FitBit vs Apple Watch Calorie Adjustment
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GrahamUK72
Posts: 255 Member
I have been a FitBit user for many years and yesterday changed to an Apple Watch series 4.
I haven't changed a single setting in MFP apart from the data source for the step count and permitting MFP access to HealthKit.
However, I am seeing a huge difference in numbers in the calorie adjustment between to the two activity trackers.
15,047 steps on Monday using FitBit equated to 1337 calories earned
15,529 steps today on Apple Watch equated to 448 calories earned.
I always suspected FitBit of over egging it a bit, but this is a massive difference that I just can't fathom out.
Anyone else have any experience? Should I log a support ticket with MFP staff?
Cheers
Graham
I haven't changed a single setting in MFP apart from the data source for the step count and permitting MFP access to HealthKit.
However, I am seeing a huge difference in numbers in the calorie adjustment between to the two activity trackers.
15,047 steps on Monday using FitBit equated to 1337 calories earned
15,529 steps today on Apple Watch equated to 448 calories earned.
I always suspected FitBit of over egging it a bit, but this is a massive difference that I just can't fathom out.
Anyone else have any experience? Should I log a support ticket with MFP staff?
Cheers
Graham
2
Replies
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My guess is that how they transfer data is different.
If you are set to Sedentary on MFP, I would expect more calories for a day where you got 15k+ steps.
I had a similar experience going from Fitbit to Samsung Gear S2. For me though the Gear S2 was underestimating my calories by a lot (saying my maintenance was 1600 with an average of 12k steps... I was eating 2000 on average at the time and losing weight). I ended up going back to Fitbit.
For me Fitbit is spot on in terms of calories burned.
There is a way to see how accurate Fitbit is for you:
Your Fitbit profile page on the website will show you a 30 Day Average burn.
Now average out your total daily intake calories (make sure you are using total...not NET) for the same time frame.
Now look at your weight change in lbs over those 30 Days.
+/- lbs * 3500 = Approx 30 Day deficit or surplus
30 Day Deficit or Surplus / 30 = average daily deficit or surplus
Add your daily average deficit to your average daily intake to get approximate TDEE
Or
Subtract your daily average surplus from your daily average intake to get approximate TDEE
Example:
1963 Avg Fitbit burn
1916 Avg Intake
0.7 lbs lost
0.7 * 3500 = 2450
2450/30 = 81.66
1916+81.66= 1997 TDEE
Fitbit estimates 1963 and my actual estimate based on intake/loss is 1997.3 -
GrahamUK72 wrote: »I have been a FitBit user for many years and yesterday changed to an Apple Watch series 4.
I haven't changed a single setting in MFP apart from the data source for the step count and permitting MFP access to HealthKit.
However, I am seeing a huge difference in numbers in the calorie adjustment between to the two activity trackers.
15,047 steps on Monday using FitBit equated to 1337 calories earned
15,529 steps today on Apple Watch equated to 448 calories earned.
I always suspected FitBit of over egging it a bit, but this is a massive difference that I just can't fathom out.
Anyone else have any experience? Should I log a support ticket with MFP staff?
Cheers
Graham
I'm going to bet that at the time of MFP initially getting Apple interested in doing the work on their side to make the sync happen, they either didn't go back to tell Apple they did it wrong, or Apple said that's it for what we are doing. Users were clamoring for it to be done on both sides.
Because MFP is expecting and receives from almost all other fitness trackers the required total daily calorie burn and timestamp of that info - it does the math for rest the day and there's your adjustment. TDEE calorie burn obviously would include any workouts done in the figure.
Workouts with start & duration time, calorie burn, and description are optional. Garmin sends them, Fitbit and others don't.
Apple sends the workouts.
Apple sends a TDEE figure that does NOT include the workouts though. Actually if I recall, they send a figure that is what they expected from some sedentary minimum level of steps. Then they count anything over as some level of extra good-for-you activity calorie burn. And then any workouts.
So now when MFP does the expected math - it's all hosed up.
Basically since MFP knows about the workout already - it removes those calories from the TDEE figure received.
But in Apple's case, that TDEE doesn't actually contain it - so you are getting the workout calories removed twice - and then the math is done.
Your adjustment needs the workout calories added to it.
Fitbit could experience the same issue on syncing issues when you manually entered a workout on MFP side.
MFP would subtract the workout calories from the last Fitbit daily burn figure - assuming Fitbit had gotten the sync of the workout and added it to the daily burn.
