Fitbits.. is it worth the hype?
DaphneSW
Posts: 117 Member
My friend got a fitbit recently and it turns out the MFP calorie recommendation was causing her to severely undereat as fitbit was reflecting much higher calorie usage ..
What are people's thoughts on fitbit? After syncing to MFP have you been 'allowed' to eat more with the same calorie deficit? Are you still seeing results?
I'm considering buying one but they are reasonably pricey
What are people's thoughts on fitbit? After syncing to MFP have you been 'allowed' to eat more with the same calorie deficit? Are you still seeing results?
I'm considering buying one but they are reasonably pricey
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Replies
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I bought an expensive Fitbit (200$+) and I was super dissapointed in the product.
It was wildly inaccurate and over estimated steps so easily. I even returned it for another model hoping it was defective but they all seem to be that way. I took the bus for 10 minutes and the fit bit counted it like I was running.0 -
I love mine. It stops me from sitting down to much. I don't eat back the calories unless I have been to the gym. I also like using it as a watch. I do like the heart rate bit too.0
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I just returned my charge I had it during WW for about 3 months and the steps weren't super accurate, but the challenges can keep you motivated to get your steps in daily so if you need moving motivation it's great0
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Nickers5405 wrote: »I bought an expensive Fitbit (200$+) and I was super dissapointed in the product.
It was wildly inaccurate and over estimated steps so easily. I even returned it for another model hoping it was defective but they all seem to be that way. I took the bus for 10 minutes and the fit bit counted it like I was running.
You can log the bus ride (or any bumpy ride that makes it count steps) on fitbit website and it will subtract the calories out for it. You have to do it like exercise and log the start and end time.
I have the Charge without the HR and I was surprised because I actually think it under counts my steps by a lot. Forces me to be even more active.0 -
I have a Zip and since it's getting super old and the clip is deteriorating I'm getting a One soon. I've found it very accurate and prefer to look at the calorie burn on Fitbit rather than MFP. Even with them linked MFP gives me an extra 200 or so to eat. That's an issue with their connections though, or maybe something in my settings, not Fitbit itself.0
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My fitbit seems pretty accurate. It does get confused when I do the weekly shopping and sometimes picks it up as cycling. I havent had issues in the car though. We did a 3000km trip recently and it was accurate in recording i did very few steps for the 3 days we were driving.
I found that I was more active during the week than I would have guessed but also that weekends could fluctuate greatly. I can do as little as 3000 steps or as high as 20,000 steps on the weekend.
I have a HR monitor one and it also helps me understand my tiredness. My resting hear rate can vary greatly, if I feel really tired for no apparent reason I will usually find that my resting hearrate was under 50 overnight or closer to 60 if I am feeling really good. Actually the HR monitor was what helped me get diagnosed with a thyroid condition.0 -
I'm glad you asked this as I've been thinking about buying one. I'm logging my steps on my phone but I don't always have my phone with me so I'm being shortchanged in steps. My polar hrm doesn't have a pedometer built in! I suppose it's prob better to underestimate on my phone rather than over estimate!0
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I love my fitbit...I realize it's not entirely accurate (underestimates steps, overestimates calories), but it's definitely super motivating for me...I set my activity on MFP to sedentary and eat back about 50% of the calories fitbit thinks I've earned.
BUT, since re-starting using my fitbit (took a few months off heh whoops) I haven't really lost weight-- just inches. But I prefer the inches.0 -
I love my Fitbit, it has definitely motivated me to walk more and be more aware of how much I move.
I also eat back most of my additional calories, and it hasn't stopped me from losing weight.
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I love my zip, I got it when it was on offer and haven't looked back.
I've upped my steps considerably since I got it. I take part in weekly and daily challenges to keep motivated and as a bonus I get extra cals to eat on mfp depending on how active I am.
I've lost weight and inches consistently combined with the calorie defict and has definitely become part of my life0 -
I have a Fitbit surge. Not completely thrilled with it, but it gives me a good idea of how active I am during the day. Today, for instance, I used it to record a walk. The gps gave me the distance and the heart monitor gave me how hard I was working. It also recorded how long I was walking. I used MapMyFitness to calculate the calories. MapMyFitness is linked to MFP, so it transfer the info over.0
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Buying a fitbit was the best investment I've made since trying to lose weight. It obviously doesn't do the work for you, but it is a great motivator. I have it synced with MFP, so it adds my exercise calories for me. Set and forget0
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I have fitbit flex but would like a charge HR. I have it synced with MFP and it works great. I did readjust my step stride from what it estimated it to be as my steps are shorter than it said. It means when calculating distance I have to do more steps than someone with a longer stride.0
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You can buy one if you want. To me it will always be a glorified pedometer and I am not willing shell out $100+ for one. You can get the same result by eating within a moderate deficit and exercising.0
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I got the One and it was relatively inaccurate (seemed to underestimate my calories by quite a bit) and gave numbers that made no sense whatsoever (like some days I'd burn more calories with less steps and less active minutes... WTH?). I stopped using it after a few months (it was Summer and I just didn't have anywhere to clip the thing on). Haven't really missed it...
I think it's useful to give you an estimate of how active you are, but ideally, I'd borrow one for a day to figure that out... lol.
