Fitbit calorie counting vs. MyFitnessPal

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tsofreak7770
tsofreak7770 Posts: 1 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hello all. What works better for calorie counting? Seems like MyFitnessPal has a bigger food data base, but it seems like MyFitnessPal tries to cut you short?? Idk. Insight please.

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  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    I had to enter my own foods anyway, and both had their perks and drawbacks. What's perk or drawback will also be somewhat subjective. Eating less, while eating better, so you can keep eating less, is the goal anyway. I don't think I'd even count calories if I were to lose weight now. But counting calories taught me to eat less and better, so I really can't say.
  • kdillon606
    kdillon606 Posts: 14 Member
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    I prefer MFP for counting calories 100%. It seems a bit more strict however it has worked better for my tracking than the fitbit database.
  • Kathryn247
    Kathryn247 Posts: 570 Member
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    I use MFP to log my food, and my FitBit to count my calories. I have them synced so MFP knows how much "credit" to give me for the activity FitBit tracked.
    If you use another Under Armour app like Map My Run that also syncs to MFP, MFP may give you "double credit" for the run, once from Map My Run and once from FitBit. Other than that, it works great.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    I log food intake in MFP.
    I log any non-step exercise in MFP so it shows up on my wall, many log non-step activities in FitBit. Doesn't really matter, it's reconciled either way.
    I have the systems synced, with a reasonable activity level, and negative calorie adjustments enabled.
    I trust the exercise adjustments - have achieved my goals by eating them back.
    I know better than to try to overanalyze the data from the two systems as it will never match.
  • hipari
    hipari Posts: 1,367 Member
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    I log food in MFP and wear my Fitbit all the time except while sleeping, so I don’t log any exercise to MFP separately. I have the systems synced, and negative calorie adjustments enabled. Earlier this week I did a calculation of the previous 10 days, the calorie adjustment consistently leaves a 350 calorie deficit. My goal deficit is 500, so that’s a bit smaller, but knowing what it is makes it easy to work with. I find it annoying that Fitbit doesn’t strive for any sort of consistency with eating, as it doesn’t give a preset calorie range for the day or trust that you will burn what you usually burn. If I look at the graph in the middle of the day, it will show that I’ve eaten more than I’ve burned. Sure, that might be true right after lunch when my workouts and majority of waking hours are still ahead, but that’s enough to make even a more experienced user second-guess their dinner plans.

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