Fitbit users... which site do you use most?

acresfield
acresfield Posts: 122 Member
edited December 17 in Health and Weight Loss
I use MFP for logging my food and Fitbit.com for tracking my exercise.
The two sites talk to each other but dont actually seem to give the same results.
For example, the historical data over a month or so on Fitbit.com says that my average burn is 3,056, and my average intake is 2466. A deficit of 500 or so.
MFP says my average intake is somewhere between 1800 and 2000 net calories.

I have no idea which to believe but either way at my calculated TDEE on MFP (too many abbreviations? :noway:) it still is about a 500 to 700 deficit.

I alternate almost daily between which site to believe based on my gut instinct.

Complicated ain't it?!?! :huh:

Replies

  • juliekaiser1988
    juliekaiser1988 Posts: 604 Member
    Funny you should ask...

    I absolutely love my FitBit, and I've compared it with my HRM and was within 5 calories of each other for a specific time/ activity (Zumba class, I'd hit GO on both at the same time and END at the same time).

    I'm wanting to do some investigation on this too. I want to make sure I'm not eating back calories that I didn't necessarily "earn" from exercise, but just day-to-day calories burned. If that makes any sense, either.

    So...

    Today, just for $hits and giggles, I took off my FitBit while I ran and only logged in my HRM calories burned, until I can investigate things a little more.

    Curious to see what others have to say...
    Thanks for posting a great question!!

    Julie :)
  • acresfield
    acresfield Posts: 122 Member
    Hi Julie,
    It has bothered me for a while, and whilst I try not to obsess about it, I also compared my fitbit with the HRM, and it counts more for some activities and less for others which is to be expected. Tennis for example is lots of small steps without the distance and so counts a little bit more than my HRM, whereas circuit training is mostly static exercises and so therefore counts a bit less.

    I downloaded endomondo on my iphone which is a free GPS distance calculator which also works with MFP and I calibrated my fitbit to the stride distance it measured using that (ok I know I am really over-thinking this) and now it does seem to compare directly with distance and calories burned for running.

    So happy that all of my techno-geekery is calibrated and talking to each other (seriously.. lampposts buzz as I run past them), my issue remains that the results presented on different sites are not the same.
  • takehimaway
    takehimaway Posts: 499 Member
    I use MFP for logging my food, and Fitbit.com for tracking my exercise.
  • PATRHONA
    PATRHONA Posts: 7
    ........same thing here but I ignore the discrepancy - its results that count for me and it's working by using my fitbit constantly and just using MFP for the ease of logging food - both great programs - especially MFP considering it is totally free to use - fitbit or not!
  • simples88
    simples88 Posts: 51
    I got my fitbit yesterday! I have read up on everything and personally I know MFP works for me with calories and exercise so I've made the decision to just go off the MFP results... I wore my fitbit last night for a while and felt the calorie burn on it was probably too high, so I'll stick to the MFP calories for now.
    Can't wait to get going today!
  • acresfield
    acresfield Posts: 122 Member
    Hi,
    Mine was all over the place when I first got it and it took me a while to realise that if you are anything other than bang on average (stride length, height etc.) then you might need to tweak some of the settings.
    Calibrating the stride length has made the biggest difference and it is now quite accurate with my HRM.


    I am still surprised however that it says I walk as far as I do considering i am desk bound most of the time.

    Great device however. It seems that there is not a single facet of life that cannot be enhanced with the careful application of technology :)
  • batalina
    batalina Posts: 209 Member
    i ignore the difference in numbers -- i don't scroll down very far on the fitbit dashboard, usually just far enough to look at my sleep. i just synch my fitbit, wait a while for the data to percolate on over to MFP, and then use MFP for everything.

