Fitbit and Adding Exercises to Daily Logs

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Dani35hope
Dani35hope Posts: 4 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi,

I recently synced my Fitbit to MFP and was wondering how it all works.

Should I still manually enter my exercise or if I manually enter my exercise do I also allow my Fitbit to add calories too. When I cycle I'm not sure if my Fitbit is calculating the same calories as it would if I'm walking because my steps don't increase while I cycle or lift weights.

Any input about how this works would be helpful. I don't want to reward myself with too many calories. :-)

Thank you in advance for your advice!

Replies

  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    No you do not manually enter your exercise if you have your fitbit sync'd to MFP.

    And it depends on what kind you have.

    Mine will track cycling and weights (charge 2) and add in the calories.
  • Dani35hope
    Dani35hope Posts: 4 Member
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    Hi,
    I have the Fitbit HR. At the end of the day I get extra calories, but I'm not sure if it's calculating my cycle class. I'm new at all this.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
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    I would leave the Fitbit home for a bike ride and enter that manually or track it with something that understands cycling. A Fitbit is times for walking and the motion sensor it uses can't really provide meaningful information on a bike to guess calories from with any kind of accuracy.
  • folgers86
    folgers86 Posts: 84 Member
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    I just set the workout to Spinning prior to the start of class. I never eat back 100% or even 80% of my exercise calories because pretty much nothing out there is going to be totally accurate. I have a charge 2, though, and the Fitbit system works differently for different models.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
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    Power meter is pretty much totally accurate for bike calories, FYI.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    NorthCascades wrote: »
    I would leave the Fitbit home for a bike ride and enter that manually or track it with something that understands cycling. A Fitbit is times for walking and the motion sensor it uses can't really provide meaningful information on a bike to guess calories from with any kind of accuracy.

    not so much with the newer fitbits.

    It has a GPS sync with smart phones or built in or you can pair it with Map my X...
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
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    I'd recommend Strava as a free cycling tracker. You'll tell them how much you weigh and what your bike weighs, they know where you rode, how much up and down hill you did, and how fast you were through each part. They calculate how much energy is required to move your total system weight at the speeds you went given the steepness involved.
  • Dani35hope
    Dani35hope Posts: 4 Member
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    Thanks everyone for all your helpful tips.

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