Just ordered a FitBit....best advice?

Fitbits are fun!! I have mine synced with MFP. I log food here, while the fitbit tracks my activity. Fitbit will add or subtract calories based on my activity for the day. It makes this whole thing simple!

The best advice I can give you is to sync it with your iPhone if you have one, put it on and start moving. Best of luck to you Kim!

I got one on black Friday to replace my Jawbone. I don't think it's very accurate, but if it's consistently inaccurate I can still measure progress.

For instance, running or even walking at a certain pace, it misses steps. Seems the faster I go the more steps it misses. I've validated this by running on a treadmill with the app open and connected while counting my actual steps.

Of course, it will pick up steps I'm not really taking when I'm just moving my arms so maybe it all evens out in the end.

I do wish it were more accurate.

They are not waterproof!! I ruined a Fitbit by putting it in the washing machine. However I now have a new Charge HR and love it. I find the steps very accurate and the HR somewhat accurate.

Wear it every day.
Sync to MFP and enable negative calorie adjustments.
Log all food on MFP
Log exercise that isn't step based on your fitbit app. I log all of my body weight training on the fitbit. For running you can hold down the button and it will calculate your distance steps, and burn for your workout just hold the button down when you are done and it will send all the info as a sort of snapshot to the app on your phone.

I log all food through MFP, it has the best data base, but I use the TDEE fitbit calculates at the end of the day to make sure I'm eating enough.

Mine will occasionally freeze up and miss some steps when I'm just walking around the house barefoot, but it is rare, otherwise I have found it to be really accurate. The faster I go the more accurate it is, however keep in mind that your stride length is different when walking, jogging, and running so for running outside it maybe beneficial to use an auxiliary app such as runkeeper or mapmyrun if you really need to make sure your times/distances are extremely accurate.

I hope you don't mind if I ask a question kimvmajor, rather than start a new thread.

I am about to go and buy a Charge HR (have had a flex, but not synced to MFP). Have I understood correctly?.... If I have my activity level set to Light, my Fitbit will tell MFP if I have done enough steps and will minus cals if I haven't? And if I go for a big walk or run, it will log it in my diary as exercise? I don't have to log my exercise anymore?

I just stepped up to the Charge HR after a year with the flex. I like the Fitbit a lot. I recommend buying an extra charging cable. I just lost mine, so now I have to wear the flex until my new charging cables come in the mail.

I have had a Fitbit Charge HR since December 2 and already lost 5 pounds- I was already working out 5 times a week in a variety of exercise classes- TRX, aerial yoga, booty barre, etc but I have an office job that is so sedentary that I never realized I only walked about 1100 steps a day. The Fitbit ( and the app) have inspired me to walk 10,000 steps a day and climb 10 flights of stairs every day but I don't think I am obsessing - just much more aware. I added an hour/day on the elliptical some days to get to my 10,000 steps in and I walk the 10 flight of stairs by going up and down the 1 flight of stairs at work several times a day. Besides the weight loss, I longer want to take a nap mid-afternoon, I sleep better, I look more fit and I have so much more energy. I especially love when the app says at the end of the day that I am an overachiever. If I don't want to go to an exercise class or use the elliptical, I'll just go for an hour walk to get those steps in. It's the best thing I ever did for myself. I was not overweight to begin with but I wasn't nearly as fit as I am now.

Look for small opportunities to get steps, especially in bad weather--an extra lap around the store, walk around the parking walk before & after going to store, or doctor, etc. It all adds up by the end of day or week. Have fun!

Where do I go on MFP to enable negative calorie adjustments?

ETA - Never mind, I found it.

Don't lose it!!

rabbitjb wrote: »

sc0rpi0gal wrote: »

Use the stop watch/timer feature when you go on walks. It calculates these as workouts!

Why? It's a step tracker

Fitbit also tracks activity minutes and in a recent update, set workout goals (workout x days a week). A lot of people use the timer to log their workouts so they can get a glimpse of the calories burned, steps, and how long they did said activity when they look back on it.

Edit: Other activities that register are yoga, sports, etc.

amymoreorless wrote: »

If you are a competitive person (like me) than the Fitbit challenges are extremely motivating. I once walked my entire neighborhood several times just to reach 25,000 steps in one day. I did not want to loose a stupid weekend challenge I was in with my relatives. Lol

No challenge could get me outside in the snow today. I'm actually thinking about buying a vivofit because i almost just bought a polar hrm and a fitbit zip but, figured why not get a combo for cheaper. It's like $80 on amazon for both. Edit just bought a zip just to try and make sure i earn the lightly active setting I set up for at work.