Fitbit use with MFP?

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gilfren
gilfren Posts: 3
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi all!
I'm just a little concerned that I may be doing something wrong. I recently added fitbit to my fitness pal and I see that it gives me credit all day long, updating with calories earned every time I sync the fit bit.

I'm worried that it's giving me extra calories to eat that I didn't eat before....

So lets say my daily caloric intake was 1200 on MFP and I followed that closely always.
Now I added a fit bit, and my usual day of eating now says I'm eating too few calories.... Is the fit bit addition making things more accurate?

Does this make -any- sense? Ha

Replies

  • sodakat
    sodakat Posts: 1,126 Member
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    That is how it's supposed to work. MFP assigns a daily calorie goal based on your personal stats, goals and the activity level you chose during setup. It expects you to add any exercise you do above your
    Activity level and will then adjust your calories upward.

    Fitbit is entering that exercise\movement for you throughout the day. Be sure to have MFP set to "allow negative calorie adjustments" so it will also deduct calories from your expected goal on days you aren't as active.

    When I set up Fitbit I chose the same activity level as I did in MFP (lightly active) and "kinda hard" for the daily calorie deficit which matches MFP's 750 calorie deficit for a 1 1/2 pound per week loss. I still have almost 70 pounds to lose. I also set my stride length on Fitbit so I get a fairly accurate mileage covered count. Fitbit does add calories to MFP every day and I eat most of them back, while trying to stay 750 calories below the total I burn regardless what that is on any given day. Once in a while when I'm exhausted and need a day to recover (I work road construction in summer) Fitbit does not give me extra calories or takes some away from my MFP goal. Most days it adds 300+. This let's me eat well and still lose weight.

    ETA: I don't manually add any exercise to MFP now that I have a synced Fitbit.
  • Chevy_Quest
    Chevy_Quest Posts: 2,012 Member
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    ^^^ This - Just about everything SodaKat said.

    I make sure that I let the fitbit do the cardio exercise bit and if I do anything like stationary bike where I am not wearing the fitbit... I enter that on MFP - but I really "sandbag" the burn.

    Days where I am taking it easy the fitbit actually subtracts calories to adjust (negative daily burn) and I like it because it keeps me honest. That way I know I can't eat too much. I usually eat back 50% of my exercise calories.

    The best thing about the fitbit is that I strive to do at least 12,000 steps a day and it is amazing what you will do to get it. I pace when I talk on the phone for conference calls instead of sitting on my butt. When I go somewhere to wait for someone.. I walk back and forth... it is a lifestyle.

    Good luck!
  • gilfren
    gilfren Posts: 3
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    You're both amazing. Exactly what I needed to know. Had no idea about the negative adjustment.

    So does it start subtracting right away? Or does it take a couple of days to adjust to my average?
  • Chevy_Quest
    Chevy_Quest Posts: 2,012 Member
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    You're both amazing. Exactly what I needed to know. Had no idea about the negative adjustment.

    So does it start subtracting right away? Or does it take a couple of days to adjust to my average?

    I haven't looked into it too much to understand the math.. but I found that if I set my calorie goal higher in MFP, every time I would synch with the fitbit it would would actually take away more calories. I thought about it and realized.. that there was a big discrepancy. I then set my goal in MFP lower and now the fitbit doesn't steal so many calories to adjust.

    There is a lot of give and take.. but overall I am happy.

    Good luck! :smile:
  • sargessexyone
    sargessexyone Posts: 494 Member
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    It took me a while to but I finally have MFP and fitbit synced so that at the end of the day the numbers are pretty spot on.
  • Hoop4la
    Hoop4la Posts: 68 Member
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    Great advice from the people above...

    in addition

    I log all my 'non stepping' exercise in fitbit - (like swimming and stationary bike). Fitbit counts the steps when I am on the treadmill which is great .

    I use MFP to count calories and it is awesome - but I think it is generous on the calories it allows so I use the calories in Fitbit and make sure I stay "in the zone"

    Well, that is when I am being good that is - which I am not at the moment :(
  • Bekahmardis
    Bekahmardis Posts: 602 Member
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    As the others have said, it takes a while for you to see the difference and make minor adjustments in the calculations here and there on Fitbit and on MFP, but once you have it set, you can pretty much just take the calorie count on MFP as rote! makes it really simple.
  • gilfren
    gilfren Posts: 3
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    Alright. Set it to allow negative adjustments, goal to lose 1 1/2 a week, activity set at sendentary.

    I'll continue to add my non-walking exercises manuallly...

    check check and check

    Thanks for getting me on track! :)
  • iWorkout4Vino
    iWorkout4Vino Posts: 25 Member
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    My Fitbit Zip is synced with MFP and I still log any other cardio . I also get a calorie adjustment but it's lower if I've logged other cardio exercises as well. From what I understand it looks at your overall calorie input against the output and adjusts accordingly. As I use a HRM for my other cardio activities, I'm pretty confident that my calorie adjustment is accurate and i try to eat back as many of my exercise calories as I feel able to. I don't force it nor overeat, sometimes it's just a case of adding a bit of olive oil to bump up the calories.

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