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Does the Fitbit also calculate accurately during exercise or would I still get that number from my heart rate monitor? I've been thinking about getting one.

IMO, heart rate monitors are terrible for calculating calories. That's a whole other rant though.

Just look at the weight loss graphs in the OP to see how accurate the Fitbit is.

It's not accurate for things where you're not on your feet, like cycling or swimming or rowing. You can just add those manually.

I just ordered one of these. Does it calculate rollerblading?

I was not a fan of the Fitbit. Just returned it. I am one who also wanted to know what I burned in a day so I could see if my MFP was set properly. I found the fitbit synced with MFP to be so frustrating b/c it constantly changed my calories throughout the day. I do realize that the Fitbit is constantly working, therefore the change, but for someone who needs set numbers. WOW--super annoying. I don't care how many steps I take and I didn't find it motivating to use. I workout most days anyway so trying to fit in the last 200 steps to meet the 10,000/day goal wasn't my thing. I wanted to love the Fitbit but just couldn't. I use a Polar HRM and find it to be all I need. That all being said, people who have Fitbit tend to love it. I just didn't want to be committed to wearing the damn thing all day long, every single day!

Your understanding of FItbit and the Fitbit/MFP relationship was all wrong. That's why it didn't work for you. Fitbit can be customized to do almost anything. Don't want to walk 10k steps? Change the goal.

If you didn't want to wear it all day, every day (which is what it's designed for), why on earth did you buy it in the first place?

Does the Fitbit also calculate accurately during exercise or would I still get that number from my heart rate monitor? I've been thinking about getting one.

IMO, heart rate monitors are terrible for calculating calories. That's a whole other rant though.

Just look at the weight loss graphs in the OP to see how accurate the Fitbit is.

It's not accurate for things where you're not on your feet, like cycling or swimming or rowing. You can just add those manually.

I just ordered one of these. Does it calculate rollerblading?

I haven't personally tested it, but based on what I know of how it works, here is my answer:

Yes, but not well. It will very likely count your strides, but that doesn't really answer the question of how much work you did. Would be similar to riding a bike (although I suspect rollerblading strides will be counted more consistently than bike pedaling strokes given the hard-stop of the ground). You could try it and see what it gives you for that particular activity record and then enter the activity manually (which relies on an average burn rate for the activity no different than MFP or any other exercise estimate) and compare the calorie burn of the two.

Does the Fitbit also calculate accurately during exercise or would I still get that number from my heart rate monitor? I've been thinking about getting one.

IMO, heart rate monitors are terrible for calculating calories. That's a whole other rant though.

Just look at the weight loss graphs in the OP to see how accurate the Fitbit is.

It's not accurate for things where you're not on your feet, like cycling or swimming or rowing. You can just add those manually.

I just ordered one of these. Does it calculate rollerblading?

I haven't personally tested it, but based on what I know of how it works, here is my answer:

Yes, but not well. It will very likely count your strides, but that doesn't really answer the question of how much work you did. Would be similar to riding a bike (although I suspect rollerblading strides will be counted more consistently than bike pedaling strokes given the hard-stop of the ground). You could try it and see what it gives you for that particular activity record and then enter the activity manually (which relies on an average burn rate for the activity no different than MFP or any other exercise estimate) and compare the calorie burn of the two.

Thank you! I will wear the FitBit and my HRM and see what happens. I would love to only use the FitBit because it's so small!

Does the Fitbit also calculate accurately during exercise or would I still get that number from my heart rate monitor? I've been thinking about getting one.

IMO, heart rate monitors are terrible for calculating calories. That's a whole other rant though.

Just look at the weight loss graphs in the OP to see how accurate the Fitbit is.

It's not accurate for things where you're not on your feet, like cycling or swimming or rowing. You can just add those manually.

I just ordered one of these. Does it calculate rollerblading?

I haven't personally tested it, but based on what I know of how it works, here is my answer:

Yes, but not well. It will very likely count your strides, but that doesn't really answer the question of how much work you did. Would be similar to riding a bike (although I suspect rollerblading strides will be counted more consistently than bike pedaling strokes given the hard-stop of the ground). You could try it and see what it gives you for that particular activity record and then enter the activity manually (which relies on an average burn rate for the activity no different than MFP or any other exercise estimate) and compare the calorie burn of the two.

Thank you! I will wear the FitBit and my HRM and see what happens. I would love to only use the FitBit because it's so small!

I would guess for a "good" estimate, you'll still need your HRM...

