A question for those that use a Fitbit..

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kjbbdoll
kjbbdoll Posts: 86
in Health and Weight Loss
I recently purchased a fitbit and have been using it for a few day now. The fitbit adds a lot of 'extra' calories for me to eat on top of actual exercise calories. I am fairly active, I know, but I have been strictly only eating back exercise calories (but usually not all of them unless hungry) and have consistantly been losing 1-2lbs a week for 3mos now. My worry with eating back all the 'extra' calories is that I will not continue to have a loss. I know the big debate over eating more, losing more blah blah blah. That is not another debate I am trying to start. I simply would like to know if you have a fitbit if you are eating back all your extra calories given onto your MFP food diary or not as well as if it is or isn't working for you regarding weightloss. Thanks for your input!
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Replies

  • agallie89
    agallie89 Posts: 17
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    Hey,

    Ive been using my fitbit for about 3 weeks now and wouldn't go back i love it!!

    Like you I was a little unsure but I base it on how Im feeling that day some times I will eat them and others I wont.

    I think the best way is to do what you think but also you could test it with one week not eating them and another you do eat them if your hungary and see the results?

    Feel free to add me as a friend if you want - I like having fitbit users i can talk to!!

    Annie xx
  • tageekly
    tageekly Posts: 3,755 Member
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    I treat my FB calories like my exercise calories and eat back about half of them. I've only had it for about 3 weeks but I've lost more in those weeks than I did in the last month so I think it's working...

    I'm also even more active wearing it because I want those stickin' badges! :laugh:
  • lej0213
    lej0213 Posts: 10
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    I love my fitbit!
    Question though: has anyone experienced it adding in exercise to MFP without you exercising? I haven't gone to the gym yet today and the most active I have been was walking around the grocery store for 30 minutes and it added that I have 399 exercise calories. Not sure what it is counting...
  • kjbbdoll
    kjbbdoll Posts: 86
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    lej0213, that is exactly what I am talking about. Fitbit adds extra exercise calories then your actual logged exercise calories. I am guessing that you burned 399 calories walking at the store.
  • thriftycupl
    thriftycupl Posts: 310 Member
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    I'm a Fitbit user and lover (feel free to add me). I'm eating my basica 1200 calories and then the others I've "earned" through Fitbit counting. What I really like is that I can see how active I've been and I work towards getting more activity in to get the steps higher. Even my kids ask every day -- how many steps did you do today? LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Fitbit.
  • momof3boys090808
    momof3boys090808 Posts: 69 Member
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    im also new at using a fitbit, got it tonight. My question is do you enter the total amount of calories burned ? How do i seperate my calories from zumba from my total calories burned? or my elliptical/ treadmill workouts from the total calories burned in a day? How do i get fitbit to add that? Or do i? lol its going to be a long night trying to figure this out...lol
  • itsjustdawn
    itsjustdawn Posts: 1,073 Member
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    Make sure if you're doing any exercises that you log the time on MFP so that you don't have a double adding of exercise calories. I've had my Fitbit since January and love it.
  • mabell7779
    mabell7779 Posts: 20
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    I was a user to Fitbit prior to MFP. I input all my foods on MFP, and it transfers over to Fitbit. I use the food goal on my Fitbit and not MFP. There is a difference of about 400 to 500 caloires between MFP and Fitbit with my goals I have set.
  • MrsLeibas
    MrsLeibas Posts: 43 Member
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    I've had my fitbit since Christmas, and I've seen slow results (about 7 lbs) but I haven't been that great with my diet and exercise regimen, I'm still working on that.

    To answer your question though, if you have you fitbit and MFP accounts synced your activity on your fitbit will cause you to earn more "exercise" calories on MFP. I say "exercise" calories because it's not necessarily "exercise" ... it could be walking around the grocery store, or walking to the dumpster in your apartment complex, or going up and down the stairs at your house cleaning, it counts any and all activity that you do when you wear it.

    Now I will say after having a friend get one who also wears it while she is working out, that if you lets say wear the fitbit during a zumba class (so the fitbit counts all your steps or activity during that time) and then you also log that zumba class using the MFP exercise tracker I think you are double dipping and getting calories both from MFP and fitbit. So my suggestion to her was to either wear the fitbit during Zumba and earn her calories that way, or not to wear the fitbit during Zumba and then add the exercise on MFP using the exercise log.

    I hope that helps!

