Fitbit information and experience

philco41
philco41 Posts: 68 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I finally decided to get a fitbit flex. I like the way it syncs with MFP, but I have some questions. It seems to me that fitbit is more generous with steps and calories than MFP. If I were to consume all the extra calories my Fitbit gives me on MFP, I would probably gain weight, perhaps a pound a week. Has anyone out there had a similar experience? I'm just getting started with it (3 days) so I don't really have any conclusions as yet.

Replies

  • lukewind
    lukewind Posts: 177 Member
    My calories between fitbit and MFP sync up pretty close. Log in to MFP and make sure your weight is logged correctly. MFP used to allot me like 400 more calories then fitbit but once I made sure the weights were the same both totals are pretty much the same. Remember that that number changes all day long.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    My Fitbits were pretty good estimators for me. But the Flex is known to be less accurate than the torso-clip ones. You think it's over-estimating your burns by 500 calories a day? Have you looked at the Fitbit charts to see when it's allocating activity that you didn't really do? Maybe it thinks your typing is walking or your walking is running or something?
  • MPD6944
    MPD6944 Posts: 75 Member
    My calories between fitbit and MFP sync up pretty close. Log in to MFP and make sure your weight is logged correctly. MFP used to allot me like 400 more calories then fitbit but once I made sure the weights were the same both totals are pretty much the same. Remember that that number changes all day long.


    Question: I have a fitbit (the little one that I clip on, can't remember which one it is), but I have the app on my iPhone and sync it throughout the day to update it. The question I have is am I supposed to put my food and exercise in both the fitbit and the MFP app?
  • MPD6944
    MPD6944 Posts: 75 Member
    Just remembered the name of it the Fitbit Zip!
  • itsbasschick
    itsbasschick Posts: 1,584 Member
    put your food and water in MFP and let fitbit pick it up.
  • 2dare2dream
    2dare2dream Posts: 104 Member
    i use fitbit and mfp, Once synced you can enter your food here on mfp and the details will pass to fitbit, Fitbit will track your cal expenditure and award you any extra cals earned into your mfp. it alters it all for you adding on anything you earned through day and continually tracks through out day.

    i really couldnt be without mine as it gives me incentive to walk a little more to reach my goals or serves as reminder i need more fuel/food as i have had high cal expenditure.

    good luck
  • Starbunny11
    Starbunny11 Posts: 12 Member
    Question, do you guys think the Fitbit Zip is better than the Fitbit Flex overall? As well, do Fitbits track calories and heartrate as well as steps?
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    I use MFP to enter my food and the Fitbit app to enter any exercise besides walking or running. I also use the Fitbit app to enter my weight; MFP will sync that as well.

    I have MFP set to sedentary and 1200 calories and I allow myself to eat back the extra calories that the Fitbit adds to MFP. I've had my Fitbit One since Xmas 2012 and it's been working for me so far.
  • pmowers
    pmowers Posts: 10
    You do not have to enter your calories into both programs. The link between Fitbit and MFP works both ways. If you enter your food into MFP, the summary for your meals will transfer over to Fitbit, just as your steps, activity minutes and exercise minutes from Fitbit will show up in MFP. Both programs will show more detail about their logs, but the important stuff moves back and forth automatically. If you were to put something in both programs, you would be either double-credited (exercise) or penalized (calories).

    The Fitbit devices and MFP use different algorithms or calculations to determine the number of calories burnt during the day. MFP has to guess based on how you answered your questions during setup as far as activity levels, exercise frequency, etc. Fitbit on the other hand actually counts the number of steps you take, the activity level, and in some cases, the number of steps climbed as well as your sleep pattern. It keeps a much more accurate running total of what you have burned throughout the day. If you log your lunch before you ate it, you could show that you have eaten more calories than burnt, but later in the day, you may show a deficit as you worked off those future carbs. There is a setting on MFP under devices that will let MFP deduct calories available if you are not moving as much as expected. Otherwise, MFP will "credit" you if you burn more calories according to Fitbit than MFP predicted. This suggests to me that MFP feels that Fitbit provides more accurate calorie burn values than MFP.

    I have both a flex and a zip. The flex appears to be a bit more sensitive to how I move my arms, but then the zip seemed to undercount at times. You should make sure that the flex's sensitivity level and whether you are wearing on the dominant arm are set properly. On the zip, the position that it is worn at can make a difference in its step count.

    As far as heart rate is concerned, none of the Fitbit products measure heart rate. I have not seen many reviews of the devices that do heart rate other than using chest straps that were worth much.

