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Apple Watch + MyFitnessPal = Awesome Integratio

l.marcus

l.marcus

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 30, 2015
16
0
Detroit MI
I was really worried about how well MyFitnessPal would work with my Apple Watch and how well the Apple Watch would be able to record my outdoor walks as I have two dogs, one an in-training puppy who constantly pulls on the leash.

I used the exercise app built in to Apple Watch to record my walk and to my surprise, it was able to detect that I was walking the dog and the info went perfectly into MyFitnessPal! This is so much better than my old step tracker!
 

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l.marcus said:
I was really worried about how well MyFitnessPal would work with my Apple Watch and how well the Apple Watch would be able to record my outdoor walks as I have two dogs, one an in-training puppy who constantly pulls on the leash.

I used the exercise app built in to Apple Watch to record my walk and to my surprise, it was able to detect that I was walking the dog and the info went perfectly into MyFitnessPal! This is so much better than my old step tracker!
Click to expand...

Anyone else having trouble getting the exercises in the Activity app to appear in MyFitnessPal? I worked out at the gym today which counted as an "Other" Activity and it won't show up on MyFitnessPal. However, when I went for a run the other day, that showed up in MyFitnessPal...
 
Azetab said:
Anyone else having trouble getting the exercises in the Activity app to appear in MyFitnessPal? I worked out at the gym today which counted as an "Other" Activity and it won't show up on MyFitnessPal. However, when I went for a run the other day, that showed up in MyFitnessPal...
Click to expand...

I think I read somewhere that "other" won't show up in the third party apps properly and Apple is aware of it and a fix is on the way.
 
I've noticed a problem that MFP doesn't seem to count steps taken by the Watch, but still counts the steps in the regular step counter taken by my iPhone. Since my Watch is recording most of my steps now, it's significantly diminished the calorie credits I'm getting for walking. Any ideas on how to get it to count the steps by both the watch and the phone?
 
How do you set this up? They have a blog entry about a new App with Watch capabilities but it's not in the (watch) app store..

Edit: appears to be through adding the Healthkit app in MFP settings...
 
I hate to burst the bubble in here, but it's tracking his iPhone's steps, not his Watch's steps. I just tested this this morning. Mine registers my phone's steps. There's no option available (yet) to track Apple Watch data in MFP. Here's hoping they add it soon though!
 
The only issue I'm having with MFP is multiple entries. I use Digifit to monitor and track my workouts and it syncs to MFP. I then turned on the Health integration and now when using the Apple Watch I am getting multiple entries. Yesterday I had 3 entries for my workout. I think 1 was from Digifit, 1 from the Workout app on the watch and the other from Nike+ (was trying it out). Eventually I'll have to remove some of the sources but for now I like being able to compare how each method records and how close they are to the others.
 
pollos said:
Not appearing in updates yet.

I cant see if this will do the one thing i really want - take my calorie burn from the Watch activity app and automatically add it to MFP?
Click to expand...

In theory if you turn on Healthkit it might start doing that now. Dunno though, just figured this out today...
 
digduggler said:
In theory if you turn on Healthkit it might start doing that now. Dunno though, just figured this out today...
Click to expand...

Thanks. I have enabled this already, so MFP can read & write HealthKit.

Health apps can be damn confusing...
 
HerdJC said:
I've noticed a problem that MFP doesn't seem to count steps taken by the Watch, but still counts the steps in the regular step counter taken by my iPhone. Since my Watch is recording most of my steps now, it's significantly diminished the calorie credits I'm getting for walking. Any ideas on how to get it to count the steps by both the watch and the phone?
Click to expand...


I have the same problem. The step count is way off and very sporadic. Some times it displays under Cardio and sometimes it shows nothing.
 
I'm not getting my step calories from my watch either, but even if I did there would be a problem.

The calorie count on the watch is different from the calorie count on MFP, even with identical steps. I find the watch is a bit more generous. I spent so much time tinkering with the MFP calorie count that I'm loath to have to figure out how the watch fits in.

Btw: if you're counting step calories you really should enter "sedentary" as your activity level. Anything other than "sedentary" treats your calorie level as incorporating some amount of unmeasured movement, so any movement which is counted by the app would be double counted.

There's no perfect solution yet... But I'd hardly call Apple Watch +3 days with MFP "awesome."

