Is anyone else doing this?

I bought a Fitbit Zip (step tracker only) a week ago and have found it so much helpful. I haven't linked it to MFP, and I don't think there is a need to do that.

Fitbit shows the total calories I burn during the 24 hours based on the information I the Fitbit in the settings for my Hight, weight, age and gender.

I use MFP to track the food calories.

I look at both Fitbit and MFP and make sure I'm in a deficit.

Fitbit zip for total calorie burn
MFP for total calorie in.

Replies

  • maxit
    maxit Posts: 880 Member
    I use fitbit for activity and mfp for food - linking them is easy and helpful for me.
  • thunder1982
    thunder1982 Posts: 280 Member
    I link them too. I track deliberate exercise (I have a surge so I choose whatever I am doing on the screen). I track calories in MFP. Fitbit syncs with MFP to give me any additional exercise calories. I am set to sedentary in MFP as I have a desk job. I usually get a couple of hundred calories as a positive adj to daily calorie goal as I just fall into the lightly active category during the week. Weekends I am often really active but can sometimes have that really lazy day where I read a lot or like yesterday end up working at a desk for hours.

    I tend to monitor my weight using fitbit as my scales sync to my computer (and MFP) and I like the graphs there. My phone app gives me a weekly average too which is nice to see. I dont really like the food tracker thing on Fitbit plus the food data base here was better than when I tried the fitbit one.

    Measurements I track on MFP.

    So I am a bit all over the shop, each has its strengths and weaknesses on their own but together for me it works really well.

  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    It's rather like buying a TV and putting the remote control in a kitchen drawer so you have to change channels by getting up and pressing buttons on the TV

    Slightly inconvenient, overcomplicated, will work but makes your life harder
  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
    If you wanted a fitbit for step counter only, you know there are free apps on your smart phone that do the same thing, yes?
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
    I link my Fitbit with MFP. As others have stated, not doing so makes little sense. You're not really using your Fitbit to its full capacity otherwise.
  • ziggy2006
    ziggy2006 Posts: 255 Member
    What benefits do you experience by not linking them? I like having the information regarding my calories consumed and expended in one place, so I prefer to have them linked. I hadn't really thought about not linking them - that is an interesting approach.
  • beemerphile1
    beemerphile1 Posts: 1,710 Member
    ahmshaki wrote: »
    ...Fitbit shows the total calories I burn during the 24 hours based on the information I the Fitbit in the settings for my Hight, weight, age and gender....

    If it helps you on your journey that is a good thing. However, Fitbit ESTIMATES your burn, it doesn't SHOW your burn.
  • BoaRestrictor
    BoaRestrictor Posts: 194 Member
    Yes. I have fitbit flex, I use my fit bit to see what I burn and MFP to see what I ate. It's not hard. I'd rather do that then sync, cause syncing is a headache and a half.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,262 Member
    ahmshaki wrote: »
    I bought a Fitbit Zip (step tracker only) a week ago and have found it so much helpful. I haven't linked it to MFP, and I don't think there is a need to do that.

    Fitbit shows the total calories I burn during the 24 hours based on the information I the Fitbit in the settings for my Hight, weight, age and gender.

    I use MFP to track the food calories.

    I look at both Fitbit and MFP and make sure I'm in a deficit.

    Fitbit zip for total calorie burn
    MFP for total calorie in.

    I have my Zip linked to MFP.
    I log my food on MFP.
    I log my non-step exercise on Fitbit.
    I track my steps on Fitbit.
    I keep an eye on my calories over/under to stay within the zone to lose a pound a week on the Fitbit dashboard.
    It has been working really well for me.
    My MFP diary looks like a bit of a mess but I am just ignoring it.
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
    H4N4H wrote: »
    Yes. I have fitbit flex, I use my fit bit to see what I burn and MFP to see what I ate. It's not hard. I'd rather do that then sync, cause syncing is a headache and a half.

    I don't get why it is a headache? Mine syncs it's self, I don't do anything.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,262 Member
    H4N4H wrote: »
    Yes. I have fitbit flex, I use my fit bit to see what I burn and MFP to see what I ate. It's not hard. I'd rather do that then sync, cause syncing is a headache and a half.

    I don't get why it is a headache? Mine syncs it's self, I don't do anything.

    I am guessing that the syncing part is a headache when the syncing doesn't work right. My Fitbit/MFP sync has been a mess since I got it in late January, in the sense that it never looks right when I look at my MFP diary. It might correct itself a day or two after the fact but that's not helpful. Now, like I said above, I sync it so that my MFP food entries flow over into the Fitbit dashboard because that's what I'm watching now to see if I'm on point calorie-wise during the day. But if it wasn't for my months/years of history logging on MFP (including saved meals and recipes) I probably wouldn't even log my food on here at this point.
  • wonderchu
    wonderchu Posts: 53 Member
    Yep, I do this. I actually manually log any Fitbit calorie burn over my MFP maintenace TDEE as exercise on here, so I can see the deficit more plainly.