Argh...little annoyed with FitBit and MFP

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Replies



  • Do you have your activity levels, weight loss goals, and calorie goals set up the same for both MFP and FitBit? Also, did you sync already?

    Yes both are set the same and yes i have been syncing for two days now. This is my 3rd.
  • dawlschic007
    dawlschic007 Posts: 636 Member

    Yes both are set the same and yes i have been syncing for two days now. This is my 3rd.

    Hmmm... it's hard to say why it's not matching up without looking at your accounts. Do you only sync your FitBit up once a day or do you sync multiple times? The FitBit should be creating a calorie adjustment log under cardio on MFP to make an adjustment for the extra calories.
  • vjw221
    vjw221 Posts: 34 Member
    There is a ton of confusion about this hopefully the developers for both recognize that. Thanks everybody for help but I am getting more frustrated as I go.

    So if I would follow the guidelines outlined

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/help/section/65-fitbit-integration

    I should log my exercise. Lets say I walked up hill from 7 am to 8 am machine told me 1243 cal but i will be very conservative and say 650 i would log that into MFP. (BTW I did that)

    so how come the calories do not match FB says in have 1249 left MFP says 1014 cal left.

    I know i'm making this probably to complicated but thats the kind of guy i am. PS I can't wait till this comes out and all the cal burned will be way accurate.

    http://www.amiigo.co/

    The different numbers come into play because of the TDEEs they both use. MFP could be 2200 and FB 2000. WHen you log an excercise like zumba at 300 cal for 7pm -8pm MFP adds that onto the 2200 but FB replaces the hour (83.3 Cals) with the 300 because yes you burned 300 exercising but you would have burned 83 sitting on you butt anyway. If you have neg adjustments on in MFP it will take out the over estimate that and drop you to FB cals or add if you need more.

    also FB gives you calories to consume as you earn them through out the day and MFP gives you all at the begining of the day until you excercise and earn more.

  • The different numbers come into play because of the TDEEs they both use. MFP could be 2200 and FB 2000. WHen you log an excercise like zumba at 300 cal for 7pm -8pm MFP adds that onto the 2200 but FB replaces the hour (83.3 Cals) with the 300 because yes you burned 300 exercising but you would have burned 83 sitting on you butt anyway. If you have neg adjustments on in MFP it will take out the over estimate that and drop you to FB cals or add if you need more.

    also FB gives you calories to consume as you earn them through out the day and MFP gives you all at the begining of the day until you excercise and earn more.

    So what you are telling me is I should sit on my butt to burn calories...done and done.











    Okay that makes sense they basically log the info differently and use different formulas so they technically will never mach. I can live with that.
  • dawlschic007
    dawlschic007 Posts: 636 Member
    You can manually change MFP's settings so that your base calorie numbers will be the same as FitBit's. Then when you add in exercise, they should end up matching. Mine tend to be within 50 to 100 calories of each other.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    Fitbit logs in real time, MFP logs based on a whole day. As the day goes on your Fitbit number will keep changing. It's only showing you what it knows you did, not what it assumes you will do the rest of the day. MFP gives you full credit for the whole day based on what has been determined to be your TDEE.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member

    So what you are telling me is I should sit on my butt to burn calories...done and done.

    That's what your BMR is. You burn calories all day just to stay alive. If you want to lay in bed all day you'll still burn calories but it will really limit your eating if you don't want to gain weight. My BMR is 1194 so if I want to actually eat I need to move around! No idea how people stick to 1200 calorie diets and don't want to gnaw their leg off.
  • All of your food and exercise (beyond walking) gets added to MFP and when you sync your fitbit it will calculate everything for you automatically. So don't log any food or exercise into fitbit. Only do that in MFP. Walking calories burned on fitbit don't really count as "extra" calories burned if that makes sense. We burn calories sleeping. It's the "active" calories that will help us lose weight.
  • Justifier
    Justifier Posts: 336 Member
    All of your food and exercise (beyond walking) gets added to MFP and when you sync your fitbit it will calculate everything for you automatically. So don't log any food or exercise into fitbit. Only do that in MFP. Walking calories burned on fitbit don't really count as "extra" calories burned if that makes sense. We burn calories sleeping. It's the "active" calories that will help us lose weight.

    You are perfectly correct. However, you are 7 months too late for this thread.