Fitbit charge HR overestimates walking calories hugely
Replies
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@Christine_72
So sorry that you're having similar issues.
I'm not sure what to use mine for if it doesn't count calories correctly.0 -
gebeziseva wrote: »@Christine_72 So sorry that you're having similar issues.
I'm not sure what to use mine for if it doesn't count calories correctly.
Having a fitbit definitely motivates me to move, and it does give me a rough estimate of how much i'm burning, even though it's not spot on, but nothing is. For some people their fitbit is very accurate and they eat back 100% of their calories.
If i had the nerve i would do an experiment and eat back every single one of those calories and see what happens.. Maybe when i get down to maintenance, i'll try it for a full month, and just make sure my food logging is as perfect as possible.
Which brings me to my next point, there is no point trying to judge the accuracy of these devices (thru weight loss or lack thereof) if we/you have sloppy food logging. So many people don't bother logging exercise because they know their logging is off, so they use those exercise calories as a buffer.2 -
I use my Fitbit simply as a tracker. I completely ignore the calories it tries to tell me I've burned/earned.
Instead, I manually add my exercise into MFP and then eat back half of them.
Which is never hundreds.
-sigh- I either need to move more or whine less0 -
gebeziseva wrote: »Aaron_K123 wrote: »You can actually burn quite a lot of calories just walking. The part of your post that confuses me is to know that your fitbit HR is overestimating you first have to know the correct value. If you know the correct value already from which to compare to your HR, then why do you need an activity tracker on the first place?
because I'm tired of keeping spreadsheets and doing math. I've been keeping spreadsheets of data for 6-7 months. I was doing it because I was making a very small deficit so I need accurate estimates.
I can appreciate that, very cool youve put the effort in to track accurately yourself in the first place. Is the data from the tracker off from your spreadsheets in a consistant way where you could just multiply it by a percentage? So like fitbit always gives you twice the burn you know you get from your data so you then multiply it by 0.5?
If that is the case what you can do is mess with the stride length settings in your fitbit to make that correction so that the fitbit now matches your spreadsheet. Mileage will be way off but sounds like you don't care about that.
If you make that correction and find the fitbit now matches your calculations you could then trust it and close your spreadsheet.
For that to work though the discrepancy between the two has to be linear.
I've never tried that though it's possible changing stride length will only change the mileage estimate and not the calorie burn estimate in which case you'd have to apply the correction manually.2 -
@Aaron_K123
I was just thinking about that. I'm going to keep an eye another week and compare values. I've now disconnected it from mfp so it's fine.
I was thinking if it is linear I will just put my height to be less in fitbit until the burn matches my other calculations.
Thanks
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gebeziseva wrote: »@Aaron_K123
I was just thinking about that. I'm going to keep an eye another week and compare values. I've now disconnected it from mfp so it's fine.
I was thinking if it is linear I will just put my height to be less in fitbit until the burn matches my other calculations.
Thanks
Actually that is a better idea...more I think about it changing stride length wouldn't change calories. Changing your height/weight would though...just adjust that down till you are happy. Smart.
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The Fitbit takes into account all activity, regardless of walking, running or sleeping. It starts counting at midnight, when I wake up in the morning I have already burned 500 - 700 calories. As the day goes on, whether sitting or active you will burn calorie, hence why people are seeing upwards of 2000.
I trust my Fitbit and love it.7 -
SusanMFindlay wrote: »
I realize that, but @Christine_72 is only 30 pounds heavier and gets about twice the number of exercise calories for steps that I do.0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »adamyovanovich wrote: »I get that an all. But... I'm losing 11 lbs a month. If I ate the extra 1000 cal each day I'd only lose 2 lbs. I'll just wait till I'm at maintain to trust eating those back.
I've heard that the calorie burn for heavier people can be a bit sketchy, eat back as many as you can whilst still losing and reavulate again when you're closer to your goal weight.How do you all get so many calories for steps? I'm 5'3, 115 and get about 250 calories for 15,000 steps being set at sedentary in MFP.
I'm over 30lbs heavier and 5 inches taller than you. Having said that i try not to eat more than 50% of my exercise calories back. I think if i ate the whole lot i'd start gaining. I'm losing at a snails pace as it is..
250 calories for 15,000 steps is a bit sad too though. Do you eat all of your calories back?
Usually--I'm in maintenance now. Got 320 for 22,750 today in MFP today. I was focusing more on the weight difference, which doesn't seem that much at 30-ish pounds, than the height. My Garmin isn't an HR, so it's just steps. I just feel like I worked harder than 320 calories.
