Fitbit and overall calories
callumwalker1995
Posts: 389 Member
DOes anyone know why my fitbit keeps counting calories burned and steps even when it is charging (not on my wrist)? This means I am struggling to understand how many calories I actually burn to work out my TDEE and how many cals I need to put on muscle/weight. FUrthermore, is how many calories you burn your actual TDEE and if you eat the same amount of cals as it says you've burned you'll be at maintenance?
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It will continue to count calories burned based on your BMR when you're not wearing it. The steps though...that's a new one on me.
As for the calories burned: not likely. I'm currently running my Blaze through it's paces with that very idea in mind, eating back close to the adjustment. However, I'm not overly concerned with picking some fat back up right now, so if bodyfat is going to bother you, and you're trying to lean bulk or recomp, I'd err on the side of caution with that.0 -
I'm bulking, would you not pay any attention to the calories burned then as to how much you eat?0
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I wake up to roughly 400 calories burned every morning without taking single step. Are you sure it's adding steps when it's charging? I've heard of this happening when it's placed on table that has a fan on it or other vibrating appliances.0
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Christine_72 wrote: »I wake up to roughly 400 calories burned every morning without taking single step. Are you sure it's adding steps when it's charging? I've heard of this happening when it's placed on table that has a fan on it or other vibrating appliances.
I wake up to about 580. I think I'm mistaken tbh with the steps0 -
callumwalker1995 wrote: »I'm bulking, would you not pay any attention to the calories burned then as to how much you eat?
Oh, I definitely am, but burns are often very overstated. My point was, it would really depend on what you're trying to do. Obviously, if the Fitbit overestimates your burn by an extra 600 kcals, you end up putting on even more bodyfat than you would during a bulk with a better burn estimate, which makes your cut more difficult later. Hence, erring on the side of caution if that concerns you.0 -
Gallowmere1984 wrote: »callumwalker1995 wrote: »I'm bulking, would you not pay any attention to the calories burned then as to how much you eat?
Oh, I definitely am, but burns are often very overstated. My point was, it would really depend on what you're trying to do. Obviously, if the Fitbit overestimates your burn by an extra 600 kcals, you end up putting on even more bodyfat than you would during a bulk with a better burn estimate, which makes your cut more difficult later. Hence, erring on the side of caution if that concerns you.
I've averaged about 2900 cals burnt this week according to the fitbit0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »I wake up to roughly 400 calories burned every morning without taking single step. Are you sure it's adding steps when it's charging? I've heard of this happening when it's placed on table that has a fan on it or other vibrating appliances.
I think thats from sleep calories burned and possible tossing and turning if you wear it to bed. I dont get many if any steps while sleeping or it being charged.so if someone is charging it and its showing them having taken steps they need to contact fitbit0 -
callumwalker1995 wrote: »Gallowmere1984 wrote: »callumwalker1995 wrote: »I'm bulking, would you not pay any attention to the calories burned then as to how much you eat?
Oh, I definitely am, but burns are often very overstated. My point was, it would really depend on what you're trying to do. Obviously, if the Fitbit overestimates your burn by an extra 600 kcals, you end up putting on even more bodyfat than you would during a bulk with a better burn estimate, which makes your cut more difficult later. Hence, erring on the side of caution if that concerns you.
I've averaged about 2900 cals burnt this week according to the fitbit
I burn most days 2400,but that also includes what I burn asleep and during rest too0 -
callumwalker1995 wrote: »DOes anyone know why my fitbit keeps counting calories burned and steps even when it is charging (not on my wrist)? This means I am struggling to understand how many calories I actually burn to work out my TDEE and how many cals I need to put on muscle/weight. FUrthermore, is how many calories you burn your actual TDEE and if you eat the same amount of cals as it says you've burned you'll be at maintenance?
