How accurate is fitbit calories burned?
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DapperDassie
Posts: 190 Member
I've read people on here suggesting eating half the exercise calories mfp shows since it overestimates calories burned but what about an HR charge fitbit? How accurate are the calories burned and would i still lose weight if I eat all the exercise calories back?
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Replies
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I've never used a fitbit with HR functionality because my resting and exercising heart rate is super high.
But the flex and Alta have both been very accurate for me, about 50 calories under my actual burn daily, but that's a tiny percentage0 -
Time will tell really.
Mine was useless the first month and really over inflated the burns. Now it is right on the money for me and I eat back 100%.
I'm in maintenance though.
Try eating 50%. If you lose too quickly increase it.4 -
I've never used a fitbit with HR functionality because my resting and exercising heart rate is super high.
But the flex and Alta have both been very accurate for me, about 50 calories under my actual burn daily, but that's a tiny percentage
I have a very low resting heart rate, not sure if that makes a difference. Fitbit says my resting heart rate is at 510 -
RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »Time will tell really.
Mine was useless the first month and really over inflated the burns. Now it is right on the money for me and I eat back 100%.
I'm in maintenance though.
Try eating 50%. If you lose too quickly increase it.
I'm not worried about loosing too quickly, more just i like eating haha. I've been losing about a 1 lb to 0.5 a lb a week for quite a while now so an increase in weight loss speed would be quite welcomed0 -
DapperDassie wrote: »RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »Time will tell really.
Mine was useless the first month and really over inflated the burns. Now it is right on the money for me and I eat back 100%.
I'm in maintenance though.
Try eating 50%. If you lose too quickly increase it.
I'm not worried about loosing too quickly, more just i like eating haha. I've been losing about a 1 lb to 0.5 a lb a week for quite a while now so an increase in weight loss speed would be quite welcomed
That is a perfect rate of loss. Well done
Too fast isn't good. You have to create a larger deficit and that increases the risk of yoyo dieting, excess skin, increased muscle loss.
I'd keep it at that rate.4 -
I have a resting heart rate of 48 bpm but my Charge HR seems as near as matters. I don't usually eat all my exercise calories back though but if I am hungry, I will. I would say I eat 75% of them most of the time and I lose weight just fine1
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RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »DapperDassie wrote: »RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »Time will tell really.
Mine was useless the first month and really over inflated the burns. Now it is right on the money for me and I eat back 100%.
I'm in maintenance though.
Try eating 50%. If you lose too quickly increase it.
I'm not worried about loosing too quickly, more just i like eating haha. I've been losing about a 1 lb to 0.5 a lb a week for quite a while now so an increase in weight loss speed would be quite welcomed
That is a perfect rate of loss. Well done
Too fast isn't good. You have to create a larger deficit and that increases the risk of yoyo dieting, excess skin, increased muscle loss.
I'd keep it at that rate.
Yeah i know it's just frustrating when i still have so much to go but thank you for the reminder. Patience is not my best virtue3 -
I want to know about this too. I'm currently trying to decide if getting a Fitbit is worth it. I'm considering the Charge 2.0
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MsHarryWinston wrote: »I want to know about this too. I'm currently trying to decide if getting a Fitbit is worth it. I'm considering the Charge 2.
I've had my fitbit for a few weeks now and I really like it so far. Worth it to me. Charge 2 is what i have1 -
I have the Alta and I'm not convinced it's entirely accurate either so I only eat back half of the cals, most of the time.0
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My charge 2 seems pretty accurate, if anything, it seems to underestimate my calorie burn.0
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MsHarryWinston wrote: »I want to know about this too. I'm currently trying to decide if getting a Fitbit is worth it. I'm considering the Charge 2.
Can't comment on fitbit as I don't have one, I use a Garmin tracker, but I've definitely been more motivated to move since I got one. Particularly at work, I find myself purposely going up and down the stairs with packages just to reach my stair goal, whereas before I got it, I would have just rang the department it belonged to for them to collect it. I've also steadily increased my walking from around 8000 steps per day to approx 14000 per day.
To the OP @PAV8888 has a spreadsheet if you really want to see how accurate it is:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VDmqNpLPu7sbQSochUJNXdp2F7AN15AGgkvS3zLw1GU/edit#gid=02 -
The last two years I had the HR charge and since December I've had the blaze and for me they've both been accurate.0
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DapperDassie wrote: »I've read people on here suggesting eating half the exercise calories mfp shows since it overestimates calories burned but what about an HR charge fitbit? How accurate are the calories burned and would i still lose weight if I eat all the exercise calories back?
First, the Fitbit calorie adjustment is not really 'exercise calories'. Its the difference between what MFP expects you to burn in a day (based on your selected activity level, stats) and what Fitbit says you burn in a day (based on movement, stats and Fitbit's algorhythms-I know I spelled that wrong).
The only way to know how accurate it is for you is to judge by results. Personally my Fitbit is pretty accurate. I'm in maintenance. I based my deficit (when I was losing) on the Fitbit calories burned and lost steadily. Now I eat a little under what Fitbit says I burn most days, which allows for more approximation on my part and occasional reckless abandon on the weekends. And I'm maintaining. Yet some people report their Fitbit burn is too high.
How to figure it out? Choose a course of action and follow it for 4-8 weeks. If you're losing faster than expected, eat more of the Fitbit calories. If you're losing less than expected (and your logging is accurate) then eat less of them.3 -
MsHarryWinston wrote: »I want to know about this too. I'm currently trying to decide if getting a Fitbit is worth it. I'm considering the Charge 2.
I think a unexpected benefit, at least it was for me, was the subtle reminder that i need to keep moving and the recognition it provides to just how sedentary I really was. I feel like I have to get my exercise time and step counts up and it motivates me to keep going.
As for the calories it adds to MFP, I rarely eat them back. I probably should eat some.3 -
I have a Charge 2. For the first month, I ate like my Fitbit was 10% off (so if it said I burned 2000 calories, I ate as if I had burned only 1800). I ended up losing a lot faster than I planned. I've now found my Fitbit to be about 95% accurate (It reads 2000, I say 1900). As other people have said, pick some amount, try it for a few weeks and reevaluate.
EDIT: I also have to say that I ignore the "calorie adjustment" that MFP gives me. I rely solely on the number on my Fitbit.0 -
Tomk652015 wrote: »MsHarryWinston wrote: »I want to know about this too. I'm currently trying to decide if getting a Fitbit is worth it. I'm considering the Charge 2.
I think a unexpected benefit, at least it was for me, was the subtle reminder that i need to keep moving and the recognition it provides to just how sedentary I really was. I feel like I have to get my exercise time and step counts up and it motivates me to keep going.
As for the calories it adds to MFP, I rarely eat them back. I probably should eat some.
Oh mine was an eye opener for sure. Less than 3000 steps a day when i bought it. I try and get close to 10,000 now1 -
I have the Charge HR and find mine pretty accurate when it comes to daily calories burned without exercise. I have noticed that it can overestimate my exercise calories when I set it in exercise mode. I compared it with my polar chest strap HR and sometimes it would underestimate and other times it would overestimate. I mainly just use mine for daily activity/steps and wear my polar for more accurate numbers during exercise.0
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I find mine is pretty accurate but I also strength train 3 times a week and don't 'count' that in my tdee estimates so it may be a little high but I'd say you're safe to eat back 50% easily. The only real way to know is to use your data and theirs over time and compare. Did you expect to lose 1.25lbs and over the last month your average has been more or less? That will tell you with reasonable certainty if you have some time under your belt and you trust your logging.0
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