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Aaron_K123 wrote: »How do you all get so many calories for steps? I'm 5'3, 115 and get about 250 calories for 15,000 steps being set at sedentary in MFP.
Well for my numbers I maintain at something like 2200 so subtract that from the 5200 calories and you get that I burned 3000 calories from walking that day. I think that day was 60,000 steps so four times as much. The remainder has to do with our weight difference. If you carried a 60 pound backpack around to make up for the difference in our weights when you did those 15,000 steps you'd burn a lot more too.
Still with all of that said 250 for 15000 steps does seem low.
I'd burn more with the weight, but I wouldn't know as my fitness tracker's not an HR. I did do stairs and hills today at work but it's all just steps in my world, unless I'm training and put on the HRM.
I'm in maintenance and maintaining, so I really need to just stop whining and put on my big girl panties. But sometimes I want to splurge a little more (my maintenance calories is 1440). I usually exercise a ton, but work is really busy and I can't with the long days.
320 exercise calories today in MFP for my 22,750 steps.0 -
The heart rate monitor can actually be turned off in the settings (on the desktop 'app' I believe) on the HR models. Try that and see if you get better numbers.2
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SusanMFindlay wrote: »
I realize that, but @Christine_72 is only 30 pounds heavier and gets about twice the number of exercise calories for steps that I do.
@Psychgrrl I think your device underestimates, and mine overestimates :huh: My fitbit isn't a HR monitor either.0 -
That 2901 calories (eg in green) is the TOTAL burn. It is what you could maintain at on that day.
What MFP tells you takes into account your deficit, eg 2901 minus 500 calories and you will lose weight.
There is nothing wrong with your Fitbit. Try it for a month and trust it.3 -
TilKingdomCome wrote: »That 2901 calories (eg in green) is the TOTAL burn. It is what you could maintain at on that day.
What MFP tells you takes into account your deficit, eg 2901 minus 500 calories and you will lose weight.
There is nothing wrong with your Fitbit. Try it for a month and trust it.
Correct, but that's still too high for her weight. I think the issue is that her heart rate gets too high, as she mentioned. With an atypical heart rate it's possible that HR monitors simply don't work for her.
OP I know it stings, but you might want to turn off the heart rate function and see how you do without it. It can easily be done from device settings in Fitbit. I used to do that for runs because I'm not fit and my heart rate goes higher than what my actual performance would indicate. That before I discovered the cloth trick. I used a piece of washcloth between my skin and the monitor to prevent sweat from screwing with the readings and discovered by chance that it lowers heart rate readings too giving me more realistic running calories. It wouldn't be realistic for you to have a washcloth sticking out from under your tracker all day, so turning it off would be your best bet.3 -
Yes, the number Fitbit gives you is your total calories burned so far that day. It's your combined calories from BMI and any activity you've done -- whether that's walking or working out at the gym or cleaning your house or brushing your teeth or whatever. I don't understand how people say "I walked 10,000 steps today and it gave me XXX extra calories." Because many of those steps were in your normal daily activity. You won't see them on your dashboard as a walk. So how could you possibly know how many "extra" calories it's giving based on total number of steps? A variety of things besides walking can affect your TDEE. I didn't walk as many steps yesterday as I normally do, but I scrubbed my front porch. So my TDEE was (understandably) just as high as it would have been if I'd walked more. Walking is not everything!
And don't forget to make sure your settings are as accurate as possible. Measure your stride length and enter it accurately. Make sure your age, sex, height and current weight are accurate.
One thing I do is to wear my Fitbit on my left (non dominant) hand but set it as if I'm wearing it on my right (dominant) hand. That lowers the sensitivity and helps ensure it doesn't give me credit for extra steps. Some people who think their Fitbits are over estimating calories have said they've changed their settings so that the Fitbit thinks they're an inch or two shorter and that's helped.2 -
@Pawsforme I think the are talking about the adjustment fitbit sends mfp. According to fitbit my tdee is 2645 (assuming this is an average as its my calories burnt goal number). For mfp on lightly active my neat is 2285. I can get adjustments of anywhere between 300 and 1100 based on how active I am. Average is around 8-900 on work days. Which after spending way too long averaging numbers vs actual losses, the 2645 is fairly accurate as a tdee. Looking at it day to day, a 3200 tdee seems insane, but I tend to gloss over 2300 days until I'm averaging.
