Fitbit users please?

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Sepheara
Sepheara Posts: 208 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey all,

I have a heart rate monitor watch I wear when I work out. Usually I wear it when I play Zumba on the 360. I put my fingers on the sensors between each dance set and it works well. I initially got it becauase I thought MFPs numbers were off. And according to my HRM they were. However, most people say MFP is off by giving them too many exercise calories, according to my HRM it was giving me too few. by several hundred. So I kinda ditched the HRM and went with what MFP was saying, I'd rather think I burned 500 calories instead of 700.

A friend of mine oin my vanpool however was telling me about fibtbit. I really like the sound of it, and checked their website. I like how I will be able to track my sleep and steps and everything, and no monthly subscription. But then I looked closer. It doesn't take your heart rate.

. . . . How can it accurately track your calories out without your heart rate? I looked on their FAQ and all it says is that they use your BMR.

So Now I'm worried i'll lay down 100$ and won't get any better idea of my calories in/out.

So if there are any fitbit users out there can you tell me:

how accurate you find the device to be?
how satisfied are you with the product for the price?
does it work or sync up with a bluetooth HRM?

Replies

  • btdublin
    btdublin Posts: 250 Member
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    Sepheara,

    Good question, and I am surprised you didn't get any answers to it. I discovered Fitbit today and think it looks fantastic - but I was concerned about the lack of HR tracking. I've even been looking all over their website and MFP to see what HR monitors will sync with FitBit. It says you can sync or input HR but doesn't say how. I use Nike+ and was thinking about getting a matching Polar HR monitor or a FitBit - both would be a little expensive!

    Perhaps if I reply to your post it will get back up on the boards again and now more people have been using Fitbit we will get an answer.
  • stalksthedawn
    stalksthedawn Posts: 32
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    I love my fitbit but I'm still trying to find out how accurate their calorie count is!
  • Speedtrap
    Speedtrap Posts: 216
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    I have the fitbit, but it does not track HR or cal burned when doing things other than walking or running.
    It is a great device to help improve over all fitness with monitoring, but the HRM is what you need for aerobics or other non step based fitness.
  • pdworkman
    pdworkman Posts: 1,342 Member
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    I don't have a HRM, so I can't compare to that, but here's what I've got:

    - for my running, I rely on my running app (iSmoothRun) for most of my runs. The calories are usually higher than MFP calculates, but pretty close. On long runs, I calculate my calorie burn by both distance and time and take the average of the two. The calories are usually higher for long runs than iSmoothRun calculates.

    - for any of my wii workouts that show calorie counts, I go by that. It is usually pretty close to what MFP calculates, except for Wii Fit, which is quite a bit lower than MFP.

    - MFP feeds activity information to the FitBit site. For me, this usually adds a few hundred calories to FitBit (FitBit measures steps and amount of movement. If you're wearing it on your pants or bra and moving your arms, it doesn't know, right?) If the FitBit calories are higher than the MFP calories (you've done a lot of walking, taken a lot of stairs, moved around more than your "sedentary" setting on MFP,) FitBit will send an upward adjustment to MFP. For me this is usually 100 calories or less.

    In summary, I find that MFP and FitBit are usually pretty close to each other on calorie counts. I like that FitBit will bump up my MFP calories burned if I spend two hours walking around the grocery store, or if I take a bunch of stairs, etc.

    Pam
  • Gshields42
    Gshields42 Posts: 69
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    At the end of the day, the FB is a pedometer. It is an incredibly great one with lots of tools and a great website allowing you a lot of analysis, but it is just a pedometer. It figures caloric burn based on statistics like MFP does, albeit more accurately than MFP because it can see your steps, pace, and activity levels. To get true data for calorie burn you will need to have some variation of HRM, which the FB doesn't have.

    What the FB is really meant to do was to give you a better understanding of your activity level and push you to increase those activities. The community there is outstanding as well. I constantly find myself walking out of the way just to get extra steps, and it has given me a better understanding of where I'm at.

    As to linking an HRM to FB, I can't say I'm familiar with that. I know there is a place where you can store HR statistics (resting HR, Max HR) for comparison like you can with body measurements, but I don't know of any HRM that will import live data to FB. That said, I haven't really looked into it, so there might be something I just am not aware of.
  • MrsStacie
    MrsStacie Posts: 22
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    bump
  • PeeTeePee
    PeeTeePee Posts: 235 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/PeeTeePee/view/why-i-returned-my-fitbit-193911
  • BethanyMasters
    BethanyMasters Posts: 519 Member
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    How can it accurately track your calories out without your heart rate?


    It can't. Like others have said it's just a fancy overpriced pedometer.
  • Gshields42
    Gshields42 Posts: 69
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    I wouldn't say overpriced. At $100, something that can increase my general activities levels throughout the day is worth its weight in gold.

    Fancy? Certainly. It does what it does very well, and it's very well thought out in functionality.

    Just understand what it is.
  • BeardieDad
    BeardieDad Posts: 14 Member
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    I for one find it incredibly useful and do not consider it overpriced for what it does.

    It is a tool and like any tool it has to be understood and applied properly. It is no replacement for a HRM for serious exercise but it is wonderful for estimating whats going on when I walk my dogs, spend time at the office or running around the mall looking for something.
  • imafatloser
    imafatloser Posts: 31
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    I won't repeat what other users have said as they've explained very well what fitbit does. I just thought I'd chime in and say that I LOVE mine and have found it extremely helpful in my fitness journey. I'm a very thrifty person and think it was well worth the price.
  • Speedtrap
    Speedtrap Posts: 216
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    At $100, something that can increase my general activities levels throughout the day is worth its weight in gold.

    Well if it was worth is weight in gold it might be a bit overpriced, at 0.4 oz it current weight in gold would make it worth 653.50
  • Misiaxcore
    Misiaxcore Posts: 659 Member
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    I got my FB a few weeks ago now, and apparently my deficit was WAY too big when I was only using MFP and my Polar FT7 for work outs. I've been at a plateau since October and after using the FB for a week and trying to eat at maintenance, I lost half a pound. Will have to weigh myself again to see if it's helping, but I didn't realize how active I am on some days :3
  • btdublin
    btdublin Posts: 250 Member
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    I got my FB a few weeks ago now, and apparently my deficit was WAY too big when I was only using MFP and my Polar FT7 for work outs. I've been at a plateau since October and after using the FB for a week and trying to eat at maintenance, I lost half a pound. Will have to weigh myself again to see if it's helping, but I didn't realize how active I am on some days :3

    Mis, I am interested in how you stalled when undereating.? What sort of deficit were you in? I am currently coming in at only about 1000-1200 cals per day at the moment and although the weight is falling now I am worried it might stop.

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