For those with fitness trackers, do you trust the numbers it gives you?

Losingthedamnweight

Like personally I have an Apple Watch series 4. I was lazy yesterday and it said for the whole day I burned 2800 calories. Parts of me doesn't wanna believe I burned that much. But I'm curious to see how other people view their experiences with theirs

tirowow12385

Don't have a fitness tracker, I have a cheap Android phone that I've used the past 4 years, I trust the numbers it says I burned on the walking app mainly because I calibrate it myself ( measure my step length, adjust to mimic how much steps I made per minute etc).

It is sync with MFP and adjust my calorie budget accordingly.

spiriteagle99

I don't even look at the calories on my Garmin. My exercise is pretty much restricted to walking and running, which are easily computed so I let MFP tell me what I burned. Any extra calories from shopping, stretching, etc. I just consider as bonus.

SmithsonianEmpress

I look at the calories on my Garmin but to me they mean nothing.

Gisel2015

I don't have any kind of fitness tracker (I don't trust them) and I don't log exercises calories given by the machines or MFP either. I only log the time spent doing exercises and I log 10 calories per type of exercise, just to give myself a little "extra."

Since I am in maintenance, I decided to set my own TDEE calories because my workouts are not very intense anymore, and because I know how much I am able to eat. It works for me.

AnnPT77

It's just another way of estimating. It tends to be close for a lot of people, further off for others.

Think about it: MFP estimates your daily calories based on your weight, height, age, and other stuff you put into your user setup. Your tracker knows those things plus some things about how much ground you've covered (if there's GPS), height changes (altimeter), arm movements (accelerometer), and maybe heart rate. Either one then uses results of research studies and algorithms some programmer coded up, to produce a calorie estimate. The closer you personally are to the mean values of the research studies, and the better the programmers are about drawing inferences from the data they have, the better the estimate.

My tracker (Garmin Vivoactive 3, so a well-designed, quality device) estimates my TDEE a few hundred calories lower than reality (as determined from a year of carefully logged weight loss, and 3 years of maintenance since). That's about the same amount by which MFP and most TDEE calculators are inaccurate for me, and in the same direction (i.e., they underestimate).

A tracker's not measuring calories, it's just estimating them. Experience will tell you whether it tends to be right for you, or not. They're close enough for a lot of people, but experience is the only way you know whether you're one of them, or not.

Not the answer you were looking for, but I think it's pretty true. :drinker:

jryepin93

I've had my Fitbit Versa watch for about 8 months and I would say it's been generally accurate on my calorie burns. Over that time period, I've consistently lost weight using the estimations it gave me. Although, I agree with the poster above that it can vary greatly from person to person and what type of exercise you're doing. I do primarily cardio and some strength-training and I usually ignore the readings it gives for strength training but cardio seems to be more accurate.

Fflpnari

I use my Fitbit for more fun than anything but when I go over past data the amounts from there equal the weight Ive lost. So its pretty accurate. I don't go off of MFP calorie goals because its way too low. I burn about 23-2400 calories a day on my lazy days

NorthCascades

For cycling, yes, because I have a power meter. Everything else, I'm suspect.

shadow2soul

I have enough tracking data to know that I can trust mine. I’ve used several different trackers over the years. Some really underestimated and others were closer to correct.

Misfit/Jawbone missed half my steps and as a result would say my maintenance was extremely low. I was eating more than it said I should to maintain and losing weight.

Samsung Gear didn’t miss any steps, but still had an extremely low calorie burn estimate. My weekly summaries always said I was eating at a surplus, but again I was losing weight at the time.

Fitbit models without HRM’s underestimate for me. Not as dramatically as the other companies I mentioned but by about 200 calories a day on average.

Fitbit models with HRMs seem to be about right. I lose/maintain/gain as expected. Though I do suspect it was still slightly underestimating since I could get away with not logging everything (approximately 150-250 unlogged calories per day).

I just switched to Apple Watch Series 4 and so far I am seeing very similar calories burned to the Fitbit’s with HRMs. I think I will have a similar experience with the calorie accuracy.

However, that’s not going to be true for everyone. The only way to really now is to look at your data (food logs, weight) over time and see how it compares.

yirara

I know I can't trust mine because I have a very high maxHR. If I'm sedentary all day then it's pretty close. But as soon as I move I get crazy high burns.

Eileen_Fiona

I trust my fitbit as far as estimating steps etc but I don't even look at the calories burned part.... I view these things as a guideline rather than an exact science.