    Sorry for the long post, but I thought it could answer some of the questions above at one time.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    Question, do you guys think the Fitbit Zip is better than the Fitbit Flex overall? As well, do Fitbits track calories and heartrate as well as steps?
    I have the One and my son has the Flex. He and I both think the One is more accurate in counting steps. We've been places like Disney together and compared.

    Fitbits do not measure heartrate but do give you a calorie estimate for your activity.
  • Starbunny11
    Starbunny11 Posts: 12 Member
    Hmmm. I'm really, REALLY interested in a Fitbit, but I'm a bit of a cheapo. Right now, I'm interested primarily in the One or the Zip, but the zip is half the price...I just really want to get the most bang for my buck, ya know?
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    The Flex ($99) has more features than the Zip ($59), though it matters which features matter to you. For me, I'd get the Zip because I prefer its features. Accurate, discreet, full display, no recharging, cheaper, not a plastic bracelet.
  • inneedofanap
    inneedofanap Posts: 63 Member
    Hmmm. I'm really, REALLY interested in a Fitbit, but I'm a bit of a cheapo. Right now, I'm interested primarily in the One or the Zip, but the zip is half the price...I just really want to get the most bang for my buck, ya know?


    Buy it at Kohls along with a pair of socks. You'll get $20 cashback. Justify buying your Fitbit because after the cashback you're only spending $79 and not $99.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    Hmmm. I'm really, REALLY interested in a Fitbit, but I'm a bit of a cheapo. Right now, I'm interested primarily in the One or the Zip, but the zip is half the price...I just really want to get the most bang for my buck, ya know?
    It depends on the features you want. My main reason for getting the One was the sleep monitoring. I sometimes suffer from insomnia and I'll often wake up, even after a night where I fell asleep quickly, tired and cranky. The One has helped me to see the nights where I'm moving around a lot more and at what times.

    The other thing the One does that the Zip does not, is measure upward movement, like stairs/hills. The One will give you extra calories for stair and hill climbing.
  • MPD6944
    MPD6944 Posts: 75 Member
    You do not have to enter your calories into both programs. The link between Fitbit and MFP works both ways. If you enter your food into MFP, the summary for your meals will transfer over to Fitbit, just as your steps, activity minutes and exercise minutes from Fitbit will show up in MFP. Both programs will show more detail about their logs, but the important stuff moves back and forth automatically. If you were to put something in both programs, you would be either double-credited (exercise) or penalized (calories).

    Thanks! I'm thinking maybe mine isn't synching right or something, as I put the food in the MFP but I don't see on the FitBit app the calories eaten still says 0. That's why I thought we had to put them in both places. Maybe I should uninstall and reinstall the FitBit app?
  • redwoodkestrel
    redwoodkestrel Posts: 339 Member
    I finally decided to get a fitbit flex. I like the way it syncs with MFP, but I have some questions. It seems to me that fitbit is more generous with steps and calories than MFP. If I were to consume all the extra calories my Fitbit gives me on MFP, I would probably gain weight, perhaps a pound a week. Has anyone out there had a similar experience? I'm just getting started with it (3 days) so I don't really have any conclusions as yet.

    It actually takes the Fitbit about a week to get to "know" you and your general activity level from day-to-day. Once that week goes by you'll find that the calories you're getting from the Fitbit will more closely align with the calories MFP is giving you.

