FitBit/Steps per Day Question

Fitbit works by estimating how many calories you are going to use in the course of the day based on what you've already done. When it syncs with MFP, it adjusts your calorie goal so you can maintain the proper deficit.

In short, yes it does currently take your activity level setting on MFP into account.

Edit to add: you can see where it's getting the difference in these numbers if you go to the exercise tab, and click the blue "i" mark next to the exercise "minute" Fitbit logs to sync.

I've been using a Fitbit for almost three years, and when I synced it with MFP I placed my activity level at "sedentary". When I do my heavy cardio in the morning I use my Polar FT4 for the calorie burn, which overwrites the Fitbit reading for the same time period. Otherwise, I just let Fitbit do the adjustments for me over the remainder of the day. I lost my last 20 pounds using this method as well as maintaining for over two years, so at least I know it works for me!

You *can* rest your Fitbit goals beyond the default 10K steps/5 miles/10 flights of stairs/etc. if you'd like as well -- those numbers aren't mandatory, just a suggestion.

MFP has a Fitbit Users group: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/1307-fitbit-users

Set your goal to .5 lb. per week, and your activity level to sedentary: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided

Enable negative calorie adjustments: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

Connect your accounts: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/apps/show/30

Follow your MFP calorie goal. Log food & water in MFP. Log exercise in Fitbit.

I've been using a Fitbit for almost three years, and when I synced it with MFP I placed my activity level at "sedentary". When I do my heavy cardio in the morning I use my Polar FT4 for the calorie burn, which overwrites the Fitbit reading for the same time period. Otherwise, I just let Fitbit do the adjustments for me over the remainder of the day. I lost my last 20 pounds using this method as well as maintaining for over two years, so at least I know it works for me!

You *can* rest your Fitbit goals beyond the default 10K steps/5 miles/10 flights of stairs/etc. if you'd like as well -- those numbers aren't mandatory, just a suggestion.

This is exactly what I do with my fitbit and Polar HRM. It is important to log exercise time correctly so that fitbit can not include the calories for time period you are logging formal exercise. I certainly do not think my fitbit is a waste of time. I credit it with keeping me more generally active outside of the times of formal exercise. You can also go into the goals of the fitbit website and adjust steps, calorie burn, and stairs to whatever you want. You don't have to leave it at 10,000 steps.

Correct!

Ok so here is another question in relation. I track my "non-step based" activities on MFP, right? And log the start time and all that craziness?

No need to log any step-based activity, as Fitbit is already tracking that for you.

The only reason to log non-step exercise in MFP is if you insist on having your exercise show up in your newsfeed. Fitbit's burns are way more accurate than MFP's one-size-fits-all guesstimates, so I log in Fitbit.

As I said above, you must log food & water in MFP. But exercise syncs both ways, so choose one or the other—never both.

ETA: I cannot vouch for the accuracy of using the Fitbit app without a Fitbit tracker.

Just to clarify- You don't have to log any steps-based stuff once you have a Fitbit and have it linked to MFP. I'm not sure what you're doing now... using your phone pedometer to enter steps in the Fitbit app and then seeing the adjustment here?

I lost 35lbs. in 2010 following Fitbit's calorie recs for me.

Your TDEE is actually based on your BMR (which is actually a fairly advanced calculation vs the tdee) ... sedentary (the lowest level) is 1.2x your BMR and the highest level is 1.9x your BMR.

So .. really just another math calculation and should be used with your stats to determine your correct level based on your goals.

And yes the Fitbit does use this math .. as the more activity you do .. the more calories you are given as you will see if your MFP account is linked. Your Fitbit dashboard will just show more calories burned the more steps you do. It all counts, so what you do with the numbers is up to you.

Just so you know .. yes, in my experience, the Fitbit numbers are actually pretty good. There is no such thing as 100% accuracy but it is not a bad estimate for most people. But if you read the Fitbit forums .. many many many many people have issues with Fitbit products and I just think that they should return them to the store .. it is just too smart of a device for them.

I personally am not in calorie deficit mode now .. but when I was I used the Fitbit numbers as a gauge. I would not worry about those extra calories that the Fitbit will give you .. cause really if you do not eat them .. you will probably just find that your losses may be slightly higher. As I said before .. when you are in calorie deficit mode .. which most people here are, you may just find increased or decreased losses if you use the Fitbit numbers.

But .. it really is a personal situation and I really recommend keeping very good records so you can determine how the number of calories you are eating is reflected in your losses.