Fitbit and MyFitnessPal, logging activity.

kaploetz

I just got the FitBit today, and I want to make sure I'm using it properly with MyFitnessPal. I know that I am supposed to continue logging my activities and food with MFP, and that the FitBit will communicate with MFP to make sure my calorie burn is as accurate as possible.

What I don't understand is whether or not I am supposed to "log" my activities with my FitBit. To start a new activity you have to hold the FitBit's button down until it says "start". This is for sleeping or any other activity. If I'm already logging my activity with MFP, do I need to do this?

Thanks for the help!

Alma_Sana

Only use the MFP for logging food and activity. I connect my fitbit and let it sync to fitbit.com, which communicates with my MFP account and it all works out. If I add a workout besides the fitbit it adjusts and evens out the calories from both so it isnt saying Im burning twice as many calories as I actually did. No worries

obum88

If i am walking or running, i don't log it as activity in either place and just let fitbit calculate. I log food on MFP and if there is any activity (like strength training) that i am doing which doesn't invovle alot of upright movement, i will put on my HRM and have the fitbit log it as activity. If the calories burned have too big a gap i find a middle ground and manually change things on the fitbit website. The sleep feature i do use and like it alot. The fitbit will send adjustments to MFP pal and it comes in a form of calorie burned during exercise and is added to the amount of calories you can still consume for the day.

kcoftx

If you use the stopwatch feature and want to replace it with HRM data, go to fitbit, find your activity record. Look at the start and end times. Go to MFP and record the exercise. When MFP asks you for the time, you now know it.

If you are not trying to replace it, you can name that activity record on fitbit.

Your steps will stay towards your total no matter what you do. The stopwatch gives you a way of highlighting that portion of the day. When you log a new exercise with your own calorie data, the steps stays but your calorie info overrides what fitbit would have calculated during this time. That way you don't get double billed.

I don't use the stopwatch feature unless I plan to put in my own calorie data for certain types of exercises that get the heart rate up and don't use accurate walk/run strides. (Zumba, yoga, etc). For that, change it in MFP. Some people might still use the stopwatch for highlighting purpose without wanting to change the data and label it as "run" or something to show an actual exercise time that is separate from daily activities. For that, change it in fitbit.