Fit Bit Users- Let's Chat...

I'm thinking about getting a Fit Bit One and am wondering what people think about it? I know it can work with the MFP app and so I thought that might be a nice way to help me understand how my body works and what's happening with it every day.
«1

Replies

  • heiditracker
    heiditracker Posts: 18 Member
    I love my Fitbit One. I've had it a little more than two weeks and it's awesome. It interfaces with MFP so you do little recording. I will tell you that Fitbit's food base and recording is a pain. I and many others that have the Fitbit, do all of our food logging on MFP and let the Fitbit do all of the exercise recording, they talk to each other so it works beautifully. And, my husband, who hates dieting decided to give it a try, he loves Fitbit and MFP, he's hooked and lost 5lbs in just one week. Do it, you'll love it!
  • I was thinking I would do MFP for food anyway, because I'm finding that it helps me to write down exactly what I'm eating (or type it out, rather) as I eat it- definitely helps you to be more aware of what you're putting into your body.
  • both my husband and I have a fitbit and they work great!!!
  • JJordon
    JJordon Posts: 857 Member
    I just bought mine today and I am struggling to use the Fitbit website and interface, probably going to continue to use MFP for it all.
  • Atroxi
    Atroxi Posts: 1 Member
    Jumping in to agree - Fitbit for the steps, MFP for the meals. I use a Zephyr HxM HRM and Endomondo for workouts - which syncs to MFP which then syncs to the Fitbit. I log weight in MFP, let it go to Fitbit then use the TrendWeight website (https://trendweight.com/dashboard/) to get a good idea of my overall pattern.

    It gets confusing sometimes! :laugh:
  • am8509
    am8509 Posts: 2
    Hi Holly! I have the Fitbit Zip and love it. I had the One in the past (the older version) and washed it, so replaced with the zip. The added benefit of the One is just tracking your sleep, which I did not find personal benefit in, and tracking number of flights (stairs) climbed...again I did not find value in that. So I opted for the Zip this time because of the cheaper cost just to track my steps (plus it comes in cute colors) :) I use myfitness pal for all food logging and just integrate the Zip for steps. It helps me to keep tracking of how active or inactive I am throughout the day, and the integration will add to your exercise count if you are more active than myfitness pal predicts just based on age/height, etc....
  • Beata375
    Beata375 Posts: 68 Member
    Hey Holli! I'm glad you asked this, as I have been thinking about the fitbit again recently. (I was about to buy it a few months ago, instead of replacing my heart rate monitor), but then I read some not so great reviews and decided against it. Some people complained that it wasn't accurate, and that it counts steps while you are sitting (like in a car). Anyone notice this? Any ways to address it? If I'm going to spend $100 on something I'd like for it to be fairly accurate. And where do you wear it/clip it?

    If you get one Holli let me know how you like it!

    Beth
  • msarobix
    msarobix Posts: 211 Member
    I also have the FitBit One and Love it. It is great that it integrates with MFP.
  • ittybittybadonkadonk
    ittybittybadonkadonk Posts: 11,634 Member
    I am loving my fitbit one ...such a great motivator to get moving and keep moving ....I too log my food on MFP and my exercise on the fitbit site ....I hope you will love it as much as I do ..GOOD LUCK

    P.S. You can buy it at bestbuy in case you are like me and impatient of waiting for it to arrive in the mail
  • determined_erin
    determined_erin Posts: 571 Member
    I tried the FitBit and returned it. Then I tried BodyMedia and loved it. Look into BodyMedia. I feel like it's more accurate and works better.
  • gomisskellygo
    gomisskellygo Posts: 635 Member
    Hi Holli,

    I love mine. I like many others, record my food on MFP and let Fitbit calculate calories. It may calculate some steps for driving but for the most part I just try to go above and beyond my daily goal of 10,000 steps. My fitbit has taught me how truly sendentary I am during my working hours. I only average 1.3 miles from 9-5 pm. Wow! That number motivates me to get outside and take my dog for a longer walk and get to the gym and exercise. I love mine!
  • Ladyslippers
    Ladyslippers Posts: 186 Member
    I LOVE my Fitbit. I have an Ultra, which pre-dates the One and the Zip. When this does, I'll be getting the "One." I wear it every day, all day, even for sleep, and feel nekkid without it, lol.

