How accurate is your Fitbit charge HR?

Clawsal
Clawsal Posts: 255 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello, I just got the fitbit charge HR and am very surprised by the calories it says I burned.

I am a 25 yo woman, 5'5 and 147 pounds. I am sedentary, today I just went out grocery shopping (on foot) and spent my day at home. Fitbit says I walked 7680 steps and burned 2008 calories.

I also find the heart rate values pretty high... resting heart beat of 78bpm and while walking it went as high as 131bpm even though I wasn't exerting myself.

It would be nice if those calorie burns were true but it seems too high.

So people who have a Fitbit, how accurate are your calorie burns? And are my results coherent with yours?

Replies

  • Clawsal
    Clawsal Posts: 255 Member
    I have an unrelated question: if I put my Fitbit charge in my pocket (because I don't want to show in my arm) will it accurately count my steps?
  • acheben
    acheben Posts: 476 Member
    I have found mine to be very accurate, but most of my activity is step based.

    Also, it will record steps while its in your pocket, but it won't be as accurate in steps or in heart rate (it might take false heart rate readings).

    "Your Charge HR is designed to be most accurate when worn on your wrist. While it may track stats such as steps and floors when placed in a pocket or backpack, it is most accurate on the wrist."

    Taken from: https://staticcs.fitbit.com/content/assets/help/manuals/manual_charge_hr_en_US.pdf
  • Chupiite
    Chupiite Posts: 55 Member
    Hey, I have myself Fitbit charge hr. Make sure you change settings as dominant hand or non-dominant. I have noticed that Fitbit does not count steps accurately, any fast hand movements will count as steps, with heart right I never had problems and believe it's accurate, I'm at sitting position at 54. If you notice that happens a lot, maybe customise it. Fitbit logs every 15min calories, even if you sitting so I would not follow they food targets.
  • Clawsal
    Clawsal Posts: 255 Member
    Thank you for your answer. I think that the Fitbit may be overestimating calorie burns because of the HR. I guess time will tell :) I can always deactivate it.
  • Clawsal
    Clawsal Posts: 255 Member
    Chupiite wrote: »
    Hey, I have myself Fitbit charge hr. Make sure you change settings as dominant hand or non-dominant. I have noticed that Fitbit does not count steps accurately, any fast hand movements will count as steps, with heart right I never had problems and believe it's accurate, I'm at sitting position at 54. If you notice that happens a lot, maybe customise it. Fitbit logs every 15min calories, even if you sitting so I would not follow they food targets.

    Wow your rest HR is so low :). The step count seems to be accurate for now but I have noticed I earn calories while lying in bed (I guess it's the BMR).
  • patesq
    patesq Posts: 111 Member
    I feel like mine is pretty accurate. I've been losing at a fairly steady rate. The calorie count is lower than the bike I ride at the gym. We were out of town this weekend and the hotel gym was closed so my only option was to walk and do some body weight only exercises. I was surprised at how many calories I burned just walking, although I was walking hard and climbing any steps I could find (50 flights total).
  • Arliah
    Arliah Posts: 266 Member
    I've switched from a Jawbone to a Fitbit Charge HR in July, and I think the FitBit over-counts steps a little. Sometimes I get a few steps while driving (from moving my hand), but I just got used to it. I wear it on my non-dominant hand but have it set to dominant so it's a little less sensitive. I feel the calorie count is pretty accurate. On days where I don't move much at all, I get around 1600, and on days where I go to the gym or boxing I get anywhere between 1800 and 2100. I've lost 63 lbs in almost 2 years, and I've been going by BMR (1300) and TDEE (1750) even before I got my FitBit, so I think it's pretty accurate overall.
  • CoffeeNCardio
    CoffeeNCardio Posts: 1,847 Member
    edited January 2016
    After now having used it since November 16th, '15, I am confident in my charge hr's accuracy. But I took two steps ahead and researched the heck out of it before I got it. The fitbit forum people said to tell it you're one inch shorter than you are and to wear it on non-dominant hand and still tell it it's on your dominant hand to increase accuracy so that's what I did from day one. This may not be the choice for everyone, but it has made mine stunningly accurate (trending weight, calories in math proves it for me anyway), and I can truly count on losing what MFP says I should when I wear it all the time and eat back my exercise calories.