But if that sync didn't go over to Fitbit, or Fitbit's new daily burn with that workout didn't make it back over to MFP - problems.
Usually you could catch it on the Exercise Diary screen right after entering a workout, before updating the screen when Fitbit sent back new daily burn.
And yes - everyone with an Apple that syncs and has workouts experiences the issue - it's an Apple issue, I'm sure MFP is aware.5 -
I haven't had this exact issue but I had issues with daily calorie burn being overestimated when I did not have negative adjustments turned on when syncing with my Fitbit. My settings are set to sedentary which seems to assume about 5,000 steps a day. Without negative adjustments MFP assumed that the steps from my Fitbit were over and above the assumed level of activity- ie, 5,000 assumed steps+5,000 tracked steps=10,000 steps a day and extra calories. When I have the negative adjustment turned on I don't get the extra calories until I go above 5,000 steps. Maybe something about how MFP collects information from Apple Watch it assumes it is for the total day when it did not with Fitbit?1
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Enabling Negative doesn't have that effect, you would not get a positive adjustment because you didn't have negative enabled.
You just would receive 0 adjustment until that point in the day your calorie burn went over the level MFP was accounting for already.
Which isn't based on steps - could be 3K to 5K depending on the distance those steps results in. Because distance and time is pace, pace and weight is calorie burn.
MFP does no math with purely steps and calorie burn. Ask all the people that had Fitbit bad syncs of steps but no calorie burn figures and therefore no adjustments.0 -
GrahamUK72 wrote: »Your adjustment needs the workout calories added to it.
Fitbit could experience the same issue on syncing issues when you manually entered a workout on MFP side.
MFP would subtract the workout calories from the last Fitbit daily burn figure - assuming Fitbit had gotten the sync of the workout and added it to the daily burn.
But if that sync didn't go over to Fitbit, or Fitbit's new daily burn with that workout didn't make it back over to MFP - problems.
Usually you could catch it on the Exercise Diary screen right after entering a workout, before updating the screen when Fitbit sent back new daily burn.
And yes - everyone with an Apple that syncs and has workouts experiences the issue - it's an Apple issue, I'm sure MFP is aware.
I never manually add a workout. I always let MFP/FitBit or MFP/Polar sync it for me.
Should I be manually adding my calories expenditure from the watch to MFP? I am thinking of possibly returning the watch coz reading your post I don't think Apple is as accurate as the FitBit.0 -
Enabling Negative doesn't have that effect, you would not get a positive adjustment because you didn't have negative enabled.
You just would receive 0 adjustment until that point in the day your calorie burn went over the level MFP was accounting for already.
Which isn't based on steps - could be 3K to 5K depending on the distance those steps results in. Because distance and time is pace, pace and weight is calorie burn.
MFP does no math with purely steps and calorie burn. Ask all the people that had Fitbit bad syncs of steps but no calorie burn figures and therefore no adjustments.
My experience has been that I get a larger adjustment for the same steps with negative turned off but ok.
Also, my calorie burn in Fitbit and MFP don't match up. Maybe I have this set up incorrectly but they don't seem to share much information other than Fitbit steps>MFP and MFP workouts and calories>Fitbit.0 -
I only ever recorded steps from FitBit into MFP, no other workouts as I use my Polar HR for that.0
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Did you log your Polar calories as workout on Fitbit or MFP?
Either place Fitbit would have replaced their data with yours.
Apple would do the same too - in since of workout logged on MFP should sync back over to Apple.
But it doesn't get rid of the issue that they still don't include those workout calories in a daily calorie burn figure.0 -
Did you log your Polar calories as workout on Fitbit or MFP?
Either place Fitbit would have replaced their data with yours.
Apple would do the same too - in since of workout logged on MFP should sync back over to Apple.
But it doesn't get rid of the issue that they still don't include those workout calories in a daily calorie burn figure.
Polar enters the calorie burn, I don't do it.
FitBit would sync my steps with MFP and MFP would give me my calories earned. The apple allowance is so much lower.
I am recording walks and runs with the activity app and this syncs with MFP but the calories are awful. 12,000 steps today, and only 300 calories earned! Fitbit would be about 1000
Apple also records flights badly. Doesn't record any when I am outside hiking but records them indoors. I am thinking of returning the watch whilst I am in my cooling off period.
