Fitbit tracker vs exercise log?

Because your Fitbit is synched, it won't matter if you do log it, so long as you log the correct time - so that you don't double-dip.

heybales wrote: »

MFP says to log it here merely to keep eyeballs on their ads.

Their exercise diary isn't really that great - Fitbit is usually preferred by many.

Just remember that Fitbit is a replace only system - so if you logged an actual workout time/duration with 1 or 0 calories here on MFP - you just caused a workout to sync over and replace actual calories with 1 or 0 - which is obviously wrong.

If you want friends here to see the workouts - just make a wall post with more interesting info for them to see - or enter it exactly like a boring workout entry.

If you really want to log workouts here - you'll need to see what Fitbit came up with for calorie burn and start/duration time - and duplicate it here.
That way it's direct replacement - and then nevermind the extra entries on Fitbit's diary, it doesn't effect the daily total anyway.
And if doing that, some workouts are best manually entered like lifting or circuit training - because by steps is badly underestimated, by HR would be badly inflated. So can log that workout on MFP or Fitbit.

I've tried to declare my work day a workout and credit myself with only half the calories Fitbit offered for it. It didn't work. Whatever number Fitbit tells MFP, that seems to be the total.

Mine is synced but it never shows a workout.. I have to add mine

autumnblade75 wrote: »

heybales wrote: »

MFP says to log it here merely to keep eyeballs on their ads.

Their exercise diary isn't really that great - Fitbit is usually preferred by many.

Just remember that Fitbit is a replace only system - so if you logged an actual workout time/duration with 1 or 0 calories here on MFP - you just caused a workout to sync over and replace actual calories with 1 or 0 - which is obviously wrong.

If you want friends here to see the workouts - just make a wall post with more interesting info for them to see - or enter it exactly like a boring workout entry.

If you really want to log workouts here - you'll need to see what Fitbit came up with for calorie burn and start/duration time - and duplicate it here.
That way it's direct replacement - and then nevermind the extra entries on Fitbit's diary, it doesn't effect the daily total anyway.
And if doing that, some workouts are best manually entered like lifting or circuit training - because by steps is badly underestimated, by HR would be badly inflated. So can log that workout on MFP or Fitbit.

I've tried to declare my work day a workout and credit myself with only half the calories Fitbit offered for it. It didn't work. Whatever number Fitbit tells MFP, that seems to be the total.

So Fitbit already saw the increased activity and has increased calorie burn for the day, and sent that to MFP.

But you don't think that Fitbit was right and only want half the calories for the work?

What is your work that you think it's so inflated for calorie burn on.

And adding a workout is indeed not the way to do it - but there is a way depending on why you think it's so wrong.

heybales wrote: »

autumnblade75 wrote: »

heybales wrote: »

MFP says to log it here merely to keep eyeballs on their ads.

Their exercise diary isn't really that great - Fitbit is usually preferred by many.

Just remember that Fitbit is a replace only system - so if you logged an actual workout time/duration with 1 or 0 calories here on MFP - you just caused a workout to sync over and replace actual calories with 1 or 0 - which is obviously wrong.

If you want friends here to see the workouts - just make a wall post with more interesting info for them to see - or enter it exactly like a boring workout entry.

If you really want to log workouts here - you'll need to see what Fitbit came up with for calorie burn and start/duration time - and duplicate it here.
That way it's direct replacement - and then nevermind the extra entries on Fitbit's diary, it doesn't effect the daily total anyway.
And if doing that, some workouts are best manually entered like lifting or circuit training - because by steps is badly underestimated, by HR would be badly inflated. So can log that workout on MFP or Fitbit.

I've tried to declare my work day a workout and credit myself with only half the calories Fitbit offered for it. It didn't work. Whatever number Fitbit tells MFP, that seems to be the total.

So Fitbit already saw the increased activity and has increased calorie burn for the day, and sent that to MFP.

But you don't think that Fitbit was right and only want half the calories for the work?

What is your work that you think it's so inflated for calorie burn on.