Now if there were a way to take the number Apple counts as your total calorie burn, then subtract say 250 or 500 from it automatically and shove that into MFP, I think that would work. My Apple Watch/Health Kit total calories (active plus resting) seems pretty accurate.

Edit: Never mind that last part I wrote. Looking at my resting calories at the end of th day seemed good, but when I looked back at previous day's it was way off. Why? I think maybe Apple Watch calculates resting calories as "how many have you used so far during the day" so it keeps adding until midnight.

For reference: my BMR should be about 2100, but Apple Watch says 3100 when I look back. Great! Apple wants me to gain 2lbs a week... Why is this all so hard? When the Health app first came out I thought the age of inconsistent health apps was supposed to end. If it's hard for me, someone who works out often and has been controlling his weight (cyclists, we're weight obsessed) for a decade, then how hard would it be for an average, overweight Joe?
 
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Glad I found this thread. My watch arrives today, and I've been worried about this integration since I've read some other threads that say the AW inflates resting calories. I'm going to keep using my Fitbit steps for now, since that's been working for me. But as soon as the integration with AW is fixed, I plan to switch over.

I'm glad mfp will be right on the watch though! It will be convenient to check stats there.
 
I'm pleased to hear that the two work well together, planning on selling my Fitbit if the integration works well when I receive my :apple: Watch.
 
john991 said:
Does workout work in MFP or only steps?
Click to expand...

No Glances option.

Running the app on the phone gives readings for:
Calories Consumed / Remaining (as added via phone)
Nutrients (as a bar graph of total allowed)
Steps (as measured by Watch) converted to calories

No sign of the reminders as shown on the website blog.
 
I'm really glad this is working now. It allows me to use my rings as motivation and my fitness pal to track calories, as resting calories are way off on the watch activity app.
 
john991 said:
I seem to have a problem getting the apple watch to sync with my fitness pal when I use workout.

My question is, does my fitness pal support workouts or only steps?
Click to expand...

This seems to be working for me after the update today. In Health i have allowed MFP to read & write all data (Sources > MyFitnessPal > Select all). Now the workout i did with the Watch is automatically added to MFP, albeit with a 1 calorie difference for reasons unknown.

qIbRMYH.png


Here is the same data in the Activity app:

qaexsLC.png


Whats frustrating is the shows in MFP as Bicycling <16kph Leisure when in reality i was at >25kph whilst doing bicep reps at the same time to push up my heart rate. I used Digifit iCardio with a chest strap prior to the watch and this usually showed a burn of around 450-500 for the same exercise routine. Either Watch is a little more conservative or DigiFit was over estimating. I have no idea!

Edit: One other point to mention. For tracking Steps, MFP was defaulting to my iPhone (which is a lot more stationary since i got the Watch!) In MFP go to More>Steps>Choose a Device and select Apple Watch.
 
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pollos said:
This seems to be working for me after the update today. In Health i have allowed MFP to read & write all data (Sources > MyFitnessPal > Select all). Now the workout i did with the Watch is automatically added to MFP, albeit with a 1 calorie difference for reasons unknown.

Image

Here is the same data in the Activity app:

Image

Whats frustrating is the shows in MFP as Bicycling <16kph Leisure when in reality i was at >25kph whilst doing bicep reps at the same time to push up my heart rate. I used Digifit iCardio with a chest strap prior to the watch and this usually showed a burn of around 450-500 for the same exercise routine. Either Watch is a little more conservative or DigiFit was over estimating. I have no idea!

Edit: One other point to mention. For tracking Steps, MFP was defaulting to my iPhone (which is a lot more stationary since i got the Watch!) In MFP go to More>Steps>Choose a Device and select Apple Watch.
Click to expand...

I think the apple watch is a bit off. As I got a reading of 660 calories burned using icardio and a reading of 640 calories burned using Orange Theory Fitness app when using the iPhone and icardio app. (Orange Theory Fitness has there own app to get your workout data)


What I did notice when I worked out on the elliptical today, the apple watch stated I burned around 200 calories, icardio said I burned 370 calories and the elliptical stated I burned 290 calories. (Keep in mind my elliptical doesn't support a bluetooth HRM, so I was holding the heart rate bars with my hands but not the entire time.)

The heart rate was pretty close with the apple watch and icardio today on the elliptical.
 
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