Help me to understand fitbit zip

hansolo420
hansolo420 Posts: 9 Member
edited November 9 in Health and Weight Loss
I have a fitbit zip I got for Christmas. I am all logged in and signed up, but I dont understand how to track the calories I am burning. It says I have taken 215 steps since I put it on an hour ago and burned 1115 calories... how can this be accurate and how do I incorporate it with MFP? Any advice would be helpful, I have been trying to figure this out all day and I am frustrated to tears at this point.

Replies

  • FatFreeFrolicking
    FatFreeFrolicking Posts: 4,252 Member
    edited December 2014
    Go to 'Apps' (in the bar that says home, food, exercise, etc.) and install the Fitbit tracker.
  • charlieandcarol
    charlieandcarol Posts: 302 Member
    If its the same as a Fitbit Flex then the software takes your weight, height, gender and age and allocates a baseline calories burned per hour. So the 1115 cals is not the cals you burned from your steps alone in the last hour, but the cals it estimates you burned from being alive since midnight, if that makes sense? As the day progresses it will add on the baseline cals per hour plus the extra cals it estimates you have burnt from walking around.

    Hope that helps.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    The 1115 calories is a combination of your BMR up until now and your activity since you put it on. In actuality you've most likely burned more than that since you were doing things before you activated the Fitbit.

    To link your Fitbit to MFP, go to Apps, and then click connect under Fitbit. Make sure you keep negative adjustments clicked. The more you move, the more calories MFP will give you to eat. If you don't move so much, they'll be taken away down to 1200.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    Make sure you log additional exercise in MFP (like if you bike) and all your food in MFP so it doesn't count everything twice.

    I think you'll love the zip. I've used one for 2 years. Currently it's lost in my bedroom and I'm going nuts. It normally gives me several hundred extra calories a day and it's been tough to hit my calories without it! Especailly over Christmas.
  • SaintsFanBob
    SaintsFanBob Posts: 17 Member
    nxd10 wrote: »
    Currently it's lost in my bedroom and I'm going nuts.

    Just think of all the calories you can burn moving all the furniture in your room to look for it though B)
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
    nxd10 wrote: »
    I think you'll love the zip. I've used one for 2 years. Currently it's lost in my bedroom and I'm going nuts.
    There's an app for that! It's not free, but my friend used it to find his lost Fitbit in his home. Cheaper than a new Fitbit anyway. :smile: Check your app store - I think it was actually called "find my Fitbit" or something like that.

    And OP - great advice here, but first and foremost, realize that the Fitbit is going to show calories burned the moment you've stepped out of bed (yes, we burn calories while we sleep!) - as others have said, it's an all day tracker, and will give you an estimated calorie burn for a 24 hour period.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    MFP has a Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

    Everybody's different, but here's what worked for me:

    Connect your accounts: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/fitbit

    Do not log any step-based activity. Your Fitbit is already tracking that for you.

    Log non-step exercise (like biking or swimming) in Fitbit—never MFP.

    Log food & drink (including water) in MFP.

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

    Set your activity level to sedentary: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided & set your goal to .5 lb. per week for each 25 lbs. you need to lose.

    Follow your MFP goal, eating back your Fitbit adjustments. Your Fitbit burn is your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). If you eat less than your Fitbit burn, you will lose weight.
  • MrsJ1210
    MrsJ1210 Posts: 135 Member
    I now think I understand - I got my zip yesterday and couldn't understand why the steps I had taken that had been transferred across showed I hadn't burned extra calories. If I understand right MFP have already calculated how many calories I need taking into account steps I may take. Do I need to manually log the steps I take doing things like walking upstairs, or do I just forget logging these manually now that I have my zip??

    I'm sorry I'm not very good with any kind of technology!
  • katkins73
    katkins73 Posts: 416 Member
    I think if you link your Fitbit to MFP just go with the flow and your Fitbit will get to know you after a while
  • katkins73
    katkins73 Posts: 416 Member
    Sorry, I don't know why my post didn't post properly. Here it is:

    I think if you link your Fitbit to MFP just go with the flow and your Fitbit will get to know you after a while
  • katkins73
    katkins73 Posts: 416 Member
    Ok, it still won't post it! Sorry! I was just going to day that after a few weeks your Fitbit gets much more accurate as it starts to " get to know you". MFP will add cals after you have exceeded the expected burn built into your numbers
  • MrsJ1210
    MrsJ1210 Posts: 135 Member
    So do I not add extras like cleaning or walking upstairs? Sorry I'm a numpty at all this stuff!
  • molepigeon
    molepigeon Posts: 22 Member
    Nope! As long as you've linked your fitbit it will add these burnt calories on for you.
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