Fitbit and Fitnesspal

byvanzant
byvanzant Posts: 18 Member
edited November 9 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi All,
I am wondering if I walk 45 minutes do I add that in under exercise in my fitnesspal or should my fitbit sync how long I walk? I dont want to double document? Thanks for you help.

Replies

  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    I always let my Fitbit handle my walks. It'll automatically give you extra calories for the walking time if you have MFP set to sedentary.
  • Shoxene
    Shoxene Posts: 6 Member
    I have been pondering this - Fitbit overestimates calories burned despite having the correct body information, how much is this going to be messing up my 'earned calories'? Has everyone been fine with it?
  • lindzgayle
    lindzgayle Posts: 131 Member
    My calorie burn has been WAY over-inflated because of the sync with fitbit. Now I just want to separate them so that I can more accurately log my exercise. So frustrating!
  • onematch
    onematch Posts: 241 Member
    Your fitbit will sync with MFP and you'll see you've 'earned' calories for your exercise. I never log exercise anymore, since the fitbit seems to give me more than enough credit for it.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Shoxene wrote: »
    I have been pondering this - Fitbit overestimates calories burned despite having the correct body information, how much is this going to be messing up my 'earned calories'? Has everyone been fine with it?

    It really depends on the person. When I was using it my calorie burn was underestimated by roughly 200 calories or so per day.
  • Marilyn0924
    Marilyn0924 Posts: 797 Member
    Shoxene wrote: »
    I have been pondering this - Fitbit overestimates calories burned despite having the correct body information, how much is this going to be messing up my 'earned calories'? Has everyone been fine with it?

    If you adjust the calories burned in the fitbit dashboard settings to match your actual TDEE, it comes closer to actual calories burned.
  • byvanzant
    byvanzant Posts: 18 Member
    The day before yesterday I walked over 10,000 steps and MFP didnt give me any calorie adjustments but a couple of days before it did so I dont know why it is not working now.
  • GothyFaery
    GothyFaery Posts: 762 Member
    Fitbit will count your steps so if you're only walking/jogging/running, don't log it in MFP. If you're doing something like zumba where you will be moving your arms as well, log it on MFP and make sure you log the right start time and duration because MFP will not count your steps from fitbit during that time period. That way you're not doubling anything.

    As far as people saying fitbit over estimates calories, I've never had that problem. I lost/maintained while eating back 100% of my Fitbit calories. MFP does tend to overestimate so I usually knock the calories burned from MFP exercises in half.
  • time2runnn
    time2runnn Posts: 252 Member
    edited January 2015
    You can let Fitbit just adjust your calories through out the day for all your steps with an estimated burn or... you can log planned exercise/walks into MFP. As long as you indicate the right times in there, Fitbit should not give you double credit for the burn. Also if you think the calories burned are too high (say per wearing a HRM) you can adjust them down in MFP... and the next time Fitbit syncs it will readjust for that time period of exercise.
  • punky6956
    punky6956 Posts: 2 Member
    The only exercise I log is my weight lifting and yoga and things that are more sedentary and sync my fitbit for steps. It seems to average out for me at the end of the day.
  • GothyFaery
    GothyFaery Posts: 762 Member
    edited January 2015
    byvanzant wrote: »
    The day before yesterday I walked over 10,000 steps and MFP didnt give me any calorie adjustments but a couple of days before it did so I dont know why it is not working now.

    They had issues with syncing yesterday and the day before. I had to disconnect/reconnect my accounts to get them to work again.

    ETA: If you have negative calorie adjustments turned on (and it's best if you do IMO, Home>settings>diary settings>enable negative adjustments), you should never see a 0 adjustment if MFP and Fitbit are syncing together.
  • sshintaku
    sshintaku Posts: 228 Member
    My Fitbit has been trying to give me an extra like 800 exercise calories just from the walking I do. From experience, I know if I DID eat all the calories it says that I can, I would gain weight.
  • sjbctal
    sjbctal Posts: 20 Member
    So how do I change the TDEE in the dashboard?
  • Marilyn0924
    Marilyn0924 Posts: 797 Member
    sjbctal wrote: »
    So how do I change the TDEE in the dashboard?

    Hover your mouse over the "calories burned" tile (little flame) and then click on the gear on the bottom left (Settings) and change your daily goal to your TDEE. :)
  • sjbctal
    sjbctal Posts: 20 Member
    Thank you
  • byvanzant
    byvanzant Posts: 18 Member
    Thanks everyone appreciate the help!
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