Fit Bit Disappointment

[swamp]

I got a Fit Bit for Christmas. I wore it to Turbo Kick class this morning.

My fitness Pal tells me I burned about 400 calories. The Fit Bit tells me it's more like 260. Dammit.

[sarcasticgirl]

Dec 27, 2013 11:02:00 GMT -5 swamp said:

I got a Fit Bit for Christmas. I wore it to Turbo Kick class this morning.

My fitness Pal tells me I burned about 400 calories. The Fit Bit tells me it's more like 260. Dammit.

Fit bit only takes into account the steps (and frequency) when calculating calorie burn... not the actual activity you are doing. You can go into your fitbit dashboard and log the activity, or probably sync it with MFP.

I wear mine while I do my combat workouts. Lots of punching and kicking and shuffling my feet. I get a lot of steps in, but the calorie burn is nothing near what i'm actually burning.. because the fit bit doesn't know i'm punching and kicking like a maniac. 

[Deleted]

my fitness pal calorie counts for exercise are way way off of reality....you should never use them.

[sarcasticgirl]

I used to use a Heart Rate Monitor with a chest strap for the most accurate account of calorie burn- back when I obsessed about it. Of course I was a good twenty pounds lighter then... maybe i should get back to that 

[Deleted]

Dec 27, 2013 11:12:55 GMT -5 sarcasticgirl said:

Dec 27, 2013 11:02:00 GMT -5 swamp said:

I got a Fit Bit for Christmas. I wore it to Turbo Kick class this morning.

My fitness Pal tells me I burned about 400 calories. The Fit Bit tells me it's more like 260. Dammit.

Fit bit only takes into account the steps (and frequency) when calculating calorie burn... not the actual activity you are doing. You can go into your fitbit dashboard and log the activity, or probably sync it with MFP.

I wear mine while I do my combat workouts. Lots of punching and kicking and shuffling my feet. I get a lot of steps in, but the calorie burn is nothing near what i'm actually burning.. because the fit bit doesn't know i'm punching and kicking like a maniac. 

isn't the fit bit a heart rate monitor that you can wear all day to see how many calories you expend in 24 hours (so calories from exercise as well as just the calories you need to exist)?

[sarcasticgirl]

Dec 27, 2013 11:19:08 GMT -5 @singlemominmd said:

Dec 27, 2013 11:12:55 GMT -5 sarcasticgirl said:

Fit bit only takes into account the steps (and frequency) when calculating calorie burn... not the actual activity you are doing. You can go into your fitbit dashboard and log the activity, or probably sync it with MFP.

I wear mine while I do my combat workouts. Lots of punching and kicking and shuffling my feet. I get a lot of steps in, but the calorie burn is nothing near what i'm actually burning.. because the fit bit doesn't know i'm punching and kicking like a maniac. 

isn't the fit bit a heart rate monitor that you can wear all day to see how many calories you expend in 24 hours (so calories from exercise as well as just the calories you need to exist)?

no. it isn't a heart rate monitor. It is a pedometer and in some cases has an altimeter to measure steps and flights of stairs. It calculates "activity levels" as in light, moderate and very active. all of these factors go in to calculating a calorie burn that includes your BMR. 

[Deleted]

Dec 27, 2013 11:26:24 GMT -5 sarcasticgirl said:

Dec 27, 2013 11:19:08 GMT -5 @singlemominmd said:

isn't the fit bit a heart rate monitor that you can wear all day to see how many calories you expend in 24 hours (so calories from exercise as well as just the calories you need to exist)?

no. it isn't a heart rate monitor. It is a pedometer and in some cases has an altimeter to measure steps and flights of stairs. It calculates "activity levels" as in light, moderate and very active. all of these factors go in to calculating a calorie burn that includes your BMR. 

ok, I guess then I don't see the appeal of it over a regular pedometer or a heart rate monitor.  isn't it fairly expensive?  what are the arm band things that they wear on biggest loser that calculates all the calories they burn in a day and then imports their food diary to tell them their deficit?

[Regis]

Biggest Loser Arm Band

[sarcasticgirl]

Dec 27, 2013 11:28:38 GMT -5 @singlemominmd said:

Dec 27, 2013 11:26:24 GMT -5 sarcasticgirl said:

no. it isn't a heart rate monitor. It is a pedometer and in some cases has an altimeter to measure steps and flights of stairs. It calculates "activity levels" as in light, moderate and very active. all of these factors go in to calculating a calorie burn that includes your BMR. 

ok, I guess then I don't see the appeal of it over a regular pedometer or a heart rate monitor.  isn't it fairly expensive?  what are the arm band things that they wear on biggest loser that calculates all the calories they burn in a day and then imports their food diary to tell them their deficit?

It syncs with your computer and logs all your information and keeps it for posterity. (it is kinda cool knowing i've taken 2,790,972 steps with my fit bit. you can also log your food and such or sync it with apps such as my fitness pal or sparkpeople etc. It will give you your deficit when you log your food as well. I actually just synced mine with my walgreens account and I earn rewards points for my steps. so that is literally money in my pocket. 

And of course there is the competitive aspect of it... Where you can friend other people and it ranks your weekly total of steps. As a competitive person I have several friends who push me to do more because I don't want them to pass me in the rankings. I just walked a few laps around  my office because my best friend was catching up to me. 

It certainly isn't for everyone. especially if walking/jogging isn't a primary exercise in your life. 

ETA: they range in costs from $60-~$100 with no charge for the online component. 

