Fitbit Activity Record
mjnicolaides
Posts: 5 Member
Hello,
I have noticed some weird behavior when using the stopwatch feature to log activity records. Today I used the stopwatch and did 20 minutes of elliptical. I synced with fitbit and when I logged onto Fitbits site, the activity record displayed 150 calories burned. I did not manually log any exercise on fitbits site.
Next I logged onto MFP and before logging any exercise, my calorie adjustment was at 360. When I entered the elliptical exercise (logged time and duration) MFP adjusted the calories as follows:
Elliptical - 289
Fitbit - 71
After a minute or so I logged back onto Fitbits site and the activity records bar chart has now changed - showing more calories per minute however the total is still set at 150. Finally I log back onto MFP and the exercise calories are as follows:
Elliptical - 289
Fitbit - 211
Somehow I magically picked up another 140 calories. If I delete the elliptical exercise on MFP, after a few minute everything returns back to 360 calories. Any ideas what is causing this?
I usually never use the stopwatch to log activities and I have not noticed this type of bump before. Tomorrow I will log an exercise on MFP and not use the stopwatch to see what happens.
I have noticed some weird behavior when using the stopwatch feature to log activity records. Today I used the stopwatch and did 20 minutes of elliptical. I synced with fitbit and when I logged onto Fitbits site, the activity record displayed 150 calories burned. I did not manually log any exercise on fitbits site.
Next I logged onto MFP and before logging any exercise, my calorie adjustment was at 360. When I entered the elliptical exercise (logged time and duration) MFP adjusted the calories as follows:
Elliptical - 289
Fitbit - 71
After a minute or so I logged back onto Fitbits site and the activity records bar chart has now changed - showing more calories per minute however the total is still set at 150. Finally I log back onto MFP and the exercise calories are as follows:
Elliptical - 289
Fitbit - 211
Somehow I magically picked up another 140 calories. If I delete the elliptical exercise on MFP, after a few minute everything returns back to 360 calories. Any ideas what is causing this?
I usually never use the stopwatch to log activities and I have not noticed this type of bump before. Tomorrow I will log an exercise on MFP and not use the stopwatch to see what happens.
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Mmm I'm not sure it could bea bug and fix itself. I always uses the stopwatch function, but on Sunday I did the same and had a mega weird 1000 exercise cals. It was only a 40 minutes workout so that was wrong. But after a bit it was sorted out.
It's probably wrong but do you have estimated cals on your fitbit enabled. Maybe it has increased it temporarily for that latest workout??? We're your times and duration you entered accurate to the fitbit activity record. Or are your times zones the same on mfp as they are on fitbit. The time zones sometimes send things weird and lots of people have had to manually change them. I have to change mine for day lights saving here.
Sorry I'm not 100%, I'm sure it will fix itself.
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Yeah I hope it works itself out but I will no longer track activities and see how it behaves. Yes I do have the estimated calories enabled, my time zones are correct and the activity was +/- 1 minute on MFP vs. Fitbit so its pretty close. But if I never deleted the exercise from MFP, I would have been left with an additional 140 Calories which I'm not sure if I should have them - I eat back all adjusted calories.0
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Yeah I hope it works itself out but I will no longer track activities and see how it behaves. Yes I do have the estimated calories enabled, my time zones are correct and the activity was +/- 1 minute on MFP vs. Fitbit so its pretty close. But if I never deleted the exercise from MFP, I would have been left with an additional 140 Calories which I'm not sure if I should have them - I eat back all adjusted calories.
I think this is working as expected?
Before adding your exercise in to MFP, but AFTER exercising, your fitbit adjustment was 360.
Once you added your exercise in, MFP made a quick adjustment and moved the 360 around.
But once fitbit had a chance to catch up it gave you more calories back - this is because it hasn't given you full credit for the elliptical in the 360 it had originally calculated - it owes you another 140, which is what it has eventually adjusted to.
The extra 140 is valid, and is due because fitbit doesn't estimate elliptical workouts particularly well.0 -
Well I would agree with you if I didn't sync with fitbit immediately following the workout and before I logged it into MFP. The 360 was updated right after I synced with fitbit so the workout was included in the 360.
Its only after I added the workout in MFP that things started getting screwy.
As a test I just tried the following.
At 3:20 PM I synced up with fitbit and my dashboard shows 1588 calories burned and synced 37 seconds ago. Then I go to MFP and under exercise I have 116 calories of adjustment as of 3:20 PM.