    You get used to the Fitbit site after a while (they are currently beta testing a live tile type of dashboard, fwiw). I use MFP to track all food and exercise and weight. But I do use the Fitbit to help calculate calories burned. MFP always overestimates my calories burned. Fitbit comes closer to what it really is. I base my entries in MFP on what my HRM says though as far as calories burned during exercise.
  • Imadarkswan
    Imadarkswan Posts: 113 Member
    I have the FitBit One and had it linked to MFP but did not really like how it constantly did calorie adjustments so I unlinked it.
    I prefer to log my workouts from my HRM here myself.
    Mostly I use it only to see how sedentary I really am. It actually gives me a fairly decent idea of my TDEE

    Does anyone else think that the FitBit One actually records more steps than you actually take?
    Some days it is way over what I think I may have done
  • mapnerd2005
    mapnerd2005 Posts: 363
    I love my One. I've had it for two months. I log all my food on MFP and my workouts on the fitbit site (that seems to work best for me). Unless I'm swimming, I wear my One while I workout, but when I log the workout I make sure to accurately enter the times of my workout so I don't "double dip", and then I manually enter the calories burned based on my HRM. I don't have a car and walk everywhere, but when I ride the bus or metro, my fitbit does not count steps. Placement may have something to do with that. I wear mine front and center on my bra. I do wear it while I sleep, and sometimes I'll wake up and it says I've taken 20 steps...but since it is counting "movement" and the number is not high, it doesn't seem like it's all that off. I do toss and turn in my sleep a lot. The only thing about it I wish was different is that there is no way to check how much battery life is left without plugging it in or if the low battery indicator pops up on the app.
  • Jhs1987
    Jhs1987 Posts: 40 Member
    I just got my FitBit One about three weeks ago and love it! As others on here said, I still use MFP for all of my food logging, let FitBit track my steps/calories burned and it will sync up with MFP. I find the calorie burn numbers to be quite accurate. You can still manually log activities that the FitBit can't really count (swimming for example) I do notice that it will count a few steps from time to time while I am driving, but not enough that I feel it makes the overall count inaccurate.

    I love that it tells me how active I am for the entire day, not just when I am working out. I find myself making up more reasons to get up from my desk at work during the day and take a short break and walk around to increase my activity during the day, or just more active around the house instead of sitting staring at TV..

    Good luck, if you decide to purchase I think you will be happy with your decision!
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,371 Member
    I have the FitBit Ultra which came out before the One and wear it every day but don't bother with tracking sleep because it was consistently in the mid-ninety percents - so obviously no problem there - probably due to being worked so hard by my FitBit!!
  • I have a fitbit one and have had it for a few months. I Love it, it helps me stay on track, I log all my stuff in MFP and just let the fitbit log additional steps etc. It seems to work great that way, don't try logging in both or it will double everything (food etc). The only thing that I have had trouble with is it seems to not log flights of stairs very well, we have a split level house which means about 7 steps to the upstairs and 7 stairs to the garage and 7 more stairs to the basement. I have a almost 3yr who is recently potty trained and we do a lot of running up the stairs to go potty etc. Yet sometimes at the end of the day it's only logged 2 flights even if I go all the way to the basement and all the way up to the top level. Then on other days I only go up a few times and WHAM I have like 12 flights logged. So generally I don't pay much attention to the stairs log, it might be more accurate on an actual full flight of stairs which I believe is about 12ft high. But other then that I LOVE it!
  • gallingers06
    gallingers06 Posts: 43 Member
    I just bought mine today and I am struggling to use the Fitbit website and interface, probably going to continue to use MFP for it all.

    I had that issue when I first signed up. Once you have your fitbit information loaded in, go to MFP and add your fitbit in the apps section. Hope that helps. I was a little confused by making them sync, but now that I have it going, it has greatly reduced on line time. MPF for food and FitBit marries right to it for activity.
  • kmmpink
    kmmpink Posts: 63 Member
    If your deciding between a HRM and a fitbit there are a couple things to keep in mind.
    Fitbit only tracks your steps taken so, you will not get an accurate burn for anything but walking and running.
    So if the majority of your workouts come from other exercises such as weight lifting, elliptical, biking, zumba etc.. I would suggest a HRM instead.
    It is nice that fitbit syncs with MFP and is also great to keep you motivated to move throughout the day. I log both food and exercise on MFP. When you log exercise on MFP you just have to be sure to enter your start time.
    Also, I have the fitbit one and wish I would have gotten the smaller, less expensive fitbit. Like others have said, the sleep tracker and number of flights of steps you have taken are not that big of a bonus. I have only tracked my sleep 4 times!!
    Hope this helps!
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,371 Member
    I LOVE my Fitbit. I have an Ultra, which pre-dates the One and the Zip. When this does, I'll be getting the "One." I wear it every day, all day, even for sleep, and feel nekkid without it, lol.

    You get used to the Fitbit site after a while (they are currently beta testing a live tile type of dashboard, fwiw). I use MFP to track all food and exercise and weight. But I do use the Fitbit to help calculate calories burned. MFP always overestimates my calories burned. Fitbit comes closer to what it really is. I base my entries in MFP on what my HRM says though as far as calories burned during exercise.

