Garmin Connect & Vivomart + MyFitnessPal

MelissaHopeG
MelissaHopeG Posts: 56 Member
in Getting Started
Hi,

I've done MFP before but I've just got the garmin vivosmart. I have a few questions I hope someone can help with?? Thanks!!

- Trying to sync it all, and my food calories aren't showing up in the garmin connect app. It says to add food in MFP but I already have... any tips? Tried syncing through the garmin connect website but thats not working either (read that on here somewhere)
- On MFP The only thing that has synched is that it randomly says aerobic activity 481 calories in my exercise section of MFP - is that from my steps? How are the steps logged?
- The Garmin connect app on my phone now lists hot yoga twice... I only did it once today ;)

Anyone have solutions for these or any fun tips for using MFP, Garmin Connect & vivosmart together? Trying to find answers online and having trouble...

Replies

  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    edited January 2015
    Garmin Connect isn't working correctly at the moment. Not just MFP, but there is a bunch of errors in it's data reporting. Until that is fixed, we probably won't see anything from Garmin Connect on MFP.

    Examples of the errors:
    ucw2kxdv1ugy.jpgl5cyzf92si43.jpg

  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    edited January 2015
    Oh and any time you log an exercise on Garmin Connect, it transfers the log to MFP. So far the majority of the time it transfers as Aerobics, general. Occasionally, I've had it duplicate on MFP and I just deleted the extra workout.

    When both sites are playing nicely and Garmin isn't having issues, you should see a "Garmin Adjustment" in your exercise diary. The adjustment is:
    Garmin Total Calorie Burn (BMR+tracked daily activity + exercise)
    -
    MFP Estimated Total Calorie Burn (BMR + activity level selection + exercise)
    =
    Adjustment (can even be negative if you have negative adjustments enabled)
    Example from Dec 15:
    4howwxutk1nz.jpg
  • Podsplace
    Podsplace Posts: 1
    Thanks for the Info, I thought it was just mine that was not updating.
  • Alyexxa
    Alyexxa Posts: 8 Member
    This is just the post that I was looking for!!! I thought that I was the only one having this issue! Thanks a bushel and a peck!
  • daj150
    daj150 Posts: 815 Member
    Just adding to this post I have not been able to sync ANY calories from MFP to Garmin Connect in almost 2 weeks, and Garmin Connect transfer of activities to MFP stopped working 3 days ago.
  • BuddhaMom74
    BuddhaMom74 Posts: 147
    Garmin Connect is a piece of s&%t. Seriously. Their syncing issues are regular and recurring; this happens every few weeks for days at a time. Visit the Garmin Connect Facebook page - hundreds of pissed off customers and Garmin Connect won't respond to anyone.
    If I had the option of taking my piece of s&%t Vivofit and Forerunner back I would.
  • johngifford73
    johngifford73 Posts: 8 Member
    I was given a Vivosmart for Christmas and am having the same issues syncing with MFP, but also with Map My Ride/Run. I spoke to someone at Garmin yesterday, they said exactly Shadow2soul said, that they are having issues with MFP and have engineers working on it now. As far as MMR, I'm not sure what the answer is except to sync my workouts with MFP, then maybe it will synch from there to Garmin Connect when things are back up and running.

    The disapointing thing to me was when it came to the step data and sleep data. The tech said that Garmin wants to keep that specific data only in GC so that users will keep going to the Garmin site, basically to keep the hits up.
  • johngifford73
    johngifford73 Posts: 8 Member
    BuddhaMom74 wrote: »
    Garmin Connect is a piece of s&%t. Seriously. Their syncing issues are regular and recurring; this happens every few weeks for days at a time. Visit the Garmin Connect Facebook page - hundreds of pissed off customers and Garmin Connect won't respond to anyone.
    If I had the option of taking my piece of s&%t Vivofit and Forerunner back I would.

    I told the tech that I was talking to that GC is completely bush league compared to Map My Fitness and My Fitness Pal. There is no reason that it should have such terrible usability if the engineers had ever even researched any other sites.
  • MelissaHopeG
    MelissaHopeG Posts: 56 Member
    shadow2soul wrote: »
    Oh and any time you log an exercise on Garmin Connect, it transfers the log to MFP. So far the majority of the time it transfers as Aerobics, general. Occasionally, I've had it duplicate on MFP and I just deleted the extra workout.