But in the end... track your food properly, see how much you lose (or don't lose) for a few months, then adjust... that will be more accurate in the end.0 -
I like my activity tracker (not a fitbit hate those things and yes i have one)
Keeps me motivated to move more if nothing else.0 -
I like my Fibit because it keeps me motivated. I don't think they're overhyped, they're not much different than other activity trackers. It's a tool and what you do with it matters.0
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I have a Charge HR and I love it. Historically, it's always been very accurate with my steps, but recently I noticed that it was only counting about every 6/7 steps per 10 that I take. When you do the math and realize that that could be over 3,000 steps some days, it's a problem. I actually contacted FitBit and they are sending me a new one for free.
I like the accountability of it. And I love doing the challenges with my friends. I don't sync the steps with MFP, but I sync MFP with my FB for the food entries. I generally stick with my calorie allowance from MFP but will occasionally peek at my FB if I've had a very active day and want to eat a bit more.0 -
I have a Fitbit Charge HR and love it. I find it well worth the money. The longer you wear it the more accurate it becomes. You need to measure your stride and input that in the tracker's settings to get an accurate step count. Additionally, it keeps me motivated to keep moving. I used to be fairly sedentary averaging 5,000 to 7,000 steps per day. I'm now up to 20,000 steps per day. I used to have sleep issues so I track my sleep with it and have found it to be fairly accurate. No tracker is going to be 100% accurate, they are all guesstimates at best, but I've found that even with a margin for error it's great at keeping me focused, self-aware, and counting calories in/out.
The only downside to many of the trackers is keeping them charged and several times the data transfer gets screwed up because of issues mainly with MFP since MFP has become so glitchy. This happens especially around the first of the year with so many new trackers getting synced to MFP; MFP can't handle the load and when MFP updates. Thankfully, that's usually a temporary problem.0 -
I have the fitbit chargehr and it is inaccurate on a windy day it said i climed 57 steps when i only walked 20 min on a flat surface, it overestimates calories burned and overestimates steps by 5000.
Checkout the fitbit forumsthere are posts about the inaccuracies of this tracker.0 -
watcher1600 wrote: »I have the fitbit chargehr and it is inaccurate on a windy day it said i climed 57 steps when i only walked 20 min on a flat surface, it overestimates calories burned and overestimates steps by 5000.
Checkout the fitbit forumsthere are posts about the inaccuracies of this tracker.
see I found the opposite.
I shovelled snow for 45mins...fitbit gave me 6 active minutes.... jawbone covered it the entire time0 -
I've heard the Garmin activity trackers are a good alternative0
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I just got my fit bit about 2 weeks ago (Fitbit Flex) and I absolutely love it. As others have said it is a HUGE motivator. The challenges keep me wanting to "win" so it helps me stay active. My hubby has one also so we can battle throughout the day and it keeps being active fun! I haven't had any issues with my steps being inaccurate but the calorie estimate is way off so I just don't look at that part of it. I also don't eat back any of my calories so even if it syncs incorrectly with mfp it doesn't affect me.0
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I have the Charge HR and I love it. I eat back most of the extra calories it gives me and have continued to lose weight at about the rate I expected. The community is great too. I have a lot of friends with Fitbits and the challenges really do keep you motivated to move more. Even if I have already worked out, I often will get up off the couch to get the rest of my steps in, where in the past I would have just been lazy for the rest of the night.0
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None of the pricey GPRS exercise watches are really worth it given that they do a lot more than you usually need and you can get cheaper, second hand alternatives in good condition... almost always...0
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I have the charge HR and I can say that the heart rate monitor part is pretty useless for when you're actually exercising, it was reporting 135bpm this morning on the elliptical and then when I used the grip-HR monitor thing on the elliptical it posted me at 160bpm. As a step tracker it's cool though, and I like that it measures floors climbed, but I'm not sure how accurate that is. I know I definitely haven't gone up 31 floors today, more like 6 so far. Other days it has been spot on.0
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I have the Charge HR - upgraded from the Flex a few months ago. Accurate? Not always - but, that is ok. My aim is to try and match or better my movement on any given day since I have a desk job. I do not eat back the calories it gives me - sometimes maybe a small percentage. Such as Sunday it gave me an extra 1200 calories from working my tail off, weeding, raking winter stuff up, hand mowing, walking dogs - did not eat those back. Tracks my exercise and active minutes without having to tell it to. - not to the very second and sometimes it says I was playing badminton -- hahaha. You can go in and start and stop exercise times also.
I use it for my silent alarm through the week. It is my watch now and it also tells me who is calling on my phone so I don't have to dig that out or run into the other room. Also, I had used a Polar HR for a long time, now just my Charge. So, overall I have had a positive experience with my FitBit.0 -
It's a fad, I'm healthy without it...0
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I have a garim one and though it is not super accurate it helps motivate me to be more active Isn't that the point of it.0
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ubermofish wrote: »I have the charge HR and I can say that the heart rate monitor part is pretty useless for when you're actually exercising, it was reporting 135bpm this morning on the elliptical and then when I used the grip-HR monitor thing on the elliptical it posted me at 160bpm. As a step tracker it's cool though, and I like that it measures floors climbed, but I'm not sure how accurate that is. I know I definitely haven't gone up 31 floors today, more like 6 so far. Other days it has been spot on.
Arent the HRM and calories burned functions on exercise equipment useless though?0
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