Confused, New, Help, Fitbit

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mblair4185
mblair4185 Posts: 26 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello All! : )

So my husband and I are trying to lose around 35 pds. We 1. LOVE to eat. 2. Hate working out.

SO with that said we decided to get the fitbit to help motivate us to get moving and use it with myfitnesspal to tell us how many calories we need to take in to lose 2pds a week and all that jazz.

Bought the fitbit and while its working great (just started today) it will not update to myfitnesspal. So its not logging any of our walking. Our goal is to walk the 10,000 steps a day or around 5 miles daily.

So we of course have read through thousands of reviews that say this is an ongoing problem. This is really disappointing. We got this so that people like us who dont like to do any of this and dont understand it...can understand it lol!

So with all that I lead up to my questions:

1. It has set my calories to 1210 a day or something like that. Then when you do log in any workouts it adds to it. Are you able to eat those extra calories and still lose the 2 pds a week since you are working out AND had already dropped your amount of calories your eating? Hubby and I both are completely new to this (and as of tonight starving lol) so hoping someone can break it down for us!

2. For those of you that use a fitbit and it doesnt sync up with your myfitnesspal, when you walk 5 miles for example...how do you go about manually inputting that information so that it updates your myfitness? I know you can go in and add it but if your 5 miles was dont over the span of an entire day it doesnt make sense to put in you walked 5 miles at any set pace for a set amount of time. ???? Really confused and frustrated.

*** On a side note..We tried the Jawbone up yesterday and couldnt get it to sync up at all and felt if wasnt accurate. The FitBit today has been much more accurate but isnt working still with the myfitnesspal. SO frustrating! Im hoping still...between it all that we can meet our fitness goals.

Replies

  • FlaxMilk
    FlaxMilk Posts: 3,452 Member
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    Hello All! : )

    So my husband and I are trying to lose around 35 pds. We 1. LOVE to eat. 2. Hate working out.

    SO with that said we decided to get the fitbit to help motivate us to get moving and use it with myfitnesspal to tell us how many calories we need to take in to lose 2pds a week and all that jazz.

    Bought the fitbit and while its working great (just started today) it will not update to myfitnesspal. So its not logging any of our walking. Our goal is to walk the 10,000 steps a day or around 5 miles daily.

    So we of course have read through thousands of reviews that say this is an ongoing problem. This is really disappointing. We got this so that people like us who dont like to do any of this and dont understand it...can understand it lol!

    So with all that I lead up to my questions:

    1. It has set my calories to 1210 a day or something like that. Then when you do log in any workouts it adds to it. Are you able to eat those extra calories and still lose the 2 pds a week since you are working out AND had already dropped your amount of calories your eating? Hubby and I both are completely new to this (and as of tonight starving lol) so hoping someone can break it down for us!

    2. For those of you that use a fitbit and it doesnt sync up with your myfitnesspal, when you walk 5 miles for example...how do you go about manually inputting that information so that it updates your myfitness? I know you can go in and add it but if your 5 miles was dont over the span of an entire day it doesnt make sense to put in you walked 5 miles at any set pace for a set amount of time. ???? Really confused and frustrated.

    *** On a side note..We tried the Jawbone up yesterday and couldnt get it to sync up at all and felt if wasnt accurate. The FitBit today has been much more accurate but isnt working still with the myfitnesspal. SO frustrating! Im hoping still...between it all that we can meet our fitness goals.

    There is a fitbit group that may help. I've had no troubles with syncing the two programs. Did you set permissions on Fitbit for this site? How about here?

    If you can't sync, I would take your steps as an indication of your activity level for the day. 5 miles over the course of a day is probably lightly active. Add additional exercises to MFP separately for the exercise calories.

    On MFP, go to the apps tab and install the fitbit trackers. On the Fitbit website, go to settings and then applications and grant permission to MFP.
  • mblair4185
    mblair4185 Posts: 26 Member
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    Yes, we have done all of the several times. Now, fitbit is updating just fine (same as jawbone was) but nothing is being updated on myfitnesspal FROM fitbit (and it didnt work with jawbone either) We have tried all of the troubleshooting as well. From what Ive read this has been an ongoing problem for years..
  • Deb23455
    Deb23455 Posts: 17 Member
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    I have a Fitbit One and I had to reset it yesterday because it would not sync and update to MFP. Have you tried reset?
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    Are you expecting to see all your Fitbit activity showing up here at MFP? I don't think that's how it works. Fitbit tells MFP your total calorie burn estimate, which MFP compares to its own estimate for you and the difference is shown as "Fitbit Adjustment" here. So you might walk 10,000 steps and have a Fitbit adjustment of only 50 calories or something. That means your MFP activity level setting is pretty close to the activity level the Fitbit is detecting.
  • mblair4185
    mblair4185 Posts: 26 Member
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    Yes, my adjustment has stayed 0. I was assuming it would change as I do activity throughout the day because i have my myfitnesspal set to sedentary. Now we just noticed that my husbands did finally update to his myfitnesspal and added on an adjustment of like 400.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    Are you logging food here? Is the calorie total synching over to your Fitbit food log?

    If you click the little i by the Fitbit Adjustment heading, it'll tell you what both estimates are and you can see if you just haven't earned an adjustment or what, I think.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    If it shows a Fitbit adjustment, even 0, then its syncing and working. You'll only get an adjustment of more than 0 if you move enough.

    Here is how it works:

    You set up MFP by telling it your height, weight, etc. and activity level. (Sedentary, lightly active, etc.) Based on that, MFP says well you should burn X per day. (My X is about 1900.)

    MFP then gets info from Fitbit whenever you sync your steps. Fitbit estimates your burn based on your activity, not an activity level equation like MFP. MFP then gets the burn info from Fitbit. If you are below X then your Fitbit adjustment is 0. If you're above X, you get extra calories.

    For me, I have MFP set as lightly active and I get extra Fitbit calories when I've walked about 10k-12k steps on average. If you don't get a Fitbit calorie surplus, you need to move more or your MFP activity level is not accurate.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    Ps-as you move more throughout the day, the # can change. So far for today - I have 0 adjustment. I plan to spend 1hr + on the treadmill tonight, and will get my goals met.

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