Fitbit ?

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Hozman121
Hozman121 Posts: 76 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Today was my first day with my fitbit flex at the gym. I did the elliptical for 60 minutes averaging 5.2 mph and the elliptical showed I burned 741 calories.

When I logged on to MFP it showed per fitbit I did almost 1100 calories in that hour. So do I leave it at 1100 since fitbit is supposedly accurate or do I edit it to 741 to match what the elliptical said?

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  • levitateme
    levitateme Posts: 999 Member
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    Do you know what your average heart rate was for the exercise session? Enter it and your stats into a heart rate based calculator. I like the one on shapesense. See if the burn it finds for you matches either of the other numbers.
  • GingerLolita
    GingerLolita Posts: 738 Member
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    Fibit may be adding calories from your BMR (calories you burn by being alive) to the exercise calories to arrive at that number. I generally take off my fitbit during workouts and log the workout separately later.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    Have you connected your accounts?
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/apps/show/30

    When you set up your MFP account, you specified an activity level: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided MFP used your answer, plus your age, sex & height, to estimate how many calories you burn every day (minus exercise). Then you set your weight-loss goal, and MFP subtracted the appropriate deficit to calculate your daily calorie goal.

    Once you link an activity tracker to your MFP account (via the "Apps" tab at the top of every page), you start getting calorie adjustments. If your tracker says you burned more calories than MFP estimated, you get a positive adjustment (meaning more calories to eat). If you enable negative calorie adjustments and you burn less than the MFP estimate, you will lose calories. (But negative calorie adjustments will never drop your daily calories below 1,200.)

    Log food & drink in MFP. No need to log step based activity. Log non-step based exercise (like swimming or spinning) either in Fitbit or in MFP—never both. If you choose to log in MFP, you'll be asked for start & end times. Then MFP will override your step data during that time.

    It will take trial & error to find what settings work best for you.
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
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    I wouldn't trust FitBit to be able to estimate your calorie burn on the elliptical, since it is not a step based exercise. Take what the elliptical said you burned and add about 70% of those calories in on the FitBit site, NOT on MFP. And the reason I say 70% is because exercise machines are notorious for giving overblown calorie burns.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    I wouldn't trust FitBit to be able to estimate your calorie burn on the elliptical, since it is not a step based exercise. Take what the elliptical said you burned and add about 70% of those calories in on the FitBit site, NOT on MFP.
    Fitbit's burns are way more accurate than MFP's one-size-fits-all guesstimates.

    In the Fitbit iOS app, tap "active minutes." Touch the "+" at the top right. Start typing in "elliptical," then pull down to high, medium, or low resistance. Enter the start time and duration, and choose a speed (high, medium, or low). Tap the "log it" button.

    MFP has a Fitbit Users group: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/1307-fitbit-users
  • goldie21047
    goldie21047 Posts: 13 Member
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    Yesterday I did a 40 minute light interval program on my elliptical (Sole E25 with pulse counting hand grips). The elliptical estimated 228 calories. My Fitbit One estimated 227 calories. MFP's estimate was 422. Mind you, this was my first elliptical workout since joining MFP and so, the first time I've done a comparison. I wonder how it will go as I progress to a more strenuous program, but you can be sure I won't be using MFP's generic estimate.
  • janet0513
    janet0513 Posts: 564 Member
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    I set my profile to sedentary, connected my fitbit to MFP and I let it do all my adjustments. The reason I got it was so that it would motivate me as well as making my adjustments simple. Sometimes it is higher than it should and other times lower (such as weights) but it has worked well for me. Aside from what I do, if you are really trying to find the most accurate, I would say the elliptical itself. The fitbit will record the movement, but the elliptical itself will adjust for the level you are working at.
  • BootCampC
    BootCampC Posts: 689 Member
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    what was your avg heart rate?
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    Today was my first day with my fitbit flex at the gym. I did the elliptical for 60 minutes averaging 5.2 mph and the elliptical showed I burned 741 calories.

    When I logged on to MFP it showed per fitbit I did almost 1100 calories in that hour. So do I leave it at 1100 since fitbit is supposedly accurate or do I edit it to 741 to match what the elliptical said?

    Did MFP say you burned 1100 cal in that hour that you were on the Elliptical, or was it giving you your total adjustment for the day so far which would include not only the hour on the elliptical but any other activity/burn from FitBit as well. When I look at my FitBit adjustment on MFP it isn't an hourly estimate, it says Fitbit Calories Burned = xxx Full Day Projection based on xxxx cal burned as of (whatever time it is).

    My guess is that it is giving you the Elliptical adjustment plus the regular burn for your day.

    Also I usually enter Elliptical onto MFP as a separate activity (recording the start time and duration) and then let FitBit and MFP work out how many calories I should get as credit.
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,370 Member
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    I wear a FitBit One and find it really accurate for cardio at the gym (I set the FitBit to record an activity period and the gym's Precor machines are set to my weight and age). If I were you I'd try wearing your flex close to your body rather than on your wrist next time you go and see whether it makes a difference. I can't really see how a wrist worn device can truly reflect your whole body motions otherwise.
  • carblover79
    carblover79 Posts: 29
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    After having a fitbit for a while and asking myself the same questions, I broke down and also purchased a heart rate monitor. I use it specifically for workouts and use fitbit for steps. Of course with anything new there is a lot of learning and adjusting, so determine what works best for you.
  • Hozman121
    Hozman121 Posts: 76 Member
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    what was your avg heart rate?

    135-145

    As far as the 1100 calories I figured out what it was. I use the Rundouble app and so with MFP and Fitbit my elliptical was recorded as jogging for 60 minutes at 5.2 mph. I have since turned that link off.
  • BootCampC
    BootCampC Posts: 689 Member
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    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx

    I don't know how much you weigh I used 200 lbs and came up with 900 calories

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