    You should also note that the calories you're getting from your Fitbit have a lot to do with what your activity level is set for here at MFP. If you're set a sedentary, then almost any steps you do above a sedentary level will give you calories burned. If you're set at active, then hardly any steps will give you calories burned (or may even take calories away, if you're not doing enough steps to be "active" and you have negative calories enabled). Either way, it's essentially giving you a personalized activity level every day, and letting you know how many calories you can consume for each day's activity.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    You do not have to enter your calories into both programs. The link between Fitbit and MFP works both ways. If you enter your food into MFP, the summary for your meals will transfer over to Fitbit, just as your steps, activity minutes and exercise minutes from Fitbit will show up in MFP. Both programs will show more detail about their logs, but the important stuff moves back and forth automatically. If you were to put something in both programs, you would be either double-credited (exercise) or penalized (calories).
    Thanks! I'm thinking maybe mine isn't synching right or something, as I put the food in the MFP but I don't see on the FitBit app the calories eaten still says 0. That's why I thought we had to put them in both places. Maybe I should uninstall and reinstall the FitBit app?
    I just double-checked my dashboard and it's definitely showing my calories eaten so far today, so it's not a system problem. Uninstalling and reinstalling the app couldn't hurt. You might also try deleting the sync and then setting it again if that doesn't work.
  • pmowers
    pmowers Posts: 10
    You do not have to enter your calories into both programs. The link between Fitbit and MFP works both ways. If you enter your food into MFP, the summary for your meals will transfer over to Fitbit, just as your steps, activity minutes and exercise minutes from Fitbit will show up in MFP. Both programs will show more detail about their logs, but the important stuff moves back and forth automatically. If you were to put something in both programs, you would be either double-credited (exercise) or penalized (calories).
    Thanks! I'm thinking maybe mine isn't synching right or something, as I put the food in the MFP but I don't see on the FitBit app the calories eaten still says 0. That's why I thought we had to put them in both places. Maybe I should uninstall and reinstall the FitBit app?
    I just double-checked my dashboard and it's definitely showing my calories eaten so far today, so it's not a system problem. Uninstalling and reinstalling the app couldn't hurt. You might also try deleting the sync and then setting it again if that doesn't work.
    It may also be how you have your app set up. I did not like the battery/data drain so my apps only sync when I open them, and I sometimes have to manually sync them. There are settings in both MFP and Fitbit which may need to be adjusted. Additionally, I think that Fbt and MFP have been having server problems, judging by the messages I have been seeing when I log in to either one.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    The One will give you extra calories for stair and hill climbing.
    It doesn't affect calories. The floors is just a stand-alone number. I mean, the motion/steps of climbing stairs does but not the altimeter reading.
  • laney4818
    laney4818 Posts: 73 Member
    The Flex ($99) has more features than the Zip ($59), though it matters which features matter to you. For me, I'd get the Zip because I prefer its features. Accurate, discreet, full display, no recharging, cheaper, not a plastic bracelet.

    I agree! I like all of those same features and I didn't need to monitor my sleep, so the Zip give me everything I need. Love my Zip!
  • MPD6944
    MPD6944 Posts: 75 Member
    You do not have to enter your calories into both programs. The link between Fitbit and MFP works both ways. If you enter your food into MFP, the summary for your meals will transfer over to Fitbit, just as your steps, activity minutes and exercise minutes from Fitbit will show up in MFP. Both programs will show more detail about their logs, but the important stuff moves back and forth automatically. If you were to put something in both programs, you would be either double-credited (exercise) or penalized (calories).
    Thanks! I'm thinking maybe mine isn't synching right or something, as I put the food in the MFP but I don't see on the FitBit app the calories eaten still says 0. That's why I thought we had to put them in both places. Maybe I should uninstall and reinstall the FitBit app?
    I just double-checked my dashboard and it's definitely showing my calories eaten so far today, so it's not a system problem. Uninstalling and reinstalling the app couldn't hurt. You might also try deleting the sync and then setting it again if that doesn't work.

    I figured out the problem and mine is working perfectly now - yay!
  • SherryTeach
    SherryTeach Posts: 2,836 Member
    The One will give you extra calories for stair and hill climbing.
    It doesn't affect calories. The floors is just a stand-alone number. I mean, the motion/steps of climbing stairs does but not the altimeter reading.

    I thought that fitbit did add calories for stair climbing. During my time in San Francisco, I sometimes had 80-90 flights of stairs from the hills. I ended up with a way higher calorie count for those days, even factoring in the steps compared to my normal counts.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    They say it doesn't and I think that's true because I've had days with weird weather where it credited me hundreds of floors when I did zero but my calorie count was the same as usual. You can't delete floors and they tend to get crazy high in some weather conditions so they sort of have to make it not add to calories.

    But I think that the accelerometer does detect more impact and a greater motion of your body from walking on inclines and give you a higher calorie burn for that. It definitely doesn't estimate calories by 'steps x Y'. The impact and speed and amount of motion matters.
  • philco41
    philco41 Posts: 68 Member
    Thanks for all the replies. I follow most of the suggestions made, but still encounter the same problems after a few months of use. I carry a pedometer also which I know to be quite accurate in terms of step counting. Fitbit is in general about 15-20% off from my pedometer readings, usually on the high side. It has to be the arm movement. (I probably spend a lot of time scratching my head wondering why my fitbit is so off, and fitbit counts it as steps...) Fitbit seems to count most steps at the same rate. When I used just my pedometer to count and record my walking on MFP, I counted only active walking, and my figures were much more accurate. In those days, I would have 200-300 extra calories. I am walking a bit more now, but fitbit wants to give me 700-900 extra calories earned. If I ate them all back, I'd be back over 200 lbs. by now. If I lost weight at the rate MFP now says I should at the end of each day, I'd probably be under 160 by now. It's a bit frustrating. I finally gave Fitbit a 3 star review on Amazon, and called it an "overpriced marginally accurate pedometer with a few extra bells and whistles." I'm thinking of sticking it in my pocket with my pedometer to see if it does better. Has anyone tried this?

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