A question for those that use a Fitbit..

Make sure you set your activity in the goals tab to sedentary, then feel free to eat back your exercise calories. Also make sure you use the exercise timer if you are adding calories from a HRM or off the list so they don't get double counted.

As far as eating back I eat most of my exercise calories back, I like to be within 300 of my daily goal. I have a lot to lose and so far I haven't had an issue one way or the other.

Your fit bit will probably encourage you to be much more active (mine sure did) you will need the extra nutrition to repair and rebuild your body.


Good Luck welcome to the Fit Bit club,

Craig

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?

You just look at what time you start and when you have your accounts linked it asks you what time you started the exercise and will automatically sync it all between the two sites
. You can also look at the graph that shows activity levels and see what time you started...also the stop watch feature is for timing workouts, not just sleep time. If you start your timer right as your zumba class starts you can scroll through the list and see how many cals you burned and steps etc.. durring that time before you hold the button to stop the timer.

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!

One thing to remember though is that you dont' have a lot of movement in yoga...so you are burning cals by weight bearing but fitbit can't pick up on that well...like weight lifting etc...if I am working on a machine with my arms fitbit can't track it well...so if you add it on MFP that is an acurate assessment of cals burned durring that time

i just calibrated my fitbit to my stride today. i used my MIKE+GPS and found that when i hit 1 mile on my nike+ (which is quite accurate) my fitbit had me a 1.5 miles!. so i ran a few miles, recorded my steps according to the fitbit then walked some and recorded them. i adjusted my stride and now we'll see what happens (when you adjust your stride it doesnt retro back so i'll find out in the next few days) feel free to friend and i'll fill you in

ron

i honestly don't track food or "add exercise" to my fitbit page. I strictly use the fitbit to calculate steps, miles, and "potential cals burnt" ( since it it obviously different for every person)

I follow MPF's calorie intake and track my exercise and food here. using my fitbit to gauge the calorie burn to what MFP says. There is usually a difference.

It's really all just "guessing" unless there is a HRM involved.

Now that I feel "fitter" then when I first got my fitbit a year ago. I'm looking into getting an HRM. They seem to be the only things that are as accurate as possible!

just my 2 pennies worth.

p.s. anyone that knows of a GOOD under $120 HRM with or without chest strap and could give me some info that would be AWESOME!

1.) Know your BMR. Once you know that, eat back the 1200 calorie baseline, and then at the very least eat your workout calories till your total daily calories equals your BMR. From the toics that explain eating to your BMR, this is how I understand it: your body need BMR to survive (1200 calories is most likely under), and any deficit will cause you to lose weight. If your body is not getting what it needs to survive it will start using our muscle mass to supply the energy needed--if your body is getting BMR it will have no reason to use muscle mass and will burn fat instead. I have learned by eating at least to my BMR, I am rarely hungry or starving.

2.) I believe MFP is higher with it's calorie count, and the fitbit closer to accurate; therefore, if I chose to enter my workout on MFP, I replace their calorie count with the fitbit count (keep in mind, when burning calories by just walking the fitbit also takes altitude in to account). Make sure every time you enter an exercise into MFP you remove your fitbit numbers--the calorie count will adjust the next time the sites sync.***I believe the fitbit is more accurate because it takes my pauses into account, or in a class it takes the pause for the teacher's instruction...MFP is designed for workout straight across the board I beleive.

3.) I don't have a HRM. If I am working on exersice equipment, I start the stop watch on my fitbit, and when completed I stop the stop watch and use my phone to take a picture of the machine's stats and calorie burn. When I get home, I insert the machine's count into the specified activity time. If I work on more than one machine, I start/ stop for each specific machine...the fitbit can't figure in speed of activity if you are using a stationary piece of equipment.

4.) Both sites are set to sedintary, and I am at a -750 deficiet (1.5#/wk). There is a differnce in the food goal on the sites; however I am on MFP more often so I go by their count...and if a day I go a bit over I don't squabble-- a 500 deficit is still 1#/wk. At the begining of April I was 169.2 at the end I was 162.9. A 6.2# loss, divide by 4wk = -1.55# per week, almost spot on with MFP site.

5.) the fitbit doesn't just figure calorie burn from steps. It takes into account your altitude increase, And the speed at which you are moving. The calorie burn will be different for everyone because it is adjusted according to weight. The heavier you are the higher the burn, the lighter you are the lower the burn (your BMR drops too as you lose weight so keep it updated). Don't be surprised if you lose weight and realize the exercise you once did is not burning as many calories as it once was.

Wow, that is a lot to digest! Hope you find it helpful. Also, anybody here, if they would like to add me to this or the fitbit site, just message me. I feel it is safer than just throw my email out there. )

My job is having a healthy challenge starting this month and sending all of us who have signed up a Fitbit. I'm glad to have found this post cause I was confused on how it works. Is it good with counting calories for cardio exercise or weight training?