Considering a FitBit, couple of Q's?
Versacam
Posts: 109 Member
I've noticed a lot of people use FitBit's, I want one, I think.
My question is; I have a desk job and I use my arms a lot at my desk, I create signs (in case someone thought I was wierd). So, does the fitbit monitor your calorie burn based on body movement, or Heart rate?
I use a HRM for cardio and I love it, so will a FitBit be worth purchasing?
My question is; I have a desk job and I use my arms a lot at my desk, I create signs (in case someone thought I was wierd). So, does the fitbit monitor your calorie burn based on body movement, or Heart rate?
I use a HRM for cardio and I love it, so will a FitBit be worth purchasing?
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Replies
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Only the Charge HR and Surge track heart rate. All others are strictly movement. The Zip or One will most likely be your best bets, as they clip onto your clothing rather than go around your wrist, so they wouldn't pick up that little movement as steps.
Fitbits are meant to measure your step-based activity (walking, jogging, running) throughout the day. If you're hoping it can get you to move more, then it'll be beneficial.0 -
I was looking for something to give me an accurate calorie burn, so maybe it's not what I thought it was..?
I don't really walk much unless I'm on a day out, most of my exercise is the gym, squash or mountain biking, so maybe I should stick to the HRM.
For some reason I thought it told you how many calories you burn that day based on your HR.0 -
There are different models that do different things. I have a simple model (the One) that just clips to my bra. It doesn't look at my heart rate but the calorie burn for my normal daily activity is pretty accurate based on how my weight reacts to a deficit. And it gets me to get up and get moving through out the day otherwise I won't hit my step goal.0
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It tells you the amount of calories you burn based on your stats and the number of steps you take (and how fast you take them). It's not exact but it does give a good estimate.0
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If you only want the HR part of it and not the step/movement tracking then it isn't the right device for you.0
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No, it calculates your TDEE for the day based on your steps and if you've logged exercise.0
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I have a Fitbit Flex and I wouldn't reccommend it. First of all, yes, it will count all your little arm movements as steps, but the opposite is also true - it counts running, hiking, etc. as just plain old walking steps. Steps are literally the only thing it's capable of counting (the sleep function is useless - it counts every little movement as "waking up" during the night and tells you what a horrible sleep you had, and the calorie-counting widgets on the website are about the same as MFRs). So basically I'd go for a $10 Walmart pedometer and use MFP for free rather than the $100 flex and get the same experience.
I can't speak for the other types of Fitbits, I've heard the HR one isn't bad. Just wanted to share my two cents.0 -
Okay, thanks for the advice everyone.. I guess as I hardly ever just go for a stroll then I may be better using the HRM for the actual exercise I do.
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I have a desk job and I use my arms a lot at my desk, I create signs (in case someone thought I was wierd). So, does the fitbit monitor your calorie burn based on body movement, or Heart rate?
I use a HRM for cardio and I love it, so will a FitBit be worth purchasing?
I have a Fitbit Flex and Charge HR. I get "steps" drying my hair, and miss steps pushing a shopping cart. But I lost the weight—and have kept it off. You can't get any more accurate than that. (Only the Charge HR and Surge are heart rate monitors.)
Fitbits calculate your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). When you connect your accounts and enable negative calorie adjustments, MFP adjusts your daily calorie goal to TDEE minus deficit. Fitbit challenges are great motivation—and fun.
Why not buy a Fitbit at a store near you, keep the receipt, and return it if you don't like it?0 -
Hi... I have A Fitbit Charge HR. It's brill for every day walking around. When I started running... not so brill. So I now wear a Polar M400 on the other arm for my exercise. I'm a walking gadget. Ha ha ha. The M400 combined with the HRM strap is brill. I don't however trust it for my normal step count. I rely on my Fitbit for that.
So you may find something like the Polar watch better for you in exercise terms
HTH 0 -
Okay, thanks for the advice everyone.. I guess as I hardly ever just go for a stroll then I may be better using the HRM for the actual exercise I do.
Ah, but the thing is it tracks ALL of your little activities. At least the One does for me. I may not do any formal exercise in a day, but one day might be 1750 calories burned and another might be 2150 calories burned. No exercise to track. Just I popped in for groceries, cleaned the house, stood around doing dishes, etc. With the FitBit I have, it keeps track of ALL THAT and helps me see the patterns of activity. Until you track it, I'm not too sure you realize how much all those little things add up. For me they typically add up to more than any formal exercise does in my daily burns.