    ETA: I also properly measured my gait length and entered it and now I can mentally count steps and the number goes up exactly right. It's never counted more steps than I took when I'm actively watching it, and the number is pretty much the same from day to day so I trust that.
  • Pandawdy
    Pandawdy Posts: 12 Member
    I would have a hard time trusting that 2000 calories were burned from grocery shopping.
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
    Pandawdy wrote: »
    I would have a hard time trusting that 2000 calories were burned from grocery shopping.

    It doesn't mean she burned 2008 calories from grocery shopping. Fitbit measures your Total Daily Energy Expenditure. That means it calculates the calories you've burned daily by simply existing in addition to any movements you actually make or exercise you do. For a 5'5" woman at 147 pounds taking almost 8000 steps, a TDEE of 2008 for the day seems reasonable. I'm 5'3" and 113 pounds and my TDEE is anywhere from 1700 to 2300 depending on how active I am according to my Charge HR. I've been losing weight without issues.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    synacious wrote: »
    Pandawdy wrote: »
    I would have a hard time trusting that 2000 calories were burned from grocery shopping.

    It doesn't mean she burned 2008 calories from grocery shopping. Fitbit measures your Total Daily Energy Expenditure. That means it calculates the calories you've burned daily by simply existing in addition to any movements you actually make or exercise you do. For a 5'5" woman at 147 pounds taking almost 8000 steps, a TDEE of 2008 for the day seems reasonable. I'm 5'3" and 113 pounds and my TDEE is anywhere from 1700 to 2300 depending on how active I am according to my Charge HR. I've been losing weight without issues.

    I want to second this. I am 5'4'' and 109 pounds. My average TDEE is 1,800-2,000.

    OP, I have found my Fitbit to be very accurate. I have used it -- via MFP syncing -- to determine my calorie intake since July and have lost/maintained exactly as expected.
  • williams969
    williams969 Posts: 2,528 Member
    I've had a Fitbit of some sort since July 1014 (Zip, and now a Charge HR since March 2015). It's been pretty spot on for me. I eat 100% of my earned activity calories in maintenance and maintain. I eat 75-100% of them when I need to lose, and I lose a little faster than the 0.5lb/week setting (closer to .75lb in real life).

  • minniestar55
    minniestar55 Posts: 350 Member
    It also takes your FitBit a while to "learn" you. I waited a week before I started paying attention to what it said I was stepping, heart rate, etc. I find it to be fairly accurate.
  • pinggolfer96
    pinggolfer96 Posts: 2,248 Member
    I find mine to be pretty accurate. I tend to burn 3600-4200 a day, and when I was lean bulking I was eating around 3800-4200 and had a very slow increase.
  • NotGnarly
    NotGnarly Posts: 137 Member
    Mine is accurate but I did have about 2 or 3 days where it way over calculated for some reason. It said I burned about 4K cals and only had about 1k steps. I've had mine for about a year though so it might be almost time to replace it. Other then that I find it accurate.
  • pchca
    pchca Posts: 31 Member
    Clawsal wrote: »
    I have an unrelated question: if I put my Fitbit charge in my pocket (because I don't want to show in my arm) will it accurately count my steps?

    I have the Fitbit flex and I wear it around my ankle. I don't like things on my wrist, and I noticed a I do a ton of activity that requires my arms (pushing a stroller, carrying a baby, etc.) and just don't like worrying about my arm swinging. Seems to be working just fine on my ankle
  • scolaris
    scolaris Posts: 2,145 Member
    Thanks for the height & wrist tips... I'm going to try that. Mine has seemed very accurate overall but maybe a little high on the burns...
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    Clawsal wrote: »
    Hello, I just got the fitbit charge HR and am very surprised by the calories it says I burned.

    I am a 25 yo woman, 5'5 and 147 pounds. I am sedentary, today I just went out grocery shopping (on foot) and spent my day at home. Fitbit says I walked 7680 steps and burned 2008 calories.

    I also find the heart rate values pretty high... resting heart beat of 78bpm and while walking it went as high as 131bpm even though I wasn't exerting myself.

    It would be nice if those calorie burns were true but it seems too high.

    So people who have a Fitbit, how accurate are your calorie burns? And are my results coherent with yours?

    Have you calibrated it to your stride? If so, it should be fairly accurate. Although the HR monitor doesn't seem to be all that accurate.

    https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/How-do-I-measure-and-adjust-my-stride-length

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