How accurate is the Fitbit?

soliver1999

This is my record for the last 3 days. Monday I did nothing, Tuesday I went out and worked with my horse and did some walking, Wednesday(today) I just walked on campus. My fit bit shows big jumps in my calories burned. Do you think it’s accurate? Keep in mind that I am very overweight so I do burn more calories than a regular person. But I always wonder if I burn this much ya know?

I have a Fitbit ionic. It does monitor my heartbeat constantly as well as my steps and the distance I travel when walking. It also has my exact height and weight.

froggerman2

I think that it is doing a good job based on what you said you were doing. Nothing is 100% and if you swing your arm that has the Fitbit on it it will think you are walking. It is only a tool for you to see how much you move and moving is great. Keep moving and you will do great. Good job, keep up the good work.

Maxematics

It looks accurate to me.

I can't speak for you, but I know for myself because of the myth that petite women don't need to eat much more than 1200 calories, I always had it in my head that I shouldn't be eating much food and that near 1200 calories should be enough for me. That being said, I'm 5'3" and I started using MFP at 139 pounds. I was already within a healthy BMI range, but 139 didn't look right on my body type. I went with the 1200 even though my Fitbit readouts were telling me I could eat a lot of calories back. I used to eat no more than 25% back because I thought there was no way I could be allowed to eat that many calories. Looking back, I was losing at a rate of 2.2 pounds per week. I didn't know how fast that was at the time; luckily for me I had the BF% to sustain that deficit for two months. By month 3 I felt worn out, visited the forums here and learned a bunch of useful information.

Fast forward to now. I maintain between 110 and 113 pounds and my TDEE is 2000 to 2300 calories per day on average. I've used, and trusted, my Fitbit for four years now and it's been spot on. I'm mentioning this for you or anyone else who comes here with a similar issue to highlight the fact that losing weight doesn't mean being starving. Losing weight doesn't mean you have to be on minimal calories for the rest of your life to maintain it. Trust in your Fitbit and trust the process. If after a month or so, you notice your deficit doesn't match up with your rate of loss, you can always readjust. A poster here used to always write: "Whoever can eat the most and still lose weight wins." and it's the truth; it's the best road for sustainable weight loss.

shadow2soul

It will vary. For me, Fitbit with HRMs are accurate enough. If I truly logged everything that passed my lips, it would actually be underestimating a bit. (Without the HRM it really underestimates my burn). This isn’t the case for everyone. However over time you should be able to tell (4-6 weeks). On the Fitbit website, your profile page will show you a 30 day avg burn. You can compare that to your 30 day avg intake (total not NET intake)to see if you lost as expected or not.

For comparison unless I am really sedentary I burn between 2200-2500 calories a day.

New_Heavens_Earth

Mine falls in line with several estimates from various TDEE calculators, in the range of 2100 to 2500 calories per day. My annual daily average is about 2200. Knowing that gives me a better idea of how much to cut for a more effective yet reasonable deficit, and how many exercise calories to eat back.

soliver1999

Thanks y’all! I’ve been wearing it for about 2-3 months now. I’m sure it’s close to accurate I just had no idea my body actually burned that much