YMMV.0 -
FinntheVeggie wrote: »I have a Fitbit Flex and I wouldn't reccommend it. First of all, yes, it will count all your little arm movements as steps, but the opposite is also true - it counts running, hiking, etc. as just plain old walking steps. Steps are literally the only thing it's capable of counting (the sleep function is useless - it counts every little movement as "waking up" during the night and tells you what a horrible sleep you had, and the calorie-counting widgets on the website are about the same as MFRs). So basically I'd go for a $10 Walmart pedometer and use MFP for free rather than the $100 flex and get the same experience.
I can't speak for the other types of Fitbits, I've heard the HR one isn't bad. Just wanted to share my two cents.
That's only if you entered your stride. Then it adjusts to that. Don't enter your stride, and you will get accurate results on how many steps you took, whether baby steps, long steps, steps upstairs or downstairs, or steps walking in place in front of the television.0 -
Okay, thanks for the advice everyone.. I guess as I hardly ever just go for a stroll then I may be better using the HRM for the actual exercise I do.
Ah, but the thing is it tracks ALL of your little activities. At least the One does for me. I may not do any formal exercise in a day, but one day might be 1750 calories burned and another might be 2150 calories burned. No exercise to track. Just I popped in for groceries, cleaned the house, stood around doing dishes, etc. With the FitBit I have, it keeps track of ALL THAT and helps me see the patterns of activity. Until you track it, I'm not too sure you realize how much all those little things add up. For me they typically add up to more than any formal exercise does in my daily burns.
YMMV.
This is why I love mine, it's been so illuminating to see how much I can really afford to eat in a day, just off daily activity. If I take my dog for a walk and get a walk in on my lunch break at work, both things I try to do daily anyway, I can easily burn 2500+ cal/day without going to the gym. Or I can go and just lift weights without needing to bother w/the cardio machines (which I hate).
It's also a great tool for testing the accuracy of your food logging. If your fitbit tells you what your REAL weekly deficit was, and you haven't lost the right amount of weight over 3-4 weeks, within a margin of error? Time to look into tightening up your logging.0 -
Also consider the vehicle you drive and the roads you drive on. I have the One that clips on but ended up not wearing it. I live in the country where we have a lot of bumpy roads. Making the matter worse is if I ride in my husband's 1 ton truck. My FitBit said I was SUPER active but in reality I didn't even meet my step goal.0
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I know, right? So my sedentary TDEE is around 1750 (like 1650 if all I do literally is lay in bed). If I go for a 5k run, that's like 300 calories at the most above what I would have burned in the half hour anyway breathing. But stop in at the bookstore, buy some groceries, walk to the corner mailbox, weed the garden, etc... again, those can easily add up to 300 extra calories EASILY. I think as a society in the U.S. we exercise more than a few decades ago, but our "daily activities" are less than before (on average). We have riding lawn mowers, etc. I truly think for myself it's the "daily activity" stuff that's the real difference between me being obese and just a bit soft in the belly.Okay, thanks for the advice everyone.. I guess as I hardly ever just go for a stroll then I may be better using the HRM for the actual exercise I do.
Ah, but the thing is it tracks ALL of your little activities. At least the One does for me. I may not do any formal exercise in a day, but one day might be 1750 calories burned and another might be 2150 calories burned. No exercise to track. Just I popped in for groceries, cleaned the house, stood around doing dishes, etc. With the FitBit I have, it keeps track of ALL THAT and helps me see the patterns of activity. Until you track it, I'm not too sure you realize how much all those little things add up. For me they typically add up to more than any formal exercise does in my daily burns.
YMMV.
This is why I love mine, it's been so illuminating to see how much I can really afford to eat in a day, just off daily activity. If I take my dog for a walk and get a walk in on my lunch break at work, both things I try to do daily anyway, I can easily burn 2500+ cal/day without going to the gym. Or I can go and just lift weights without needing to bother w/the cardio machines (which I hate).
It's also a great tool for testing the accuracy of your food logging. If your fitbit tells you what your REAL weekly deficit was, and you haven't lost the right amount of weight over 3-4 weeks, within a margin of error? Time to look into tightening up your logging.
Point being, by tracking my little daily nonsense, I know when I need to eat a few less bites of dinner or can afford a dessert without going over budget. I also get that extra motivation to climb a few extra stairs and walk a bit further in the parking lot to get the little check marks and smiley faces for the day.
