Calorie intake and Fitbit reliability
emmas434
Posts: 29 Member
Hi everyone,
I'm currently having a moment of doubt of my Fitbit. I have been trying to lose weight since roughly late June, with before that point just trying to maintain. I lost 3lbs by the start of July to 182 pounds, however from that point I have only fluxulated around that weight 182-184 pounds. Unfortunately in June I didn't have a scale however my weight from about January has sat at roughly 187-189.
Annoyingly, I have been within my calories for the past three weeks/four weeks and not seen any movement. I have today decided to take my Fitbit off for a week and see if that makes a difference. I do measure all my food with scales so I know that's not where my issue lies. Has anyone else had this with their Fitbit or am I simply impatient? My mum thinks I should cut out sugar but I've been going by the reasoning a calorie is a calorie.
Height is 5' 6"
I'm currently having a moment of doubt of my Fitbit. I have been trying to lose weight since roughly late June, with before that point just trying to maintain. I lost 3lbs by the start of July to 182 pounds, however from that point I have only fluxulated around that weight 182-184 pounds. Unfortunately in June I didn't have a scale however my weight from about January has sat at roughly 187-189.
Annoyingly, I have been within my calories for the past three weeks/four weeks and not seen any movement. I have today decided to take my Fitbit off for a week and see if that makes a difference. I do measure all my food with scales so I know that's not where my issue lies. Has anyone else had this with their Fitbit or am I simply impatient? My mum thinks I should cut out sugar but I've been going by the reasoning a calorie is a calorie.
Height is 5' 6"
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Replies
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How many calories are you eating per day?1
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Weigh, log, and accurately record your food. If you get into a calorie deficit and stay in it for more than 3 weeks, you'll see your weight trending down.
(You don't need a Fitbit to do that)0 -
Funny thing.... I just disconnected my Fitbit from this site yesterday. I am off for the summer and outside of my exercise, do not move as much as when I am working. After sitting and watching TV for a half hour, my Fitbit had clocked about 1500 steps. I've heard others make the same comments. I'm going back to entering any exercise I do manually. At least that way I know the info is "approximately" correct. I try not to eat back calories whenever possible, but the fact the Fitbit is boosting the workout calories is just annoying!0
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I have a fitbit and always log exercise manually. Just feel the uncertainty of the fitbit, plus the uncertainty in MFP results in error too easily0
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Funny thing.... I just disconnected my Fitbit from this site yesterday. I am off for the summer and outside of my exercise, do not move as much as when I am working. After sitting and watching TV for a half hour, my Fitbit had clocked about 1500 steps. I've heard others make the same comments. I'm going back to entering any exercise I do manually. At least that way I know the info is "approximately" correct. I try not to eat back calories whenever possible, but the fact the Fitbit is boosting the workout calories is just annoying!
I think I will also do this, just feel it mustn't be registering it correctly. I work as a waitress part-time so I think maybe it gets the high heart rate confused with stress and actual running around0 -
I purchased my Fitbit at the end of March. From January to March I lost 5pounds per month (15 pounds total). From March to July I've lost 3 pounds total. I'm spending the rest of July really focusing on tightening up my logging. I'm seriously considering disconnecting the Fitbit come August 1. I sat down one day to sew never got up and had several thousand steps earned afterward. I do a lot with my hands during the days so I'm thinking my Fitbit burns credits may be too much.0
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Not sure how exactly Fitbit calculates daily activity, but 10,000 walking steps is likely around 200 calories, and nowhere near 500.3 -
Not sure how exactly Fitbit calculates daily activity, but 10,000 walking steps is likely around 200 calories, and nowhere near 500.
If she's set to sedentary the 500 calorie adjustment is possible. I'm set to lightly active and it takes me about 14,000 steps to get an extra 500 calories.3 -
My maintenance is about 2600 (found via tracking my food/body weight) and my fitbit regularly gives me burns of 3000+
I would gain weight if I ate what my fitbit tells me I burn.. That being said, I still use it to track my general activity, I just don't have it connected/eat the calories it suggests.0 -
Not sure how exactly Fitbit calculates daily activity, but 10,000 walking steps is likely around 200 calories, and nowhere near 500.
perfectly reasonable to me. I eat back a few hundred if im snacky it evens me out, Im alot more active though but when i was begining my fitbit seemed pretty on point after i made one adjustment. I set it so it thinks it on my main hand, But its on my other arm. Made it alot less sensitive to basic movements my arms make0 -
JaydedMiss wrote: »
Not sure how exactly Fitbit calculates daily activity, but 10,000 walking steps is likely around 200 calories, and nowhere near 500.
