Track exercise from Fitbit to MFP

NelliR86
NelliR86 Posts: 90 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone,

I have a fitbit and I know that exercise and tracking food on MFP will go to my Fitbit app, however I am wondering if there is a way to track my fitbit exercises to MFP. For example I use my fitbit to calculate my runs, but it only stays in the app. If I input my run manually into MFP, it gets counted twice. (MFP adds it to fitbit) So I am wondering if there is a way to syncs it so that what every I put in my Fitbit app will show up on MFP. Sorry if this doesn’t make sense.
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Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,228 Member
    If you have your Fitbit synched to MFP, it's giving you your exercise calories, it's just not itemizing and labeling them.

    Broadly, the way the synch works is that the tracker sends MFP the total calories it estimates you've burned at that point in the day - exercise, job, whatever. MFP compares that to the number of calories it expects you to have burned, based on the data in your MFP profile, including an allowance (subtraction) for the calorie deficit you need for the requested weight loss rate.

    If the tracker says you're more active than MFP expected, you get a positive calorie adjustment added to your goal. If the tracker says you're less active than MFP expected, and you have negative adjustments enabled in MFP, MFP will subtract calories from your goal to keep you at the same estimated weight loss rate.

    Depending on the course of your day, you could get multiple adjustments during the day, and there can be some prediction (by the software) used in that process. By the time the time the day is over, it should all account for the difference between the tracker's estimate and MFP's estimate. (If you don't have negative adjustments turned on, you could get a zero calories added day when it would be more accurate to have given you some negative calories.)

    I hope that makes sense.
  • NelliR86
    NelliR86 Posts: 90 Member
    Yes thank you, this makes sense. I guess I figured it wasn’t going because my calories are about 60-70 off on MFP so I figured it was basing the calories off just my steps and not my exercise. Bummer it can’t itemize them. But thank you so much for answering.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,228 Member
    NelliR86 wrote: »
    Yes thank you, this makes sense. I guess I figured it wasn’t going because my calories are about 60-70 off on MFP so I figured it was basing the calories off just my steps and not my exercise. Bummer it can’t itemize them. But thank you so much for answering.

    MFP expects your activity level setting in your profile to be based on your pre-exercise activity level (i.e., just the activity from your job, home chores, and other aspects of daily life). It doesn't use the number/length of workouts you put in your profile in the calorie estimate at all, either (because it expects you to synch a tracker or log exercise when you do it); the exercise entries in profile are just a goal it uses for some attaboy/attagirl messages.

    If you set your MFP profile's activity level with your exercise in mind, that's also a thing that can result in people getting smaller positive adjustments than their tracker exercise calories lead them to expect, in addition to the statistical factors I mentioned.

    This stuff is kind of complicated to get sorted out in one's mind at first, but it will snap into place with a little more experience. (I've been here for almost 7 years now, losing then maintaining . . . still learning more all the time.) Good show asking a question about something you were finding confusing: That can help with that sorting out process.

    Wishing you much success!
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Fitbit is a replace only system (unlike MFP).

    So that 2nd Workout Record you see that came from MFP replaces the calorie burn from the 1st in the daily total.
    The distance and steps and HR info remain from the initial Activity Record, because that incoming workout only had calorie info.

    So if you used the same calories as Fitbit already had on a manually created MFP worout - the main issue is you accidentally using a different start or duration time, indeed creating a 2nd workout.

    A secondary issue is it requires 2 more syncs now - MFP to Fitbit, and Fitbit to report a new but perhaps exactly the same Daily burn total back to MFP.

    For as many as have sync issues with Fitbit - requiring 2 more may not be good.

    MFP exercise diary really isn't that nice anyway - Fitbit is much better. Not sure why you'd want the workout data here anyway.

    As Ann explained, the workout calories are indeed accounted for anyway, along with any other increase to daily activity MFP estimated wrong by your activity level guess.

    Fitbit for all activity related data and logging, MFP for all food related data and logging.

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