Need help figuring out your TDEE? Get a Fitbit.

ozigal

Bump... Good info here...

Does anyone use the friend feature on Fitbit? I find it to be very helpful.

Yep - I live in London and have a (real life) friend in Sydney. I have been pretty slack over the last couple of weeks. She rang me yesterday and gave me a right kicking I needed it!!!

I even wrote a blog post about it last night... http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/ozigal

jonnythan

Don't kid yourselves. Fitbit is a gloried pedometer with algorithms. The fact that it only works for walking based movements is proof of that. Anybody that thinks this is more accurate to determine cals burnt than a HRM is delusional.

If you use online calculators to calculate TDEE, just use Sedentary as your activity level then add all your exercise cals from a HRM to get your TDEE.

Have you ever seen a pedometer that can tell you how fast you're running?

sunshinesquared

One thing i've noticed with my fitbit, is i'm not sure of how accurate of a calorie count it can give for things like riding a bike. It doesn't have anything to do with my heart rate, doesn't pick up "steps" because there isn't enough of the walking motion, so how can i rely on that for how much i should be eating in a day? Right now, mine says i've burned 1000 calories from midnight until now.

There is a trick for this one... put the fitbit in your sock

you... my friend... are a genius.

Or on shoe strings, which is what I do! ;-)

EmilyJackCO

Don't waste your money on the Fitbit Flex. It is less accurate than the Fitbit One and was rushed to market too soon to compete with Nike device. I don't like how the Flex got rid of all of the display itiems on the One either. To keep from losing my Fitbit I put a piece of string on clip and loop it to my belt, I leave it in my pocket all day.

It actually was delayed several times to get the algorithms to be more accurate. The Fuel band has also been out for a while, and Nike has had something for fitness performance for over 5 years. They actually state it is as accurate as the One is, but without the altimeter... It is *really* accurate as near as I have tested it for the last 5 days.

I have really bad insomnia problems, and that was what sold me on the Flex over the One. It was something unobtrusive and simple that I didn't have to worry about losing, stabbing me, or otherwise causing issues (I very rarely have pockets in anything I wear - and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how that would work in bed. LOL). I've already found that the sleep tracking is really helpful, especially as I'm going back on call in a week or so, and my sleep is often very disrupted.

It doesn't record the stationary bike or weight training very well, so I add that into the site manually. What it does allow me to see is how less active I am vs. how much more active I am at others. I'm looking to gauge all the numbers over a period in time and make according adjustments, and this will certainly help me do that. I have considered the HRM aspect just for workouts, and I might do that in addition, but the idea of a chest strap scares the crap out of me, even though I know many say you get used to it. Asthma + claustrophobia + anxiety issues = epic fail. :P

Just my 2c. We'll see how well it does over time... but for the main goal of assisting me in determining my TDEE and output and monitoring, it's perfect!

hikr00

I have the Fitbit One and LOVE it. I agree with whomever it was that said she wears it 24/7 except for shower time. So very helpful and motivational to keep me moving.

FrenchMob

Don't kid yourselves. Fitbit is a gloried pedometer with algorithms. The fact that it only works for walking based movements is proof of that. Anybody that thinks this is more accurate to determine cals burnt than a HRM is delusional.

If you use online calculators to calculate TDEE, just use Sedentary as your activity level then add all your exercise cals from a HRM to get your TDEE.

Have you ever seen a pedometer that can tell you how fast you're running?

That's why I called it "gloried with algorithms". How would Mr. Fit Bit know whether I'm running or driving on a bumpy road? It wouldn't ad would log calories as if I was running.

I'm not saying a HRM is 100% accurate, but it's just as or more accurate than a pedometer. Your Fit Bit is no where near 100% accurate either. At best, it's a guesstimate based on inputted data and calculations.

calaz84

This is a lil off topic but still has to do with TDEE and MFP.

My question is do you guys log your fitness in MFP? I just switched over my calorie intake to my TDEE not sure if I should add exercise as well.

jonnythan

That's why I called it "gloried with algorithms". How would Mr. Fit Bit know whether I'm running or driving on a bumpy road? It wouldn't ad would log calories as if I was running.

I'm not saying a HRM is 100% accurate, but it's just as or more accurate than a pedometer. Your Fit Bit is no where near 100% accurate either. At best, it's a guesstimate based on inputted data and calculations.

It can actually log a few steps if you're driving down a really bumpy road. It has to be really, really bumpy though. It uses accelerometers and can generally tell the difference between walking and driving with no problem.

It's not a pedometer. It's a 3-axis accelerometer with a barometer. Your claim that an HRM is more accurate is completely baseless unless you know your VO2max and can program it into the HRM (and even then, it's still subject to error from anxiety, caffeine, humidity and temperature, etc).

I'm not getting any further into this argument. No one said it's 100% accurate. However, as a way to approximate TDEE it is very, very accurate.

ttiiggzz

FYI, for anyone interested in buying a Fitbit I was in Radio Shack today and they had the Zip and One at a slightly reduced price in comparison to the Fitbit website.

elyelyse

Do you know what your VO2max is? Probably not. You probably have no idea whatsoever.

oh, sorry, you lost me when you got condescending.

jonnythan

Do you know what your VO2max is? Probably not. You probably have no idea whatsoever.

oh, sorry, you lost me when you got condescending.

I wasn't condescending til you told me I was wrong.

Anyway, reject my information if you want. But if you reject it because you don't like my tone instead instead of doing it because you have valid counter arguments, that's your loss. Not mine.

devariojay

Which fitbit do you have...does it matter?

