Fitbit activity va. MFP activity

mdezzy
mdezzy Posts: 11 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have read various posts on this but none really answered my question. I currently have my fitbit linked to MFP and am not therefore logging any exercise in MFP. I understand that means all that comes over from fitbit is a calorie adjustment and I understand so that isn't my question. My question is "Is it worth linking the two?". I don't really want to track my activity in 2 separate places but I wonder if people who have a fitbit STILL log activity in MFP so they can see those accomplishments in their news feed (and their friends can see it and comment) and the activity is accurate for MFP purposes. I know it isn't a big deal either way but I am curious what other fitbit users are doing. I am considering unlinking the two applications.

Replies

  • depjo01
    depjo01 Posts: 9
    I have my fitbit sync to MFP and only log exercise in MFP that fitbit is not good with such as bike rides. Since MFP exercise calories is often overstated, I cut the calories in half.
  • joshdann
    joshdann Posts: 618 Member
    both fitbit and MFP are inaccurate when it comes to estimating calories burned, by the very nature of the beast. An HRM provides more data to the equation, and is therefore a *better* estimate, but still not perfect. The key is to give yourself enough room for these errors. I personally have the two accounts linked, and I like the results. When I use my HRM for bike rides, runs, walks, hikes, etc... I will enter that workout into fitbit.com and let it handle the sync to MFP.

    I'm currently shooting for 15-20% more calories than my max fat-supported deficit. That's where I account for the calories burned margin of error. If I find myself stagnating a bit in my fat loss, I adjust accordingly. I do this because I want to spare LBM as much as possible. The data from fitbit is very helpful. Having them sync is just a nice feature, so I have less paperwork to do :)
  • just4nessa
    just4nessa Posts: 459 Member
    I use my HRM for cardio workouts and log those in MFP. Fitbit will adjust out the logged workout to not double-count the calories. I don't log anything on my Fitbit account, I let Fitbit send the calorie adjustments (for activity other than my cardio workouts) to MFP. I find that I have to adjust the Fitbit settings periodically because I am on maintenance so if I go below my goal weight, Fitbit tries to give me too many calories. As long as I keep my calorie goal and activity level settings are the same on both accounts, I get great results.
  • MissMormie
    MissMormie Posts: 359 Member
    If you care about your mfp friends seeing your exercise put it in MFP. If you're happy with exercising for yourself and don't need encouragement just keep it in fitbit for simplicities sake.

    For me MFP is strictly food tracking, so I do not put in my exercise. Fitbit gives an indication as to how much I've burned, so I'll sync that to MFP but I don't feel the need to tell people daily what I've done, nor do I need the encouragement to keep it up.

    It's really up to you what you prefer

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