FitBit

jeweidanz wrote: »

I am wondering if I should track non-step exercise. As an example, I have been doing active gardening (digging, planting etc) for two+ hours and I know I "earned" steps but it seems like I may have used more calories than just the steps.

No need to log any step-based activity—your Fitbit is tracking it for you. Log non-step exercise (like swimming or biking) either in Fitbit (that's what I do) or in MFP—never both. Exercise logged in MFP overwrites your Fitbit burn during that time.

Your Fitbit burn is TDEE. Your default MFP calorie goal is activity level minus deficit. Adjustments are the difference between your Fitbit burn and your MFP activity level.

With or without a Fitbit, one should never log anything other than actual exercise—including work, a daily commute, housework, yard work, or child care. That's all part of your activity level. Only log exercise as exercise.

I have the Fitbit Flex and it is great BUT--and this is significant--they've had to replace it twice in the last 12 months.

jeweidanz wrote: »

Really??? Even if I garden (i.e., digging, planting, heavy duty work)?

Gardening isn't step-based. For that, it's kinda a guess. Heart rate monitors, unfortunately, aren't accurate for that, either.

jeweidanz wrote: »

Really??? Even if I garden (i.e., digging, planting, heavy duty work)?

I suspect it's worth the application of a little bit of common sense. Something like gardening isn't consistently the same workload, so it's pretty ridiculous not to account for it somehow, although equally it's not the same workload in a single day.

Something like weeding, pruning, tying etc I probably wouldn't consider as the workload isn't high and it's lost in the noise of routine error.

Heavy work like brushcutting, hedge trimming, etc I'd generally log about 25-30% of the time as I'm clearly doing a lot more work, but couldn't say that it was consistently high demand. If I spend 4 hours on hedges then that'll include moving ladders, wielding the chainsaw and hedge trimmer, cutting up debris, loading the barrow, moving the debris etc. Clearly not background level activity that would compare to my normal job where I'm a programme manager so worth recognising somehow. Equally my activity tracker will have some false positives, from the cutting etc, but equally will have a suppressed detection rate when I'm pushing the wheelbarrow.

It's the same with other activities, apply a bit of thought. As an example pushing my partner in a wheelchair doesn't give a reasonable reflection of steps, and I'm also moving significantly more than my own bodyweight. It could be accounted for somehow, although in practice going out for a short run will give me 600-700 calories anyway so I probably wouldn't get worked up about the marginal increment.

The main reason to worry about accounting for unusual work is if you're on a tight deficit and would start to consistently fall below 1200 cals/ 1600 cals so end up leading oneself into a longer term health issue by underfuelling.

These things aren't a magic bullet, despite the way so many proselytise. n Apply some thought to what they're telling you, rather than blindly trusting them.

The Fitbit HR measures your TDEE -- what you burn all day, including activity. So for instance, mine at the end of the day says 1600 calories. That doesn't mean I should eat my calorie goal, plus 1600. I should eat 1600 because that's my Basal Metabolism Rate plus my activity. Or if I want to lose, I would eat at a deficit, say 1200. If you sync to MFP it will figure out what you need to eat on the deficit.