[thyme4change]

Just a pedometer?  Sheesh - what a rip off!

[sarcasticgirl]

Dec 27, 2013 12:02:55 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

Just a pedometer?  Sheesh - what a rip off!

it isn't just a pedometer. it does way more than a regular pedometer.

but like i said. to some people it isn't worth the money, to some people it is. 

[chen35]

I got a fitbit for Christmas last year, and I love it! It's way better than 'just a pedometer'. I feel naked if I go without it. I've really upped my activity level since I started wearing it. I love how it syncs with my iphone.

[sarcasticgirl]

Dec 27, 2013 12:14:58 GMT -5 chen35 said:

I got a fitbit for Christmas last year, and I love it! It's way better than 'just a pedometer'. I feel naked if I go without it. I've really upped my activity level since I started wearing it. I love how it syncs with my iphone.

oh yeah... i forgot to add that in. it syncs with many phones. I'm happy because mine just got added to the list! 

[justme]

I have a different band (UP) and it has a stopwatch feature, when I download the info I can manually input the activity/calories I did during the stopwatch time and it overrides and steps it calculated during that time. Maybe the fit bit has that?

[sarcasticgirl]

Dec 27, 2013 12:30:53 GMT -5 justme said:

I have a different band (UP) and it has a stopwatch feature, when I download the info I can manually input the activity/calories I did during the stopwatch time and it overrides and steps it calculated during that time. Maybe the fit bit has that?

there is a log feature online for fitbit where you log your activity and enter a start time and stop time and the activity overrides the fitbit calculation. 

[mtman]

Wouldn't it just be easier to back away from the groceries?

[sarcasticgirl]

Dec 27, 2013 12:36:31 GMT -5 mtman said:

Wouldn't it just be easier to back away from the groceries?

doesn't really increase your fitness, strength and stamina 

[Deleted]

I really don't trust any reading except my heart rate monitor (the kinds sarcastic champagne toast mentioned, with the chest strap). They gym machines way overstate my calorie burn and I ignore the FitBit entirely.

[swamp]

Dec 27, 2013 12:36:31 GMT -5 mtman said:

Wouldn't it just be easier to back away from the groceries?

stepping back from the groceries doesn't help your cardiovascular health or tone muscle.

[sarcasticgirl]

Dec 27, 2013 14:10:09 GMT -5 swamp said:

Dec 27, 2013 12:36:31 GMT -5 mtman said:

Wouldn't it just be easier to back away from the groceries?

stepping back from the groceries doesn't help your cardiovascular health or tone muscle.

no one wants to be a fat skinny person. 

[Opti]

Most good trainers have had fat skinny people especially female clients.
I don't understand how one becomes 30% or more fat percentage
wise and yet underweight according to BMR charts. But I know it
happens.

[sarcasticgirl]

So true... i'd rather be 20lbs overweight and be able to run a few miles and carry heavy things than be perfect weight according to some chart and have an aching side when I walk more than a few blocks. 

[Miss Tequila]

Dec 27, 2013 12:38:37 GMT -5 sarcasticgirl said:

Dec 27, 2013 12:36:31 GMT -5 mtman said:

Wouldn't it just be easier to back away from the groceries?

doesn't really increase your fitness, strength and stamina 

Not to mention that I like to eat

[imawino]

Hmmm.  So does anyone know which is the superior product between the FitBit or the Biggest Loser armband?

[sarcasticgirl]

Dec 27, 2013 16:45:20 GMT -5 imawino said:

Hmmm.  So does anyone know which is the superior product between the FitBit or the Biggest Loser armband?

i think it depends on what you're looking for in your product. I haven't yet found one that gives me a rocking body while i sit around eating cheese and drinking wine. 

[Miss Tequila]

Dec 27, 2013 16:51:43 GMT -5 sarcasticgirl said:

Dec 27, 2013 16:45:20 GMT -5 imawino said:

Hmmm.  So does anyone know which is the superior product between the FitBit or the Biggest Loser armband?

i think it depends on what you're looking for in your product. I haven't yet found one that gives me a rocking body while i sit around eating cheese and drinking wine. 

Well, when you find that one please let me know...thanks

[imawino]

Dec 27, 2013 16:51:43 GMT -5 sarcasticgirl said:

Dec 27, 2013 16:45:20 GMT -5 imawino said:

Hmmm.  So does anyone know which is the superior product between the FitBit or the Biggest Loser armband?

i think it depends on what you're looking for in your product. I haven't yet found one that gives me a rocking body while i sit around eating cheese and drinking wine. 

Oh.  Neither of these products meets my needs then. 

[thyme4change]

Even my trainer says that weight control is 95+% nutrition.  Working out is mostly toning.  Not sure why calorie tracking would be a major objective if that is true.

[sarcasticgirl]

I've never heard the 95+%.  I've heard the 80/20 in regards to nutrition/working out.
But i'm sure there are 92029342 different theories out there.


either way, calorie intake and output will vary depending on activity level. I require less calories on days where I sit my booty at my desk for 8 hours as opposed to a saturday when I've spend  half the day hiking and am mobile the rest of the day. I can get by on 1200 or 1400 calories on the former... the latter, probably not.  

[8 Bit WWBG]

...:::"My fitness Pal tells me I burned about 400 calories. The Fit Bit tells me it's more like 260. Dammit.":::...

I think your devices are telling you that you actually burned 660 calories!  Because if you burn a calorie and one device counts it, its not there to be counted by the other device!

Extra slice of pizza tonight!