I set it so it thinks it on my main hand, But its on my other arm. Made it alot less sensitive to basic movements my arms make
I did this too from day one but still think that mine is giving false steps because of how much I move my hands during the work day.1 -
Ha, my fitbit is completely off as well! On sedentary days it gives me around 1900kcal (maintenance is around 1700, tried and tested) and on a day where I walked 19km slowly, but equally sat around airports, stations and such a lot gave me 2900. I probably was closer to 2200 that day. Don't trust the fitbit, especially not if you have a higher heartrate (it's genetic).0
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Funny thing.... I just disconnected my Fitbit from this site yesterday. I am off for the summer and outside of my exercise, do not move as much as when I am working. After sitting and watching TV for a half hour, my Fitbit had clocked about 1500 steps. I've heard others make the same comments. I'm going back to entering any exercise I do manually. At least that way I know the info is "approximately" correct. I try not to eat back calories whenever possible, but the fact the Fitbit is boosting the workout calories is just annoying!
There is something most definitely wrong with your FitBit. You should call their tech support.3 -
Not sure how exactly Fitbit calculates daily activity, but 10,000 walking steps is likely around 200 calories, and nowhere near 500.
I walk at least 10,000 steps every day and FitBit regularly adjust 400-600.
People, please don't forget that fitness websites state that 10,000 steps a day is considered "Active" NOT Sedentary. It is perfectly reasonable for there to be a calorie adjustment. http://www.fitnessforweightloss.com/rate-your-activity-level-based-on-steps-per-day/
OP, I would suggest entering your statistics and goals into MFP. Indicate Sedentary activity level since your daily activity level varies. Sync MFP with your FitBit. Then always weigh/measure, and enter your food into MFP only. Then MFP and FitBit will work together to give you a calorie adjustment based on your activity level that day.5 -
FB works fine for me (HR charge 2)... I however do NOT eat back any day-to-day walking/normal activity calories (cleaning the house, laundry, walking around stores, stroll in the park) or from yoga or strength training.
My experience: Just bc I might get 10,000 or 15,000 steps, doesn't mean I can eat those back. (I was doing that and my weight loss slowed to a crawl for the whole month I tested it out). I DO eat a portion of my true exercise calories (spin class, long hikes, bike rides, kayaking, etc. that I decided should last for at least 30 minutes) I think if you are morbidly obese you might be able to get away with eating normal activity, but I have about 40-60 lbs to get to an appropriate weight for my height, fwiw.5 -
FB works fine for me (HR charge 2)... I however do NOT eat back any day-to-day walking/normal activity calories (cleaning the house, laundry, walking around stores, stroll in the park) or from yoga or strength training.
My experience: Just bc I might get 10,000 or 15,000 steps, doesn't mean I can eat those back. (I was doing that and my weight loss slowed to a crawl for the whole month I tested it out). I DO eat a portion of my true exercise calories (spin class, long hikes, bike rides, kayaking, etc. that I decided should last for at least 30 minutes) I think if you are morbidly obese you might be able to get away with eating normal activity, but I have about 40-60 lbs to get to an appropriate weight for my height, fwiw.
If you have your settings set as Sedentary - YES, YES, you should eat those calories back. Sedentary means you move LESS than 5000 steps a day. MFP calculates your calories needs assuming that the person doesn't move at all and is truly sedentary. So if you are walking 10-15k steps a day, no matter how those steps were achieved, you are burning more calories than you think.1 -
Your diary is closed, so standard/generic areas where you could be missing calories in your log - as you indicate you do use a scale.
Do you weigh everything solid, even pieces of fruit, slices of bread, etc.?
Do you account for cooking oils, condiments, beverages?
How often do you eat food not made by you? That is, restaurants or food prepared by family, friends where you can't weigh the ingredients?
Do you enter your own recipes, or use similar entries from the database?
Do you log everyday?
Do you tend to taste things while cooking, or have a bite of this & that from someone else's food?