a good way to check is if you are losing weight you need to eat more,if you arent gaining or losing you are in maintenance and if you want to gain up your calories slowly. the fitbit is just an estimation just like MFP is. your tdee is from what I understand your BMR and your exercise calories together. why not try a TDEE calculator and see how many calories it gives you to gain? my fitbit has fits too and it makes me mad. I can overeat a bit one day and it will tell me Im at goal. others I can eat to goal and it will say Im over even if I get a lot of exercise that day. I stopped relying on it as much and just go with mfp. this thing aggravates me to no end sometimes. its a very faulty product(I have the charge HR)0 -
CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »callumwalker1995 wrote: »DOes anyone know why my fitbit keeps counting calories burned and steps even when it is charging (not on my wrist)? This means I am struggling to understand how many calories I actually burn to work out my TDEE and how many cals I need to put on muscle/weight. FUrthermore, is how many calories you burn your actual TDEE and if you eat the same amount of cals as it says you've burned you'll be at maintenance?
a good way to check is if you are losing weight you need to eat more,if you arent gaining or losing you are in maintenance and if you want to gain up your calories slowly. the fitbit is just an estimation just like MFP is. your tdee is from what I understand your BMR and your exercise calories together. why not try a TDEE calculator and see how many calories it gives you to gain? my fitbit has fits too and it makes me mad. I can overeat a bit one day and it will tell me Im at goal. others I can eat to goal and it will say Im over even if I get a lot of exercise that day. I stopped relying on it as much and just go with mfp. this thing aggravates me to no end sometimes. its a very faulty product(I have the charge HR)
the tdee calculator is also tricky as some put my bulking as 3200 calories (Katch-McCardle method), legion nutrition at 3450 and iifym.com as 3800. I exercise 6x a week with an average time spent exercising as 175 minutes (based on last weeks' numbers), 146 lbs, 5 foot 9 and 20 years of age0 -
well all I can say is write all those numbers down. try the lowest one first. give it a month, if you are losing weight then either go to the next number or you can keep adding 100 calories a week until you get to where you arent losing weight, once you notice some gain then I would use that number as your surplus .if you arent losing any weight but in maintenance mode then start with the 3200 and try that for awhile,if you dont gain then up calories by 100 every week until you do start gaining.0
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make sure you eat your exercise calories back to at least half.you want to be close to your surplus or its possible you will lose weight.
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Yeah I didn't gain at 3200 so upped to 3500 gradually and still not gaining so I've upped to 36500
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callumwalker1995 wrote: »Yeah I didn't gain at 3200 so upped to 3500 gradually and still not gaining so I've upped to 3650
You suck!
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callumwalker1995 wrote: »Yeah I didn't gain at 3200 so upped to 3500 gradually and still not gaining so I've upped to 3650
I hope like hell that I don't end up requiring that. Jesus, the 25-2700 I'm currently at is barely tolerable, though I've only been at it for a few days.0 -
My Fitbit gives me a 3500-5000 calorie burn daily. I'm pretty active but I don't trust it on days where it sometimes goes to 5k+0
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pinggolfer96 wrote: »My Fitbit gives me a 3500-5000 calorie burn daily. I'm pretty active but I don't trust it on days where it sometimes goes to 5k+
well since he tried higher calories and he wasnt gaining then upping it was the right idea. everything is an estimate anyway but I would have to work out from sunup to sundown to burn over 3000 calories lol.0 -
I had that happen once. I live close to railroad tracks and had my fitbit charging on a tv tray, so it vibrates a lot when a train goes by. It sometimes feels like a small earthquake when trains go by.
I wear my fitbit to bed to track sleep and I usually have about 300 steps logged by morning. I guess I move a lot in my sleep. So I know my fitbit isn't accurate for the step count. I got up and walked 1/4 mile this morning, plus the little bit of walking around my house, and it says 3300 steps already. I know that isn't accurate.
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Christine_72 wrote: »callumwalker1995 wrote: »Yeah I didn't gain at 3200 so upped to 3500 gradually and still not gaining so I've upped to 3650
You suck!
I know
I hate my metabolism lol, I can remember in high school I went for a number two 3x a day, once at school and it was an absolute nightmare 0 -
CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »pinggolfer96 wrote: »My Fitbit gives me a 3500-5000 calorie burn daily. I'm pretty active but I don't trust it on days where it sometimes goes to 5k+
well since he tried higher calories and he wasnt gaining then upping it was the right idea. everything is an estimate anyway but I would have to work out from sunup to sundown to burn over 3000 calories lol.
burnt 3300 yesterday, eating that many calories though just feels like I'm waiting for the clock for the next time to eat haha!0 -
I had that happen once. I live close to railroad tracks and had my fitbit charging on a tv tray, so it vibrates a lot when a train goes by. It sometimes feels like a small earthquake when trains go by.