    When both sites are playing nicely and Garmin isn't having issues, you should see a "Garmin Adjustment" in your exercise diary. The adjustment is:
    Garmin Total Calorie Burn (BMR+tracked daily activity + exercise)
    -
    MFP Estimated Total Calorie Burn (BMR + activity level selection + exercise)
    =
    Adjustment (can even be negative if you have negative adjustments enabled)
    Example from Dec 15:
    4howwxutk1nz.jpg

    Super helpful! It updated 481 aerobic calories 3x yesterday... so weird. And then in my feed it said I did 4 hours of hot yoga (when I only did one!). So I just deleted all but the hot yoga I know I did... but maybe I should have kept that one aerobic update?
  • MelissaHopeG
    MelissaHopeG Posts: 56 Member
    johngifford73 wrote: »
    I was given a Vivosmart for Christmas and am having the same issues syncing with MFP, but also with Map My Ride/Run. I spoke to someone at Garmin yesterday, they said exactly Shadow2soul said, that they are having issues with MFP and have engineers working on it now. As far as MMR, I'm not sure what the answer is except to sync my workouts with MFP, then maybe it will synch from there to Garmin Connect when things are back up and running.

    The disapointing thing to me was when it came to the step data and sleep data. The tech said that Garmin wants to keep that specific data only in GC so that users will keep going to the Garmin site, basically to keep the hits up.

    Does this mean that our steps from garmin won't update to MFP ever?
  • johngifford73
    johngifford73 Posts: 8 Member
    MelissaHopeG wrote: »
    Does this mean that our steps from garmin won't update to MFP ever?

    I'm not sure, he wouldn't give me a direct answer on that. The interface between MFP and GC hasn't worked since I recieved my Vivosmart, maybe someone else could let us know if step data had ever been updated to MFP?
  • jenncamp03
    jenncamp03 Posts: 11 Member
    I just got the vivofit and mine doesn't work either
  • Paul_Collyer
    Paul_Collyer Posts: 160 Member
    Its painfully frustrating. May have to disconnect the two and add calories manually, but then you are unable to see your steps calories in GC as the calorie widget ( which is broken now anyway ) is inactive.

    A right mess. And I feel for others who had vivofit, 920 etc for Xmas and can't get the MFP side to work properly.
  • pineapple_jojo
    pineapple_jojo Posts: 440 Member
    I think there are loads of activity tracker sync issues just now. My fitbit isn't syncing and there are quite a few complaints on the mfp Twitter feed.
  • BuddhaMom74
    BuddhaMom74 Posts: 147
    johngifford73 wrote: »
    MelissaHopeG wrote: »
    Does this mean that our steps from garmin won't update to MFP ever?

    I'm not sure, he wouldn't give me a direct answer on that. The interface between MFP and GC hasn't worked since I recieved my Vivosmart, maybe someone else could let us know if step data had ever been updated to MFP?

    Your actual number of steps doesn't update to MFP, but a line item shows up under your exercises that says "Garmin Calorie Adjustment" (based on your steps), which provides the number of calories burned based on your daily steps.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    edited January 2015
    MelissaHopeG wrote: »
    shadow2soul wrote: »
    Oh and any time you log an exercise on Garmin Connect, it transfers the log to MFP. So far the majority of the time it transfers as Aerobics, general. Occasionally, I've had it duplicate on MFP and I just deleted the extra workout.

    When both sites are playing nicely and Garmin isn't having issues, you should see a "Garmin Adjustment" in your exercise diary. The adjustment is:
    Garmin Total Calorie Burn (BMR+tracked daily activity + exercise)
    -
    MFP Estimated Total Calorie Burn (BMR + activity level selection + exercise)
    =
    Adjustment (can even be negative if you have negative adjustments enabled)
    Example from Dec 15:
    4howwxutk1nz.jpg

    Super helpful! It updated 481 aerobic calories 3x yesterday... so weird. And then in my feed it said I did 4 hours of hot yoga (when I only did one!). So I just deleted all but the hot yoga I know I did... but maybe I should have kept that one aerobic update?