So I wonder, should I delete my steps from MFP, and enter the active calories instead from the watch into MFP?0 -
happytree923 wrote: »Enabling Negative doesn't have that effect, you would not get a positive adjustment because you didn't have negative enabled.
You just would receive 0 adjustment until that point in the day your calorie burn went over the level MFP was accounting for already.
Which isn't based on steps - could be 3K to 5K depending on the distance those steps results in. Because distance and time is pace, pace and weight is calorie burn.
MFP does no math with purely steps and calorie burn. Ask all the people that had Fitbit bad syncs of steps but no calorie burn figures and therefore no adjustments.
My experience has been that I get a larger adjustment for the same steps with negative turned off but ok.
Also, my calorie burn in Fitbit and MFP don't match up. Maybe I have this set up incorrectly but they don't seem to share much information other than Fitbit steps>MFP and MFP workouts and calories>Fitbit.
Fitbit shows calorie burn for the day up to whenever you look.
MFP has no such thing.
So they could never match until midnight. Actually, with the timing of syncs (Fitbit only sends when new daily is 100 higher than last sync) it could be after midnight.
And each estimates the daily burn differently, and therefore the eating goal will be different, until close to end of day.
That's why MFP for eating related stuff, Fitbit for activity related stuff.1 -
happytree923 wrote: »Enabling Negative doesn't have that effect, you would not get a positive adjustment because you didn't have negative enabled.
You just would receive 0 adjustment until that point in the day your calorie burn went over the level MFP was accounting for already.
Which isn't based on steps - could be 3K to 5K depending on the distance those steps results in. Because distance and time is pace, pace and weight is calorie burn.
MFP does no math with purely steps and calorie burn. Ask all the people that had Fitbit bad syncs of steps but no calorie burn figures and therefore no adjustments.
My experience has been that I get a larger adjustment for the same steps with negative turned off but ok.
Also, my calorie burn in Fitbit and MFP don't match up. Maybe I have this set up incorrectly but they don't seem to share much information other than Fitbit steps>MFP and MFP workouts and calories>Fitbit.
Fitbit shows calorie burn for the day up to whenever you look.
MFP has no such thing.
So they could never match until midnight. Actually, with the timing of syncs (Fitbit only sends when new daily is 100 higher than last sync) it could be after midnight.
And each estimates the daily burn differently, and therefore the eating goal will be different, until close to end of day.
That's why MFP for eating related stuff, Fitbit for activity related stuff.
I have replaced the FitBit with an apple watch, and i am trying to adjust, but i bloody hate the way it interacts with MFP.
MFP says 307 calories burnt, Apple Watch says 892 active calories. It's a huge difference. I don't know what I should put into MFP
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GrahamUK72 wrote: »Did you log your Polar calories as workout on Fitbit or MFP?
Either place Fitbit would have replaced their data with yours.
Apple would do the same too - in since of workout logged on MFP should sync back over to Apple.
But it doesn't get rid of the issue that they still don't include those workout calories in a daily calorie burn figure.
Polar enters the calorie burn, I don't do it.
FitBit would sync my steps with MFP and MFP would give me my calories earned. The apple allowance is so much lower.
I am recording walks and runs with the activity app and this syncs with MFP but the calories are awful. 12,000 steps today, and only 300 calories earned! Fitbit would be about 1000
Apple also records flights badly. Doesn't record any when I am outside hiking but records them indoors. I am thinking of returning the watch whilst I am in my cooling off period.
So I wonder, should I delete my steps from MFP, and enter the active calories instead from the watch into MFP?
Just for sake of accuracy, Fitbit (and Apple and the others) syncs steps as one figure, and calories burned as another figure.
MFP does nothing with the Steps except display them. Math is done with the calorie burn figure.
So deleting that Step figure would do nothing for calories.
And manually entering those Active Calories would just create the problem again. Just double the amount now.
Best fix is create a food item with negative calories called adjustment - you can adjust that during the day.
Flights if like Fitbit are based on air pressure and can be flaky indeed, though interesting to record and review in general.
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Just for sake of accuracy, Fitbit (and Apple and the others) syncs steps as one figure, and calories burned as another figure.
I've never synced anything but steps from FitBit and MFP put in an exercise calorie adjustment. This is what is hugely different between Apple and FB. I just don't get it.
Maybe it's a case of suck it up buttercup
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Ohhhh - just because you are selecting in MFP app the step source as Fitbit, doesn't mean that's the only figuring syncing.
When you do that - it enables steps, daily calorie burn, weight, and food back to Fitbit - all of them to sync.
