fitbit calorie burn accuracy

lightenup2016

I'm 5'6", and weigh 137 lbs, and over the holidays I decided to maintain instead of lose. I don't currently have an activity tracker, but for three weeks I maintained at 137 lbs while netting about 2100 calories a day. So I would say your numbers don't sound too far off. I was surprised I could maintain at that high number of calories, but I guess I do move a lot--3 kids, housework, stairs at home, etc.

StaciMarie1974

Keep in mind it counts your all-day burn, including BMR. Not just calories burned while you are 'exercising'.

I have a Fitbit One and find it accurate. To the extent that when I first reached maintenance, I found if I ate less than it said I needed: I lost weight. I don't know about your model though. Some are said to need a few days to acclimate you the user.

To err on the safe side you could assume a 5-10% error rate. If Fitbit says your TDEE is 2500 per day, for example, plan to leave 125-250 of those calories behind.

dperret1975 wrote: »

Hello everybody,

I recently bought a Fitbit Charge HR. I have been wearing it for a little while I find my calorieburn so much I higher than I assumed

StaciMarie1974

My stats: 5'5.5", 42, female. So similar. WIthout making an effort I'd only burn 1500 or so per day. With some effort I hit 1800-1900. I don't consider myself to have an active lifestyle. I sit at a desk or in a car/commuting 10 hours most days.

SusanMFindlay

dperret1975 wrote: »

I do walk at least 10.000 steps a day which I don't consider exercise...

It may not be exercise but it makes you more active than the vast majority.

My FitBit calorie burn is very accurate based on my weightloss results. I am currently just under 160 pounds (fluctuating in the upper 150s), 5'4 and 40 years old. My Charge 2 says my average daily calorie burn is ~2750. I average just under 20,000 steps/day as I have two very young children and am on my feet a lot at work. I only work out twice a week (1 hour each). When I ate 1750 cals/day, I lost 2 pounds/week; now, I eat 2250 cals/day and lose 1 pound/week on average.

Over Christmas, my daily burns dropped to 2400ish calories because I dropped to ~12,000 steps/day when I wasn't working.

Your numbers sound completely reasonable to me.

WilsonFilson

With the HR function turned on, the fitbit calorie burn is notoriously too high. Use it as a guide, but I suggest calculating your TDEE using one of the many calculators out there. I prefer this one: https://www.muscleforlife.com/macronutrient-calculator/

Maxematics

WilsonFilson wrote: »

With the HR function turned on, the fitbit calorie burn is notoriously too high. Use it as a guide, but I suggest calculating your TDEE using one of the many calculators out there. I prefer this one: https://www.muscleforlife.com/macronutrient-calculator/

It depends on the person. My HR function is on and my burns are never too high. I agree with the guide part though, as one can eat more or less calories back depending on their rate of loss against their purported calorie deficit. For some people, the burns can be too high, especially those with a poor level of fitness/excessive bodyfat. For others, they have the right TDEE but the person underestimates their calorie intake because they don't weigh their food.

GottaBurnEmAll

The HR burns work well for steady state cardio. Please don't mistake Your TDEE (which is your total Fitbit burn) for exercise calories burned.

It would probably be really informative for you, OP, to do some reading in the Fitbit users group so that you can understand how you device works, reports, and integrates with MFP so that you can get the most out of it.

Fitbits are not notoriously inaccurate. People are notoriously inaccurate in misinterpreting the data Fitbits give them.

SusanMFindlay

WilsonFilson wrote: »

With the HR function turned on, the fitbit calorie burn is notoriously too high. Use it as a guide, but I suggest calculating your TDEE using one of the many calculators out there. I prefer this one: https://www.muscleforlife.com/macronutrient-calculator/

As I mentioned before, mine is bang on (and has HR turned on). Most of my activity is step based "being on my feet all day" which means that the TDEE calculators don't have an appropriate category for me. They all have categories which ramp up intensity of activity whenever duration is increased. There are no options for people who get a lot of low intensity activity. And those people are the ones FitBit is most accurate for.

GottaBurnEmAll

WilsonFilson wrote: »

With the HR function turned on, the fitbit calorie burn is notoriously too high. Use it as a guide, but I suggest calculating your TDEE using one of the many calculators out there. I prefer this one: https://www.muscleforlife.com/macronutrient-calculator/

Not necessarily, unless you're using it to gauge something that's not steady state cardio.

The newer devices even have programmed exercises you can choose from that aren't necessarily steady state cardio, and the burns aren't all that ridiculous for something like strength training (I get around 200 gross calories for 60 minutes of lifting -- I don't think that's all that out of line). Bear in mind that's not the adjustment that Fitbit sends to MFP with my BMR deducted.

Interestingly, my Fitbit TDEE and most TDEE calculators pretty much agree.

XxBecksxX91

I'm 25, 139lbs and mine (fitbit surge) has me anywhere from 1800 a day (6000 steps) to 2300 (18,000 steps). I go by its auto logging exercise calories to MFP but seems pretty accurate.