Please help with my FitBit plan

cavewoman15
cavewoman15 Posts: 278 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I love my new fitbit flex, but I've been having trouble syncing it with MFP. Can you nice MFP folks make sure I'm doing this right? My MFP calorie goal is 1290 (BMR: 2035 and 1.5 lb. deficit). I'm super active - training for a triathlon, commuting by bike, walking the dog, etc. I eat back my exercise calories, at least on a weekly average.

1. On days where I only run and/or walk, I don't log any exercise to MFP (or i log it as 1 calorie burned other tracking purposes) and let the fitbit adjustment do its thing.
2. On days where i cycle and/or swim (which is most days) I log this exercise in MFP along with the time that it started/ended. Then, MFP will cancel out my fitbit estimate for that time and add in my logged estimate. Then I allow the fitbit adjustment as I normally would, which is counting things I don't normally log like short walks, household chores, any underestimations, etc.
3. if this is right, these numbers should be equal every day: (1) fitbit's estimate of my calories burned for the day MINUS 750 (my MFP calorie deficit) and (2) my total MFP calories burned for the day including any logged exercise calories and my fitbit adjustment.

Questions:
1. should I be concerned if my fitbit adjustment is much higher than I expect? Is there a chance that fitbit is overestimating my calories burned?
2. are cycling and swimming the only activities that are not recorded by fitbit?

Am I understanding this correctly? THANKS!!

Replies

  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    My understanding: Fitbit is primarily a pedometer. If you do non-step based activities, or activities that are more rigorous than the step count would indicate: enter manually.

    I have a One, and have it synced. I rarely log anything because most of my activity is step-based and simple.

    For yesterday Fitbit says I burned a total of 2138. My activity level in MFP is lightly active, and projected me at 1947 so I had a 191 calorie adjustment.

    Why do you think Fitbit is over-estimating your burn? If its a concern you could re-adjust your goal to be a 1 pound/500 calorie deficit and then ignore your Fitbit calorie adjustment since you'll be aiming for a higher intake anyhow.

    Personally I don't know if your assumption is right that if you log an activity from 1-2pm in MFP it will cancel out the Fitbit calories/activity from that time. Makes sense but I have not explored this dynamic of using the apps together. You could test, perhaps, by logging the activity in Fitbit so it all comes thru as a Fitbit adjustment? To make sure its not double-counting.
  • bingo_jenn
    bingo_jenn Posts: 63 Member
    This is how I'm tracking mine. I'm training for a marathon, so I get a lot of calories.

    I just got my flex, though, so I haven' t been able to see much success. My first few days, I cross-checked the calories with my workouts and it seems to give me a little less than if I put the minutes into MFP. We'll see how it all works out.
  • Runningcircuits
    Runningcircuits Posts: 182
    I do mine a bit differently and it seems to work. Like you, I do a variety of activity for exercise: some days I circuit train, some days I run, some days I do weights and strength. Here's how I handle it:

    1) I never take my Fitbit off (I have the Flex).
    2) I never log any exercise of any kind into Fitbit.
    3) I log all of my food and exercise into MFP only. No matter if I am running, circuits, etc.

    What happens is this: Fitbit counts my steps all day, including all the ones I take while running. As soon as I enter that exercise in MFP, it adjust itself. It recognizes that the 5,000 steps I just took are that run I just entered into MFP, so it readjusts its number of calories burned.

    This is the easiest way to do it and not get double credit for exercise. The two apps seem to work really well together and easily recognize the exercise I entered into MFP is the same thing as the 5,000 steps I just took.

    I eat back at least some of my exercise calories most days, but I rarely eat back any calories on top of that given to me by my Fitbit. (At least not on the day I earn them - they usually go to a weekend treat)

    I hope this helps-
    Jen

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