Fitbit worth getting?

mrsb461
mrsb461 Posts: 38 Member
edited 4:12AM in Health and Weight Loss
I'm not really sure what they do in detail. I know they monitor your steps and tell you how many calories those steps have burnt. What I want to know it will it calculate calories burnt while working out? Will it tell me how many calories I've eaten and have left for the day??

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    I have a Fitbit Charge HR. It does calculate the calories I have burnt working out, as well as the calories (and steps) for the rest of the day. Fitbit displays how many calories I have eaten because it is linked with MFP, where I log my meals. I believe you can log your meals on Fitbit instead, but I have heard that the MFP database is larger and I am already used to it so I'm not interested in switching. I use MFP as my "source of truth" for calories left for the day, not Fitbit. I have seen threads where people get confused when they try to use both Fitbit and MFP for food tracking -- most people find it easier to use MFP for all food logging and Fitbit for exercise.
  • skippygolunks2014
    skippygolunks2014 Posts: 10 Member
    The best thing about a fitbit or any tracker is that it makes you mindful. I am much more aware of what I want to accomplish when I am faced with the truth of it. I have a Charge without the HR. I also can track my workouts by pushing a button that times it for me. Not all trackers do this and to me it is a critical feature. I purchased mine on EBay. It is brand new and I saved $$$. They offer all kinds of trackers at a savings if you are interested.
  • missblondi2u
    missblondi2u Posts: 851 Member
    Fitbits are great! I have a Flex and I LOVE it! It tracks your activity throughout the day and gives you an estimated calorie burn, which if you sync it to MFP will either add or take away calories from your MFP goal based on how much or little you move.

    It is really accurate for step-based activity (which is most of my exercise), but isn't perfect on other types of exercise (if you get one with a heart rate monitor it will be more accurate, but still not perfect). For non-step based exercise, you can log it manually and it will estimate.

    You have the option to log food in the fitbit app, but I find MFP much easier to use for food, so I just sync them together. This means that fitbit will tell MFP how much I burn (calories out), and MFP will tell fitbit how much I log (calories in). This simplifies the CICO equation for me and makes it easy.
  • sandiikat
    sandiikat Posts: 104 Member
    I agree with the both responses above. I love my Fitbit, definitely makes you mindful as skippy mentioned. Hey if you want to get active no better way then challenging people on Fitbit (they have different challenges where you can challenge your friends on who has the most steps) it sure gets me off of my butt!
  • emmaprocopiou
    emmaprocopiou Posts: 246 Member
    I love my Fitbit too. I have a zip and just got my mum one too.
    I like seeing my daily tdee and also it motivates me to move more. I'm always doing mini challenges on it with friends to see who gets the most steps x
  • shinycrazy
    shinycrazy Posts: 1,081 Member
    I've had 3 different trackers and I liked how they motivated me. In the end though, none of them had all the features I wanted so I returned them. I'm not using any physical tracker now, thought I use MapMyWalk for hikes and outdoor activity. I find that I would be really into it for a while and then get bored with them too. For me, I've found that I've lost 80lbs without one where I lost nothing while I had a tracker. It seems silly for me now as I've figured out what I need to motivate me (dietbets!). Good luck in your search!
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    I have the FitBit One and love it. I let it give me calories for steps and stairs, and enter things like yoga via MFP. I use MFP for entering food and tracking calories.
  • kaylajane11
    kaylajane11 Posts: 313 Member
    I got the Charge HR for Christmas and I love it. So far I've found the calorie burns to be pretty accurate, including during my boot camp classes. And it definitely motivates me to move more. If I have a couple thousand steps left for the day, I will jog in place or do a YouTube walk at home video to get the rest of my steps in, instead of just sitting on the couch like I would have in the past.
  • exact0ninja
    exact0ninja Posts: 33 Member
    I thought about getting one. I saw that there are many products out there that are similar, so I went into a frenzy researching which are best to get.

    Bottom line is: They're all inaccurate. I think the most accurate one is something like 9% off. The sensors all come from different manufacturers, have different firmware/software etc. If we wanted real accuracy, we would pay a high price for a type of medical equipment I read about.

    It's really just good for motivation. Personally, I think it's best to just get a simple heart rate monitor and track things when needed. A few sites called it "entertainment" that gets people involved, which some people do need. But, you don't have to spend money to get more involved really. For instance, for me, I prefer calculating everything on my own and keeping my own journal instead of leaving up to software to track it. But to some, that might not be the best case.
  • dubird
    dubird Posts: 1,849 Member
    I have a Charge HR and it's great! It's not 100% accurate on calories burned, no machine really is, but it's helpful for me to see how much I've done and helps me keep track of my heart rate.
  • Clobern80
    Clobern80 Posts: 714 Member
    exact0ninja wrote: »
    I thought about getting one. I saw that there are many products out there that are similar, so I went into a frenzy researching which are best to get.