So you can't just sync steps and not calories from Fitbit.
Literally - that's how MFP does the math for calorie adjustment - click on the entry for more info to see the figures MFP received from Fitbit.
It's a programming error that Apple likely has no interest in fixing - so it is matter of just dealing with it or not using the resulting figures.1 -
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GrahamUK72 wrote: »I have been a FitBit user for many years and yesterday changed to an Apple Watch series 4.
I haven't changed a single setting in MFP apart from the data source for the step count and permitting MFP access to HealthKit.
However, I am seeing a huge difference in numbers in the calorie adjustment between to the two activity trackers.
15,047 steps on Monday using FitBit equated to 1337 calories earned
15,529 steps today on Apple Watch equated to 448 calories earned.
I always suspected FitBit of over egging it a bit, but this is a massive difference that I just can't fathom out.
Given that 10,000 steps is, on average, about 5 miles and that in terms of additional calories expended you burn about 30 cal/mile for every hundred pounds you weigh it's pretty easy to see that the fitbit is completely out of whack. (eg a 200lb person walking 5 miles would bur .30 x 200 x 5 = 300 cal) That same person walking 7.5 miles would burn approx 450 cal walking 7.5 miles. I'd have a lot more faith in the Apple watch. (I'd assume that Fitbit is calculating gross vs Apple calculating net or additional calories expended.)2 -
GrahamUK72 wrote: »
Join in - been very infrequent lately. But will be back to active soon.0 -
BrianSharpe wrote: »
Given that 10,000 steps is, on average, about 5 miles and that in terms of additional calories expended you burn about 30 cal/mile for every hundred pounds you weigh it's pretty easy to see that the fitbit is completely out of whack. (eg a 200lb person walking 5 miles would bur .30 x 200 x 5 = 300 cal) That same person walking 7.5 miles would burn approx 450 cal walking 7.5 miles. I'd have a lot more faith in the Apple watch. (I'd assume that Fitbit is calculating gross vs Apple calculating net or additional calories expended.)[/quote]
That makes sense. Thanks buddy.1 -
BrianSharpe wrote: »GrahamUK72 wrote: »I have been a FitBit user for many years and yesterday changed to an Apple Watch series 4.
I haven't changed a single setting in MFP apart from the data source for the step count and permitting MFP access to HealthKit.
However, I am seeing a huge difference in numbers in the calorie adjustment between to the two activity trackers.
15,047 steps on Monday using FitBit equated to 1337 calories earned
15,529 steps today on Apple Watch equated to 448 calories earned.
I always suspected FitBit of over egging it a bit, but this is a massive difference that I just can't fathom out.
Given that 10,000 steps is, on average, about 5 miles and that in terms of additional calories expended you burn about 30 cal/mile for every hundred pounds you weigh it's pretty easy to see that the fitbit is completely out of whack. (eg a 200lb person walking 5 miles would bur .30 x 200 x 5 = 300 cal) That same person walking 7.5 miles would burn approx 450 cal walking 7.5 miles. I'd have a lot more faith in the Apple watch. (I'd assume that Fitbit is calculating gross vs Apple calculating net or additional calories expended.)
Fitbit is comparing estimated calories burned.
MFP estimates I burn 1910 without exercise at lightly active.
Yesterday with 10,000 steps plus a workout that wasn’t step based, Fitbit tracked my full day calorie burn to be 2300.
2300 - 1910 = 390 extra calories
Now if I had MFP set to Sedentary it would only estimate about 1710 burned.
2300 - 1710 = 590 extra calories
The higher my activity level settings the smaller the adjustment I will get for the same activity.
Fitbit’s adjustment takes into account more than just step based calories which is helpful for people like myself who do workouts that don’t get a lot of steps (if any).
Apple is doing something else entirely.0 -
Has anyone found a solution to this? I have the exact same issue, I've had various Fibits for years and used with MFP, the last one being the Sense and they all tracked workouts and daily calories burned perfectly and this showed in MFP.
Now with the Apple Watch Ultra 2, I only get a real calorie adjustment when I log a workout with the watch. There is never a real adjustment for just wearing the watch and having alot of steps in the day. This is obvious when I turn on the walk "workout" feature on the watch, then I get an excersise logged and the associated calories are shown in MFP. But normal wear gets pretty much nothing.
Is there a way to make the Apple watch in MFP track adjustment calories the way Fitbit does?
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