You indicate you've compared weight change over the past 3-4 weeks. And that our access to a scale prior was limited. Do you weigh yourself at approximately the same time of day, same level of clothing? Have you started a new workout routine in the past 3-4 weeks?2 -
Ps-I've found my Fitbit to be accurate. As in when I first reached maintenance if I ate less than what it showed, I continued to lose weight. I have a One and Charge 2.1
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My Fitbit is fairly accurate. My deficit is set at 750/day, activity set to sedentary (which was accurate when I started actively tracking again, and I have a desk job that temporarily has me in my feet a bit more than usual right now). I get an increase of 400-800 calories per day, with 10000-15000 steps per day (I'm obese so that seems reasonable). I'm almost always about 200-250 calories in the red and I'm losing about 1 lb/week, maybe a bit more at times, once water fluctuations are smoothed away.0
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There is an article of about Fitbit users gaining weight after relying on Fitbit too heavily. Personally I don'teat back any steps Fitbit gives me anymore. I was hovering at the same weight eating Fitbit Walking calories. Only manually log purposely exercise now.0
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Mine is very accurate. I'm convinced people who say it's way off for them either aren't using it properly i.e. trying to use it to measure stuff like weight lifting, HIIT, cycing (things it's not designed for) etc, horribly inaccurate with their tracking or they just have a faulty unit.6
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nosebag1212 wrote: »Mine is very accurate. I'm convinced people who say it's way off for them either aren't using it properly i.e. trying to use it to measure stuff like weight lifting, HIIT, cycing (things it's not designed for) etc, horribly inaccurate with their tracking or they just have a faulty unit.
Yes, or the settings don't match the MFP settings and it gives back too many calories. If you have MFP set to a 750 deficit and FitBit to a 250 deficit (and maybe dont even realize they're out of sync), then someone will get back way more calories, because FitBit thinks they have a smaller deficit.1 -
I have been wearing my Fitbit One a little over 3 years, and it is extremely accurate for me. I gain/lose/maintain as expected. I do think it is confusing for people how the adjustments appear compared to their activity settings in MFP.4
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StaciMarie1974 wrote: »Your diary is closed, so standard/generic areas where you could be missing calories in your log - as you indicate you do use a scale.
Do you weigh everything solid, even pieces of fruit, slices of bread, etc.?
Do you account for cooking oils, condiments, beverages?
How often do you eat food not made by you? That is, restaurants or food prepared by family, friends where you can't weigh the ingredients?
Do you enter your own recipes, or use similar entries from the database?
Do you log everyday?
Do you tend to taste things while cooking, or have a bite of this & that from someone else's food?
You indicate you've compared weight change over the past 3-4 weeks. And that our access to a scale prior was limited. Do you weigh yourself at approximately the same time of day, same level of clothing? Have you started a new workout routine in the past 3-4 weeks?
I always weigh myself in the same manner, in the mornings. I have recently started lifting weights, however that started about two weeks ago so I expected any excess water weight to have dissipated.
In terms of logging, I tend to avoid eating out as I prefer to be able to weigh/count0 -
I don't know if it's my phone or not, but the reply looks like it missed so of what I wrote. But for the logging, I don't eat as I cook unless it's already been weighed, and I do weigh everything - even my diluting juice.
I do think it is most likely my Fitbit that's causing me to stall. I had previously lost a further 10 pounds (which I'll have to lose again haha) but once I got the Fitbit, (I did eat extra to gain those pounds back) it helped me to maintain but not to lose.
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Not sure how exactly Fitbit calculates daily activity, but 10,000 walking steps is likely around 200 calories, and nowhere near 500.
Fitbit Alta HR gives me silly amounts of calorie burn for walking, but I've found it to be quite close to the mark for cycling. I've also got a Polar monitor (with a chest strap) and the Fitbit generally gives well over double the figure of the Polar for walks, but very close for bike rides.
Fitbit inform me that if you are manually entering its burn numbers, you need to subtract your basic maintenance rate for the time involved. Even so, the numbers given for walks are quite silly. eg 895 calories for 98 minutes. Approximately 750 if BMR is subtracted (Male, age 62, 186cm, 118kg). Mind you, MFP's numbers are similarly outrageous. I don't use the Polar much for walks but it returns a figure well under half of the Fitbit or MFP.
I'm sure the Fitbit uses a completely different algrithm for walks compared to rides.0 -
nosebag1212 wrote: »Mine is very accurate. I'm convinced people who say it's way off for them either aren't using it properly i.e. trying to use it to measure stuff like weight lifting, HIIT, cycing (things it's not designed for) etc, horribly inaccurate with their tracking or they just have a faulty unit.
^This.
I'm 5'2 and average 15k steps per day but that has increased steadily in the 3 years since I got my FitBit. My total calories burned/day is 2200, and since I'm active, I have my activity level set accordingly in MFP. Mine has been accurate enough to help me lose the weight I set out to lose and maintain with no issues by trusting and eating back the calorie adjustments from the two systems working together.
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I eat back half what fit bit gives. Lose 1lb a week!0
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