Fitbit users...general question

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Replies

  • jody664
    jody664 Posts: 397 Member
    One more question.

    I couple of people have brought up the stop watch feature. How do I use that for exercise? I know how to use it for sleep but does it work the same way for exercise?
    You use it the exact same way you use it for sleep. Long hold on the button until you see the timer start and long hold to stop. It notices that you are moving a lot more than if you were asleep so it assumes you are recording an activity. It's pretty cool. I use it when I work out so I can override the calories with what my HRM says (although to be honest the calorie count are between the HRM and the FitBit are pretty close).
  • BarbieAS
    BarbieAS Posts: 1,414 Member
    One more question.

    I couple of people have brought up the stop watch feature. How do I use that for exercise? I know how to use it for sleep but does it work the same way for exercise?

    I'm not 100% sure on all models, but on my Ultra, yes, it's exactly the same. The Fitbit can "tell" whether it's a sleep or activity entry based on, you know, if you're walking around and stuff :wink: .

    I really like mine. I've had it for about a year now and I feel downright naked without it. One of the things I love is that I've taken months of data and come up with a TDEE using that, and set my goal to TDEE -30% (I have pretty high body fat). I love that I don't have to guess whether I'm "lightly" active or not. FWIW, my TDEE comes out to about mid-way between lightly and moderately active, which feels exactly right.

    I use my Fitbit for workouts as well, I haven't even bothered with logging an additional exercise for a really really long time. My primary exercise is a combo of lifting (which I also agree that it's not worth logging calories for) and treadmill or elliptical, which the Fitbit handles perfectly. Even when I do trampoline aerobics what it comes up with is super close to what the online calculators do. I could compare it to an HRM, but I think I have an accurate enough picture, even if it's not 100% perfect.
  • rwc4912
    rwc4912 Posts: 35 Member
    I've been using the Fitbit one for about 2 weeks and this thing is phenomenal.

    I set MFP to sedentary and allow the Fitbit to apply negative calories as I have a desk job mostly.

    It's great once you understand what it is doing.
    I run on Mondays, Wednesday, and Friday mornings and the distance is spot on.
    Calories look good on that too.
    On Tuesday and Thursday nights I practice Kempo karate and am pretty sure it low balls the crap out of those workouts.
    That's fine though, I don't worry too much about it.
    What I really like about it is that as I have my baseline set as sedentary in MFP and have my deficit set to 2 lbs per week it matches well to my settings in Fitbit with that set at a 1000 calorie deficit.

    Honestly it was short money for me and so far is proving to be the best compliment to MFP I have used so far.
    Can't say enough good things about it.
    The sleep tracker works great too
  • rwc4912
    rwc4912 Posts: 35 Member
    One more question.

    I couple of people have brought up the stop watch feature. How do I use that for exercise? I know how to use it for sleep but does it work the same way for exercise?

    I'm not 100% sure on all models, but on my Ultra, yes, it's exactly the same. The Fitbit can "tell" whether it's a sleep or activity entry based on, you know, if you're walking around and stuff :wink: .

    I really like mine. I've had it for about a year now and I feel downright naked without it. One of the things I love is that I've taken months of data and come up with a TDEE using that, and set my goal to TDEE -30% (I have pretty high body fat). I love that I don't have to guess whether I'm "lightly" active or not. FWIW, my TDEE comes out to about mid-way between lightly and moderately active, which feels exactly right.

    I use my Fitbit for workouts as well, I haven't even bothered with logging an additional exercise for a really really long time. My primary exercise is a combo of lifting (which I also agree that it's not worth logging calories for) and treadmill or elliptical, which the Fitbit handles perfectly. Even when I do trampoline aerobics what it comes up with is super close to what the online calculators do. I could compare it to an HRM, but I think I have an accurate enough picture, even if it's not 100% perfect.

    Absolutely this too
    Since I got it the only thing I have to log is swimming.
    I really like not having to log stuff
  • KAS0917
    KAS0917 Posts: 172 Member
    So, I've looked at the Fitbit site and think the Flex would work best for me. My only question is whether or not it's really worth $100 as an adjunct to MRP?

    That all depends on what you're looking for. I looked at the Flex, One and Zip. I ended up getting the (cheaper) Zip model. I didn't care about the sleep tracking or alarm - I think I sleep pretty well, and if it told me otherwise, I'd probably sleep worse stressing about it. :tongue: And I like waking up to music, so I don't need the silent alarm.

    I really just wanted it to track steps & approximate calories burned.

    And the Flex would give me an added tan line I don't want! So I went with the cute pink one that I can clip onto my bra. But if that's your profile picture...that probably isn't an option for you. haha!
  • Lois_1989
    Lois_1989 Posts: 6,410 Member
    I haven't read all of the replies, so I thought I would say it anyway. I noticed you said you have only been wearing it for 3 days! Mine took about a week to settle down and learn how I walk, how long my strides are, the difference between running and walking etc. I would say read this past posts on fitbit and give it a week to settle down, take this week with a pinch of salt.

    Have fun with your fitbit! I love mine, more than anything!
  • adriana_hackney
    adriana_hackney Posts: 232 Member
    So, I've looked at the Fitbit site and think the Flex would work best for me. My only question is whether or not it's really worth $100 as an adjunct to MRP?

    Totally worth the price. It makes matching you intake to your output so much easier. I lost mine a couple of weeks back, and it's been a complete pain in the butt.

    Not to mention that although the price is high, the customer service is stellar. I told them I lost my FB1 (entirely my own fault) and they are sending me another - free of charge. How many companies do that?

    ^^^ this ^^^ The customer service at fitbit really is the best!!!
  • spally2
    spally2 Posts: 22
    How does the fitbit distinguish activity from sleep. Just bought one and when I set the timer when I travelled home on the bus it registered on the fitbit as sleep
  • beattie1
    beattie1 Posts: 1,012 Member
    How does the fitbit distinguish activity from sleep. Just bought one and when I set the timer when I travelled home on the bus it registered on the fitbit as sleep

    If you press and hold down the button on the fitbit it switches into sleep mode. You can tell it's in sleep mode as the display flashes. To exit this mode you hold down the button again and the display stops blinking.

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