    Bottom line is: They're all inaccurate. I think the most accurate one is something like 9% off. The sensors all come from different manufacturers, have different firmware/software etc. If we wanted real accuracy, we would pay a high price for a type of medical equipment I read about.

    It's really just good for motivation. Personally, I think it's best to just get a simple heart rate monitor and track things when needed. A few sites called it "entertainment" that gets people involved, which some people do need. But, you don't have to spend money to get more involved really. For instance, for me, I prefer calculating everything on my own and keeping my own journal instead of leaving up to software to track it. But to some, that might not be the best case.

    But how do you know how many calories you burn doing that day 3 of 30 Day Shred? You just guess? You just hope? While the trackers may not be accurate, they are more accurate than just a random guess.
  • ryry_
    ryry_ Posts: 4,966 Member
    mrsb461 wrote: »
    I'm not really sure what they do in detail. I know they monitor your steps and tell you how many calories those steps have burnt. What I want to know it will it calculate calories burnt while working out? Will it tell me how many calories I've eaten and have left for the day??

    I got it. It is great for tracking step based activity and encouraging you to move more throughout the day. After manually inputting my stride length its pretty much dead on for walking and running distances.

    As far as using it for calorie burns, I'm not very sold. It seems to wild overrexagerrate walking and running burns for me (165 calories for 15 minutes of walking at 3.0 mph on the treadmill 275 for 15 minutes of running). If you're actual calorie burn doesn't match up with their equation than that aspect doesn't really have much value.

    I like it for tracking my base level of activity so I don't have to do as much planned cardio but for now I'm not relieing on it to determine my calorie intake.
  • dubird
    dubird Posts: 1,849 Member
    clobern80 wrote: »
    exact0ninja wrote: »
    I thought about getting one. I saw that there are many products out there that are similar, so I went into a frenzy researching which are best to get.

    Bottom line is: They're all inaccurate. I think the most accurate one is something like 9% off. The sensors all come from different manufacturers, have different firmware/software etc. If we wanted real accuracy, we would pay a high price for a type of medical equipment I read about.

    It's really just good for motivation. Personally, I think it's best to just get a simple heart rate monitor and track things when needed. A few sites called it "entertainment" that gets people involved, which some people do need. But, you don't have to spend money to get more involved really. For instance, for me, I prefer calculating everything on my own and keeping my own journal instead of leaving up to software to track it. But to some, that might not be the best case.

    But how do you know how many calories you burn doing that day 3 of 30 Day Shred? You just guess? You just hope? While the trackers may not be accurate, they are more accurate than just a random guess.

    Yeah, I don't follow my calories burned that it adds back 100%, but when I've moved around enough that Fitbit adds those extra calories in, I eat them back. I usually leave around 100 or so that I don't eat, but I've lost weight just fine that way.
  • songbird13291
    songbird13291 Posts: 120 Member
    It's a great motivator. I'm happy with the results I'm getting.
  • kaylajane11
    kaylajane11 Posts: 313 Member
    clobern80 wrote: »
    exact0ninja wrote: »
    I thought about getting one. I saw that there are many products out there that are similar, so I went into a frenzy researching which are best to get.

    Bottom line is: They're all inaccurate. I think the most accurate one is something like 9% off. The sensors all come from different manufacturers, have different firmware/software etc. If we wanted real accuracy, we would pay a high price for a type of medical equipment I read about.

    It's really just good for motivation. Personally, I think it's best to just get a simple heart rate monitor and track things when needed. A few sites called it "entertainment" that gets people involved, which some people do need. But, you don't have to spend money to get more involved really. For instance, for me, I prefer calculating everything on my own and keeping my own journal instead of leaving up to software to track it. But to some, that might not be the best case.

    But how do you know how many calories you burn doing that day 3 of 30 Day Shred? You just guess? You just hope? While the trackers may not be accurate, they are more accurate than just a random guess.

