Food diary using Fitbit

[ry75]

I would love to hear from those using Fitbit dashboard/app for food intake!

I know I could sync MFP with my fitbit if I was using MFP as a food diary but I would rather do everything in the fitbit if that is just as good. I know the Fitbit Database is not as extensive but I don't really mind adding my foods (besides I trust the information I add more than what is already out there. When I used to use MFP, I would always check to make sure whatever food I grabbed was correct so I am not really saving too much time there). Now, the only time I use MFP is when I am creating a recipe, I don't really use it to log food anymore. One reason, I am not to keen in going back to MFP is that there seems to be too much tinkering with settings, etc to get the calories to align. I have read and read about it and I am not sure I want to deal with it.

So having established that I know I could sync my fitbit hr with mfp, is the information in calorie intake I get from the fitbit dashboard just as good? One difference I noticed besides MFP doing net calories, is that Fitbit would not adjust my macros as I burn calories. MFP used to do that.

Any feedback I get will be appreciated!

[SebringDon]

@ry75

I use FitBit for food logging. The main shortcoming I found was with recipies. However, I found a recipe calculator that gives me per-portion nutritional values, doesn't require membership, and is very easy to use. It's at the link below.

http://www.caloriecount.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php

[ry75]

Thanks, I will check the link out for recipes.

[awood08 · Accepted solution]

I started out using MFP and syncing with Fitbit because I felt it gave me better accuracy as far as calories in vs calories out throughout the day. But now that I'm close to my weight loss goal I'm not as set on staying on point for accuracy with food logging. The only issue I have found is that Fitbit will tell you that you are over or under based on your burn that time of day. So if I log my lunch in advance before lunch time, it will tell me i'm over. Or if I log breakfast late it will say I'm under. My advice is that Fitbit will work fine as long as you can get past the inconsistency of the food chart. Even if it says over, you could still have another 1000 calories to eat for the day. I also like better that instead of having two apps to deal with I have one. When I logged with MFP I couldn't actually see the details of what I ate in Fitbit which I didn't like.

[Sine]

Hi ry75,

I've used both MFP and Fitbit to log my food. What I like about the FitBit log is that is keeps a list of frequently eaten foods on the right side. It remembers the portion size and the meal when you last ate the food. I tend to have a few meals and snacks that I eat regularly throughout the week and they are on the Most Logged list of foods so just select on the food and Log Food and I'm done. I use a recipe analizer program for any recipes not in the list and it is easy to add them.

I've also used Live Strong to track my food. If you signed up for the paid version, you could change the macro ratios and I liked that it showed a pie graph each day for the amount of carbs, protein and fat intake but the Fitbit tracker is meeting my needs for free so I'm sticking with that.