New Fitbit

KateB989

Hi guys, so I started my fitness journey 3 weeks ago and today I bought a Fitbit versa to help keep me on track, however I’m not sure exactly what calories I should be documenting. For example I record my work out and burn 200 calories, then I end the workout. However the calories burnt keep going up as you stay in fat burning mode for some time? So what do I log as calories burnt on my fitness pal? Just the 200 calories I burnt during my workout or the total calories I’ve burnt at the end of the day? I’m confused 🤷‍♀️

Buff_Daddy_Regie

The calorie that you burn from that workout....

KateB989

Fab, thank you! I’m getting so confused with it but want it to be as accurate as it can be.

heybales

Don't log anything on MFP if you have them linked and syncing.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10098937/faq-syncing-logging-food-exercise-calorie-adjustments-activity-levels-accuracy/p1

Yes your calories keep going up for day, and were prior to the workout - because you are living and burning calories all day long.

KateB989

It is linked but I don’t think it’s syncing correctly! The food I log on MFP is transferring to my Fitbit but the exercise on my Fitbit isn’t logging on the MFP? 😩

heybales

The FAQ shares the fact that does not happen. Fitbit didn't use that option.

If you see no adjustment on MFP Exercise Diary, it means you aren't in total burning more than MFP estimated you would anyway with your selected Activity level and no exercise.

In Food settings suggest enabling Negative calories in case your day is less than estimated.

Life lesson - eat more when you do more, eat less when you do less.

autumnblade75

You can log whatever you like. My experience is that Fitbit will override anything you enter. The end result will be the same after all the syncing has caught up. Just because the workout didn't populate a corresponding exercise entry in MFP, that doesn't mean it's not accounted for in your calorie adjustment.

AnnPT77

KateB989 wrote: »

Hi guys, so I started my fitness journey 3 weeks ago and today I bought a Fitbit versa to help keep me on track, however I’m not sure exactly what calories I should be documenting. For example I record my work out and burn 200 calories, then I end the workout. However the calories burnt keep going up as you stay in fat burning mode for some time? So what do I log as calories burnt on my fitness pal? Just the 200 calories I burnt during my workout or the total calories I’ve burnt at the end of the day? I’m confused 🤷‍♀️

Just a side note: The total calories on your Fitbit are going to keep going up all day because you burn calories breathing, walking around, and generally just being alive. It's not just exercise that burns calories.

Others have given advice about what to expect from synching your Fitbit to MFP.

Dogmom1978

Fitbit grossly overestimates how many calories you burn. For example, my Fitbit claimed I burned over 900 calories during my workout yesterday. I did week 2 of C25K and then 15 min on an arc trainer. According to the cardio machines I burned about 375 calories, not 900! I enter the calories manually from my exercise rather than let Fitbit sync with mfp. I do like my Fitbit for heart rate though and as a sleep tracker. 🤗

heybales

slunburg wrote: »

Fitbit grossly overestimates how many calories you burn. For example, my Fitbit claimed I burned over 900 calories during my workout yesterday. I did week 2 of C25K and then 15 min on an arc trainer. According to the cardio machines I burned about 375 calories, not 900! I enter the calories manually from my exercise rather than let Fitbit sync with mfp. I do like my Fitbit for heart rate though and as a sleep tracker. 🤗

You must realize that for every one of you that sees inflated workout calorie burn there are others exactly opposite that have it match their actual deficit and weight loss amount - showing it's right on for calories burn.

But yeah - it's a known fact that HR-based calorie burn calculation will be inflated for those types of non-steady state non-aerobic workouts you did.
Best manually logged on Fitbit.

That's not a Fitbit issue, that happens to all HRM giving an estimate of calorie burn.
It's a tool usage issue.

Considering the OP made no comment about the workout she did - you couldn't even know to comment if this was problem one or not - if you even knew that fact of there being a problem workout for HRM's.

But guess what - you didn't burn 375 calories in 15 min either on ARC machine. Machine is inflated too. Unless you did your walk/run on treadmill and counting that too, and it was longer.
But machines are far from right too - did you input your weight?

Dogmom1978

@heybales If you actually read what I wrote you would see that the 375 is combined 30 min of C25K and 15 on the arc trainer. I always enter my weight on the machines to get a more accurate account. And obviously there is no system that is perfect for exercise calorie count, but Fitbit seems to be particularly bad. I’ve used Fitbits for years, so I know how inaccurate they are. OP specifically said she uses Fitbit to track calories in exercise, so right off the bat, I know that’s at least one problem as she isn’t burning as many calories as she thinks she is.

heybales

Hence my caveat in case I read that wrong - thanks for confirming what I stated could be the case for your workout total.

That's the rub though - your blanket statements are just as wrong as Fitbit calorie estimate can be sometimes.

That it's wrong for you in your years - perhaps you were never doing steady-state aerobic.
Perhaps you have meds or disease that cause elevated HR, or resting HR, so Fitbit never gets good stats to use.
Perhaps you are an outlier compared to others.

Fact is you don't know what KIND of workout she's doing - and it's far from blanket fact that it's always inflated 3 x as high, or however "grossly overestimates" is in your mind.
For some cardio done correctly it may be the best estimate as good as any other HRM.

Dogmom1978

Since it’s a fact that Fitbit is not accurate at tracking exercise calories, yes, I will continue to make blanket statements to NOT use it for that purpose:

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-does-fitbit-calculate-calories-burned

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-fitness-tracker-accuracy/how-good-are-activity-trackers-at-counting-calories-burned-idUSKBN18L2OZ

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/fitbit-and-jawbone-are-accurately-tracking-steps-but-miscounting-calories/2016/05/24/64ab67e6-20fd-11e6-8690-f14ca9de2972_story.html

heybales

Ya, old studies - and totally done wrong.

