How to sync Fitbit and MFP exercises (without double counting)

[stephenw]

I just finished running on the treadmill with my FitBit (tracked it using the start and stop on the Charge HR). I noted my calories burned (2731). I then went over to MyFitnessPal (MFP) and tracked the exercise, with the same start time, duration, and calories. After MFP synced, I refreshed the FitBit iOS dashboard and saw that my # of calories burned for today increased the exact amount of calories the exercise was. I believe that means it double counted them. 

(1) When opening the exercise tab, I now see 2 workouts - one from MFP and one from FitBit. The same start and duration details are displayed in both of them. Is there a trick in automatically detecting the synced exercises are the same exact exercises as what I have tracked with my Fitbit? 

Note - After deleting the MFP exercise (it didn't have heart rate), the calories burned reset back down to the previous non-synced version (~2731). I believe without deleting the MFP exercise, the calories would have been double counted. 

[SunsetRunner]

Welcome to the Fitbit Forums @stephenw! Tracking your exercises with both accounts makes that Fitbit shows both activities on the Dashboard. As consequence all your information will be double counted. What I recommend is logging the activity using Fitbit one day, next day try using MyFitnessPal. That way you can compare the information and decide what log works better for you. By doing that you won't have the information duplicated.

I hope this clarifies your doubt. Let me know if further questions arise.

[melissaca]

Hi, I'm having this issue too!

[SunsetRunner]

Welcome to the Community @melissaca! Are you having the same exact issue? If not, could you share more information about it? Have you tried what I share above?

Looking forward to your new comments.

[My4boys]

Hi Peter,

what about if you log an exercise into MFP but don't log it into fitbit, however you simply wear the wristband..will this still double count calories?

[SunsetRunner]

Welcome to the Forums @My4boys! Manually logging an activity works well for those activities where step count isn't the best indicator of the calories burned. If you are doing an activity that does not require steps (like cycling or swimming), or an activity that requires more than just steps (like tennis or yoga), you can use the activity log to improve the accuracy of this activity's contribution to your caloric burn. You can also use manual logging to add a walk or run if you leave your tracker at home. With that being said, the answer for your question will be "Yes". It will double count your calories burned if your tracker properly records the workout.

I hope this clarifies your inquiry.

[My4boys]

Thanks for that Peter...

I'm still a little confused though. Last night my total calories burned was 2476.

Then, I manually logged an exercise into MFP for 524 calories which should have brought up my total calories to 3000.

I logged it with a time stamp of 2pm which is when I was doing cardio and know the fitbit was tracking me then also.

however, when the fitbit synced with the data from MPF, the total calories wasn't 3000, it was 2680.

So this means that the fitbit possibly doesn't double count calories from the fitbit itself and the manual input of exercise data from MFP? What are your thoughts? many thanks, B

[BTJup1]

Hi Did this get resolved