MFP and Fitbit

kimkay518

I was just wondering if anyone on here has a fitbit with there MFP linked to it? I was just confused if I should still log in cardio workouts such as zumba or cardio kickboxing into mfp. Do I wear my fitbit when I do a workout,or take it off for a bit? Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

SassySonyaB

Hi there. I just got my fitbit last week and I log all of my food on MFP and all of my workouts on fitbit. When you log the workouts (like wii zumba, how fun is that??!!) or treadmill, it asks for what time you did your workout so it removes the "steps" from your step counter.

Just remember to do all food in MFP and all workouts in Fitbit and they will sync each other. At least, that's what I've been doing and love it!

Hope this helps!

kimkay518

Have you seen that in MFP it asks for the time under the workout? That wasn't there till I linked it with fitbit. Thanks this def helps!

Railr0aderTony

you can wear it, and when you enter it on either site it will adjust per the time started. say you did 60 min of aerobics starting at 6pm and logged it on MFP, fitbit would see you started that activity at 6pm and the calories you alloted yourself and it would not add calories for the steps from 6-7pm. I do this all the time. It works and they talk back and fourth quite well, you might have to give it a few minutes for everything to stablize after you input it, but it wll get right if you use the correct start times.

Jaynehr

I have my fitbit linked to MFP and it works great. Just put the time in that you did your workout and it takes that into account. There's a set up feature in fitbit or MFP that tells you to either add it or not add it in. I can't remember where I did it but however I have it set up, it works great. I love my fitbit and I love MFP. They work great together. Log all my food in MFP and it transfers to fitbit. Don't like the fitbit site so it's great to have MFP link to it cuz this site is so much better. Enjoy your fitbit!

everydaypam

I had my fitbit linked to MFP for quite a while. It was excellent because I might have days where I walk a lot but don't consider it exercise. The link allows MFP to see that I have moved a lot more than usual and adjust my calories for it. I never took my fitbit off for exercises but I did enter the times in MFP so it could remove the steps during that period in order to prevent double counting.

Recently they pushed out an update that caused you to start the day with negative calories and you had to constantly synch your fitbit throughout the day to get an idea of what you were eating. I disconnected mine at that time so I am not sure if it they are still doing that. If they are then know it will definitely change the way you utilize your calorie count throughout the day. For some it might keep you more accountable to your movement.

ChrissieP80

Hi there,

I still log my workouts under MFP. The important thing is that you need to specify a time that the workout started as well as how long it took. What I THINK happens is that Fitbit and MFP talk to each other and the entered workout on MFP 'overwrites' the calories logged by Fitbit during your workout. The important thing is that the calorie burn is not double-counted. (Sometimes it does double-count until you actually sync your Fitbit after the workout is entered on MFP)

Quite a clever device, I'm enjoying it!

PP: the negative calorie function is now 'opt in'.

kimkay518

Alright this is great! I'm def getting a better understanding thanks everyone! Any other tidbits? Lol

onyx1972

I never log any cardio now that I have a fitbit.. except swimming... Good Luck

King22046

So, Fitbit reads the food I enter into MFP, BUT MFP does not sync the exercise from the Fitbit until I deactivate and reactivate at the end of each day. I can sync the Fitbit multiple times to no avail. Any suggestions?

:grumble:

FireCazzo

This is helpful advice. Was trying to understand which tool, MFP or FB was where I entered what.