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Also consider the vehicle you drive and the roads you drive on. I have the One that clips on but ended up not wearing it. I live in the country where we have a lot of bumpy roads. Making the matter worse is if I ride in my husband's 1 ton truck. My FitBit said I was SUPER active but in reality I didn't even meet my step goal.
You can log driving as an activity in Fitbit to correct your TDEE. Or there's an app that's supposed to make it even easier.
It takes some trial & error to find what works for you. I learned a whole lot in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users0 -
Also consider the vehicle you drive and the roads you drive on. I have the One that clips on but ended up not wearing it. I live in the country where we have a lot of bumpy roads. Making the matter worse is if I ride in my husband's 1 ton truck. My FitBit said I was SUPER active but in reality I didn't even meet my step goal.
There is a way to make an adjustment to fix that. I can't remember if it's something on the dashboard or another app, but I will double check once I get to my pc.0 -
editorgrrl wrote: »Also consider the vehicle you drive and the roads you drive on. I have the One that clips on but ended up not wearing it. I live in the country where we have a lot of bumpy roads. Making the matter worse is if I ride in my husband's 1 ton truck. My FitBit said I was SUPER active but in reality I didn't even meet my step goal.
You can log driving as an activity in Fitbit to correct your TDEE. Or there's an app that's supposed to make it even easier.
It takes some trial & error to find what works for you. I learned a whole lot in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users
It's called DriveBit, you just hit 'start' and 'stop' and it links with fitbit to log the drive and remove any steps counted.
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I downloaded the FitBit app to my mobile and it effectively becomes the step monitor and gives you your calorie burn for the day. You can also add in any exercise and map walks. I have problems with the app syncing to MFP so sometimes have to just make notes in the exercise section of my MFP diary to explain any days where it appears I've gone way over. 0
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I know, right? So my sedentary TDEE is around 1750 (like 1650 if all I do literally is lay in bed). If I go for a 5k run, that's like 300 calories at the most above what I would have burned in the half hour anyway breathing. But stop in at the bookstore, buy some groceries, walk to the corner mailbox, weed the garden, etc... again, those can easily add up to 300 extra calories EASILY. I think as a society in the U.S. we exercise more than a few decades ago, but our "daily activities" are less than before (on average). We have riding lawn mowers, etc. I truly think for myself it's the "daily activity" stuff that's the real difference between me being obese and just a bit soft in the belly.Okay, thanks for the advice everyone.. I guess as I hardly ever just go for a stroll then I may be better using the HRM for the actual exercise I do.
Ah, but the thing is it tracks ALL of your little activities. At least the One does for me. I may not do any formal exercise in a day, but one day might be 1750 calories burned and another might be 2150 calories burned. No exercise to track. Just I popped in for groceries, cleaned the house, stood around doing dishes, etc. With the FitBit I have, it keeps track of ALL THAT and helps me see the patterns of activity. Until you track it, I'm not too sure you realize how much all those little things add up. For me they typically add up to more than any formal exercise does in my daily burns.
YMMV.
This is why I love mine, it's been so illuminating to see how much I can really afford to eat in a day, just off daily activity. If I take my dog for a walk and get a walk in on my lunch break at work, both things I try to do daily anyway, I can easily burn 2500+ cal/day without going to the gym. Or I can go and just lift weights without needing to bother w/the cardio machines (which I hate).
It's also a great tool for testing the accuracy of your food logging. If your fitbit tells you what your REAL weekly deficit was, and you haven't lost the right amount of weight over 3-4 weeks, within a margin of error? Time to look into tightening up your logging.
Point being, by tracking my little daily nonsense, I know when I need to eat a few less bites of dinner or can afford a dessert without going over budget. I also get that extra motivation to climb a few extra stairs and walk a bit further in the parking lot to get the little check marks and smiley faces for the day.
man i LOVE turning all those meters green for the day. It's even got me drinking more than 8 cups of water which I typically struggle with.0 -
Okay, thanks for the advice everyone.. I guess as I hardly ever just go for a stroll then I may be better using the HRM for the actual exercise I do.
Ah, but the thing is it tracks ALL of your little activities. At least the One does for me. I may not do any formal exercise in a day, but one day might be 1750 calories burned and another might be 2150 calories burned. No exercise to track. Just I popped in for groceries, cleaned the house, stood around doing dishes, etc. With the FitBit I have, it keeps track of ALL THAT and helps me see the patterns of activity. Until you track it, I'm not too sure you realize how much all those little things add up. For me they typically add up to more than any formal exercise does in my daily burns.
