Benefits of Syncing Fitbit Steps with MFP - need some info

GerryD1221
GerryD1221 Posts: 21 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone, I’ve been using MFP for just over a week. A couple days ago I added my Fitbit steps to my calorie count for the day. How accurate is this process as it seems to give me a lot more calories to intake. I’m not using them all. Is anyone else doing this or can provide information on its accuracy...thx. G

Replies

  • QuilterInVA
    QuilterInVA Posts: 672 Member
    It is very accurate. The recommendation is only eat back half hour exercise calories.
  • GerryD1221
    GerryD1221 Posts: 21 Member
    Thank you very much for those comments. I feel a bit better now, and yes I will leave some calories “on the table”. Good pun nanastaci2020.
  • julie0benner
    julie0benner Posts: 3 Member
    I don't trust my Fitbit Cal's completely so I devide Cal's burned in half to be on the safe side
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    julie0benner wrote: »
    I don't trust my Fitbit Cal's completely so I devide Cal's burned in half to be on the safe side

    Do you mean you cut the adjustment in half? Or that you think Fitbit doubles your total daily burn?
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,233 Member
    edited August 2020
    MFP guesses I will spend 50,000 Cal in a day because during setup I declared myself to be a 25ft tall 2500lb sedentary male.

    Fitbit detects that I "actually" spent 55,000 Cal today based on the activity my device "detected" and based on the same initial expectations as MFP.

    This is because my activity as "detected" (more correctly: estimated) by Fitbit, indicated to them that I was actually somewhat closer to lightly active than sedentary--though not quite 100% MFP lightly active which would have been at 56,000 Cal :wink:

    My "exercise adjustment" will be 5,000 Cal because the Fitbit exercise adjustment has nothing to do with exercise! It is just an accounting mechanism that replaces MFP's 50,000 guess with the 55,000 Fitbit "detected".

    As such it is relatively meaningless to try to establish a fixed eat back percentage of the 5,000 Cal adjustment.

    A meaningful eat back percentage would have to be based on the totality of my TDEE as determined by Fitbit.

    That said, the experimental procedure detailed by others above (eating back either some or all and re-evaluating and adjusting 4 to 6 weeks later)... will get you close enough!

    I'm another one of the contingent where Fitbit comes up with total burns well within the usable range when comparing actual results to the expectation of results. It helps that I do log my food fairly diligently, that I use a weight trend app to determine my weight, and that I engage in "Fitbit friendly" activities, while being relatively... average!)

    2rlac0q5ord1.jpg


  • GerryD1221
    GerryD1221 Posts: 21 Member
    Thank you Pav8888, a thorough explanation. Based on this and past comments regarding this, I’m keeping an eye on my calorie gains from Fitbit to monitor my weight loss.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Ditto's to emphasis that just because the Fitbit adjustment happens to be put on the Exercise diary page and math done with it under the Exercise category, does not mean it has anything to do with exercise.

    And it has absolutely nothing to do with the exercise database that MFP and other sites use that can appear to give inflated calorie burns that led to the whole 50% recommendation.

    pav8888 just made something click - if someone happened to pick say lightly-active or active as their MFP level, and almost exactly hit the same daily calorie burn Fitbit was reporting - there would be NO adjustment to even take 50% of.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    edited September 2020
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    MFP guesses I will spend 50,000 Cal in a day because during setup I declared myself to be a 25ft tall 2500lb sedentary male.

    Fitbit detects that I "actually" spent 55,000 Cal today based on the activity my device "detected" and based on the same initial expectations as MFP.

    This is because my activity as "detected" (more correctly: estimated) by Fitbit, indicated to them that I was actually somewhat closer to lightly active than sedentary--though not quite 100% MFP lightly active which would have been at 56,000 Cal :wink:

    My "exercise adjustment" will be 5,000 Cal because the Fitbit exercise adjustment has nothing to do with exercise! It is just an accounting mechanism that replaces MFP's 50,000 guess with the 55,000 Fitbit "detected".

    As such it is relatively meaningless to try to establish a fixed eat back percentage of the 5,000 Cal adjustment.

    A meaningful eat back percentage would have to be based on the totality of my TDEE as determined by Fitbit.

    That said, the experimental procedure detailed by others above (eating back either some or all and re-evaluating and adjusting 4 to 6 weeks later)... will get you close enough!

    I'm another one of the contingent where Fitbit comes up with total burns well within the usable range when comparing actual results to the expectation of results. It helps that I do log my food fairly diligently, that I use a weight trend app to determine my weight, and that I engage in "Fitbit friendly" activities, while being relatively... average!)

    2rlac0q5ord1.jpg


    Nice.

    Now I have to add some columns to my spreadsheet!!

    I did a quick compare though. MFP NEAT + AW Exercise value via Pacer VS Results Calculated TDEE is 0.0183% different. AW Health EE vs Results Calculated TDEE is 0.0131%. MFP is lower and AW is higher than the results.

    The amazing part to me is how my logging ends up in the middle because I do cut a few corners here and there. I have guesses in there of course. I know I forget to log an item here and there. I also know I log a few things too high. It is crazy how it balances out.

  • Onedaywriter
    Onedaywriter Posts: 326 Member
    One thing to be careful of.... some cell phones count steps and sync to MFP. So be sure you’re not double counting. I don’t have Fitbit but stick my iPhone in my pocket when I’m taking a walk
  • nooshi713
    nooshi713 Posts: 4,877 Member
    I find my Fitbit calorie burn estimate to be very accurate.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    mine is pretty accurate. much more so than the mfp exercise calorie calculator. I still enter exercise in mfp, but change the calories burned to 1. I just want the log of it in here. And because i know my logging habits, sometimes its super accurate, sometimes not, I do not typically eat back many exercise calories. I lose at an expected, steady rate most weeks.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »
    mine is pretty accurate. much more so than the mfp exercise calorie calculator. I still enter exercise in mfp, but change the calories burned to 1. I just want the log of it in here. And because i know my logging habits, sometimes its super accurate, sometimes not, I do not typically eat back many exercise calories. I lose at an expected, steady rate most weeks.

    Just for others reading this, since it's about using a tracker and entering the exercise into MFP still.
    Only because I've seen others that don't know the system doing this without understanding the implications.

    Unless you know what you are doing - do NOT enter 1 calorie for an exercise put into MFP if you are syncing an activity tracker.

    With most trackers that workout will go back to the tracker account if synced and replace that chunk of time with 1 calorie burn.
    Even if only 1 min was used - that is last breath about to die rate of calorie burn (probably not even that, I'll bet when clinically dead you burn more with final processes), which is obviously very incorrect.
    And you will have no correct numbers that you are using.

    If using MFP with a TDEE method and no tracker syncing, fine and dandy. (I thought 0 could be entered a while back)

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