Fitbit...

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271lisa
271lisa Posts: 49 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi all, I've been hearing a lot about the Fitbit. I looked it up online and am still not sure if I want or need one. Sooo...

Do you use one? How does it work? Do you like it? Should I get one??
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  • dawlschic007
    dawlschic007 Posts: 636 Member
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    I have the FitBit Flex and I really like it. It helps me to get a better idea of how many calories I am burning during the day and I can adjust my calorie intake accordingly. It syncs up with MFP so you can still log all your exercise and food here. I've also found it helps motivate me to move a bit more throughout the day so that I can reach my goals.
  • 271lisa
    271lisa Posts: 49 Member
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    So does it automatically record your activity into mfp or do you still do that manually? Also, I read that it monitors your sleep. How does that work and why is that important?
  • sunflowerhippi
    sunflowerhippi Posts: 1,099 Member
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    I have the Bit. Prior to this I had the Ultra for a while. (it died in a wet fitbit death lol)

    I love it because I am a nanny. My days are not created equal and I can burn 1900 on a rainy day and 3000+ the next. I linked my two accounts and it automatically updates (I have negative updates allowed) and takes away or adds calories to make sure that I am eating what I should be for my activity level that day.

    The Bit does not do sleep or stairs/levels.
  • fitOsaurus_Rex_we_changed
    fitOsaurus_Rex_we_changed Posts: 132
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    So does it automatically record your activity into mfp or do you still do that manually? Also, I read that it monitors your sleep. How does that work and why is that important?

    you can set it up to sync automatically. basically when you sync it your food tracked on MFP logs onto your fitbit website and if you enable negative adjustments your fitbit will add exercise calories in. IMO MFP calculates the amount of calories you burn daily VERY low and my fitbit logs additional calorie burns so that the amount you actually burn (calcualted by the fitbit) is accurately reflected on MFP. it doesnt record your exercise to MFP, but say you go for a walk or a run and dont log it on MFP, when your fitbit syncs it'll add that into the negative calorie adjustment. ex: today i walked at lunch and i logged it on MFP. my fitbit will see that i logged the exercise (250 calorie burn) but if it calculates that i've burned 400 calories from activity for the day it will take sync with MFP and log another adjustment of 150 calories (400-250) so that MFP has the correct calorie burn.

    it does monitor your sleep. you put the fitbit in a wrist strap and it monitors it that way. i assume it calculates it based off of how much you are moving. it will tell you what times you were awake and for how long and what your sleep efficiency is. i think this is important because if you're not sleeping well your metabolism can be affected.

    if you are not going to use the fitbit for the sleep tracking and fitness tracking i wouldnt recommend spending the money on it and would just get a regular pedometer. i personally have had mine for 2 years and go back and forth with using it and not using it.

    edited to add: my fitbit does do stairs...but it only calculates the stairs up, not down. so say you walk up 3 flights of stairs and then back down them, it will count all the steps but only say you walked 3 flights. it also calculates out how many flightes youve walked based off of elevation so if you go hiking or walk up a tall hill it will calculate that into flights of stairs
  • dawlschic007
    dawlschic007 Posts: 636 Member
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    If I'm doing higher intensity activities (i.e. running, hiking, cycling, or strength training), I'll enter my workout on MFP because I also wear a HRM that is a bit more accurate for those types of activities. MFP has a setting that asks you what time you started the workout so that it can sync with FitBit's site and override their calories estimate for that time period. For lower intensity workouts, I just let FitBit's site figure out the calories burned and it will create an adjustment log in the exercise portion of MFP automatically.

    The Flex does monitor your sleep. You just tap the Flex a few times and it will show two lights to let you know it is in sleep mode and do the same thing to turn it off in the morning when you wake up. Once you sync it, you can see on their website what your sleep pattern looks. It tells you how long it took to fall asleep, how efficient your sleep was, and your actual sleep time. Getting a good night's rest can really make a difference in your day, so I'm guessing they have this available so that you can try and improve your quality of sleep. I don't have an issue with sleeping, but it is kind of neat to see how many times I woke up or tossed and turned at night.
  • 271lisa
    271lisa Posts: 49 Member
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    This all helps so much. I think I might want one.
  • Mizzhill
    Mizzhill Posts: 33 Member
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    Do you use one? How does it work? Do you like it? Should I get one??

    I have the Flex fitbit. It works very well for me. I love it, it actually keeping me on track. I just hit 100 days on my fitness pal mostly because of the fitbit. I recommend it.
  • sprintto50
    sprintto50 Posts: 410 Member
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    I have had one for 9 months and I will say I would buy one again in a heartbeat if something happened to this one. It helps so much in having an idea of my calorie burn during the day.
  • slimmerchick
    slimmerchick Posts: 189 Member
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    I have had the fitbit one for a week and I love it - I could do with more friends on the fitbit site though! Not sure how to do that from here!

    I would say if you can afford it then go for it!

