Is my Calorie burn really this high?

jaymijones

I’m 5’7, 180lbs. Female, I estimate (based on calpers and rolling averages) my body fat% to be around 32%. My resting heart rate is usually 65 give or take. Thanks to a failed experiment with SSRIs and huge amounts of stress, I put on 40lbs last year. But I managed to exercise through it, and am at least a smaller size from the last time I weighed this much and can still manage to run 3 miles three times a week alternating with three weight training days. I’m definitely in much better shape than last time I weighed this much. (Nearly 3 years ago)

I had a Fitbit charge 2 for two years, and at first I felt the calorie burns were correct, but slowly over the last year they have gone up. At first it said I was averaging 2400 calories a day, but the last few months I had it it was giving me average estimates around 2700 and often showing burns as high as 3000 or higher! In addition to regular workouts I’m a SAHM, so some days I am very active outside of exercise and other days not so much.

I figured the Fitbit was just getting old, but I recently upgraded to an Apple Watch and the daily Calorie burn estimates are still between 2500 and 3000. At my height, weight, and body fat% is it possible that I really burn that much?

quiksylver296

It seems a bit high to me.

I'm 5'9", 187 lbs, powerlifting 5 days a week, cardio 2-4 days a week, averaging 10000 steps per day, and my maintenance calories are ~2400.

I know they are ~2400 because I've tested it over time and it's proved to be true. I don't trust some machine to get that number perfect.

jaymijones

2400! That’s what I always assumed I burned, and what my original Fitbit showed way back when I first got one. But I weighed 165 then, and my body fat %’s were around 30%.

I wonder what is making the readings show that high. I’ve checked all my stats on the Apple watch settings and everything looks right. It’s so weird.

My step averages are usually closer to 12,000, but wouldn’t think that would make that much if a difference.

steveko89

Agree that it seems high. I'm a 6'1" 175lb male, ~15% body fat or less, lifting 5 days/week, sporadic cardio, desk job and my maintenance are 2400-2500 calories.

Scooby Calculator (guessed age 30) would give you 2200-2500 at most depending on how intense your cardio is.

Duck_Puddle

How many steps a day total? It seems high, but “SAHM” could be 20k steps if you’ve got a house full of toddlers. If you’re doing workouts on top of that-it’s possible. If you’re hitting 10k a day including workouts-that definitely seems high.

My Apple Watch reads quite high for me. About 20% over my other trackers (and the others have proven to give estimates in line with my actual). My Fitbit is pretty much on target. That doesn’t mean it’s the case for you though.

Now I see your 12k average steps. I don’t think the lower numbers are outside the realm of possibility-12k steps a day counts as pretty active.

angelsja

I'm 5ft 8 186lbs done just over 12k steps today including a workout and Fitbit is reading 2477 as of right now to get 3k I have to do almost 20k steps

jaymijones

I forgot my age. I’m 35. I have several kids ranging from 3-9.

Some days I easily hit 20,000 steps. Other days (weekends) I might only get to 5,000. It really depends on the day. But my average is about 12,000, but I also run 11-15 miles a week, so without exercise my step average is about 8000 per day.

I’m willing to believe a 2500-2700 average, but it’s 2700-3000, and I’m really struggling to believe it’s that high. The Apple Health app says my resting calorie burn for the last 7 days is 1,850! I’m trying to lose some of the weight I gained and I was trying to eat 1,600 because that’s what I was able to maintain last time I had weight to lose. Maybe I should be eating closer to 1,800?

Duck_Puddle

Well how much are eating, for how long, and how much have you lost during that time?

Really-all these gadgets just estimate. The best we can do is pick something, run with it consistently for 4-6 weeks, see how it’s working and adjust from there.

jaymijones

Duck_Puddle wrote: »

Well how much are eating, for how long, and how much have you lost during that time?

Really-all these gadgets just estimate. The best we can do is pick something, run with it consistently for 4-6 weeks, see how it’s working and adjust from there.

1400-1600 calories a day. Sine the beginning of January. And I’ve lost 10lbs in the last month. Sooooo my calorie burn might really be higher than 2400 and my calorie intake is too low. I just chalked it up to water weight because the first 5lbs were gone the first week.

jaymijones

Sounds like I need to start tracking my weight loss in conjunction with consumed calories. I knew that I just didn’t want to know that, I hate doing math!

Thanks for all your replies.