Just ordered a fitbit.

CazLovesCalories

Hasnt arrived yet but I was looking at the website and I signed up in preparation. I put the calorie log as HARDER losing 2lb a week, but now it says I can only have 944 cals a day.

Is that a set calorie allowance because it seems very low? Or does it go up as I burn calories??

migoi357

What do you have your lifestyle/activity level set at. If it's set a sedentary, then the fitbit will give you quite a few extra calories as you move around during the day. If you've set it higher than sedentary then the base calorie allowance does seem really low.

CazLovesCalories

I think its on personalised? Should I change it to Sedentary then?

migoi357

I'm thinking you might wait until it comes in, use it for a while and see it the current settings work for you. See how many calories it gives you for moving around. See how well it matches what MFP is saying you should get. See what your body tells you. It will take a bit of adjusting the settings to see what best matches your individual situation.

CazLovesCalories

Ok thanks, I will do

MIssFinny

There are two settings for "daily calorie estimate:" personalized and sedentary. Personalized will utilize past data to determine how many calories you should eat for the day. As you just ordered the fitbit and have not used it, you do not have any past data for this feature to be of any use-yet. Sedentary will just start you off with a low amount of calories each day and the more you move, the more calories it determines you can eat. Personally, I have mine set to sedentary because my activities are different everyday.

CazLovesCalories

Will try that thanks. Is it pretty easy to use otherwise?

If your calories go up during the day, is it hard to make allowances for how many calories you may have by dinner time? (if that makes sense)

I may sound thick but from what I can see, you dont know how many cals you are allowed until you start moving throughout the day lol

2Bgoddess

we are creatures of habit and you will see a trend based on your regular activities of a work day or off day. for example in a typical work day for me I take about 7000 steps. on a day i am off work and not working out, about 4000. so you can guesstimate. It's easy to tweek your intake by a few calories, with your evening snack for example.

bimpski

you're gonna love it! it is very motivating!!

it is easy but if you sync with mfp there is one thing that drives me crazy. i don't log my exercise. i let my fitbit do all that for me. the only problem is this, if you do your exercise early in the day your "fitbit calorie adjustment' shows up in your exercise diary. However, if you do not stay active throughout the day that number will go down. It does make it a little diffiuclt to plan calories for the day. You can still log your exercise manually in your diary while using the fitbit, it's just a little more work as you have to log the time you start and the duration so the calories burned aren't counted by both mfp and fitbit. the calorie count going down is really the only thing I complain about because if I do an exercise then the calories are already burned so fitbit/mfp should not take them away. if i was not using fitbit and just logged my exercise in the diary the calories burned would not change regardless of what i did for the rest of the day. just my 2 cents.

CazLovesCalories

I am excited about using it for exercise but I am worried about the calorie allowance thing lol

migoi357

you're gonna love it! it is very motivating!!

it is easy but if you sync with mfp there is one thing that drives me crazy. i don't log my exercise. i let my fitbit do all that for me. the only problem is this, if you do your exercise early in the day your "fitbit calorie adjustment' shows up in your exercise diary. However, if you do not stay active throughout the day that number will go down. It does make it a little diffiuclt to plan calories for the day. You can still log your exercise manually in your diary while using the fitbit, it's just a little more work as you have to log the time you start and the duration so the calories burned aren't counted by both mfp and fitbit. the calorie count going down is really the only thing I complain about because if I do an exercise then the calories are already burned so fitbit/mfp should not take them away. if i was not using fitbit and just logged my exercise in the diary the calories burned would not change regardless of what i did for the rest of the day. just my 2 cents.

Are you using the stopwatch function on the fitbit to frame your exercise periods? If you hold the button in for more than a second the stopwatch will start..do the same at the end. I think those calories 'earned' during a timed activity period stick around even if you go nap on the couch the rest of the day. I could be wrong...I log my exercise through MFP because I use an hrm to get the calorie count...but it seems that "activities" framed with the stopwatch function are more permanent.

rextcat

dint read all posts but yeah it gose up the more you burn

bimpski

you're gonna love it! it is very motivating!!

it is easy but if you sync with mfp there is one thing that drives me crazy. i don't log my exercise. i let my fitbit do all that for me. the only problem is this, if you do your exercise early in the day your "fitbit calorie adjustment' shows up in your exercise diary. However, if you do not stay active throughout the day that number will go down. It does make it a little diffiuclt to plan calories for the day. You can still log your exercise manually in your diary while using the fitbit, it's just a little more work as you have to log the time you start and the duration so the calories burned aren't counted by both mfp and fitbit. the calorie count going down is really the only thing I complain about because if I do an exercise then the calories are already burned so fitbit/mfp should not take them away. if i was not using fitbit and just logged my exercise in the diary the calories burned would not change regardless of what i did for the rest of the day. just my 2 cents.

Are you using the stopwatch function on the fitbit to frame your exercise periods? If you hold the button in for more than a second the stopwatch will start..do the same at the end. I think those calories 'earned' during a timed activity period stick around even if you go nap on the couch the rest of the day. I could be wrong...I log my exercise through MFP because I use an hrm to get the calorie count...but it seems that "activities" framed with the stopwatch function are more permanent.

i use the older model. no stopwatch.

RzRzRzR

I'm new to Fitbit, but so far I LOVE IT. I;m amazed at how much of a workout I got mowing the lawn, for instance. I trust the Fitbit more than the estimated caloric burn from manually entering exercises in MFP, because the Fitbit is actually moving with me, so if I don't work as hard as the "estimate" I would be cheating myself.

I will try the stopwatch feature during my next workout - now that I know about it. How does that part register through to MFP?

I wish it would sync through my iPhone or over WiFi without having to get out the laptop, boot up, etc.

I also use a polar HRM because the gym has equipment that syncs to that brand. I wish the Fitbit would sync with the Polar HRM too.

CazLovesCalories

Its here!!!!!!!