So santa bought me a Fitbit charge 2

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And I have synced it no problems.

But can anyone explain the benefits of having the Fitbit and MFP synced together. I notice it tracks steps in MFP, but it doesn't allow it to count as your exercise....fair enough. I am heading to the gym in the morning and am wondering if the exercise will show up on MFP once the Fitbit has recognised it.

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  • neldabg
    neldabg Posts: 1,452 Member
    edited December 2016
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    Imo, the biggest benefit is that it automatically adds exercise calories for me. I don't have to manually log a thing. I've never had any exercise show up on MFP though.
  • Spitspot81
    Spitspot81 Posts: 208 Member
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    neldabg wrote: »
    Imo, the biggest benefit is that it automatically adds exercise calories for me. I don't have to manually log a thing. I've never had any exercise show up on MFP though.

    That's great news...I did hope it would manually add it. Do you switch the Fitbit when you are doing different types of exercise?? For example I will do a 10 min run as a warm up before then doing weights. Should I reset the Fitbit for the different exercises
  • JoRolleNola
    JoRolleNola Posts: 152 Member
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    I just got the fitbit charge 2. I'm still learning about it. jorollenola@gmail.com
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    The only things MFP reads from Fitbit are the number of steps taken and total calories burned. It can't tell whether those calories are from exercise, daily activity, or BMR.

    Everything else should be covered in this post in the Fitbit group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10098937/faq-syncing-logging-food-exercise-calorie-adjustments-activity-levels-accuracy
  • acaudill042106
    acaudill042106 Posts: 108 Member
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    I've had mine for a week (Santa visited our house early). I LOVE it! It gives me a more accurate look. I was eating WAY too little. MFP was calculating my workouts at a much lower burn. Now that I'm eating more, my energy level is up and I'm enjoying my workouts more. Add me if you'd like mrs.ashley.caudill@gmail.com
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    spitapot81 wrote: »
    neldabg wrote: »
    Imo, the biggest benefit is that it automatically adds exercise calories for me. I don't have to manually log a thing. I've never had any exercise show up on MFP though.

    That's great news...I did hope it would manually add it. Do you switch the Fitbit when you are doing different types of exercise?? For example I will do a 10 min run as a warm up before then doing weights. Should I reset the Fitbit for the different exercises

    It's pretty automated. It doesn't import individual workouts to MFP, but it does import the sum of calories burned and number of steps. You could set the automatic exercise detection to 10 minutes and it will automatically guess at the type of exercise you are doing if it involves steps, so you don't need to manually log these either. Even if it doesn't automatically pick up a certain exercise or doesn't detect the exercise correctly, the calorie burn will still be there even if the exercise isn't listed as a distinctive exercise.

    Almost everything in Charge is pretty much automated, so all you have to do is wear it. I would be careful of the calorie burn, though. HR tends to overestimate by a lot.
  • Spitspot81
    Spitspot81 Posts: 208 Member
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    I've had mine for a week (Santa visited our house early). I LOVE it! It gives me a more accurate look. I was eating WAY too little. MFP was calculating my workouts at a much lower burn. Now that I'm eating more, my energy level is up and I'm enjoying my workouts more. Add me if you'd like mrs.ashley.caudill@gmail.com

    Thanks, I have sent you a request
  • Cylphin60
    Cylphin60 Posts: 863 Member
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    I've had mine for a month or so and (forgive the dissenting voice here) I personally have found it much simpler to log calories and exercise via mfp alone, and simply use the Fitbit as a tracker alone.

    Mfp already overestimates burn, as does the Fitbit, so it's just simpler for me to log all exercise as cardio. I manually halve the calories burned when entering it, and leave myself half of that remaining number as calories I can eat back if I choose. I'm convinced calories are overestimated at least that much.

    As a tracker for steps/sleep/hr, I think it's a wonderful device. It's consistently nailed my sleep, stairs climbed, and pretty close on the steps and distance. HR may not be dead on, but it does a passable job of recording rhythms over a period of time.
  • Spitspot81
    Spitspot81 Posts: 208 Member
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    Cylphin60 wrote: »
    I've had mine for a month or so and (forgive the dissenting voice here) I personally have found it much simpler to log calories and exercise via mfp alone, and simply use the Fitbit as a tracker alone.

    Mfp already overestimates burn, as does the Fitbit, so it's just simpler for me to log all exercise as cardio. I manually halve the calories burned when entering it, and leave myself half of that remaining number as calories I can eat back if I choose. I'm convinced calories are overestimated at least that much.

    As a tracker for steps/sleep/hr, I think it's a wonderful device. It's consistently nailed my sleep, stairs climbed, and pretty close on the steps and distance. HR may not be dead on, but it does a passable job of recording rhythms over a period of time.

    This is exactly what I was considering doing. I guess that in order for me to do this I just disable the calorie adjustment and then log exercise through MFP??? Sorry for all the questions
  • Spitspot81
    Spitspot81 Posts: 208 Member
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    I guess I could monitor the exercise calories on my Fitbit, i.e track calories burnt in the gym, and then add them through MFP?
  • Cylphin60
    Cylphin60 Posts: 863 Member
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    Spitspot81 wrote: »
    I guess I could monitor the exercise calories on my Fitbit, i.e track calories burnt in the gym, and then add them through MFP?

    That's basically what I do. I haven't been able to find a way to "nail" calories burned...I'm not sure there is one...so the approximation I use is good for me. I'm usually full for the day before I max out calories for the day anyway.
  • Cylphin60
    Cylphin60 Posts: 863 Member
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    Spitspot81 wrote: »
    Cylphin60 wrote: »
    I've had mine for a month or so and (forgive the dissenting voice here) I personally have found it much simpler to log calories and exercise via mfp alone, and simply use the Fitbit as a tracker alone.

    Mfp already overestimates burn, as does the Fitbit, so it's just simpler for me to log all exercise as cardio. I manually halve the calories burned when entering it, and leave myself half of that remaining number as calories I can eat back if I choose. I'm convinced calories are overestimated at least that much.

    As a tracker for steps/sleep/hr, I think it's a wonderful device. It's consistently nailed my sleep, stairs climbed, and pretty close on the steps and distance. HR may not be dead on, but it does a passable job of recording rhythms over a period of time.

    This is exactly what I was considering doing. I guess that in order for me to do this I just disable the calorie adjustment and then log exercise through MFP??? Sorry for all the questions

    I think that's what I did. I can't remember for sure lol. I need more brain food lol.
  • katie_rnc
    katie_rnc Posts: 30 Member
    edited December 2016
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    Exercise calories show up only after you've burned more than MFP expected you yo burn for the day based on your stated activity level

    Message me if you want to add me to Fitbit