FitBit Zip HELP!!!!!

KendyDawn81
KendyDawn81 Posts: 63
in Health and Weight Loss
I bought a FitBit Zip yesterday, and I must say......the "instruction book (pamphlet). is less than helpful!

Can anybody help me with this:

- How does it know how many calories I am burning? I think that it is doing too many, or I have been VERY underestimating what I do, and maybe that is part of my problem with weight loss (I'm not eating enough at that point).
- It tells me that it is 12:35 AM right now, when it is really 6:35 AM. Any idea how to correct this?
- It says that it is synced with MFP, but nothing is transferring!

ANY assistance that somebody can give would be very much appreciated.

Replies

  • MSam1205
    MSam1205 Posts: 439 Member
    go to the technical section here and search on fitbit. lots of answers that helped me set it up. Couple of quick things, be sure to set it up via their website. there's a check box on MFP in your exercise settings to allow "negative" calories. This has to do with the way the two sites count calories. MFP counts down, Fit bit up. If you don't walk, exercise, etc enough, you get a negative number. This for me has been the biggest motivator to move more....... If you add excercise to MFP, it will be adjusted bythe Fitbit calculation. It takes a bit of playing with and patience, but most people will tell you they love it once they get it figured out. Don't give up! I have to do all mine via my laptop since I don't have a smartphone. I am only able to sync it in the morning and the evening. some things might be a little different for phone app users......
  • whodatlixxie
    whodatlixxie Posts: 32
    Did you set it up? Go to www.fitbit.com/start/zip it will walk you through you to set it up. Took me all of about 2 minutes. There is some helpful info on the website that tells you how it works etc. It determines steps/calories burned/etc by your height, weight, age, and sex. On the website it tells you how to sync to MFP. There is also a group on here for fitbit users. Lots of helpful info there too. Just search for FITBIT on here.
  • MSam1205
    MSam1205 Posts: 439 Member
    duplicated, sorry!
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
    Fitbit is a glorified pedometer. It essentially calculates your calories burned based on the energy it takes to move your body 1 pace.

    Check your timezone settings to make sure it's configured to the correct country.

    Check out this group where you will also find lots of fitbit users able to answer your questions: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/1307-fitbit-users
  • KendyDawn81
    KendyDawn81 Posts: 63
    I did verify it is set up for CST, which is where I am. I did the setup on my phone, and what was weird, is that it said that I had burned 1400 calories yesterday, about 30 minutes after I put it on. While that would be totally awesome, I don't think that was correct! I will try searching for the FitBit forums.

    THANKS GUYS!!!
  • crazylizz
    crazylizz Posts: 47 Member
    I did verify it is set up for CST, which is where I am. I did the setup on my phone, and what was weird, is that it said that I had burned 1400 calories yesterday, about 30 minutes after I put it on. While that would be totally awesome, I don't think that was correct! I will try searching for the FitBit forums.

    THANKS GUYS!!!

    Mine said I had burned 1900 and some when I set it up last night. If you read on the site it calculates the calories you burn at rest (BMR=Basic Metabolic Rate=calories burnt daily doing nothing calculated by height, weight, age and sex) so the calories burnt include that.

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