M0n1KCR

I used a fitbit charge 2 for 10 months, and it was pretty accurate - I eat all my exercise calories back and the weight lose was spot on. Then I switched to an apple watch 4, and the estimation is very similar to that of the fitbit, so I'm also trusting it. My weight is behaving as expected, even during these days (I've decided to set MFP to "maintenance" until January 7th, when the Christmas celebrations are "officially" over), so at least for me, they are accurate.

HollyPFlax

I have found that my fitbit charge 2 is very accurate. I've been in maintenance for a little over a year now. My tracker is able to track my heart rate, which increases its accuracy. I do track all of my intake and weigh myself regularly, so I can tell you that it does add up. I'm so pleased with it in fact, that even though the screen was cracked in a tragic river tubing incident and I'm just waiting for it to die one day soon, my next tracker will be another fitbit!

Tacklewasher

My Fenix 3HR comes in a little light for calories burned in a run if compared to the common formula. So instead of 411 cals for 5 K it gives me 385.

I'm okay with this.

gcminton

It seems decently accurate for the most part. I'll sometimes notice increased "credit" on long drives or if I washed a lot of dishes by hand, but for every day estimates it's close enough.

I still have about 90 pounds to lose so "close enough" is fine for now. I may start keeping track of it more closely to see if I need to mentally adjust more when I'm close enough to goal that it's a bigger impact.

MarieRosekenji85

I use my Fitbit charge 3 and find it pretty accurate for my daily calorie burn. I sync al my activity through it and keep my activity set to sedentary.

pogiguy05

I have had a fitbit blaze and ionic and now have the Samsung galaxy watch. It is my impression that the apps that calculate calories burned is more of a metabolic rate for your gender and age. I doubt it can be accurate for everyone since we are all different. I use my information that it gives me as a guideline. IF I am losing weight with what I am logging and exercise then I keep to that level.

When I switched to the Samsung watch I wore both the fitbit Ionic and Samsung and the Fitbit seemed to calculate quite a bit more steps then the Samsung. Anywhere from 3-5K and that can be alot for some.

I also noticed my fitbit would count steps when it should not have like when using my riding mower or simply swinging my arm while sitting in a chair. I have not had that with the Samsung watch.

Duck_Puddle

I have used (in order I remember them):

Fitbit’s:
-The One
-Surge
-Charge 2
-Charge 3
-Versa
-Ionic

Garmin
-Vivofit
-Vivoactive HR
-Fenix 5s
-several others for tracking runs and things-but they weren’t all day trackers

Jawbone Up24

Bodymedia armband (bodybugg)

Polar
-M400
-M430

Apple Watch Series 4

Motiv Ring

Idk-maybe some others

I have logged all my food for 7 years. I have weighed/measured food for 5. I have a good record of my actual intake and my change in weight. I lose/gain/maintain according to pretty much all of these trackers.

Based on all that-and the mountain of trackers...they are all reasonably fine. Like an online TDEE calculator if you itemized every minute of your day, the trackers still produce an estimate. If you’re reasonably close to the largest portion of the bell curve, the tracker will probably produce a reasonable estimate for you.

Some read a little high, some a little low. But they are all consistent (with themselves). So the same kind of day will produce roughly the same numbers each time. So you can use the numbers and adjust as needed.

I find the numbers produced SEEMed high when I logging food but not weighing. No way I was burning that much if I was only eating 1200 and not losing. I was logging 1200. I was eating closer to 1600-1800. So the tracker numbers were (and are) pretty close for me. But that’s about the same difference as me thinking my tracker is way overestimating my burn and me way under logging my food (it’s the same 500-ish calories in error-whether attributed to the tracker or my logging).

Anyway-I’m assuming I’m pretty close to the biggest part of the bell curve so any system I use comes up with a reasonable estimate. I prefer using a tracker because my level of activity varies quite a bit and having a tracker takes away the guesswork.

MelanieCN77

I've had two Apple Watches going back a couple years and I've learned that they are pretty accurate for me. Yours sounds high but we don't know anything about your gender, age, height, weight or what you consider "lazy" to judge by. I've lost 40lbs and been maintaining since March 2017 with the AW numbers set against my food intake.

I'm set to aim for 500 and on a "lazy" day I wouldn't reach that, but I'm 133lb 5'5 female at 41 so I don't burn all that much at rest.