    tinkering with your food-intake settings on fitbit might help you. i once realized that i had set my fitbit to have me eat about 200 more calories per day than what i set as my MFP calorie goal, so that screwed my numbers up for a while. you can't type in your own calorie goal on FB without losing some of the functionality of that feature on the FB site, but i chose the setting out of Easy, Medium or Hard that had the calorie requirement closest to my MFP goal. doing that really helped me.
  • nikkis01
    nikkis01 Posts: 45 Member
    I use MFP to log my food and for support and I use Fitbit for everything else. Ive tried using different combinations of the two and find since the Fitbit update with the new food plan that if I stick to the calorie deficit on there it works really well for me :) I think the best thing to do is have a play with both of them and see how easily they fit into your life - let the results speak for themselves! And good luck!!
  • juliekaiser1988
    juliekaiser1988 Posts: 604 Member
    Great responses- and great support. Thank you to everyone :)
  • crimsontech
    crimsontech Posts: 234 Member
    I've said this on other threads... if you want the numbers to be the most similar, tell MFP that you're sedentary. If you don't, it adds some "estimated" calories burned.

    I use MFP to log calories in and FitBit for calories burned. Sync the food over to FitBit because it has a great calories burned vs. eaten graph that I like... and it works very well for me. :)
  • Larry0445
    Larry0445 Posts: 204 Member
    All Fitbit is,is a glorified pedometer,so if your doing more than walking or running,your counts will not be accurate for other exercises.
  • susiekate2
    susiekate2 Posts: 9 Member
    bump
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    I only use the fitbit site to check my sleep and battery power and to get excited if it says I've been very active for any part of the day. I log all my food on MFP and let the exercise just give whatever it syncs. Although since I've added some non-walking things I might have to learn to tell it I did other things...
  • amymrls
    amymrls Posts: 1,673 Member
    I use this one and the other to log sleep in the am =)
  • Smuterella
    Smuterella Posts: 1,623 Member
    bump
  • juliekaiser1988
    juliekaiser1988 Posts: 604 Member
    All Fitbit is,is a glorified pedometer,so if your doing more than walking or running,your counts will not be accurate for other exercises.

    Beg to differ. Like I said, I did some side by side comparisons during Zumba and they were within five calries of each other.
  • TheMissingSock
    TheMissingSock Posts: 89
    at the risk of hijacking this thread,

    do you guys log your exercise on MFP? I have recently started doing circuit training and MFP has a higher calorie burn than what my fitbit says I burn.

    historically i've used MFP for food diary and social/motivation, and my fitbit for exercise/activity as well. but now i'm wondering if i should log my gym stuff on MFP so I have a more accurate burn total for the day.
  • blondejillie
    blondejillie Posts: 305 Member
    Bump...I want to know too.
  • Fitness4Paul
    Fitness4Paul Posts: 166 Member
    I love my fitbit. I do everything on MFP and allow my fitbit calorie adjustments to correct my 'sedentary' setting on days when I'm more active. I use a hr monitor for cardio exercise but I'd just take the fitbit adjustment instead if I went for a long walk.
    BTW fitbit is releasing a new scale in May that will wirelessly update your fitbit profile with weight, BMW, and body fat %. I'm hoping this will sync back to MFP because it looks pretty cool.
  • staps065
    staps065 Posts: 837 Member
    BUMP I've been trying to decide if I want a Fit Bit or not. Trying to read all the pros and cons before I make the purchase. I love my HRM but don't wear it while walking, just running, biking, etc... Would love something to tell me all of the calories I burn other than just existing.... I'll be watching and reading!
  • Incredmrse
    Incredmrse Posts: 33
    I've said this on other threads... if you want the numbers to be the most similar, tell MFP that you're sedentary. If you don't, it adds some "estimated" calories burned.

    I use MFP to log calories in and FitBit for calories burned. Sync the food over to FitBit because it has a great calories burned vs. eaten graph that I like... and it works very well for me. :)

    I've found this to be the most accurate, too. I would go back and look at my logging and on a day that I was under my calorie goal when I went to bed, I would be about 300 calories over because it over estimated my activity during the day.
  • juliekaiser1988
    juliekaiser1988 Posts: 604 Member
    Bump again... :)
  • yesthistime
    yesthistime Posts: 2,051 Member
    Fitbit group on MFP:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/1290-fitbit-users
This discussion has been closed.

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