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Fitbit stats vs treadmill

fit4life_73
fit4life_73 Posts: 433 Member
in Social Groups
I'm still new to this and I know the fitbit is more accurate in most cases than the display on the treadmill. Calories burned is higher on the fitbit. Which I know is correct. However the distance on the fitbit is about quarter mile less that the total miles on the treadmill. Which one should I go with? I'm doing c25k by distance on the treadmill only for now. A quarter mile difference can be significant to a new runner. Do I need to adjust my stride on the fitbit? Any thoughts???

Thanks

Replies

  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    Yes, adjust your stride: http://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/How-do-I-measure-and-adjust-my-stride-length
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    There's another method in the FAQ in this group's stickies that takes in to account your daily steps and distance from normal activity is probably far greater than the purposeful exercise walk.

    And you want the stride length to be in between those paces so Fitbit can actually best adjust either direction.

    Because what do you want more accurate - the 30 min on treadmill, or the 16 hrs of the day where you may be walking around that total calorie burn is based on?

    Also, most treadmills are going to be using the exact same formula's for calorie burn as the Fitbit uses - well established based on weight and pace, which is of course distance and time.

    So distance must match, but treadmill also knows if you did incline - Fitbit doesn't.

    Does treadmill ask for your weight? If not then forget it's calorie estimate.
  • fit4life_73
    fit4life_73 Posts: 433 Member
    @heybales - yes, the treadmill does ask for weight. The heart rate was spot on with fitbit. Another thing to add....I did a 1/4 warmup on the treadmill and then restarted the treadmill (fitbit timer still running) to complete my run. When I was done with that portion the treadmill calculated 2.84 miles. Adding in the warmup, I compled 3.9 miles. Its almost like the fitbit didn't count the warmup????

    Maybe I did something wrong. I'll figure out how to adjust my stride and see if that makes a difference.

    Thanks for the feedback.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    That just means it is that far off. The distance being close for only part of it was mere coincidence.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    heybales wrote: »
    That just means it is that far off. The distance being close for only part of it was mere coincidence.

    ^This.

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