Should I wear my fitbit and log my exercise?

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szappone605
szappone605 Posts: 3
edited January 2015 in Fitness and Exercise
Can anyone help with the use of my fitbit? I'm confused as to whether or not I should wear my Fitbit flex and log my exercise in fitness pal. Exercise such as circuits, body pump - mainly group exercise classes

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  • kingmast
    kingmast Posts: 3
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    I was always told on here not to log exercise or at least dont eat the calories back. If you set your level of activity to sedentary all the exercising you do is a big bonus. Now on the fitbit site its fun to track all your exercises but what do I know I'm fat.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
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    kingmast wrote: »
    I was always told on here not to log exercise or at least dont eat the calories back. If you set your level of activity to sedentary all the exercising you do is a big bonus. Now on the fitbit site its fun to track all your exercises but what do I know I'm fat.

    This is not correct, you need to eat back your exercise calories. This is not how it is done.
  • rmyers121
    rmyers121 Posts: 6 Member
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    I have the fitbit Charge and I have my fitbit connected to fitness pal and my exercise calories automatically log in fitness pal when it is an activity like running. My other exercising like yoga class I log manually.
  • novespecial
    novespecial Posts: 28 Member
    edited January 2015
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    I use my fitbit for everyday stuff but take it off when I exercise. I do not eat back exercise calories, or sometimes very few of them. It wasn't until I made this change that the pounds started coming off. Exercise calories are way over stated in my opinion which gets dangerous.

    For example, if I wear my heart rate monitor, which is the most accurate way to estimate calories burned imo, my max 60 minute burn is around 500 calories an hour. Now that is heavy cardio with a hr of 150 or better. Then when I do the elliptical for an hour, the machine will tell me I burned 700 or 800 calories. No way.

    So say I eat back 800 calories. That is at least 300 over what I really burned, if I did a heavy workout. Do that 12 times and I just gained a pound.

    Then if I have my fitbit on at the same time, that will tell me I burned several hundred more calories as I am in a double tracking.

    Just my two cents.
  • TheVirgoddess
    TheVirgoddess Posts: 4,535 Member
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    Yes, log your exercise on here (exception for me is walking, I never log walking). When it syncs with your FitBit, your calorie burn for that time period will be overwritten on the FB side (which is why you enter your time on MFP when you log your exercise).

    I also eat my exercise calories back, but only if I'm hungry.

    So here's an example:

    On Thursday I did a yoga class. I logged it on MFP.

    http://gyazo.com/9b3a12b6da6d3869ecf6f53e6095ae65

    This is what happened on the FB side:

    http://gyazo.com/a4dc4b161efbafd68626a69c60f690b6

    Each of those little red nubs are 47 calories each, which equals the 188 I logged here on MFP. So MFP overwrites whatever FB had recorded for that time period.

    Make sense?
  • canuck_OHS
    canuck_OHS Posts: 23 Member
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    I have mine synced and I think its pretty neat. That said I look at it more as a guide for myself because I need that feedback. I really didn't realize before how sedentary I am in the winter vs the summer. The fitbit reminds me to move more. I try hard not to eat the extra calories it gives me. I am not sure yet if that is good or bad as I am just starting this journey.
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
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    kingmast wrote: »
    I was always told on here not to log exercise or at least dont eat the calories back. If you set your level of activity to sedentary all the exercising you do is a big bonus. Now on the fitbit site its fun to track all your exercises but what do I know I'm fat.

    You didn't read how this site is designed, did you?
  • szappone605
    szappone605 Posts: 3
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    Thanks for the replies. Much appreciated. I suppose eating back your calories depends on your goals.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    I wear my flex all of the time and log my exercise, except walking. When I do exercise like water aerobics that gives me steps as well as exercise to log, Fitbit does not double dip. You will get extra calories for what you have logged, not for the steps take while exercising. I don't eat back many of the calories I earn from walking, just from my logged exercises.

    Whether you eat back your calories or not depends on 2 things:

    1) How did you set your original activity level? If you set it for how active you are when you are not actually working out, then you should eat back about 1/2 of your earned calories. If you set it to an average of your activity over a week, including workouts, then don't eat back calories unless you do something above an beyond your norm

    2) What is your overall calorie deficit and weekly loss goal? I set mine to lose 1 lb. a week but know that I have a cushion so if I don't eat back my calories, I can still stay between a 1 and 2 lb. loss (over the last year my average has been 1.4 lb a week which is perfect for me).
  • szappone605
    szappone605 Posts: 3
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    Thanks that's really helped!

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