Fitbit - exercise tracker calorie burn accuracy?

Madison_LH
Madison_LH Posts: 28 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
Today I used the exercise tracking feature on my Fitbit (press & hold the button) and then did 2 miles of run/walk in 30 minutes. When I was finished, it told me I had burned 250 calories. This seems abnormally high - I'm a small person (5'2" & 125lbs) and my Fitbit has that information. Does anyone know exactly how trustworthy this feature is?

Replies

  • fiddletime
    fiddletime Posts: 1,868 Member
    edited December 2015
    I'm 5'2" and 125 also. I've found that if I subtract a third of the calorie burn on my treadmill reading when I jog, it's very accurate. I lose the weight I expect to. On s 25 min slow jog of 5.5 I burn 220 calories. Your Fitbit seems pretty close to the mark.
  • dvs19622013
    dvs19622013 Posts: 21 Member
    I used to use a polar HR monitor with a chest strap, by comparison I think my Fitbit is under estimating my calorie burn. Very confusing.
  • dawniemate
    dawniemate Posts: 395 Member
    I've got a fitbit charge hr and don't know how to use it for exercise. I was just hoping it did it itself! :wink:
  • Pawsforme
    Pawsforme Posts: 645 Member
    I'm 4'10, 52 years old and as of this morning 113.4. On brisk walks my Fitbit says I average burning 4 to 5 calories per minute. That's with a dog, so although when we're walking we're moving pretty fast there are times we stop a few seconds for him to have a sniff or take care of business. But I've never tried to use the exercise feature for walks--it knows when I'm walking, and I get that information from my dashboard. Accuracy can be affected by whether or not your stride length is set accurately. I've had my Fitbit for about five months now and comparing the TDEE it gives me to calories consumed and weight loss it seems that overall the Fitbit may slightly under-estimate my calorie burn.
  • kuranda10
    kuranda10 Posts: 593 Member
    I've compared it to MMW and the calorie burn between them is pretty close.
    Now that the FitBit tracking is working better, I may just switch to that instead of MMW.

    FitBit's latest update installed a SmartTracker(?) it knows when you are doing a consistant exercise, like walking the dog, and it records it in the activity log as a "walk". So now there are three ways to record : Smart Tracker, press the button to activate workout mode, or use FitBit tracking. All three have their uses.
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