Fitbit calories burned by walking

LewisAbrahams
LewisAbrahams Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I recently linked my MFP account to my Fitbit account and downloaded the ‘Mapmywalk’ map, so now instead of MFP calculating my calories burned from walking, MMW is calculating them instead and transmitting them to MFP. The calories they claim I have burned is significantly higher than what i’d have burned on MFP alone, which should I trust more and can I eat back these calories?

Kind regards!

Replies

  • LewisAbrahams
    LewisAbrahams Posts: 4 Member
    app*
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,242 Member
    Mapmywalk is not Fitbit?! Is there a Fitbit in this mix?
  • LewisAbrahams
    LewisAbrahams Posts: 4 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Mapmywalk is not Fitbit?! Is there a Fitbit in this mix?
    I think I mustve gotten it confused with something else then, but what i’m sure of is that I linked MFP and MMW and my calories burned from walking are now being calculated on MMW
  • staticsplit
    staticsplit Posts: 538 Member
    Sorry I'm still confused.

    For me, as a 6' tall woman, when I walk about 10k steps my fitbit tells me my average burn is around 2300-2400 My TDEE is 2200 so I usually aim for that or a little lower, since I'm lazy with logging and probably underestimate. It ends up evening out and I maintain my weight.
  • missysippy930
    missysippy930 Posts: 2,577 Member
    edited June 2019
    Map my walk is an under armor app. Calories burned are not completely accurate, just a general number, and almost always overestimated. At least that’s been my experience. I’ve had a Fitbit for over 6 years. I use MapMyWalk too.
    I walk mostly and use my Fitbit mostly for motivation to move more.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,242 Member
    So what I understand is that the title of the thread here is a little bit wrong.

    It should be: can I eat back my map my walk calories.

    The short answer is that unless you're hiking uphill, based on personal experience, and my understanding of how they're calculating things, I would disconnect the apps and log my walks directly on MFP.

    This is NOT the same suggestion I would make to someone using a Fitbit.

    I have not verified this in recent memory, but it is highly likely that even if the calories burned for the walk are accurate, there is an extra .25 of BMR worth of calories being added in (.25 assumes you're setup on MFP as sedentary. Otherwise it is .4, .6 or .8 for the higher activity levels)

    This is definitely a situation where I would say eat half of them and evaluate progress... Or disconnect and log the walk on MFP.

    Pacer on the other hand I would eat 100% as I found it to be spot on or stingy (since my phone was missing a lot of movement when plugged in or elsewhere)
  • staticsplit
    staticsplit Posts: 538 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    staticsplit wrote: »
    Sorry I'm still confused.

    For me, as a 6' tall woman, when I walk about 10k steps my fitbit tells me my average burn is around 2300-2400 My TDEE is 2200 so I usually aim for that or a little lower, since I'm lazy with logging and probably underestimate. It ends up evening out and I maintain my weight.

    Why do you think your TDEE is 2200 and not 2300-2400 as your FitBit suggests? I Trust the FitBit estimate over a TDEE calculator.

    It probably is, but I don't hit 10k steps every day. I also tend to aim a little lower so I have wriggle room if I go out to eat or for drinks. I've maintained since October so it seems to be working!
  • SofaKween
    SofaKween Posts: 351 Member
    How many calories does it say you're using up for your 10k steps? General rule is 100 calories burned per mile, and 10k steps is appx 5 miles, so 500 calories.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,242 Member
    nanananananananafatwoman wrote: »
    How many calories does it say you're using up for your 10k steps? General rule is 100 calories burned per mile, and 10k steps is appx 5 miles, so 500 calories.

    General rules are... general, right? Your height and weight still count for how many calories you've burning over a particular distance if you're trying for a closer approximation.

    As for 10K steps... would they be a single walk along a well lit sidewalk, or are they accumulated via intermittent activity throughout the day, or are they 10K steps walking in tall glass uphill while being chased by a grizzly?

    As an approximation 10K steps would be equivalent to moving your base activity level on MFP to ACTIVE and not recording any additional exercise for whatever generated the 10K steps.
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
    nanananananananafatwoman wrote: »
    How many calories does it say you're using up for your 10k steps? General rule is 100 calories burned per mile, and 10k steps is appx 5 miles, so 500 calories.

    A general rule for who? There is no way I'd burn anywhere near that much because I am knee high to a grasshopper and at the lower end of a normal BMI. On the other hand, someone who is well over 6' and obese would burn a considerable amount more. Also if I were to walk those 10,000 steps on flat ground I would not burn as much as if they were all uphill. I'd burn more if there was a headwind LOL.
    These types of general rules will only work for the small percentage of the population who would be considered average.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    staticsplit wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    staticsplit wrote: »
    Sorry I'm still confused.

    For me, as a 6' tall woman, when I walk about 10k steps my fitbit tells me my average burn is around 2300-2400 My TDEE is 2200 so I usually aim for that or a little lower, since I'm lazy with logging and probably underestimate. It ends up evening out and I maintain my weight.

    Why do you think your TDEE is 2200 and not 2300-2400 as your FitBit suggests? I Trust the FitBit estimate over a TDEE calculator.

    It probably is, but I don't hit 10k steps every day. I also tend to aim a little lower so I have wriggle room if I go out to eat or for drinks. I've maintained since October so it seems to be working!

    But the point is that your FitBit is calculating your TDEE, you can look back at your average daily calorie burns over time and fet a more accurate approximation than whatever estimates you put in a TDEE calculator...
  • staticsplit
    staticsplit Posts: 538 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    staticsplit wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    staticsplit wrote: »
    Sorry I'm still confused.

    For me, as a 6' tall woman, when I walk about 10k steps my fitbit tells me my average burn is around 2300-2400 My TDEE is 2200 so I usually aim for that or a little lower, since I'm lazy with logging and probably underestimate. It ends up evening out and I maintain my weight.

    Why do you think your TDEE is 2200 and not 2300-2400 as your FitBit suggests? I Trust the FitBit estimate over a TDEE calculator.

    It probably is, but I don't hit 10k steps every day. I also tend to aim a little lower so I have wriggle room if I go out to eat or for drinks. I've maintained since October so it seems to be working!

    But the point is that your FitBit is calculating your TDEE, you can look back at your average daily calorie burns over time and fet a more accurate approximation than whatever estimates you put in a TDEE calculator...

    But I'm not using a random calculator? My fitbit averages 2200 because some days I walk more and some days less. I aim for about 2100 on an average day, which gives me wriggle room for going out to eat, lazy logging (weighing everything all the time exhausts me), being really hungry on lifting days, what have you. The seven months of data indicates this works.

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