Fitbit help?

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morgsgrieninger
morgsgrieninger Posts: 29 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I don't like that when I look down, I see that all these calories burned by 'just simply being alive.' Why in the world would they include that?

Is there a way to get that off? I want to see how many calories I've burned by walking - not by just simply existing.

And linking it to MFP:
How does that work? Where can I find where MFP says my BMR is? Where can I find where fitbit says my BMR is? This needs to be the same, right? I guess I could technically do total calories - BMR = activity calories burned. But, first I'd have to know my BMR.

Another thing - say I go walk right now for a mile. Will I see that MFP has took away some calories for me for exercising? Or does this only happen at night when the day is done? Basically, my question is how do I get only my exercise calories from my fitbit to show up on MFP. For example, at the end of the day I want to know what I've burned by the walking I've done today. I don't want to know what I've burned by just being alive... to me that doesn't really count.

So, what I'd like to know is: what does fitbit say my bmr is? Where can I find that? What does MFP say my BMR is and where can I find that? Can I make these two equal so that the extra steps I do during the day count for exercise?

Like last night I had just gotten the fitbit. I had worn it around for an hour before bedtime, and accumulated 350-ish steps from just walking around the house as normal. I looked at the fitbit, and I had an adjustment of 218 calories. 350 steps does NOT equal 218 calories burned. That means by BMR by each site is off, right?

Replies

  • suemorgan1969
    suemorgan1969 Posts: 132 Member
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    good questions, would love to know this too
  • Greenrun99
    Greenrun99 Posts: 2,065 Member
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    I can try to answer some.. also you should definitely check out the Fitbit group here on MFP for the rest of the questions.. so the reason your fitbit adds calories when your not doing anything is because of your BMR.. you burn calories from basically laying there.. you can leave your fitbit sitting there and after 24 hrs see what it estimates your BMR at or I believe on the fitbit site when you set up a nutrition profile it will estimate it as well for you (I changed mine to match MFP numbers).. also once you sync it, whatever you are over your calories it estimates or you estimate it will start adding it as exercise calories.. you need to have your fitbit number be your MFP number or yes it will overestimate your calories for MFP..
    I would definitely check out the group on MFP for fitbit.. I may not of explained it at all.
  • morgsgrieninger
    morgsgrieninger Posts: 29 Member
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    Thanks Green. I posted last night but they haven't responded.

    Where did you see your MFP BMR, though?
  • Greenrun99
    Greenrun99 Posts: 2,065 Member
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    you can change your calories per day in your settings.. I don't think MFP gives you your BMR.. but I would use this website its pretty accurate.

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
  • bagge72
    bagge72 Posts: 1,377 Member
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    I guess really because that is the whole point of the fitbit. It tells you your total calories burned, and links it to MFP, so when you set up your MFP, and they tell you that you will burn 2200 calories a day so eat 1200 to lose 2lbs a week so anything you burn over 2200 calories on your fitbit is going to be exercise calories. The good thing about it is if you don't have internet access you still get a general idea of what you can eat that day to still lose weight, so if you burned 3600 calories that day you would know you can eat up to as much as 2600 and still be losing 2lbs a week. It is easy, just do your workouts link it, and let the computer do the work and tell you how much to eat. As a word of advice though, don't eat back all of your exercise calories. To link the fit bit just go to TOOLS up top click on the fit bit link that says "learn more about fitbit" then click on the "link your fit" link

    *numbers are just used to show how it works not mine or the OP's actual numbers.
  • mcarter99
    mcarter99 Posts: 1,666 Member
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    Thanks Green. I posted last night but they haven't responded.

    Where did you see your MFP BMR, though?

    Go in My Home, Goals, to see what MFP expects you to burn in a day before exercise. If you have the Fitbit linked and the Fitbit predicts you're on track to burn MORE in the day than MFP has down, you will get a Fitbit adjustment in your food targets area.

    If you don't care to see how much calories you've burned in the day, just look at your Fitbit steps, not calories.

    I don't know if either site explicitly shows you your BMR but both just use the formulas that take into account your age, gender and size so they should be similar. If you look at a Fitbit chart of your calorie burn during a sedentary period, you can estimate your BMR from it. Like mine will allocate me 5 calories per 5 minute bar, so that's 1 calorie per minute, which is 1440 per day (60 calories per hour x 24 hours).
  • bagge72
    bagge72 Posts: 1,377 Member
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    Oh and to add something, During the day Fit bit is going to add more exercise calories than what you are actually earning, this wont adjust until the next day on MFP unfortunately. So don't close your diary out until the next morning, and you will quickly get use to it, and know how much you are suppose to eat.

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