And adding a workout is indeed not the way to do it - but there is a way depending on why you think it's so wrong.

I scan boxes and slap labels on them. Waving my arms around probably burns fewer calories than walking. I'm not certain that Fitbit is necessarily off-base with it's estimate, but I was experimenting with how Fitbit and MFP communicate between themselves, and it is no so easy to shrug off the calories that Fitbit has decided you've earned - even if you earned them by waving your arms around.

(Edit:) I have a bigger problem with timing. Because I start work around 3 am, Fitbit doesn't seem to expect me to do all that moving around so early. And they don't expect me to go to bed nearly as early as I need to, either. So I was having an issue with a big chunk of those *earned* calories being rescinded later, after I'd eaten them. I've corrected for this by telling MFP that I'm in an entirely different time-zone. Now I'm credited fewer calories for work, and they aren't subtracted after I go to bed. I'm pretty sure I haven't done enough arm-waving to earn an extra 900 calories, but I'm perfectly happy with an extra 300.

heybales wrote: »

That effect is very true.

You go to bed early and MFP in it's math for that Calorie Adjustment is estimating rest of the day at BMR x 1.25 for Sedentary or 1.4 for Lightly-Active (probably your setting if no tracker).
Problem is the next day Fitbit has synced with device and gotten that period of time at BMR level burn, which is reported to MFP which corrects the prior day.

You can calculate the correction and leave that much in green.

It should mess stuff up between accounts with time zone wrong, with likely your device and phone being correct.
Not sure how that is working correctly for you.

Considering all non-step time is given BMR level burn - you merely being awake at work burns more, so underestimated. You actually moving your arms around burns even more, more underestimated.

You can create a Fitbit Activity Record to see what it thinks about a chunk of time - just have to provide a start and end time, call it Work, and see what it thought steps, distance, and calorie burn was for that whole time.

Then figure out your Mifflin BMR for the same time period (even though not sleeping, at least a start) - and see the difference.

I'll bet it's realistic.

I do not care to leave calories uneaten. I find it a much neater solution to tell MFP to pretend midnight is 5 hours earlier. I tried guessing how many calories would be debited while I slept, and it wasn't working for me at all. I really expected MFP to send that information to Fitbit to "correct" the discrepancy. ***shrug*** When it looked like it was working, I stopped playing with it.

I'm not sure how you figure anything is being underestimated. I do realize that waving my arms around burns more calories than standing still, and that merely being upright burns more than lying down. But waving my arms around doesn't burn as many calories as walking.

Further, I've set everything at sedentary because I prefer to start with bare bones and only take credit for what I've earned, rather than borrowing on an expectation that I'll keep moving. I find it less stressful. Nobody needs extra stress - I haven't done the research, but I hear cortisol from stress will hold onto belly fat.

How is creating an Activity Record any different from telling Fitbit that my work hours were a workout?

heybales wrote: »

Ya, MFP only sends out workouts and food summary to Fitbit. no corrections to totals or such. Totally on MFP side.

It receives in from Fitbit just the day's burn. Well, and steps as a stat.

I say underestimated because if you just stand no steps - Fitbit is calculating a BMR level of burn, like when sleeping.
But you are standing - obviously burning more.
If you are standing moving arms - even more.

Now - if Fitbit is seeing some steps you are higher than BMR - and that's why I said you could look at your whole work shift and see how many steps, resulting distance (usually minor if from false steps), and calculated calorie burn (again minor if from short distance).
That may not be that much above BMR for the same time period. Hence my bet it's underestimated, if a lot of no step time - guaranteed.


A Workout Record is when you tell Fitbit a start and duration time, and you either input calories or select a database entry.
An Activity Record is when you give a name for it and select start/end times - all the stats are what Fitbit already had.

A Workout Record replaces what Fitbit already came up with what you entered.
An Activity Record is just a snapshot of the stats, and does nothing to change them.

In fact you can do a workout manual entry after an Activity Record, and the snapshot doesn't change - it's the original stats. But the daily stats will now reflect your change.

