hot climate, etc). Personally, I pick an HRM and a pedometer and use them for what they both do best.

(I have not used a body bugg so take my statement with a grain of salt/as a guiding question only and do some research.)

Neither of these take the place of your HRM but your HRM can't measure your all day daily activity.

Weaz66

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sniffer66

Am I right in thinking that you could always put your activity level as Sedentary in MFP, because anything above that would be adjusted upwards by the sync with the fitbit anyway ?

I did that at first but the calorie adjustment is high. There were days when I would sync and find out I needed to eat 300 calories more and it was 10 pm. I changed my profile so that it would be easier to manage my calories, especially if I don't sync until late at night.

After I get over my cold and the weather warms up, I might rethink it. I'm going to up my steps per day goal so that will probably cause me to change my profile here again.

Thats a good point. What i try and do thogh is make sure my last meal has a good balance of carbs, fats and protein and is easily adjustable

I just worry that by not putting sedentary that if i have a very light exercise day as I'm stuck on my work pc I might overeat as cals dont get subtracted if i do too little

mzhokie

Am I right in thinking that you could always put your activity level as Sedentary in MFP, because anything above that would be adjusted upwards by the sync with the fitbit anyway ?

I did that at first but the calorie adjustment is high. There were days when I would sync and find out I needed to eat 300 calories more and it was 10 pm. I changed my profile so that it would be easier to manage my calories, especially if I don't sync until late at night.

After I get over my cold and the weather warms up, I might rethink it. I'm going to up my steps per day goal so that will probably cause me to change my profile here again.

Thats a good point. What i try and do thogh is make sure my last meal has a good balance of carbs, fats and protein and is easily adjustable

I just worry that by not putting sedentary that if i have a very light exercise day as I'm stuck on my work pc I might overeat as cals dont get subtracted if i do too little

I put in lightly active with 4 30 min workouts a week. That is an underestimate for me. I tend to do more than 30 mins and most weeks I get in at least 5 workouts. So there is usually an adjustment every day for me but it's more in the range of a good snack now vs a whole meal!

BUT MFP portions that out over every day..... so it doesn't matter if today is a work out day or not. It divides it by 7 vs saying eat so much on the days you work out and so much on the days you don't. It's assuming you will burn X number of calories a week with 3 30 min workouts and then sets your calorie goal to make up the rest of those calories.

I changed because I started to realize (because of the Fitbit) that I was getting over 10K steps a day almost every day. So to me that wasn't sedentary anymore. Even now my slow days are 6-7K steps instead of the 3K steps like it was before. If you get stuck at work, make sure you take a 5-10 min break every so often and walk around. Take the long way to the bathroom or walk around the building. It will make you feel better at your job too if you get a little fresh air or just get the blood circulating around.

Do what works for you but watching your fitbit stats is a good way to know how active you are and a good way to set a goal for yourself. I am dealing with a horrible allergy/cold combo but once I get this thing kicked, I'm thinking of upping my goal to 12K a day. Because I now notice if I hit 10K early.... I don't move as much as I should afterwards.

NatJm429

I just bought the fitbit love how it calculates everything for me and its cool cuz know i have more set goals besides calories. But i was wondering what does it mean when it says -500 deficit? and how come according to fitbit i can eat 1705 calories while on MFP i can only eat 1380? If someone can clear this up for me and explain it i would appreciate it

MarincicS

I love my FitBit. I wear it all the time except when showering or swimming. I am not sure how accurate it is, but as a point of comparison from day to day, it's fantastic. I have had it record escalators as flights of stairs before, but not always.

I enter my food only on MFP. I never enter any exercise in either place. As my activity level is sedentary (and it's true), the FitBit gives me adjustments for calories burned and they show up in my MFP account a few minutes later. So i don't need to enter my exercise anywhere.

It is completely the FitBit that motivated me to take the stairs. I live on the 18th floor, but ALWAYS get out of the lift at 15 now and climb the last 3. I've worked my way up from climbing 1 when i first got the FitBit.

I always use the timer to track work outs (including exercise walks) and sleep. I also wear a Polar HRM when doing workouts. At the end of the workouts, i always compare the calorie burn from the HRM and the FitBit. FitBit is sometimes a little higher, but not much. And i don't eat 100% of my exercise calories back because of this.

FitBit just released a smart scale today and i am ordering one today. The data from the scale will sync with my FitBit and MFP accounts. Can't wait!

NatJm429

I love my FitBit. I wear it all the time except when showering or swimming. I am not sure how accurate it is, but as a point of comparison from day to day, it's fantastic. I have had it record escalators as flights of stairs before, but not always.

I enter my food only on MFP. I never enter any exercise in either place. As my activity level is sedentary (and it's true), the FitBit gives me adjustments for calories burned and they show up in my MFP account a few minutes later. So i don't need to enter my exercise anywhere.

It is completely the FitBit that motivated me to take the stairs. I live on the 18th floor, but ALWAYS get out of the lift at 15 now and climb the last 3. I've worked my way up from climbing 1 when i first got the FitBit.

I always use the timer to track work outs (including exercise walks) and sleep. I also wear a Polar HRM when doing workouts. At the end of the workouts, i always compare the calorie burn from the HRM and the FitBit. FitBit is sometimes a little higher, but not much. And i don't eat 100% of my exercise calories back because of this.

FitBit just released a smart scale today and i am ordering one today. The data from the scale will sync with my FitBit and MFP accounts. Can't wait!

Oh cool let us know how that scale works i saw it to and was tempted to buy it.

ladybugh

Great posts! I am really considering one as well. I am sure that I walk more than I manually enter into mfp.

mariposa224

I just bought the fitbit love how it calculates everything for me and its cool cuz know i have more set goals besides calories. But i was wondering what does it mean when it says -500 deficit? and how come according to fitbit i can eat 1705 calories while on MFP i can only eat 1380? If someone can clear this up for me and explain it i would appreciate it

I've read lots of people saying that Fitbit's site gives them MORE than MFP... I wish that were the case for ME! lol Today it has on there 1088 calories I supposedly get to eat. 1088??? Seriously? MFP gives me 1350, though I just changed that to 1374 to match what I calculated as my BMR. Either way, it's still nearly 300 calories more than what FitBit tells me. So I just don't pay attention to that part of the dashboard on there since I've found no way to change it.

AlissaPT

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I've read lots of people saying that Fitbit's site gives them MORE than MFP... I wish that were the case for ME! lol Today it has on there 1088 calories I supposedly get to eat. 1088??? Seriously? MFP gives me 1350, though I just changed that to 1374 to match what I calculated as my BMR. Either way, it's still nearly 300 calories more than what FitBit tells me. So I just don't pay attention to that part of the dashboard on there since I've found no way to change it.
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The calories you can eat on FItBit start really low in the morning and increase as you move around. The 1088 was probably close to your BMR or under if you're trying to lose. When you sync later and add all your steps, it should increase.