To log or not? Exercise in an app (Part 1)

I often get asked should I log my exercises or workout in My Fitness Pal or should I connect my Fitbit with My Fitness Pal or a similar app and device? The answer may surprise you.

My suggestion is to log it in to hold you accountable but not use it as a caloric adjustment. Why? Think about it, does the app take into account your effort level on Monday versus Tuesday. What if you listed weight training for 1 hour but Monday you did a 200 pound deadlift and Tuesday you did a kettlebell deadlift at 53 pounds, you’d still only log in weight training for 60 mins and still get the same caloric output. For this reason, I don’t use the caloric output to adjust how much more I can eat. Plus, not every exercise is in the app to choose from so that too makes it difficult to rely on caloric output it gives. I do log in that I did weight training in the app because it lets me keep track of the days that I worked out allows me to stay accountable for my training.  

It is always best to meet your goals and track them but interpret your results carefully because an app doesn’t know everything about you and your workout!