fitbit ultra tracker

dittmarml · August 2012

Is the key changing the setting to sedentary?

Don't know if that's the "key" but that's what alot of people do, because the syncing takes care of tracking activity calories, which MFP then treats as "logged exercise". So, "sedentary" gives you a minimum you have to eat to stay healthy but also lose weight, and then the FitBit adds exercise calories back once you set it up to synch.

mreffle · August 2012

I love mine, got it about 3 weeks ago. It's just nice that I don't have to log my activity, I just log food on MFP, and check my activity and sleep at fitbit.com. I also have been known to walk around the house in circles, and up and down the stairs, one big loop. It's definitely a motivator for me.

mamapuddin17 · August 2012

Is this the same as a HRM?

dittmarml · August 2012

I just got mine (fitbit) today and am trying to understand the whole thing. Any advice as to the easiest way to understand it? I've been using MFP since May and have lost 28#'s so far. I am walking or doing walking dvd's at home. I know the fitbit won't accurately register those steps, but it did register about 4000 steps (if I'm doing this right) I've checked and both MFP and the fitbit are synched but the totals aren't the same.

Sorry - should've read this one first.

Part of the issue is how you have your profile set. The two systems use different/yet related methods to calculate energy requirements. Are you "sedentary" on both FitBit.com and MFP? That's where to start.

I "borrowed" this explanation from another poster over at FitBit.com:

The adjustment sent from FITBIT to MFP IS NOT the total amount burned. as reported by FITBIT

The adjustment is a time weighted excess calculated by FITBIT over your target calorie expenditure. That value is applied to FITBITs projection for the amount of calories you can take in. There are some other averaging that FITBIT does behind the scenes. But that 32 calories that FITBIT applied is the excess. The program figured that you neded and would have burned that other 74 calories anyway.

That extra is reported to MFP as an adjustment. You may lose part or all of that at the end of the day if FITBIT misses in its estimate of how much energy you were going to expend in the previous hours. That is not an error, that is an inherent assumption of the software (eventually built by recognition of your energy expenditure pattern)

Please note that the adjustment can be reasonably "fast" through the two systems yet you can be surprised if you are reasonably close to your zero balance at the end of the day. You could have as much as a 250 calorie swing after hours (depending upon how your profile is set) and go from having a deficit (calories to spare) to a surplus (you ate more than you should have). That is because the two systems do not calculate/ project intake and expenditure the same. At the end of the day they come up with nearly the same result, but getting there can be messy.