...but once you've done it a few times, you'll likely be able to determine a good cal/min or cal/mile that you can use to estimate ...and then strap on the HRM occasionally to check your estimate.

That would be my approach...if I owned a HRM...but I don't, because I'm okay with ballpark estimates.

bump

I think my Fitbit under estimates my calorie burn. It doesn't recognize when I am standing as apposed to sitting, and since I have a standing job with constant small movements that don't often get recognized as steps, that means that I am burning a lot more cals that it's recognizing. So I had to add a guestimation of what I would have burned and log my work hours as an activity. This seems to make the calorie burn closer to what it seems it should be (judging by the calories I eat and the fact I'm still losing) I also have to take it off for horse back riding (and add it as an activity). It doesn't recognize the stair in my apartment correctly, I go up 6 flights of stairs and it only recognizes 4 flights. (this is one of the most frustrating things). But I like seeing my steps and it's motivating to get moving a bit more.

Let me give you a for instance. Looking at yesterday, MFP wanted me to eat 2073 calories. Fitbit wanted me to eat 1963 calories. That's because Fitbit is set for a 500 calorie deficit and I set a custom goal on MFP that's a little bit less than that. That's fine. They don't need to match up perfectly.

I want to go back to using CUSTOM as MFP settings aren't "IDEAL" for me. I like to customize day to day. What's the best way to do this?

Currently my Fitbit average burn is showing as 1729 and that my average intake is 1928. This means I've been eating around 1600-1700 calories on my "off" days and around 2400 calories on my workout days. I cycle.

Can I plug that average for custom on non-workout days? Will this work? I'm trying to use this to my advantage so I can adjust daily based on what I do. Also, I found that negative values aren't so crazy when you use custom (but I wonder if custom messes up negative values). How can I set this up to WIN and not look like a filthy PIG every day? So frustrating that workout burns get subtracted throughout the day with negative values. How do I get THAT to work for me? CUSTOM seems like the answer, but now I'm doubting everything I'm doing :grumble:

Let me give you a for instance. Looking at yesterday, MFP wanted me to eat 2073 calories. Fitbit wanted me to eat 1963 calories. That's because Fitbit is set for a 500 calorie deficit and I set a custom goal on MFP that's a little bit less than that. That's fine. They don't need to match up perfectly.

I want to go back to using CUSTOM as MFP settings aren't "IDEAL" for me. I like to customize day to day. What's the best way to do this?

Currently my Fitbit average burn is showing as 1729 and that my average intake is 1928. This means I've been eating around 1600-1700 calories on my "off" days and around 2400 calories on my workout days. I cycle.

Can I plug that average for custom on non-workout days? Will this work? I'm trying to use this to my advantage so I can adjust daily based on what I do. Also, I found that negative values aren't so crazy when you use custom (but I wonder if custom messes up negative values). How can I set this up to WIN and not look like a filthy PIG every day? So frustrating that workout burns get subtracted throughout the day with negative values. How do I get THAT to work for me? CUSTOM seems like the answer, but now I'm doubting everything I'm doing :grumble:

I would just set the goal as the lower, non-exercise day, number. On workout days you are going to be alloted exercise calories, so any overage isn't going to look as large if that is what you are worried about. I go with a set number that is on the low side, but I have high/low days and I like to look at my overall weekly deficit to see how I'm really doing.

Okay, so today I rollerbladed with my FitBit and my HRM. When I got home, I logged my exercise calories burned from my HRM through MFP so when it synced with the FitBit's website it shows up in my Logged Activities. But I also added it in my Activity Log on the FitBit's website. Does that mean it's in there twice? Should I delete one of them? Is it supposed to be in both areas?

Okay, so today I rollerbladed with my FitBit and my HRM. When I got home, I logged my exercise calories burned from my HRM through MFP so when it synced with the FitBit's website it shows up in my Logged Activities. But I also added it in my Activity Log on the FitBit's website. Does that mean it's in there twice? Should I delete one of them? Is it supposed to be in both areas?

Yes, you have logged it twice. When you are synced between MFP and Fitbit, they activities will sync. I only add my activities through MFP and just verify it is on Fitbit. Usually you can just see the activity graph with the very active pink color!! or on the Activities tab.

Sorry to be a pain, but I have another question. Today all I did was wake up and come to work and it already has a fitbit adjustment of 751 calories! I haven't even worked out yet. Is it projecting that I will exercise that off later? Help!

I love my new Fitbit, however, it is very confusing!

Yes, that's what it says on MFP under my exercise tab. Calorie adjustment.