I *do think that if I were to eat all of the adjustment, my loss would slow considerably. The adjustment is off somehow for me. But, eating an average of 1650, over 6 weeks, I've lost an average of 1.9lbs/week. Which is almost exactly what I've planned to lose. Even with some stupid hormonal gains factored into that...averages worked out.1 -
@gebeziseva I also tend to have a pretty high heart rate when walking and I've also found that the fitbit charge hr grossly overestimates my calorie burn. As a result I haven't really used it much the last 6 months. It has recently been suggested to me to use the webapp to turn off the heart rate monitoring to see if that helps. You may want to try that too to see if its at least as accurate as a pedometer app.2
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I still disagree that it is overestimating. 2901 total calories burnt was not the OP it was someone with similar stats but a high heart rate from memory. I was using that one as an eg.
I too have the same stats as the OP give or take a kg and a couple of cm but I am fit so presumably might have a lower HR. I burn on average 2400/day. If I consume 1900 I lose .5kg/week. I have had a Fitbit for the entire time I have lost weight (23kg) minus a month and have eaten every one of the adjustment/exercise calories (always set at negative adjustment). The total calories burnt has been very consistent between a flex and HR.
I just don't think you can make a claim of it being unreliable after just 24 hours of use. There are a few little tricks to make it as reliable as possible, eg non-dominant, negative adjustments, etc. and there are trackers that overestimate STEPS but these are pretty obvious (my son had one and he would do same activities but thousands of steps more than his brother).
They are hard to trust but they do generally work if you give it a shot and your stats look pretty reasonable to me.
I've just about had it with Fitbit though so this will be my last one (Blaze). The fitbits my family have are continually breaking and I'm at my wits end with their customer service who used to be ok.6 -
TilKingdomCome wrote: »I still disagree that it is overestimating. 2901 total calories burnt was not the OP it was someone with similar stats but a high heart rate from memory. I was using that one as an eg.
I too have the same stats as the OP give or take a kg and a couple of cm but I am fit so presumably might have a lower HR. I burn on average 2400/day. If I consume 1900 I lose .5kg/week. I have had a Fitbit for the entire time I have lost weight (23kg) minus a month and have eaten every one of the adjustment/exercise calories (always set at negative adjustment). The total calories burnt has been very consistent between a flex and HR.
I just don't think you can make a claim of it being unreliable after just 24 hours of use. There are a few little tricks to make it as reliable as possible, eg non-dominant, negative adjustments, etc. and there are trackers that overestimate STEPS but these are pretty obvious (my son had one and he would do same activities but thousands of steps more than his brother).
They are hard to trust but they do generally work if you give it a shot and your stats look pretty reasonable to me.
I've just about had it with Fitbit though so this will be my last one (Blaze). The fitbits my family have are continually breaking and I'm at my wits end with their customer service who used to be ok.
I was the one with 2,900 calorie burn. I have a fitbit Alta which does not have a HR monitor.
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SusanMFindlay wrote: »
I'm 5'4" and weigh 183 and I only got 2 calories added today for my 11,000 steps. Odd.0 -
rcktgirl05 wrote: »SusanMFindlay wrote: »
I'm 5'4" and weigh 183 and I only got 2 calories added today for my 11,000 steps. Odd.
Are you set to "active" by any chance? If not, it could be a one off glitch.1 -
amusedmonkey wrote: »rcktgirl05 wrote: »SusanMFindlay wrote: »
I'm 5'4" and weigh 183 and I only got 2 calories added today for my 11,000 steps. Odd.
Are you set to "active" by any chance? If not, it could be a one off glitch.
I am set to Active because I try to do something every day. Should I not be? I'm confused now.0 -
rcktgirl05 wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »rcktgirl05 wrote: »SusanMFindlay wrote: »
I'm 5'4" and weigh 183 and I only got 2 calories added today for my 11,000 steps. Odd.
Are you set to "active" by any chance? If not, it could be a one off glitch.
I am set to Active because I try to do something ever day. Should I not be? I'm confused now.
You can choose which activity level best describes you. Do you have negative adjustments enabled? This ensures you will get calories taken away so you don't eat too many if you don't happen to meet mfp's active level on any given day.
I think I'd struggle keeping to "active" 7 days a week.
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rcktgirl05 wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »rcktgirl05 wrote: »SusanMFindlay wrote: »
I'm 5'4" and weigh 183 and I only got 2 calories added today for my 11,000 steps. Odd.
Are you set to "active" by any chance? If not, it could be a one off glitch.
I am set to Active because I try to do something ever day. Should I not be? I'm confused now.