So you may have created an Activity Record if you did as I explained.
But when you said entered a workout, that sounds like a workout with you selecting the calories.
So I may have misunderstood what you meant.

What did it come up with for calories in how much time?
Do you know your BMR?
Curious about the difference. Because I've assisted other people in confirming if their standing work (like hair stylist, or UPS sorter standing in place) seemed realistic.


Good to know the time zone thing works, I'll suggest that to others that work like night shifts.
How many days of fiddling to discover what worked correctly?

If I am scanning with my right hand and applying labels with my left, Fitbit records each package as a step. If I am asked to scan left-handed, I don't register any steps. I do not fiddle with differentiating what portion of each day I scan with which hand. Today was mostly a left-handed day, and I only got 57 calories for it, which I think may be a little low. So perhaps sometimes there might be underestimating. Usually I scan right-handed, and while I'm still happy with 300 or so calories, I still don't think 900 is accurate at all.

I don't think I've ever tried to tell Fitbit how many calories I burned in a workout. I have tried to tell MFP to override what Fitbit said, with a workout entry here, and that doesn't seem to affect the totals, at all. Thank you for explaining the differences.

I went and plugged my stats into a Mifflin St. Jeor calculator, and wasn't particularly surprised by the results. Funny you mention UPS. They're my employer. Sometimes I sort the odd package after scanning it, too. On days when all I do is sort, I get REALLY BIG numbers. That's fun, too. I haven't been seriously logging for a while, the job is part-time, I also run, but I spent pretty much all of 2018 injured - and I'm not great at compliance. I'm still tweaking the numbers, but I aim to eat no less than 1700 calories (gross) on a rest day. OTOH, I told MFP sedentary and gave it the unrealistic 2 lbs. per week goal. If I go over goal by 200 or so calories, I might should still be able to lose 1 lb.

Back when I was testing how to tell MFP to ignore what Fitbit said and give me only half of those extra calories from work, I hadn't yet thought of the time-zone trick. I'm no longer asking MFP to ignore the Fitbit, since they're no longer being rescinded while I sleep. Got that one right on the first try. I just decided that my own personal midnight would be 7pm, instead. That's when I shoot to go to bed, and I'm definitely not eating any later than that. It's a difference of 5 hours, so I looked at Central time (GMT -6:00) and moved it up 5 hours (GMT -1:00) and math involving time zones is not my strong point - there is visualization of what the sun is doing and consulting with maps to confirm which area is East of the other... so I'm kind of surprised I got that part right. The allotment is not always the same in the morning as it was when I checked it the night before, but it is no longer a difference of greater than 200 calories, which was too much for my mental game. I haven't seen any shift-workers asking about that since I'd thought of it, but I'm all for recommending playing with time zones.

Oh, yeah - they yell all day about egress, but don't stop for even a second to correct the situation or a supervisor wants to know why the belt is off. Since my main job is scanning, I keep near the printer, and only try to help my sorter out with things that sort near me. It has the added benefit of stopping him trying to sort boxes behind my head when he hasn't got room to step close enough to do it safely. Only 1 work injury so far, and it was a freak thing. My shoulder stopped working when I grabbed a label. I really resent having to pass (with a perfect score!) the safety test before going to the clinic to have it looked at. I still don't know what happened that day.

I'm glad you agree that it's going to be difficult to improve on Fitbit's accuracy with this type of job. One coworker likes to tell me how innacurate Fitbit is every time he sees the thing on my wrist. I value his opinion on the matter so little that that doesn't rustle my jimmies, but have an internet stranger say something and I get all defensive. Something's probably wrong with me.

Back when I worked overnight for Sam's Club, the hours were 9pm to 5am, and I slept 11am to 7pm - I might have wanted to offset by a full 12 hours! And the weekends are really the killers. Or days off - like anyone gets Saturday and Sunday anymore. Any time you don't sleep the same hours as the rest of the week. I mean, left to my own devices, I'd keep the same schedule like a vampire - but other people value social interaction in person much more than I do.