Is the Fitbit Worth It?

lavanderpaws
lavanderpaws Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I use the fitbit flex (the old one) and the way it counts calories seems pretty weird. It's 9am currently and throught my sleep to now ive lost 660 calories. That seems like way to much even if you lose calories by doing nothing. Are tracking the fitbits calories you burn throught the day worth it?

Replies

  • gogetemrogue
    gogetemrogue Posts: 80 Member
    Fitbit includes your estimated Resting Metabolic Rate into your daily total. If you set it up correctly and pair it with myfitness pal, the number of exercise calories if gives you on myfitnesspal are what you would consider as burned in addition to your RMR.
  • Calliope610
    Calliope610 Posts: 3,783 Member
    I had a Flex for a year or two and enjoyed the ability to track my activity. I upgraded to the Charge 2 and love it. I still use it primarily to encourage activity (walking, hiking, cycling) and I don't rely on the calories burned estimates (I don't have my FitBit linked to MFP).

    FitBit is very helpful to me as I attempt to get 1000 steps per hour during my waking hours of 7am to 9pm - that is a goal of 14000 daily steps. I have a desk job, so I quick glance at my FitBit lets me know if I "need" to go to the copier or fax machine, if I "need" to talk personally with a co-worker rather than send an email - you get the picture. On weekends, all the housework, yard work, shopping, etc adds up to 1000's of steps.

    For me, my FitBit is a valuable tool for weight loss.
  • PokeyBug
    PokeyBug Posts: 482 Member
    Some people love them, some people hate them. I found mine to be wildly inaccurate for me. (I think my hypotension was problematic for it.) Fortunately, it was a gift, so no regrets about wasting my money. To figure out if your sleep calories are off, divide your BMR by 24 and multiply by the number of hours sleeping. It sounds a little crazy to have already burnt 660 calories while sleeping, but if you were asleep for 8 hours, that's 1/3 of your day. Depending on your height, weight, etc., it might be accurate. Give it a shot for a couple of weeks, it might prove accurate for you. Or it might not. Don't be too bummed out if it doesn't work out, but you'll never know for sure until you try.
  • UncaToddly
    UncaToddly Posts: 146 Member
    I like my Charge 2. The only problems I had with it are:

    1) Since you can sync it with your phone (which we do not own) it does not come with a bluetooth USB dongle for the computer. This meant we had to order one on the secondary market as they are no longer sold by Fitbit all the time.

    2) I drive a sitdown forklift all day and because of the way it reads the motion that give me step credit, I can get 20,000 fake steps in each day without a problem because it reads all of my constant turning back and forth as steps. :) Ideally I would be able to maybe put it on my ankle or something but as I am already wearing a large band, I would need a much larger one to wear it there. :) This isn't really a problem with the Fitbit though, if I were a 5'2" woman who weighted 130 and still did the same job, I could find a band that fit my ankle. :)
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,242 Member
    UncaToddly wrote: »
    I like my Charge 2. The only problems I had with it are:
    2) I drive a sitdown forklift all day and because of the way it reads the motion that give me step credit, I can get 20,000 fake steps in each day without a problem because it reads all of my constant turning back and forth as steps. :) Ideally I would be able to maybe put it on my ankle or something but as I am already wearing a large band, I would need a much larger one to wear it there. :) This isn't really a problem with the Fitbit though, if I were a 5'2" woman who weighted 130 and still did the same job, I could find a band that fit my ankle. :)

    If you have reasonable grounds to believe that the "20,000 fake steps" are causing an inflated burn, you can over-ride what Fitbit "detected" by creating custom exercise activity during that same time frame. You could then assign "driving a forklift" a suitable BMR multiplier and calories. Off the top of my head I would assign it 1.4x BMR, in other words MFP lightly active, for the duration. Or MFP active (BMR x 1.6). Or somewhere in between the two... your long term trend will tell you how accurate you are!

    If you want to get even more involved... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1784117/ has a sample spreadsheet where you can manually enter all of your activities for the day, their duration, and their MET values and the conversions formulas they're using come up with a TDEE (TEE) estimate!
  • HeyJudii
    HeyJudii Posts: 264 Member
    I got a Blaze as a gift and it has helped me tremendously by encouraging me to move more. I think it is pretty accurate, because my BMR as determined by my Fitbit (months of data), MyFitnessPal, and other sites only vary slightly. As far as calories burned, if it is reading lower than what I have actually burned, no problem, and higher? Still no problem, since I only eat my exercise calories on the weekend, and only eat up to my calorie burn goal regardless of how much more MyFitnessPal says I've earned.

    By using both tools, I have lost weight and increased my fitness level satisfactorily.
  • lisamarieb64mfp
    lisamarieb64mfp Posts: 18 Member
    I've had various fitness trackers over the past 7+ yrs and Fitbit is my 2nd favorite brand (1st favorite was my first one and no longer available). I am currently using the Blaze. I found the calorie burns to be accurate for me until I entered full symptom peri (3+ yrs ago). Much like the forklift driver all devices I've used over the years count steps when I am on the tractor but thankfully that isn't an everyday thing for me (though for a few wks a year it's an almost everyday thing). Despite there "issues" I LOVE them and can't seem to give them up!!!
  • fr33sia12
    fr33sia12 Posts: 1,258 Member
    I got a fitbit as I had started a new job (a desk job) and wanted to see how many steps I was taking throughout the day & during the walk to & from work. The step count was inaccurate as it counted steps everytime I moved my arm during my work as I was sat down at my desk, so had to keep taking it off and putting it back on when I actually walked. Could not be bothered doing that every day.
    I ended up returning that & bought a dramatically cheaper one on Amazon which turned out to be a lot more accurate.
  • Dani9585
    Dani9585 Posts: 215 Member
    I have a One and have just bought a Versa. I'm wearing both right now, to see if the Versa will readjust itself to be more accurate (as I have read that it will after a few weeks; not sure if this is true). My One is pretty accurate - I have watched it count the steps when I walk.

    In general, I have really liked Fitbit. I work myself more when I use it and it helps to hold myself accountable for my choices. I bought my One used off of EBay, and had started having syncing problems with the app after a couple years of use. Despite troubleshooting, Fitbit couldn't figure it out. The One worked fine, it was JUST syncing issues - they sent me a brand new One. I was not expecting that, especially since I had bought it used (and I advised them of that). I haven't tried other brands, and would be willing to do so, but I thought the Versa was the most visually appealing.
  • Leannep2201
    Leannep2201 Posts: 441 Member
    I have a Charge 2 HR and love it.
    I don’t pay any attention to the calories burned by normal daily activity/ steps etc, only if I’ve done some exercise (played sport/ gone for a walk). Then I only eat back half.
    The benefits for me of my Fitbit are all about the step tracking- I use it to make sure I hit my daily step total (10k), and

    I’ve found mine to be pretty accurate. It’s made me more active- I now move more intentionally, whereas I didn’t pre-Fitbit, and if I think that I’m not going to hit my daily total, I get out for a walk to make sure that I do.

  • doittoitgirl
    doittoitgirl Posts: 157 Member
    I love mine. I got one of the first models used for cheap and it is still running. I really want to upgrade to a heart rate model (but am currently lacking the necessary fundage). I got a cheap chinese copycat cause it was all I could afford and it hardly works. Just going to have to save up for a name brand fitbit!

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