    Did you log the hot yoga on MFP?
    I was told by MFP with Garmin Connect, you don't log exercise here. Only log it on Garmin.
    "Exercise should be logged with Garmin, and will then transfer to MyFitnessPal in the form of an adjustment." - Jay from MFP Support
    The aerobic update wasn't the adjustment. The adjustment will show up as "Garmin Connect Adjustment" with a little "i" next to it in a blue circle. Example:
    xxgsyquw7ff9.jpg


    I think that what your seeing, is that you logged a workout here. It transferred to Garmin and then Garmin is sending it back as Aerobic, General. So essentially doubling your workout. That's my guess based on the fact that MFP says to log exercise only on Garmin. I'll test it.
    7.JPG 31.4K
  • sagray83cd
    sagray83cd Posts: 1 Member
    Even though everyone is having the same issues with the syncing between the two products everyone in my group is still losing inches at a greater rate because of the lack of bonus calories rewarded for the exercising that you do. Vivosmart is still a good product with some really neat features but it will not keep me from switching to a new device if this continues. I also can' believe that MPF engineering staff is not communicating with Garmin to help resolve these issues because there are also other fitness application out there that I'm sure will synce with Garmin just fine.
  • Paul_Collyer
    Paul_Collyer Posts: 160 Member
    Tip for adding step calories to MFP while the sync issue persists.....

    ....Go to MFP food section and add a negative quick calorie number to snacks or another meal. You should be able to roughly estimate what this should be from the working info on Garmin connect......

    This avoids adding an exercise to MFP which is then sent to Garmin Connect and in my experience things get rather confused thereafter.
  • johngifford73
    johngifford73 Posts: 8 Member
    For me it is not so much a matter of tracking the calories burned by my steps, I figure that steps are part of my daily burn anyway. I just like to track my number of steps, and would like to keep track of them in one place.

    As far as another fitness app with that ability; from talking to Garmin, it sounds like it's on thier end as they don't want to share that information to keep people visiting the GC site. I would love to even be able to manually add the steps to MFP, again, not for calorie purposes, but just as a place to keep record of the amount of my steps.
  • hal1964
    hal1964 Posts: 82 Member
    So here is my problem with MFP and GC. What is the point in having a fitness tracker(Garmin Vivofit) that links with an app/website (MFP) if it never works? Isn't that a reason we bought the Garmin?

    It's great that that information is on the Garmin website. It just never syncs to MFP even though Garmin says it does. It's vaporware. So you are trying to accurately track your exercise/calorie deficit with MFP and you can't.

    This is a trust issue. I would not recommend Garmin products to anyone now. About all it is good for is as a heart rate monitor. The rest is rubbish and can't be trusted.
  • GrooveColo
    GrooveColo Posts: 1 Member
    Steps are still not connecting into MFP for me. Geez it would be nice to get some guidance oh these issues.
  • dopeysmelly
    dopeysmelly Posts: 1,390 Member
    mshin321 wrote: »
    Steps are still not connecting into MFP for me. Geez it would be nice to get some guidance oh these issues.

    MFP doesn't pull in "steps" from Garmin as a number. It pulls in a calorie adjustment, either positive or negative (if you enable that option), depending on how active you are compared to your activity level setting in MFP.
  • hal1964
    hal1964 Posts: 82 Member
    Does anyone know if this has been fixed? I've given up using Garmin with MFP. The last time I did an hour of exercise, it said my calorie adjustment was N/A for minutes and Zero for calories burned. That was a week ago. I guess its back to the old way!
  • wilsond3010
    wilsond3010 Posts: 14 Member
    Ok so tonight I managed sync mfp on iOS to garmin connect

    Two things I did

    Made sure iPhone clock set to 24 hours
    Open garmin connect on phone
    Goto setting privacy and disconnect my fitness pal
    Then go back to the home page and on caloris monitor
    Click on the get started
    Slide to left until it says click to get started
    The click on linking accounts

    Hope it works for you

    My back log isn't showing but today's exercise is
  • zenjen13
    zenjen13 Posts: 174 Member
    I have only been connected since yesterday evening with my Vivosmart but I seem to be syncing OK. I had a negative cal line from yesterday BC I am sick and in bed but today I've got plus 12 in the Garmin line (still sick). When I woke up I did hit the sync button on my watch to reconnect this morning since it hadn't synced from when I went to sleep.

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