got a fitbit, what now?

ptrose13 · July 2013

I just got the Fitbit One, and I'm very excited to see how many steps I take at work each day and how I sleep in the short hours that I do. I've taken care of syncing it to my MFP account already. My question is- I've been relying on my HRM for calorie counts during workouts. Should this now replace my HRM? Have you found it to have the same accuracy? If I wear both at the same time, will they interfere with each other? Sorry for the barrage of questions, I'm very excited to use my new toy

entropicbeauty · July 2013

They shouldn't interfere, and I would still say you should go by your HRM output...but it'll be interesting to see how off they are from one another. The FitBit is wonderful for showing overall daily activity, but it does fall a little short with exercise accuracy.

Report back with what your findings are! I don't think I'm the only one interested in seeing how different the counts are. .

courtneythesquid · July 2013

Ooh, I don't have an HRM but I love my FitBit. I found the calorie counter to be pretty good, but I guess it doesn't account for your metabolism. I actually lost weight just a little bit faster than what I was anticipating if the calories burned/ calories eaten was 100% accurate. And I used a food scale, so I think my calorie intake was pretty accurate. But still, it was a great way to hold myself accountable and see how I was doing.

I try to hit a least 10K steps and 10 flights of stairs every day. I stopped tracking calories after I reached my goal weight, but I still do a daily weigh-in. Doing the 10K steps and trying to eat reasonably well has helped me to maintain my goal weight, so I'm pretty happy with that!

Enjoy!

ptrose13 · July 2013

@entropicbeauty- I will try that tomorrow and let you know!

I have a new question though, where do you all fasten them during your day? I know in another thread I had seen someone say they found on their bra to be pretty accurate. I fastened mine today on the center of my bra, and I know for sure it's off... I work at a hospital on my feet all day and it says I took 4500 steps, uh no. Plus after I was home and shocked by the number I turned the screen on and watched while taking steps, and it did not register a good portion of them in my trial. Is the bra strap a better place, or should I maybe try the waistband? I'm taking this day's counts with a grain of salt for sure.

ptrose13 · July 2013

So, here's the verdict on the fitbit calorie counting during exercise: I gave it a 30ds level 2, day 8 trial today. HRM cals: 204, fitbit cals: 147. I think it will be useful to show the after effects since I turn off the HRM once I am back down below my fitness HR level and I have finished the cooldown part to workouts, but the during workout count does not seem to be as accurate. I'm going to attach it to my bra strap vs center today and see how it goes with the step count as well.

entropicbeauty · July 2013

I'm with @Lobster1987 - I wear my FitBit on my left bra cup towards the underwire. I feel it is the most secure there and the most accurate. Even moving it from center to the left gave me more accurate counts. @Ptrose13 - that is really good to know that the FitBit is underestimating. But it's also crazy to me because there are some days I'm at 3500 calories burned for the day!

ptrose13 · July 2013

@entropicbeauty- I don't think it underestimates for a regular day, I felt that it was just fine for the count I was at during work. I know I have an active job every day, but never knew how to account for it. This gives me evidence as to why my body my need a few extra cals than MFP was counting.
But what I have noticed over the last 2 days is that during exercise or actual increased activity, it has no idea what to do. When I was playing softball yesterday, it counted all of my running not as steps, but as stairs, so I had 'climbed' 79 flights of stairs yesterday lol! And today in spinning, it wasn't really reacting to anything. Per the dashboard, today I only had 13 mins of high activity, or whatever it lists it as, and I have no idea if it thought I was doing stairs or taking steps or what, it didn't exactly seem accounted for, I was glad I was wearing my HRM as well.
I was very surprised at how few steps I took at work today. It was a little lighter day on the walking I guess, considering I had rounds and a meeting, but I really thought I would have more. I thought 10,000 would be easy for me to achieve considering my job. I'm not quite sure how to fit that many into my day now.

entropicbeauty · July 2013

@Ptrose13 - The stairs for softball is weird...it seems to count softball OK for me. For spinning, try clipping the FitBit to your shoe. You will get a SLIGHTLY more accurate count that way (the reason it shows little to no activity is because you are stationary and your core is not dramatically moving enough for the FitBIt to pick the movement up). I don't think any pedometer is going to get it 100% right, but you are correct that it is pretty accurate for "daily activity" counts - which I find still helps me out a lot.

I can't wait to get a HRM and check out the burn for body combat compared to what my FitBit gives me.

ptrose13 · July 2013

@entropicbeauty- a HRM is definitely worth it. I use it for everything including softball, it has really opened my eyes to my activity level or lack thereof, and the way my body is responding to what I'm doing. I have more than gotten my money's worth in the maybe 3 months I've had it.

ptrose13 · July 2013

@jss0302- I have a Polar FT40, and I love it. It doesn't have a gps on it if you are a runner, but otherwise, it's a great tool. Now that I have both, I would say the HRM was a better buy than the fitbit. I like seeing how many steps I take in my day and my sleep patterns with the fitbit, but it hasn't changed the way I eat or the cals I was calculating or anything, the HRM totally changed the cal counts from workouts, which would change the number of cals I was eating in my day. Just my opinion though

entropicbeauty · July 2013

@Ptrose13 - do you utilize the FitBit web site? One of the reasons I like it so much is for the charts and how it syncs with MFP. The charts have really helped me see my progress and my problems over time.

ptrose13 · July 2013

@entropicbeauty- yes, I do. I find it interesting to see what times I am stirring at night, and the number of steps I'm taking as well. I do like that it syncs with MFP as well.

got a fitbit, what now?

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