Now I add walking at 2:00 for 20 minutes which = 80 calories. When I add, I get the following breakdown:
Walking – 80
Fitbit – 36
So far so good. Next I return to Fitbit and under my activities log I see the walking I just logged on MFP, 80 calories. When I then go to my dashboard, it just bumped up to 1648. This is a 60 calorie bump in less than a minute.
Finally I return to MFP and refresh the screen, the breakdown is now:
Walking – 80
Fitbit – 90
I somehow earned 54 calories on MFP?
I never logged anything into fitbit and have been sitting this whole time. Is this double counting?
When I remove the walking from MFP, the breakdown is”
Fitbit – 170
After a few minutes, the breakdown finally returns to:
Fitbit – 114
Am I overthinking this? I just don’t get it. If I never logged anything on MFP it seems I would have less calories to eat back relying solely on the fitbit and MFP sync. But when I do log an exercise on MFP it seems to give me many more calories to eat back?0 -
At 3:20 PM I synced up with fitbit and my dashboard shows 1588 calories burned and synced 37 seconds ago. Then I go to MFP and under exercise I have 116 calories of adjustment as of 3:20 PM.
Now I add walking at 2:00 for 20 minutes which = 80 calories. When I add, I get the following breakdown:
Walking – 80
Fitbit – 36
So far so good.
No. Here your burn has not yet been fully accounted for. You had a fitbit adjustment of 116. Then you added in a walk, which you did not take, and have earnt another 80 calories. Between 2:00 and 2:20 whatever fitbit thought you burnt it will now adjust so you burnt 80 calories here.
So it will take away what it had put in here (which we will see further on, was 26 calories), and added in the 80 that you manually added.
Next I return to Fitbit and under my activities log I see the walking I just logged on MFP, 80 calories. When I then go to my dashboard, it just bumped up to 1648. This is a 60 calorie bump in less than a minute.
Finally I return to MFP and refresh the screen, the breakdown is now:
Walking – 80
Fitbit – 90
So, you had an adjustment of 116. You now have an overall adjustment of 170. Your walk added 54 calories.
So fitbit had given you 26 calories for 2:00 to 2:20. You should have been given 80 calories, so it has bumped you up.
All working as it should do.
Let me know if I'm not being clear? This can get a bit confusing!0 -
At 3:20 PM I synced up with fitbit and my dashboard shows 1588 calories burned and synced 37 seconds ago. Then I go to MFP and under exercise I have 116 calories of adjustment as of 3:20 PM.
Now I add walking at 2:00 for 20 minutes which = 80 calories. When I add, I get the following breakdown:
Walking – 80
Fitbit – 36
So far so good.
No. Here your burn has not yet been fully accounted for. You had a fitbit adjustment of 116. Then you added in a walk, which you did not take, and have earnt another 80 calories. Between 2:00 and 2:20 whatever fitbit thought you burnt it will now adjust so you burnt 80 calories here.
So it will take away what it had put in here (which we will see further on, was 26 calories), and added in the 80 that you manually added.
Next I return to Fitbit and under my activities log I see the walking I just logged on MFP, 80 calories. When I then go to my dashboard, it just bumped up to 1648. This is a 60 calorie bump in less than a minute.
Finally I return to MFP and refresh the screen, the breakdown is now:
Walking – 80
Fitbit – 90
So, you had an adjustment of 116. You now have an overall adjustment of 170. Your walk added 54 calories.
So fitbit had given you 26 calories for 2:00 to 2:20. You should have been given 80 calories, so it has bumped you up.
All working as it should do.
Let me know if I'm not being clear? This can get a bit confusing!
This is a must read by anyone using FitBit, great layout of what is happening step by step.0 -
This is a must read by anyone using FitBit, great layout of what is happening step by step.
Oh goodness, thanks Heybales! A compliment on my explanation from the king of explanations :flowerforyou:0 -
Wow! This making my head hurt!:laugh:0
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Ok I got it. I called Fitbit and explained the situation and they explained it to me. What I failed to realize is that whatever you log into MFP overwrites what fitbit calculates - this would explain why my fitbit calories increased after I logged my exercise.
And then after fitbit increased per the new logged exercise (on MFP) it then re-syncs and ups MFP calories to reflect the exercise and other burned calories.
Thanks for help. And thanks Stephie, your explanation now makes perfect sense.0 -
Bump!
Will try and get my head round this extremely informative post later.
This has been annoying me for ages - so thank you all!0
