FitBit Newbie Questions about Activities and MyFitnessPal

[MrsJG]

I just got my FitBit Flex a few days ago and so far I love it! I am confused about a couple of things, though, and haven't been able to find clear answers.

1. I have my FitBit account synced with MyFitnessPal on my phone. I've been just adding things to MyFitness Pal (food, water). Will these automatically transfer to the FitBit account when I sync or are there settings that need to be changed?

2. Before FitBit, I manually entered in my exercise and calories burned to MyFitnessPal. I didn't do this after the gym the other day, and it synced with the FitBit account, but the calories were off. Should I be manually entering anything or do I need to manually add activities to FitBit? Is there a way to tap my FitBit when I start exercising at the gym or do I have to do this from the app? This is what I'm most confused about because I don't want to double up on calories burned during the day!

Thanks for any help, this forum is a great idea!

[tastybrew]

1. MFP and Fitbit sync data in the background. MFP foods will show up as meal summaries in Fitbit.

2. For step-based activities, let you Flex and Fitbit account work their magic. For non-step-based activities, you can enter them in Fitbit or MFP. As long as Fitbit and MFP times are the same, you won't get double counting for the overlapping times.

[MrsJG]

Thank you for the clarification, tastybrew. So if I need to enter a non-step activity in Fitbit, do I have to do that from the app or can I do it from the FitBit band itself? I see people logging walking as an activity - wouldn't that be step-based or is there some benefit I'm not understanding from logging it above and beyond what the FitBit automatically tracks?

[tastybrew · Accepted solution]

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@MrsJG wrote:
So if I need to enter a non-step activity inFitbit, do I have to do that from the app or can I do it from theFitBit band itself? I see people logging walking as an activity - wouldn't that be step-based or is there some benefit I'm not understanding from logging it above and beyond what theFitBit automatically tracks?

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You can track with your band for purpose of tracking time. I think you'll need to manually enter activities in the dashboard if you want to specify the activity. Fitbit is still in the process of restoring the ability to edit activities.

Not sure why you'd need to log walking unless you're looking for actual time counting.