calorie question

drabbits2

I have a calorie question--so I have synced my fitbit to my fitness pal, I am not SO hung up on calories and I am terrible at logging food. The two things I do are walk and swim--I had back surgery recently and that is all I can do for now, which is fine--I feel great and have lost 4 pounds in a month. My question is this--how can swimming 36 laps be fewer calories than walking for 35 minutes?? That's what my fitbit app on my phone says. Understand I am not some finely tuned athlete--I am 48 years old with 15 pounds to lose for crying out loud. I am just curious how walking burns more than swimming. Thoughts?

amusedmonkey

Fitbit was designed for step-based movements. It doesn't calculate other types of movement accurately. It's hard to estimate swimming calories because it depends on the type of swimming you're doing, your intensity, and your technique. It may also depend on your fat percentage (you're more buoyant the more fat you carry).

Your weight loss rate looks good, even a little bit too fast, so I wouldn't worry about any of that for now. Just continue doing what you are doing. If at one point your weight loss stalls completely for more than a month, the first thing I would focus on is logging food. That's what makes the biggest difference and helps you customize your weight loss. If your exercise is over-estimated or under-estimated, it can all be adjusted through eating fewer/more calories. It's easier to precisely estimate food calories than it is to precisely estimate any activity calories other than the most researched kinds (walking, running, biking).