Fitbit vs. Vivosmart

katiejuanitaellis · March 2015

To help me have an accurate reading of my daily calorie burn I would like to invest in a tracker. I'm currently making estimations but I don't think that is sufficient. I'm looking for some reviews on the current technologies available.

Can you please share your experiences? What do you use? In your opinion what is the best option to track accurate calories burned during exercises like: weight training, hot yoga, and group fitness classes.

Thanks in advance!

MeanderingMammal · March 2015

katiejuanitaellis wrote: »

In your opinion what is the best option to track accurate calories burned during exercises like: weight training, hot yoga, and group fitness classes.

Just use the MFP estimates, or google for other online calorie estimators.

HR is not a viable indicator of calorie expenditure in the examples that you cite.

Notwithstanding that, a Fitbit or Vivosmart will give you an indication of your background level of expenditure through day to day activities. Fitbit is a manufacturer of a range of products, the Vivosmart is one product within a range. There's not much in it though.

mlboyer100 · March 2015

I have a VivoSmart now for about a month. Love it! I know none of them are totally accurate but they do provide a good gauge of calories burned. I was going to get a Fitbit but went VivoSmart because it's WATERPROOF not just water resistant like all the others. I live on a lake, work and play in and around water all the time. Since I already drowned 2 smart phones I opted for waterproof. And it is! I forgot I had it on and jumped in the hot tub! Yikes! It hasn't missed a beat yet! It uses a chest band for HRM which I find comfortable to wear. I was surprised at how much cardio I am doing working in the garden! I really like the sleep monitor function too. This is my first fitness band so can't compare to anything else n

MeanderingMammal · March 2015

mlboyer100 wrote: »

....they do provide a good gauge of calories burned.

There is no way to determine whether the number that it generates is good or not. For those types of exercises that the HRM software is designed to support then one can be reasonably confident that the number is at least consistent, and relatively accurate. As soon as they're being used for stuff they're not designed for then the reliability and consistency of the figure generated breaks down.

Stuff they're not designed for includes activities where HR remains fairly low, like yoga, or where HR transitions rapidly or goes into the anaerobic range, like most group classes, or is artificually elevated through other factors, such as temperature, as in hot yoga.

I was surprised at how much cardio I am doing working in the garden!

As in, your heart rate is elevated through exertion?

Gardening is a pretty broad category and includes periods of sedentary activity, periods of aerobic activity and periods of anaerobic activity, frequently as interval type activity.

Calorie expenditure determined from tracking HR in those circumstances is pretty meaningless, is the level of error witll be inconsistent.

scottb81 · March 2015

I have found the calorie estimation from fitbit to closely match actual weight lost as long as you accurately log the food eaten. I use the fitbit One

eponine1976 · March 2015

I've had a fitbit (several different models) for years. When the band on my Fitbit Force (discontinued wristband model) started to tear a few weeks ago I was comparing the Fitbit Charge to the Vivosmart. I decided to try the Vivosmart. I wore both my old Force and the Vivosmart side by side for several hours and the Vivosmart was giving me hundreds more calories more than the Fitbit. I feel more confident that the Fitbit was closer to correct because over the years I have found that if I eat the amount Fitbit says I can eat to lose 1 lb then I really do lose 1 lb. If I eat the amount to lose .5 lb then I really do lose 0.5 lbs. Therefore I tend to believe that the Fitbit's estimates must be pretty good. If I were to eat the amount the Vivosmart says to eat I would most definitely gain weight. I returned it after about 12 hours of use. I didn't need to see any more since after 12 hours the Vivosmart was giving me 500 more calories than the Fitbit. Also, given the choice of whether I would rather have a product tell me to eat too much or to eat to little I would rather err on the side of eating too little so that I don't gain weight.

I wear the Fitbit for walking and power yoga.

sympha01 · March 2015

I have had both devices -- or rather, last year I had a fitbit Force (no HR), and this January I replaced it with a Vivosmart + HR.

NEITHER of them is accurate for daily calorie burn calculations. Sorry, that's just the truth. Their caloric burn estimations were just nonsense and bore no relationship to reality. Neither is particularly good at measuring burn from exercise. The fitbit was worse at exercise measurement, though; and the VivoSmart is worse at non-exercise activity. No device is going to be particularly accurate for weight training or yoga; and YMMV with exercise classes depending on what the exercise is (for instance indoor cycling type stuff? any wrist-based tracker will suck at that. Most exercise classes tend to be kind of interval-ish, and HRMs in general and activity trackers specifically don't do great at measuring calorie burns from interval work).

Activity trackers are at their best when you simply use them to monitor how active you are, keep an eye on that baseline with an intent to maintain or gradually increase it, but not at estimating or assigning a caloric value to that number. Both devices have been very helpful for monitoring my activity baseline. The Fitbit was probably a bit better for someone who doesn't exercise much per se, but just wants to get their activity from walking around / not sitting down. The VivoSmart is better for a more dedicated exerciser, and in particular for tracking your activity with outdoor sports like running and cycling.

Honestly, the only way to get a reasonably accurate read on your daily calorie burn is the following. It takes 4-6 weeks and requires dedication and discipline, and will NOT help you measure the burn from specific workout sessions (which is kind of a sucker's game, anyway, IMO):

1. Whatever your exercise plan is, follow it consistently during the measurement period.
2. Track EVERYTHING you eat during that period. Measure portions accurately -- for solid food that means weighing. Include everything, including condiments.
3. Weigh yourself at minimum at the beginning of the measurement period and again at the end.
4. Take the difference between your weight at the beginning and the end in pounds and divide by 3500. This is your TOTAL CALORIC DEFICIT (or surplus, if you gained weight) for the period.
5. Take the total number of calories you ate during the period. Add your TOTAL CALORIC DEFICIT (or subtract your surplus, if you gained weight). Divide by the number of days in the measurement period. This is your TOTAL DAILY CALORIC BURN for maintenance purposes, assuming your baseline includes all the average activity / exercise you got during the measurement period.

Kidominos · March 2015

scottb81 wrote: »

I have found the calorie estimation from fitbit to closely match actual weight lost as long as you accurately log the food eaten. I use the fitbit One

Same for me as well.

the8BitGirl · March 2015

I have a Vivosmart, which I adore. Besides the obvious (tracking, etc) I find the notifications display incredibly handy - I have stopped hauling my phone out of my pocket every time it buzzes, because my band shows me if it is an important notification (like a text) or something I can ignore until later (like Twitter or Facebook). The Vivosmart is also, in my opinion, better looking than the FitBit. The smooth surface is a definite plus as it keeps clean. From reviews I've seen, the textured rubber surface on the FitBit picks up lint, makeup and all sorts of other yuck, which to me is a big NOPE.

Fitbit vs. Vivosmart

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