    Exactly. I was estimating the calories burned in my 90 minute boot camp at around 600 calories. Now, the range I get on my FitBit is usually anywhere from 450-700, and on the nights I get a higher count the class was definitely harder/faster/more intense. I definitely trust my FitBit's count over my own estimates.
  • lsutiger2112
    lsutiger2112 Posts: 17 Member
    I love mine. I have the Charge HR and it's great. Monitors the HR very well, except when you are really pushing it and then it seem to be off. I love how it tracks how you sleep. Being able to see your steps really motivates you to do more.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    I have a Fitbit Charge HR. It does calculate the calories I have burnt working out, as well as the calories (and steps) for the rest of the day. Fitbit displays how many calories I have eaten because it is linked with MFP, where I log my meals. I believe you can log your meals on Fitbit instead, but I have heard that the MFP database is larger and I am already used to it so I'm not interested in switching. I use MFP as my "source of truth" for calories left for the day, not Fitbit. I have seen threads where people get confused when they try to use both Fitbit and MFP for food tracking -- most people find it easier to use MFP for all food logging and Fitbit for exercise.

    ^^ that

    i dont track anything other than random data with my fitbit. It was a gift. i wear it. i like it, but mfp works for me so i see no reason to change how i do things. i dont worry about steps or anything like that.

    after my vacation in june, i'll likely sell it ;)
  • JinxedyJinx
    JinxedyJinx Posts: 50 Member
    The heart rate monitor on my Fitbit HR is definitely iffy. Sometimes I'll pause in the middle of an intense work out and check it and it won't even give me a reading. I pounded up an crazy steep hill on a ten mile hike the other weekend and although I was panting and at max heart rate my HR only read 90 bpm.

    It's basically an expensive pedometer - that's my take on it.
  • mrsb461
    mrsb461 Posts: 38 Member
    Thanks for all your replies. Think I will refrain from getting one just yet.
  • jeepinshawn
    jeepinshawn Posts: 642 Member
    mrsb461 wrote: »
    Thanks for all your replies. Think I will refrain from getting one just yet.

    I have heard that the HR ones can have some issues, but the non HR models seem to be pretty dang close. I have a charge(non HR) and it calculates things out very accurately. The data it provides me on a daily basis is imperative to my continued success in the maintenance phase. You would be very surprised at just how much your TDEE can vary every day. Mine can vary as much as 300-600 calories per day. They are WELL worth the money, using MFP and fitbit together is how I lost over 100lbs in 2015.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    jeepinshawn wrote: »
    mrsb461 wrote: »
    Thanks for all your replies. Think I will refrain from getting one just yet.

    I have heard that the HR ones can have some issues, but the non HR models seem to be pretty dang close. I have a charge(non HR) and it calculates things out very accurately. The data it provides me on a daily basis is imperative to my continued success in the maintenance phase. You would be very surprised at just how much your TDEE can vary every day. Mine can vary as much as 300-600 calories per day. They are WELL worth the money, using MFP and fitbit together is how I lost over 100lbs in 2015.

    I know some people report issues with the HR, but I have been eating back all the calories from my Charge HR since July and have lost/maintained exactly as expected.
  • dubird
    dubird Posts: 1,849 Member
    edited January 2016
    JinxedyJinx wrote: »
    The heart rate monitor on my Fitbit HR is definitely iffy. Sometimes I'll pause in the middle of an intense work out and check it and it won't even give me a reading. I pounded up an crazy steep hill on a ten mile hike the other weekend and although I was panting and at max heart rate my HR only read 90 bpm.

    It's basically an expensive pedometer - that's my take on it.

    I suspect that there's a delay in reporting heart rate. I did a stress test and checked in the middle and it wasn't close, but at the end, it was right on target. I know it records when my heart rate jumps, but it doesn't seem to update the number on the fly. If you look at the graph, it records in 10 minute increments, which may not be as fast as you need it. For me, I don't pay attention to the number during the day, but having that record is useful, espically if the doctor asks about it.

    janejellyroll wrote: »
    jeepinshawn wrote: »
    mrsb461 wrote: »
    Thanks for all your replies. Think I will refrain from getting one just yet.

    I have heard that the HR ones can have some issues, but the non HR models seem to be pretty dang close. I have a charge(non HR) and it calculates things out very accurately. The data it provides me on a daily basis is imperative to my continued success in the maintenance phase. You would be very surprised at just how much your TDEE can vary every day. Mine can vary as much as 300-600 calories per day. They are WELL worth the money, using MFP and fitbit together is how I lost over 100lbs in 2015.

    I know some people report issues with the HR, but I have been eating back all the calories from my Charge HR since July and have lost/maintained exactly as expected.

    Same here. I've been using it for a year, eating back the calories it adds to MFP and lost the last 10ish pounds I needed.
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