Step Tracker & GPS Watch Question

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Ataraxia81
Ataraxia81 Posts: 63 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So I just recently bought GPS watch (Garmin Forerunner 15). I have had and been using daily a Fitbit for years. I guess my question is, should I wear both at the same time or just one at a time? My concern is that both are linked to my fitness pal account and I don't want them to "double" my exercise calories unnecessarily.

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  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    Disconnect your Garmin & MFP accounts, and sync Garmin to Fitbit instead: http://www.fitbit.com/apps/fitdatasync

    You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    Ataraxia81 wrote: »
    So I just recently bought GPS watch (Garmin Forerunner 15). I have had and been using daily a Fitbit for years. I guess my question is, should I wear both at the same time or just one at a time? My concern is that both are linked to my fitness pal account and I don't want them to "double" my exercise calories unnecessarily.

    If you feed both to MFP you're going to be double accounting.

    I'd just retire the Fitbit, and import the historic data to Garmin Connect if you really want to retain it.

    Your other option is to disconnect Fitbit from MFP, but you're ten using two devices to tell you the same thing, which seems a bit pointless to me.

    The more hops between the device and MFP, as is being suggested above, the more likely you are to inject errors. I send my Garmin Data to MFP, Strava, Endomondo and Runkeeper and can get a very broad spread of calorie estimates, so I'd strongly recommend going as simple as possible Garmin Connect -> MFP
  • malkelly789
    malkelly789 Posts: 5 Member
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    New studies show fitbit and other non gps devices are misleading in calories burned as it counts everytime your arm moves so eating fries or drinking pints of beer qould count as burnung calories so beware
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    malkelly789 wrote: »
    New studies show fitbit and other non gps devices are misleading in calories burned as it counts everytime your arm moves so eating fries or drinking pints of beer qould count as burnung calories so beware

    What new studies?

    I can't think of anything that's demonstrated that the false positive rate is particularly unreasonable.

    In practice the level of false positives does depend on the design of the device, and whether it's used as designed. a body worn device like a Fitbit One will have a more realistic step count, but depends on being worn on the body, so clipped to clothing. A wrist worn device like a Charge or VivoSmart will be calibrated for wrist wearing, if someone puts it on their belt, or ankle then the step count will be inaccurate.

    As ever, it's about recognising the strengths and weaknesses of a device and considering the information that it provides with a degree of thought, rather than slavishly accepting it.



  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    malkelly789 wrote: »
    New studies show fitbit and other non gps devices are misleading in calories burned as it counts everytime your arm moves so eating fries or drinking pints of beer qould count as burnung calories so beware

    You're overthinking the accuracy of the step count. I get "steps" drying my hair, and miss steps pushing a shopping cart. But I lost the weight & have successfully maintained for a year, so my burn is pretty accurate.

    I wasn't losing weight using MFP alone, so an activity tracker was worth every penny. And they're great motivation.
    MeanderingMammal wrote: »
    As ever, it's about recognising the strengths and weaknesses of a device and considering the information that it provides with a degree of thought, rather than slavishly accepting it.

    ^This. The only way to gauge the accuracy of any device is to trust it for a few weeks, then reevaluate your progress and adjust accordingly.
  • ScubaSteve1962
    ScubaSteve1962 Posts: 609 Member
    edited July 2015
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    malkelly789 wrote: »
    New studies show fitbit and other non gps devices are misleading in calories burned as it counts everytime your arm moves so eating fries or drinking pints of beer qould count as burnung calories so beware

    If you put on your none dominate arm you get less false positives. IE: If I'm right handed, it's likely that I'm eating fries, or drinking that pint of beer with my right hand. But I'm wearing my activity tracker on my left arm.

    I use an activity monitor that connects to MFP, and a pedometer for a program where I work. They are usually plus 1000 to minus 1500 between the 2, but this all depends on what cardio equipment I use when I work out. When it come to just counting steps, they may be off by 100 +/-

  • Ataraxia81
    Ataraxia81 Posts: 63 Member
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    I wear my fitbit one on the inside of my pants/shorts pocket. I have tried a few different configurations as far as syncing the Forerunner and the Fitbit to Myfitnesspal. So far I don't see any "doubling" so it must sync and figure things out on it's own.

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