I just looked at the flex. Im wondering if there are any advantages over the "one"

Maggie_Pie1

Have you ever seen a pedometer that can tell you how fast you're running?

My garmin does that.

How would Mr. Fit Bit know whether I'm running or driving on a bumpy road? It wouldn't ad would log calories as if I was running.

Exactly - it doesn't. A friend of mine wore hers on a plane, and got some great calorie expenditure from a bumpy flight.

And any tool we use to measure calorie expenditure is estimating based on algorithms. I like bodymedia fit because it's basing your calorie burn on multiple sets of data rather than just an accelerometer. And when I'm doing something etremely physical, like a long distance bike ride or a 5k run, I usually wear my garmin with HRM as well as my bodymedia fit and I've found that the calorie burn for the activity is pretty close for those two (garmin estimate and bodymedia fit).

BarbieAS

That's why I called it "gloried with algorithms". How would Mr. Fit Bit know whether I'm running or driving on a bumpy road? It wouldn't ad would log calories as if I was running.

I'm not saying a HRM is 100% accurate, but it's just as or more accurate than a pedometer. Your Fit Bit is no where near 100% accurate either. At best, it's a guesstimate based on inputted data and calculations.

I've caught my Fitbit logging a handful of steps while I'm driving, but nothing that would increase my calculated calorie burn by more than a couple of calories. And, based on the graph that the Fitbit site provides that breaks down how many calories you burned during each 5 minute period throughout the day, I've certainly never seen anything to suggest that my Fitbit thinks I am *running* those 20 extra steps at 45mph while I'm driving.

It's definitely not 100% accurate. And if most of your workouts are things like circuit training or lifting, swimming, biking, etc, then maybe the Fitbit isn't the right product for you - and that's ok, not every solution is correct for everyone in life. But for many people, especially people who are new to the weight loss game and trying to figure out this whole TDEE business, it can be an extremely useful tool. For example, I get most of my daily calorie burn by just being generally active (and that activity level can vary widely from day to day), and when I do work out it's typically walking/light jogging or the elliptical (as well as lifting, but I believe the burn for that is minimal and not worth counting). I find the Fitbit to be extremely accurate to capture my activity levels.

jofjltncb6

Have you ever seen a pedometer that can tell you how fast you're running?

My garmin does that.

How would Mr. Fit Bit know whether I'm running or driving on a bumpy road? It wouldn't ad would log calories as if I was running.

Exactly - it doesn't. A friend of mine wore hers on a plane, and got some great calorie expenditure from a bumpy flight.

And any tool we use to measure calorie expenditure is estimating based on algorithms. I like bodymedia fit because it's basing your calorie burn on multiple sets of data rather than just an accelerometer. And when I'm doing something etremely physical, like a long distance bike ride or a 5k run, I usually wear my garmin with HRM as well as my bodymedia fit and I've found that the calorie burn for the activity is pretty close for those two (garmin estimate and bodymedia fit).

Fortunately for her, it's easy to log the time period of the "bumpy" activity so the calculation knows to exclude that time period from the calculation. Similarly, you can log non-walking activities (such as weightlifting) to account for admittedly, an estimate of the calorie differential there too.

The argument of "it isn't 100% accurate all the time" against it being an excellent (and relatively inexpensive) tool to approximate TDEE is weak.

elyelyse

Do you know what your VO2max is? Probably not. You probably have no idea whatsoever.

oh, sorry, you lost me when you got condescending.

I wasn't condescending til you told me I was wrong.

Anyway, reject my information if you want. But if you reject it because you don't like my tone instead instead of doing it because you have valid counter arguments, that's your loss. Not mine.

i thought my 13000 steps and associated calories that fitbit gave me from riding in a bumpy car today was a pretty good argument against the accuracy of the fitbit.

Also, i was agreeing with you that the fitbit is a valuable tool, i was just arguing that, just like a HRM or any other consumer measurement tool, it's not going to be truly accurate. It's just an estimate, one tool among many we can use to come up with what works for us, through trial and error.

keithf1138

My wife and I have and love our FitBit Ones.

We use it for all day to day calorie measurements. Along with that we record our workouts with MFP. Then we use the weekly calorie expenditure and divide by 7 for our TDEE. We then eat to the TDEE-20%.

We use MFP for food tracking and only pay attention to the total we eat and make sure we are right around our TDEE-20%. Since we do it based on average calorie burn for the week we dont eat back calories if we have a day of higher burn. Likely we will have a day that week with higher food consumption.

Love the Sleep Tracking feature as well as floor tracking. I try to get 40-50 floors in each day while at work. Every time I leave the office I walk down to the 1st floor then walk back up to the 5th floor. Couple times a day I go all the way to 10 and back down.

Also use the alarm feature. The FitBit now is our main alarm clock. Also use alarms as a reminder to get up from desk and move some.

Bonny619

It gave you 13000 steps during your bumpy car ride?? I haven't heard of it doing that many before!

Mia_RagazzaTosta

Common sense, people...it's a wonderful thing.

Nothing is 100%, but this little device is better than anything I've tried in the past. Yes, driving 6 hours from DC to Ohio gave me steps and stairs I didn't do, but I used my common sense and didn't eat all the calories I was given.

srk369

Which fitbit do you have...does it matter?

I just looked at the flex. Im wondering if there are any advantages over the "one"

I think this is just personal preference. I love the One because it also measures stairs. On my trail runs it gives me the "flights" I've climbed over the 8-10 miles I run (Over 70 this past weekend!!)

My husband just got the flex, didn't even want the One knowing the flex was coming out. He doesn't care about the flights, just wants to monitor his sleep and increase his movement.