YMMV.
Yes, this is what I wanted it for, but I'm confused, sorry! So if I get one, won't it be inaccurate due to me waving my arms about a lot during the day?
I don't mind buying a more expensive one with the HRM.. I just want something that adds up all those little extra's like you said, and also if I walk around the shops etc, so I get a good estimated burn.
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I just noticed you said you have the FitBit "One".. which clips to your body.
How does it know how active you have been and a calorie burn without the HRM part?0 -
So if I get one, won't it be inaccurate due to me waving my arms about a lot during the day?
I use my hands a lot, and my Flex & Chrage HR burns are accurate. I lost the weight—and kept it off.
The only way to gauge the accuracy is to trust your Fitbit for several weeks, then reevaluate your progress.0 -
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I just noticed you said you have the FitBit "One".. which clips to your body.
How does it know how active you have been and a calorie burn without the HRM part?
I hope this doesn't sound snarky, but because they have averages and algorithms to help the fitbit figure out if I'm walking, running, standing, sitting, etc. and then it applies the data it has according to my recorded age, height, gender and weight. Those activities fit a certain pattern in the accelerometer logs they have in their database. It doesn't track my HR, but it DOES know that walking at 3mph burns about x number of calories. Or standing burns y number of calories. Or walking up stairs burns z number of calories. If I walked up stairs for 15 minutes and stood for 30 minutes and walked @ 3mph for 15 minutes, it spits out a result for that hour of "activity."
The only things I add to my One is biking and swimming. I let it track everything else and it seems to do a good job +/- 70 calories or so vs. my weight tracking and intake data.0 -
I have the fitbit Charge HR and mostly do a desk job at work. I'd say it only "accidentally" adds 10-50 steps a day from my typing and hand motions, so I don't think that should be too much of a concern unless you tend to violently yank your arm up and down repeatedly. I love mine. It helps a lot to have an overall idea of how many calories you're burning throughout the day so you can tailor your eating to match. Just using the numbers I'm given from a calculator, I would never know that I tend to be much less active and therefore burn less calories when I'm home on the weekends than I do during the week - even though I work mostly a desk job! It uses your heart rate, age, weight, and movement to determine your calorie burn, and seems to be pretty accurate for me, given how much it says I'm burning, what I'm eating, and the amount of weight I'm losing. They are a smidge expensive, but if it helps me actually get healthy and lose weight, I think it's worth it! I agree with others on driving. It does accumulate steps while driving sometimes, especially on bumpy roads. I just look at it more as I'm trying to increase activity from my baseline, so if my driving is every day, it will be a part of the normal baseline. But, like other people have said, there are ways to get around it if you want to.0
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Not snarky at all, thanks for explaining.
I appreciate all of the replies.. I'm still not sure whether to get one, I guess I could always return it if I'm unhappy with it. I'd just love to see my daily burn change and I really do think it would motivate me to be more active. I also hate having to wear the chest strap as I have to put "lube" on it to keep it moist, therefore my bra/chest is wet too, and if I'm out for the day then I just wouldn't bother.
I'm now not sure whether to get the "One", due to my arm movements in the day, or to get the Charge, as I like the HRM aspect of it.
Thanks again!
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Also consider the vehicle you drive and the roads you drive on. I have the One that clips on but ended up not wearing it. I live in the country where we have a lot of bumpy roads. Making the matter worse is if I ride in my husband's 1 ton truck. My FitBit said I was SUPER active but in reality I didn't even meet my step goal.
LOL -- Reminds me of last week when I was mowing (on a riding lawn mower). The yard is sloped and bumpy. I didn't take my Fitbit off before I started, but I checked my stats. When I was through it said I'd walked 3400 steps and climbed 23 flights of stairs. This week I took it off before I got on the John Deere!
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Having ms band for a week and very happy with accuracy, sensors, etc.- still trying to cheat it somehow but no way. Correctly handles body movements, driving, sleeping. A bit inaccurate sometimes (lower than actual readings for me) on hr, but it was not unexpected from wrist monitor anyways.0
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I'm now not sure whether to get the "One", due to my arm movements in the day, or to get the Charge, as I like the HRM aspect of it.
You probably know this, but the Charge does not have a heart rate monitor. (Also, it has a clasp rather a buckle.) You mean the Charge HR.
Here's a comparison of all the models: https://www.fitbit.com/compare0
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