You can be set to active, it makes no difference since Fitbit will adjust calories accordingly, but when you are set to active the extra calories you get from your tracker are mostly used to fulfill that "active" status, so you don't get many extra calories above your allowance. The extra calories people are reporting are mostly for the "sedentary" setting.2 -
amusedmonkey wrote: »
You can be set to active, it makes no difference since Fitbit will adjust calories accordingly, but when you are set to active the extra calories you get from your tracker are mostly used to fulfill that "active" status, so you don't get many extra calories above your allowance. The extra calories people are reporting are mostly for the "sedentary" setting.
Oh that makes sense. In any case, the Fitbit - MFP combo is working for me so I'm gonna keep on keeping on!0 -
rcktgirl05 wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »
You can be set to active, it makes no difference since Fitbit will adjust calories accordingly, but when you are set to active the extra calories you get from your tracker are mostly used to fulfill that "active" status, so you don't get many extra calories above your allowance. The extra calories people are reporting are mostly for the "sedentary" setting.
Oh that makes sense. In any case, the Fitbit - MFP combo is working for me so I'm gonna keep on keeping on!
Just make sure you have negative adjustment enabled for those days where you aren't as active, and that your calorie allowance is reasonable enough to support that level of activity.0 -
amusedmonkey wrote: »rcktgirl05 wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »
You can be set to active, it makes no difference since Fitbit will adjust calories accordingly, but when you are set to active the extra calories you get from your tracker are mostly used to fulfill that "active" status, so you don't get many extra calories above your allowance. The extra calories people are reporting are mostly for the "sedentary" setting.
Oh that makes sense. In any case, the Fitbit - MFP combo is working for me so I'm gonna keep on keeping on!
Just make sure you have negative adjustment enabled for those days where you aren't as active, and that your calorie allowance is reasonable enough to support that level of activity.
Well turns out that feature is not available on the mobile app so I didn't know about it. You have to go to the full website to enable it. Thanks for the heads up!!0 -
I really, really don't like the Fitbit wearable HR monitors
I don't understand how anyone thinks their HR is relevant to calorie burn in anything outside the steady state cardio parameters that underlie the formula
I do appreciate there are other, more expensive, HR monitors which may prove more accurate in other states
Someone told me that actually while walking it reverts to the basic pedometer function to estimate calories (might be made up)
I have a basic Fitbit pedometer (a zip) which I am basically married to (don't tell the husband but seriously I feel more bereft without it than without him) ...and it has proved, over time, to be very accurate
I weigh 72kg (at 173cm) at goal
For 10000 steps I get about 350-500 calories over me at sedentary (1750)
For 15000 it's more like 6-800
With biofeedback over years this has proved to vaguely underestimate my actual burn by 1-200 so I have had to adjust my Fitbit settings to make me 30 years younger, and 5cm taller (come to think of it that might be why I'm so fond of it...well that and the extra calories present it bestows daily)
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I really, really don't like the Fitbit wearable HR monitors
I don't understand how anyone thinks their HR is relevant to calorie burn in anything outside the steady state cardio parameters that underlie the formula
I do appreciate there are other, more expensive, HR monitors which may prove more accurate in other states
Someone told me that actually while walking it reverts to the basic pedometer function to estimate calories (might be made up)
I have a basic Fitbit pedometer (a zip) which I am basically married to (don't tell the husband but seriously I feel more bereft without it than without him) ...and it has proved, over time, to be very accurate
I weigh 72kg (at 173cm) at goal
For 10000 steps I get about 350-500 calories over me at sedentary (1750)
For 15000 it's more like 6-800
With biofeedback over years this has proved to vaguely underestimate my actual burn by 1-200 so I have had to adjust my Fitbit settings to make me 30 years younger, and 5cm taller (come to think of it that might be why I'm so fond of it...well that and the extra calories present it bestows daily)
I got the Fitbit Charge HR because I play hockey and I was looking for a better estimate. My Apple Watch told me that a short walk to the next building over was more calorie burn than my 45 min hockey game. That's why, for me at least. And I wasn't really sure what went into the MFP estimates for that exercise. With the Fitbit I do see a difference based on how intense my game was, if we had more or less subs than normal, if it was easy or competitive.0 -
Hockey isn't steady state, it is closer to HIIT
HR Monitors are inaccurate outside steady state
May as well use a METS chart
Field hockey 7.8 METS
General ice hockey 8 METS
Competitive ice hockey 10 METS
Times those by your weight in kg to give an estimate of calorie expenditure per hour0
This discussion has been closed.
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