Have you tried GLP1 medications and found it didn't work for you? We'd like to hear about your experiences, what you tried, why it didn't work and how you're doing now. Click here to tell us your story

To Log Or Not To Log - Charge HR calorie counting.

So here's my dilemma. Since I've gotten my HR I've stopped logging exercise figuring the device knows my weight times heart rate and can figure out my caloric burn.

I'm wondering if this is the correct approach? I'm a pretty heavy guy could stand to lose 100 lbs. My chosen forms of exercise are karate, weightlifting - circuit training and elliptical.

I'm active daily in one form or the other and maintsin I no a caloric deficit.

So for other HR users do you log exercise or go by your device's active minutes and calories burned?

Replies

  • MissPeppers
    MissPeppers Posts: 302 Member
    I'm in the same situation; I lift but don't do much cardio so my HR is not high enough to count as even an "active" period. But I have been quite active a couple of days with a lot of walking and then I got up to 2500 kcal burned while I an normally at 1950-2000 regardless of working out. I don't log my exercise though - and I delete the automatic adjustment here so I let the Charge do all calculations.

    I dunno if it's correct though but I don't want to go over my kcals so I leave it for now.
  • Katiebear_81
    Katiebear_81 Posts: 719 Member
    I've set up my fitbit so it tells me how many calories to eat based on my exercise level (and I told it I want to aim for a 500 calorie deficit). I log my food into MFP, it sends the info to the fitbit, and then my fitbit dashboard tells me how many more calories I have for the day. It's great, as it's constantly changing depending on my activity level. Because I'm able to check out how many calories I've burned, it gives me a more accurate big picture. MFP has become a calorie logging and community device for me.
  • jwbrandal
    jwbrandal Posts: 3
    edited February 2015
    I'm in the same situation; I lift but don't do much cardio so my HR is not high enough to count as even an "active" period. But I have been quite active a couple of days with a lot of walking and then I got up to 2500 kcal burned while I an normally at 1950-2000 regardless of working out. I don't log my exercise though - and I delete the automatic adjustment here so I let the Charge do all calculations.

    I dunno if it's correct though but I don't want to go over my kcals so I leave it for now.

    See I do circuit training when I lift weights so I move from machine to machine to keep my heart rate elevated so my HR does register my HR levels as Active Minutes.

    If I were you and were not getting active minutes and elevated heart rate through HR when you are weight lifting I'd definitely log my exercise. When I had a flex I always logged my weightlifting and Karate though MFP.

    With my HR registering a caloric burn thats why I haven't been logging exercise because I don't want to double down because then it will screw up my calorie deficit that I'm trying to maintain through MFP and fitbit.

  • SaraJRosburg
    SaraJRosburg Posts: 42 Member
    I've set up my fitbit so it tells me how many calories to eat based on my exercise level (and I told it I want to aim for a 500 calorie deficit). I log my food into MFP, it sends the info to the fitbit, and then my fitbit dashboard tells me how many more calories I have for the day. It's great, as it's constantly changing depending on my activity level. Because I'm able to check out how many calories I've burned, it gives me a more accurate big picture. MFP has become a calorie logging and community device for me.

    I'm attempting to do this too - but I can't seem to get the MFP to sync! Does yours sync right away? I add foods on MFP right away after I eat but nothing syncs to FitBit??
  • keithcw_the_first
    keithcw_the_first Posts: 382 Member
    I found my FitBit suggesting what was probably way too many calories. Some days it would approach 400-500 calories difference between MFP and FitBit. Or more.

    I'm always leery of "eating back" calories from exercise anyway so I would take the numbers with a grain of salt, even with heart rate.
  • Katiebear_81
    Katiebear_81 Posts: 719 Member
    Sometimes I have to open my MFP app, then open the Fitbit app, then I go into the calories burned/eaten sections and THEN it shows up. It's not automatic, but usually within a few minutes.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Correct way to do it.

    But you wouldn't double-down anyway. Anything manually logged requires start and duration time - because it replaces whatever Fitbit had as calorie burn during that time.

    And to those that think the calorie adjustment is exercise - it's not. It's merely the difference between MFP and Fitbit.
    That may or may not be exercise, but it is better estimated daily burn than you selecting incorrectly from 4 rough levels that includes no exercise.