Fitbit Help!

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allisonwalt
allisonwalt Posts: 14 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I own the fitbit zip and it's working great. My question is, do I still need to enter my exercises into mfp or will my fitbit sync everything it needs to sync?

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  • cassiegal724
    cassiegal724 Posts: 63 Member
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    enter your exercises to get a more accurate calorie count on MFP and fitbit. If you do things like resistance training and yoga where you are not moving particularly fast, your fitbit won't really recognize it as activity.
  • nmiller0813
    nmiller0813 Posts: 109
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    Enter all exercises and fitbit will make adjustments where necessary.
  • ze_hombre
    ze_hombre Posts: 377 Member
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    Fitbit will only record steps. If you connect MFP with Fitbit then that data will be logged into your diary. Exercise like weight training, swimming, biking (i.o.w. anything that does not involve steps) will need to be logged seperately. I find that only use my Fitbit data for steps out side of exercise. If I am going for a run I use a heart rate monitor and Endomondo to track the burn.
  • vicksg1973
    vicksg1973 Posts: 55
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    Sorry to hijack your thread but it is a connected question/problem.

    With Fitbit synced, MFP says I've earned 200 calories through exercise (for example).

    If I now enter a bit of strength training or something that Fitbit doesn't measure very well, for say 50 calories, my overall calorie adjustment stays at 200 and the 50 are shown as 'part of' Fitbits calories and not extra.

    That's not fair!

    Anyone have this problem or know how to solve it? I would like to, because I'm doing Jillian Michaels 30 day shred and would like a more accurate reflection of my burn than Fitbit can give me.
  • ze_hombre
    ze_hombre Posts: 377 Member
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    Sorry to hijack your thread but it is a connected question/problem.

    With Fitbit synced, MFP says I've earned 200 calories through exercise (for example).

    If I now enter a bit of strength training or something that Fitbit doesn't measure very well, for say 50 calories, my overall calorie adjustment stays at 200 and the 50 are shown as 'part of' Fitbits calories and not extra.

    That's not fair!

    Anyone have this problem or know how to solve it? I would like to, because I'm doing Jillian Michaels 30 day shred and would like a more accurate reflection of my burn than Fitbit can give me.

    My guess is there was 50 calories burned (using your example numbers) that was counted by the Fitbit. Then when you entered the additional exercise the start time overlapped and the Fitbit calories were reduced by 50. That is the only thing I can think of.

    Unless you are talking about the post that gets added to your news feed about the calorie burn. That number is always cumulative.
  • allisonwalt
    allisonwalt Posts: 14 Member
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    What if I am using a machine like a treadmill or an elliptical. Should I enter that exercise into MFP?
  • ze_hombre
    ze_hombre Posts: 377 Member
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    What if I am using a machine like a treadmill or an elliptical. Should I enter that exercise into MFP?

    Treadmill is counted and I think elliptical is as well (but not sure). IME the Fitbit doesn't count runs very accurately and tends to low ball, MFP is closer to my HRM numbers (but MFP is usually off, too). Its up to you if you want to enter them or not, I do. Since Fitbit usually says I burned, for example, 500 calories and my HRM says I burned 575 then there is nothing wrong with relying on the lower number.

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