    I agree with using FitBit's burn rates. I swim a lot and do aqua aerobics and would get a ridiculous burn for that if I went with what MFP would give me. I calculate it there and adjust it here too. Fitbit is brilliant for your day to day activity and walking though.
  • LaurnWhit
    LaurnWhit Posts: 261 Member
    Great question! How accurate is the TDEE?
  • gallingers06
    gallingers06 Posts: 43 Member
    I got a FitBit Zip about a month ago, and I love it. It syncs with MFP, so I no longer have to log workouts into MFP, just food. They do work well together. I clip in to my bra and don't think about it for the rest of the day. A lot of my friends have it as well, and it allows us to cheer eachother on when we are slumping, or talk a little fun trash if we are competing. This one was only $60, and some friends got them for as little as $35 on sale. Great product!
  • crystal2point0
    crystal2point0 Posts: 52 Member
    I have had my ONE for about 2 weeks now and I love it. Like most people have already said I don't use it for manually logging anything (food or activity). I still use MFP for all my logging. I let fitbit count my steps, stairs and sleep and all other data is managed through MFP, the MFP site actually suggests that you do it this way. If I exercise (treadmill, elliptical...etc) then i log that as cardio in MFP and just input a start time (this will show up on the MFP site once you link fitbit) so that Fitbit knows not to count that time in its calorie estimate (it still counts the steps, just doesn't use the steps taken during that time to do any calorie adjustments with). The sync is 2 ways - once you log food and exercise into MFP that will sync to fitbit site.

    based off your activity level using the fitbit the fitbit site will sync to your MFP to show calorie adjustments positive and negative just depending on how active you are throughout the day. For me as long as I get close to 10k steps a day I will end up with a calorie adjustment of 220+ calories that I can eat back just from walking more.

    what's great is realizing how non active I actually was before using my ONE so that I push myself everyday to take extra steps. I started taking the stairs at work and most days I use the treadmill at work during lunch to just take a nice walk.

    I think my overall favorite feature is the vibrate alarm that wakes you up without a screaming alarm clock
  • I tried the FitBit and returned it. Then I tried BodyMedia and loved it. Look into BodyMedia. I feel like it's more accurate and works better.

    BodyMedia requires a monthly service charge, right? That's my ONLY concern with getting the BodyMedia instead of the FitBit- I'm not sure that I want to be roped into an additional $70 dollars a year on top of what the device costs (I know I sound incredibly cheap there).
  • That does help, a lot. Would a HRM be more accurate to monitor calories burned throughout the day? That's more or less what my primary motivation behind getting one is. At the end of the day, I just want to be more aware of what's going on with my body and what I can do to improve it.
  • utuxia
    utuxia Posts: 6 Member
    i have the fitbit, i don't use the sleep monitor though, a little too much of a hassle. I also got their wifi/digital scale, which is great for keeping track of your progress online. It uploads the data automatically.
  • determined_erin
    determined_erin Posts: 571 Member
    I tried the FitBit and returned it. Then I tried BodyMedia and loved it. Look into BodyMedia. I feel like it's more accurate and works better.

    BodyMedia requires a monthly service charge, right? That's my ONLY concern with getting the BodyMedia instead of the FitBit- I'm not sure that I want to be roped into an additional $70 dollars a year on top of what the device costs (I know I sound incredibly cheap there).

    The first 3 months are free, and then there is a small monthly fee after that (I believe $6/month). The FitBit has the technology of a Wii controller, and if you've played the Wii, you know that isn't the greatest. The BodyMedia uses a more scientific way of calculating everything, and I feel like it is much more accurate.
  • rc322
    rc322 Posts: 22
    I feel that if the fitbit is adding back exercise calories that we shouldn't be eating..doesn't that just defeat the purpose?
  • bsalvato
    bsalvato Posts: 63 Member
    Hey Holli! I'm glad you asked this, as I have been thinking about the fitbit again recently. (I was about to buy it a few months ago, instead of replacing my heart rate monitor), but then I read some not so great reviews and decided against it. Some people complained that it wasn't accurate, and that it counts steps while you are sitting (like in a car). Anyone notice this? Any ways to address it? If I'm going to spend $100 on something I'd like for it to be fairly accurate. And where do you wear it/clip it?

    If you get one Holli let me know how you like it!

    Beth

    You should turn the timer on if your driving any longer than like 30 mins. All pedometers count steps in a car because they have some sort of accelerometer in them that can feel up and down movement and if it's a bumpy ride you'll get steps. I had a $5 one that did the same thing.
  • I have a fitbit one but wish I'd waited for this which is coming out soon as it does heart rate as well http://www.withings.com/en/activitytracker/keepmeinformed