    I am a bit puzzled by the calories in v calories burned - my fitbit log is telling me I still have about 150 more calories to burn yet MFP is telling me my net is well under, and we now how much MFP doesn't like our net to be less than 1200! I am sure I will burn those fitbit ones just by breathing, but MFP still won't be happy!
  • emc0n0
    emc0n0 Posts: 13 Member
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    I have the fibit One and I love it. I feel strange without it now. It tracks your steps throughout the day and automatically synchs with myfitnesspal which is pretty good. I like the food log much better here. As far as the sleeping....they have had a lot of studies linking lack of sleep to weight gain. I have trouble sleeping so I use the tracker t see if I can identiy patterns linking day events to lack of sleep. I sleep much better on heavier work out days so that should be motivation enough but apparently I am very hard headed. lol. The fitbit one also tracks flights of stairs, miles traveled, Calories burned and fitness level. Oh and my favorite....It has a gentle alarm clock. You set a time and instead of an obnoxious loud noise, it just vibrates gently and surprisingly it wakes me up. Hope this info was helpful.
  • SkinnyMel78
    SkinnyMel78 Posts: 434 Member
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    I just got my fitbit a little over a week ago. Before that I was using a cheap pedometer from walmart that would constantly reset on me. I love the fitbit!!! I feel like it keeps me motivated to see how many steps I can do per day. It's also cool cause my parents and brother have one so I find it adds a little friendly competition!!!
  • Jolene8992
    Jolene8992 Posts: 127 Member
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    Love mine. Even wear it at work
  • maca416
    maca416 Posts: 142 Member
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    Fitbit one here & like many others I love it.

    I was just amazed how many steps I do in a day even when I think I not so active & it links with the PC/phone seamlessly also sends all the info over to MFP all through the day without any input from me at all.

    Brilliant bit of kit imo.
  • bostonmom23
    bostonmom23 Posts: 53 Member
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    I love my fitbit one! I have had it since June and it totally motivates me to keep moving and walking. Prior to my fitbit I only did my 30-45 minutes of exercise a day and really anything else. the first few days it was hard to even hit my 10k steps now my daily goal is 15k steps.
  • WakkoW
    WakkoW Posts: 567 Member
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    I have had the fitbit one for a week and I love it - I could do with more friends on the fitbit site though! Not sure how to do that from here!

    I would say if you can afford it then go for it!

    I am a bit puzzled by the calories in v calories burned - my fitbit log is telling me I still have about 150 more calories to burn yet MFP is telling me my net is well under, and we now how much MFP doesn't like our net to be less than 1200! I am sure I will burn those fitbit ones just by breathing, but MFP still won't be happy!

    You probably have the fitbit set to sedentary. It gives you the calorie count to that point in time. MFP then estimates how many calories it thinks you will be burning until midnight. For me, MFP usually overestimates by 50-75 exercise calories by the time I go to bed.
  • frommetobetterme
    frommetobetterme Posts: 124 Member
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    I was looking at the fitbit also and I have a question too. I've had pedometers before that would go totally wonky from me taking the bus! A bus ride would be the equivalent of hundreds of steps

    I was looking at the fitbit flex and wondering how it deals with things such as transportation and elevators (I work on the 25th floor and wouldn't want my fitbit to think I walked them!
  • emc0n0
    emc0n0 Posts: 13 Member
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    I don't have the flex but the fitbit one is very accurate. It does not count steps while driving or on transportation. I am sure the flex is no different.
  • dawlschic007
    dawlschic007 Posts: 636 Member
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    I don't have the flex but the fitbit one is very accurate. It does not count steps while driving or on transportation. I am sure the flex is no different.

    That's correct, the flex also does not count steps while driving or in elevators. The Flex is a bit different than the One and it does not count the amount of stairs you climbed, but it does count them as steps instead.
  • slimmerchick
    slimmerchick Posts: 189 Member
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    I have had the fitbit one for a week and I love it - I could do with more friends on the fitbit site though! Not sure how to do that from here!

    I would say if you can afford it then go for it!

    I am a bit puzzled by the calories in v calories burned - my fitbit log is telling me I still have about 150 more calories to burn yet MFP is telling me my net is well under, and we now how much MFP doesn't like our net to be less than 1200! I am sure I will burn those fitbit ones just by breathing, but MFP still won't be happy!

    You probably have the fitbit set to sedentary. It gives you the calorie count to that point in time. MFP then estimates how many calories it thinks you will be burning until midnight. For me, MFP usually overestimates by 50-75 exercise calories by the time I go to bed.

    Thank you!
  • MndaLynn
    MndaLynn Posts: 26 Member
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    I started using the Fitbit One three days ago. It has definitely motivated me to take more steps (walking and running) every day. I know it is just a little device...but I just can't disappoint it and get less than 10,000 steps a day. :)

    Although I'm not sure how to add friends, and I'm sure having Fitbit friends would be added motivation.

    I have seen some people post their user id. Mine is 27P9KX, so if anyone wants/needs more friends, feel free to add me!

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