Food Database

[ianmark55]

I love my fitbit & its web site but am finding that not all foods are in the database

and can't find the nutition information need to add it as a custom food.

Any help would be appriciated,

Thank you- Ian

[MakMak · Accepted solution]

Hi, @ianmark55. A lot of people, myself included, track food using myfitnesspal. I think their database is about 10 times the size of Fitbit's and it integrates nicely with Fitbit. You can also add a custom food into Fitbit. If you can't find the nutritional information anywhere, a larger database might not help you, either. Almost all the databases seem to be searchable on the internet, you should be able to find it somewhere.

[chris2121]

I use Myfitnesspal instead.  A much better food database and you can link your fitbit account.  

[ianmark55]

Thank You, Yes it is a great site!

[SilverFerret]

Isn't it such a shame that fitbit doesn't buy the database from myfitnesspal? It bugs me having to use both.

[Cyclechic]

Please would Fitbit management incorporate the food database from MyFitnesspal ? I use my Fitbit constantly apart from logging food as the database is so poor in comparison to MyFitnesspal.is this possible please?

[Cyclechic]

I agree. Is there a way of bringing this to the attention of a decision maker at Fitbit? I'm not sure whether these community posts are reviewed

[chris2121]

You can log your food in my fitness pal and link your two accounts. Then you don't bother with the Fitbit food database at all. I used to have this set up and it worked fine.

I now prefer to keep the two separate because i have a set daily calorie target regardless of how much I exercise.

[Cyclechic]

Thank you! I'll log my food into MyFitnesspal separately...it would just be great if Fitbit had the same food database then everything is in one place!

[c1224]

Hi....do you have to pay mfp to be able to log in food?...how do you link the app to my fitbit account?

so when I log in my food , do I always have to do it in directly to mfp instead of my fitbit app?

I appreciate your help

[SilverFerret]

Hi
Both apps are free and they both have settings to allow them to sync.It works really smoothly. Just a shame you have to use 2 apps to do the complete job.


Sent from Samsung Mobile on O2

[Ruger9]

I agree Fitbit should integrate or buy a food database.  I find it very frustrating trying to log food.  I am tryng to be healthy and cook for myself but many times the default choices that come up on the food database are a bunch of restaruants that I have never even heard of.  If they are not going to upgrade the database it would be nice if the first choices are just for the food typed in and not purchesed from a restaruant.  

It also seems when adding food on the iPhone app and through the PC on the website is a different experience.  On the iphone app it gives a slide bar with choices for calories.  I may be doing somethign wrong but I find it very frustrating.  I kind of use it just as a guideline but I would imagine that people that intesnsely track their data would find if very frustrating as well. 

[Ruger9]

How do  you link your fitbit to myfitnesspal?  Does it still show up on the Fitbit Dashboard?

[MakMak]

@Ruger9, once you sign up for mfp, either from the website or the app for mfp, you can add apps and devices. Just open that, select Fitbit, log in with your Fitbit credentials and it will start sharing. Exercise and food gets sent to Fitbit, steps and weight get sent to mfp. Food transfers as a meal summary rather than individual foods.

[c1224]

Would it be ok if I want to just log in only the food not the exercise in
MFP ?

[MakMak]

@c1224, you can track things however you want, you just need to be aware of what transfers which way, since one program or the other will not be accurate if you're not sending it the right information. In your way, all you will be doing with mfp is entering food, which means that Fitbit will give you more accurate overall results.

[c1224]

Thanks for the info!

[Amarie1981]

I agree with you! It is very convenient to just have a one stop shop rather then having to go to my fitness pal. Another thing that I don't like about it is that if u use Fitbit then it won't record in my fitness pal as well. However, it will record the other way around. Also it would be nice if they can show us that we are getting all the nutritional values that we are to get on a daily basis. Just like my fitness pal