MFP or fitbit?

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So, I "synched" my myfitnesspal and my fitbit...but what i noticed is that my exercise calories from fitbit don't sync to MFP, and if i put calories in MFP, it doubles the "exercise calories". It also doesn't really sync food. on my fitbit app it just says calories. Is there a better way to truly sync these, or is there one that is better to use?

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    Can you explain what exactly you mean by how the exercise calories double in MFP if there isn't a sync from Fitbit?

    Also, you won't see your exact food entries sync to Fitbit from MFP.

    What you should expect to see is a calorie adjustment on MFP from Fitbit (if you move enough to generate one, this won't happen if you set your activity level too high) and a basic calorie intake number from MFP to Fitbit. You won't see specific exercise details on MFP or specific food details on Fitbit.
  • ksz1104
    ksz1104 Posts: 260 Member
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    I got you. What I mean is, I use my fitbit during a workout to record heartrate and calories burned during exercise. I usually select "workout" on my fitbit (I have a charge 2). So my fitbit has recorded the calories from that workout session. If I then enter that calorie burn into MFP, the fitbit will automatically add in the calories from MFP as a separate calorie burn.

    For example this morning i worked out for 40 min and burned 326 calories according to my fit bit. I entered that into MFP as exercise. Now, on my fitbit, it shoes I exercised this morning anf burned 326 calories, PLUS it shoes i entered 326 calories of exercise burn into MFP so the fitbit is treating it like i worked out twice.
  • Bekahmardis
    Bekahmardis Posts: 602 Member
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    Just let the two sync and don't enter it separately into MFP. I let my FitBit sync into MFP and never actually enter any exercise into MFP because my FitBit has already compensated my calorie count for it.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    I think you just need to give it time to synch rather than rushing to go put it into MFP.

    In the mean time, just delete one of the exercises in your FitBit. I usually set my FitBit to "ride" when I go cycling so that it won't start giving me a bunch of steps on top of the ride I'm doing...it never tracks my rides properly, so I delete it and then enter a manual ride into the app as per the information on my Garmin bike computer.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,605 Member
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    Your manually entered MFP information overwrites and overrides the detected by your Fitbit information for the time period assuming time Information is synchronized accurately between the apps.

    My suggestion would be to NOT enter the activity on MFP as a cardio activity.

    If you want to make a status post, of course, you can do so to tell your friends what you did.
  • Fflpnari
    Fflpnari Posts: 975 Member
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    I have mine set up not to add calories. but it still syncs my weight etc.
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
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    I thought the whole point of syncing was so you didn't HAVE to enter exercise into MFP anymore. Also, I don't need exact food diary data going back into my Fitbit. I have the detailed food info here on MFP. All I need is for the calories to transfer back to Fitbit, and it does that. I think it works great, personally. The two have worked well together and have been very fun and helpful to me. B)
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    Most people log food in MFP, exercise (if non step based) in FitBit (step based activities don’t need to be “logged”) and let the two systems sync up and adjust calories accordingly. It’s important to understand that it may not exactly match your exercise calorie burn, what syncs is the difference between what MFP thinks you will burn in a day, without exercise, and what FitBit says you actually burned, including general activity and purposeful exercise.

    Enable negative adjustments in order to account for days you don’t move as much and trust the tools!