I wear my fitbit to bed to track sleep and I usually have about 300 steps logged by morning. I guess I move a lot in my sleep. So I know my fitbit isn't accurate for the step count. I got up and walked 1/4 mile this morning, plus the little bit of walking around my house, and it says 3300 steps already. I know that isn't accurate.
tbf the steps do actually seem to be ore accurate for me now once ive started tracking them, like the walk home from the bus stop has been consistently around the 1500 mark0 -
pinggolfer96 wrote: »My Fitbit gives me a 3500-5000 calorie burn daily. I'm pretty active but I don't trust it on days where it sometimes goes to 5k+
what do you consume in calories to make up for that loss 0 -
I ignore everything my fitbit tells me to do. Look at what happens on the scale and set a sane TDEE goal. This is the only accurate way to do it.1
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fitbit page actually explains this : https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1381
"Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the rate at which you burn calories at rest just to maintain vital body functions like breathing, heartbeat, and brain activity. Your BMR usually accounts for at least half of the calories you burn in a day and is estimated based on the physical data you entered when you set up your account: gender, age, height, and weight.
The calorie burn estimate that Fitbit provides takes into account your BMR, the activity recorded by your tracker, and any activities you log manually.
Your tracker's calorie count will reset each night at midnight and begin counting immediately thereafter. BMR is the reason your tracker starts the day with calories already burned—you've still burned calories even if you haven't gotten out of bed yet."
Point being, use more then 1 way to track if your really depending on burn #. fitbit is tracking BMR not just calories used in exercise.0 -
SweetySusie wrote: »fitbit page actually explains this : https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1381
"Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the rate at which you burn calories at rest just to maintain vital body functions like breathing, heartbeat, and brain activity. Your BMR usually accounts for at least half of the calories you burn in a day and is estimated based on the physical data you entered when you set up your account: gender, age, height, and weight.
The calorie burn estimate that Fitbit provides takes into account your BMR, the activity recorded by your tracker, and any activities you log manually.
Your tracker's calorie count will reset each night at midnight and begin counting immediately thereafter. BMR is the reason your tracker starts the day with calories already burned—you've still burned calories even if you haven't gotten out of bed yet."
Point being, use more then 1 way to track if your really depending on burn #. fitbit is tracking BMR not just calories used in exercise.
Yeah but surely your exercise and activity level throughout the aday is added to the BMR to give you your TDEE?0 -
callumwalker1995 wrote: »SweetySusie wrote: »fitbit page actually explains this : https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1381
"Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the rate at which you burn calories at rest just to maintain vital body functions like breathing, heartbeat, and brain activity. Your BMR usually accounts for at least half of the calories you burn in a day and is estimated based on the physical data you entered when you set up your account: gender, age, height, and weight.
The calorie burn estimate that Fitbit provides takes into account your BMR, the activity recorded by your tracker, and any activities you log manually.
Your tracker's calorie count will reset each night at midnight and begin counting immediately thereafter. BMR is the reason your tracker starts the day with calories already burned—you've still burned calories even if you haven't gotten out of bed yet."
Point being, use more then 1 way to track if your really depending on burn #. fitbit is tracking BMR not just calories used in exercise.
Yeah but surely your exercise and activity level throughout the aday is added to the BMR to give you your TDEE?
That is correct.0 -
So my total cals burned Aug 1 -7 was 21,600 so an average of 3085 per day yet I've been eating at over 3500 calories yet i'm still not gaining?0
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callumwalker1995 wrote: »So my total cals burned Aug 1 -7 was 21,600 so an average of 3085 per day yet I've been eating at over 3500 calories yet i'm still not gaining?
Fitbit does under estimate the calorie burn for some people. You will have to go by your own data over a period of time to find your true TDEE.0 -
RunRutheeRun wrote: »callumwalker1995 wrote: »So my total cals burned Aug 1 -7 was 21,600 so an average of 3085 per day yet I've been eating at over 3500 calories yet i'm still not gaining?
Fitbit does under estimate the calorie burn for some people. You will have to go by your own data over a period of time to find your true TDEE.
own data? or own experience more like?0
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