    I'd love to have more MFP friends that use fitbit so everyone is free to add me!
  • whitesoxgirl1
    whitesoxgirl1 Posts: 7 Member
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    I am so glad that you asked that question!! I have a Fitbit as well and was wondering the same thing earlier today. I just joined this site a few days ago so I'm still trying to figure it all out. I would love to have fellow Fitbit users as friends so feel free to add me!
  • BeckyProctor
    BeckyProctor Posts: 56 Member
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    I tend te eat the calories added by the fitbit but not the ones from exercise entered into mfp. Would love to have some friends using the fitbit so, add me if you would like.
  • hubkal
    hubkal Posts: 125 Member
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    The fit bit adds in your BMR calories for the day. My BMR says I will burn 1500 calories just being alive. So as the day goes along it adds those calories in. It will add your steps and activity in as the day goes along too. I know it motivates me to move my butt! Since starting in Feb I have lost 17lbs using it and using its calorie burnt count to eat. I tried sticking to the 1200 calorie deal, but then I started following someone's advice and starting eating back my exercise calories and I dropped weight more quickly. I still feel uncomfortable eating them some days, and days like today where I burned up the calories there is NO WAY I could eat all those calories. I eat until I feel full on those days.

    also you will notice if you put exercise in here you will see it add those on MFP and then add your fit bit calories too. But as the minutes go by it evens it out and the fit bit will not add more than what you have actually burned that day. It used to confuse me to no end until I would go back a few minutes later and see it evened it out. Usually I underestimate calories burnt and the fit bit will even it out and only add the calories burnt that I did not figure in.
  • htmeadows
    htmeadows Posts: 29
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    I'd like to echo what thriftycpl said. I have had my fitbit for about 3 weeks and I love it. I do NOT eat back all the calories burned, but I DO make sure I eat at least 1200 calories every day. I bought the fitbit to see how active (or inactive) I really was and as an incentive to increase my exercise. To that end, it has worked extremely well.
  • hubkal
    hubkal Posts: 125 Member
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    you can add me on fitbit if you like. You will need to enter an email to add people. Mine is laurahubka@gmail.com
  • tnrunningnurse
    tnrunningnurse Posts: 549 Member
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    I love my fitbit!
    Question though: has anyone experienced it adding in exercise to MFP without you exercising? I haven't gone to the gym yet today and the most active I have been was walking around the grocery store for 30 minutes and it added that I have 399 exercise calories. Not sure what it is counting...
    Fitbit counts your steps as calories burned aka excercise. I work in the OR and can get upward of 15,000 steps....so that is calories burned. I did not start losing weight until I got my fitbit and found out how much I was burning on work days. On days I don't get so many steps it give me low excercise burn so I trust it.
  • supratt
    supratt Posts: 33
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    As long as you have identified yourself as "sedentary", then there is nothing wrong with eating back any calories that you earn from the FitBit, because the FB is only counting calories when you are moving. However, it is important not to double-up, so never log activities on both the FB website and MFP - log everything on MFP only.

    You can account for specific exercise activities without double-counting as long as you specify the starting time and duration of the exercise activity. So, in the Zumba example, you would wear your FB during the Zumba class, and then log the activity on MFP, specifying starting time and duration, and MFP will then allocate the FB calories earned during that time to the Zumba activity.
  • kjbbdoll
    kjbbdoll Posts: 86
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    Thanks for all the info, everyone! I definitely have NOT been adding my exercise onto MFP once I saw that Fitbit was already doing it for me. I did check to see the difference between the two tho and it was huge with some exercises ( for example: an hr of yoga on MFP gives me 172 cal where fitbit only gave me 65).
    Like someone else said-Fitbit has my daily calorie goal about 400 lower then MFP but I generally earn back a couple hundred a day with 'exercise' (daily running, chores, work, etc). I still use MFP calorie goal though because I am already set on the lowest-1200 calories a day. Maybe I shouldn't if I eat back these extra calories FitBit gives me...guess it will be some trial and error on my part but I hate to ruin my great weight loss streak :)
    All my new fitbit buddies, please feel free to add me and thanks again for your comments, suggestions and advise. I really appreciate it!
  • Jacwhite22
    Jacwhite22 Posts: 7,012 Member
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    how do you have your activity level set up in MFP? I set mine as sedentary and pretty much eat back.....I say pretty much because what I really do is this....See what I burn on fitbit, subtract my deficit and eat that. It still ends up being about 200 below what MFP adjusts to . Hope this makes sense. If not let me know and I can explain in better detail.
  • jreed1920
    jreed1920 Posts: 123
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    I use the fitbit calorie goals to guide what I eat versus the MFP goals since Fitbit is recording my actual daily expenditure as opposed to an estimate which MFP goes by.

    If you exercise and add the activity in MFP Fitbit will import that data so you don't double dip. If you do an activity record for the time you will see how Fitbit spreads the MFP reported calories across the time period. I use an HRM when I exercise so I add those calories to MFP and then my Fitbit daily burn count remains accurate.
  • kjbbdoll
    kjbbdoll Posts: 86
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    As long as you have identified yourself as "sedentary", then there is nothing wrong with eating back any calories that you earn from the FitBit, because the FB is only counting calories when you are moving. However, it is important not to double-up, so never log activities on both the FB website and MFP - log everything on MFP only.

    You can account for specific exercise activities without double-counting as long as you specify the starting time and duration of the exercise activity. So, in the Zumba example, you would wear your FB during the Zumba class, and then log the activity on MFP, specifying starting time and duration, and MFP will then allocate the FB calories earned during that time to the Zumba activity.

    Thank you! How do I log the activity on MFP specifying the starting time and duration?

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