Fitbit Versa confusion

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gofaulk28
gofaulk28 Posts: 21 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I got a Versa for Christmas. My plan is to log food on mfp, log my walking/jogging through Runkeeper and just let my Fitbit do its thing. I have Fitbit and Runkeeper synced on here. Yesterday was my first day of doing this. My cardio was correctly logged here through Runkeeper, but I had a "fitbit calorie adjustment" which gave me an extra 90 calories to eat. I guess my question is, are those calorie adjustments ok to eat back? I'm worried that somehow I'm double-dipping here and I don't want to gain weight. I've never had a Fitbit and I'm just kind of confused as to how it all works and why it's adding more calories to my total. TIA!

Replies

  • Amerek412
    Amerek412 Posts: 74 Member
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    I would say yes, you are double dipping. Assuming you have auto-detect turned on for your Fitbit, it will automatically recognize your runs and record on your Fitbit app. And even if you don't have that turned on, your Fitbit is always going to record your steps for your runs and give you extra calories for that. I assume that having them both synced, MFP treats them as 2 separate exersizes/calorie burns instead of the same one and give you the extra calories for both. I'd chose one to have synced to MFP for the calorie adjustment
  • gofaulk28
    gofaulk28 Posts: 21 Member
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    That does make sense, and thanks for the response. I guess my confusion is why would FitBit only give me an extra 90 calories for a 5 mile walk? Runkeeper gave me about 400 calories, I just don't get it!!
  • RetiredAndLovingIt
    RetiredAndLovingIt Posts: 1,394 Member
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    I’m no expert, but I think you only got 90 because it “saw” the calories that Runkeeper gave you, so only added to that. Same as if you have your profile set up for more active than you actually are, you won’t get much of an adjustment.
  • gofaulk28
    gofaulk28 Posts: 21 Member
    edited December 2018
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    So I should keep RunKeeper AND the FitBit synced to mfp? I don't log any type of workout or exercise on the FitBit, I just let it count my steps. Runkeeper has always seemed to pretty much accurately log my walks/jogs so I would like to stick with that app too. I have my activity level set to sedentary.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    No you are not double dipping, but you may be updating Fitbit potentially more correct info with the runkeeper info for the workout.

    Fitbit is a replace only system, not add to system. so unless you have the times totally off by say 12 hrs, and you have Fitbit with the workout, and another chunk of time with the same workout synced from RK, there is no issue.

    That workout comes from RK to MFP, which then sends it off to Fitbit, where it replaces the calorie burn for that chunk of time.
    Only if RK got the calorie burn from Fitbit in the first place would that not matter.
    But RK is known to inflate calorie burns.

    That MFP adjustment is NOT a workout - it is the total difference between the reported Fitbit daily burn, and what MFP thought you'd burn with no workouts plus any workouts it knows about.

    So if there was no workout form RK on MFP, the adjustment would have been even bigger. But the end result for eating goal would have been exactly the same.

    You are getting an adjustment because MFP is trying to correct itself to a better estimated device.

    Read through this, first section couple times.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10098937/faq-syncing-logging-food-exercise-calorie-adjustments-activity-levels-accuracy/p1
  • gofaulk28
    gofaulk28 Posts: 21 Member
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    Thank you so much for the helpful link!! I was scared to eat the "calorie adjustment" calories back from Fitbit. I'm almost at my goal weight so I'm trying to keep my logging tight.
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
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    I started with Map My Walk synced in with my Fitbit but decided to delete the app from my phone after a few days as it was not giving me any additional information that I needed and Fitbit is more accurate when it comes to walking (and would for jogging) calories as it has the HR included. It has done wonders for my phones battery life.

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