If you know anything about these things they cannot just be slapped on a study participant and expect to get anything as good as it will get. They can be improved.

Part of the HR-burn formula is amount of exercise you are doing, and resting HR.
For all those devices then, they obtain that info over the course of 1-2 weeks to improve the calculation.
And continue as your fitness improves and RHR lowers, or amount of exercise increases.

Therefore to throw them on the wrist and get on a treadmill or bike for a study is asinine.

And as any method used, you track and adjust as needed.

Because I'm pretty sure the 4-5 rough activity level choices of MFP or TDEE charts can lead to much inaccuracy too even if you happened to nail the exercise calories exactly somehow - and to think one can get so accurate that tracking and adjusting would not be needed would be equally as asinine.

Dogmom1978

Yes scientists performing studies don’t know anything. Sorry if you are allergic to facts. Hopefully the OP isn’t. Good luck and have fun being delusional.

I notice you posted 0 evidence to back up YOUR position and hopefully anyone else reading this does also. I have better things to do thank argue with ignorant people though.

AnnPT77

OP, listen to Mr. heybales. This is a subject on which he's expert.

My (good brand/model, but not Fitbit) fitness tracker *underestimates* my all-day calorie burn by around 25-30% consistently, as compared with nearly 5 years of calorie logging experience. (I'm currently losing slowly at 300 calories or more above what my tracker says is an average all-day burn.) It also typically *underestimates* my steady-state exercise calories, as compared to a well-power-metered machine (Concept 2 rower), even after applying the necessary bodyweight adjustment. This is true even though the tracker knows my actual HR max (which is around 25bpm higher than typical age estimates) and monitors my resting rate, but the magnitude of the underestimate depends on intensity level, in ways that make sense based on how HRM calorie estimates work (and don't).

This very same, exact device has been reported by a number of people here to be quite accurate for them.

The devices - even good devices - will overestimate for some people (and situations) and underestimate for others. They'll also be close enough to be useful for a large number of people - the people who are close to average - with possible need to reality-test calorie estimates for activities for which heart rate is not a very good calorie burn proxy, such as intervals, strength exercise, and activities that are far from moderate steady state, take place in a hot environment, etc.

This is old, but still informative:

https://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472

I have no idea whether your Fitbit is giving you (near-)accurate calorie estimates or not, for the reasons heybales mentions.

Generally, a good brand/model will be close on all-day estimates for most people (people who are "average", or close), a bit further off for a few (high or low), and way off for a very rare few. That's the nature of statistical estimates, even good ones, and all a Fitbit or other tracker does is provide a statistical estimate, although a quite personalized one.

Why is my device so far off for me? It's not the device, it's me. I'm statistically unusual. (MFP also dramatically underestimates my calorie needs, by about the same proportion, for example.)

If you monitor what your Fitbit says, log your eating, and compare the results to your bodyweight scale over a period of many weeks (preferably look at whole menstrual cycles' worth if you're premenopausal), you'll know whether your device is close to accuracy for you, or not. It probably will be, in the technical sense of "probability".

Best wishes!

jtechmart

I've used my fitbit for a few years now, and the way I approach its data is to calibrate the numbers to my actual results.

So, I put in all the info, let fitbit calculate calories burned and MFP track calories consumed. It doesn't matter if the numbers are accurate at first. Then I stay consistent over 4-6 weeks, and see what my results are. Then I know if fitbit says i burn x calories per day and MFP says I'm eating Y calories, and that resulted in 10 pounds lost in 4 weeks. Then all the numbers have meaning and are calibrated to my actual results. It's just a way of calibrating the data to your actual results and then not worrying about online calculators, or how accurate fitbit data is. It's highly accurate since I've tested it.

As a side note, I have fitbit and MFP linked up, so all I enter is calories from food in MFP. The only numbers I watch anymore are the total calories for the day in MFP. Again, the data is calibrated to my results so I don't worry about if fitbit is over or under estimating calories burned.

Not everyone does it this way, but I find it useful.

janejellyroll

slunburg wrote: »

Yes scientists performing studies don’t know anything. Sorry if you are allergic to facts. Hopefully the OP isn’t. Good luck and have fun being delusional.

I notice you posted 0 evidence to back up YOUR position and hopefully anyone else reading this does also. I have better things to do thank argue with ignorant people though.

That YOUR Fitbit results aren't accurate doesn't mean that everyone else will have the same experience. I've been eating back my adjustments since 2015 and my weight has behaved exactly as expected.

If one tracks their own data (like the poster above describes), it's very easy to make adjustments if you discover that Fitbit is over-estimating calorie burn (or even under-estimating, which some people also experience).

Dogmom1978

janejellyroll wrote: »

slunburg wrote: »

Yes scientists performing studies don’t know anything. Sorry if you are allergic to facts. Hopefully the OP isn’t. Good luck and have fun being delusional.

I notice you posted 0 evidence to back up YOUR position and hopefully anyone else reading this does also. I have better things to do thank argue with ignorant people though.

That YOUR Fitbit results aren't accurate doesn't mean that everyone else will have the same experience. I've been eating back my adjustments since 2015 and my weight has behaved exactly as expected.

If one tracks their own data (like the poster above describes), it's very easy to make adjustments if you discover that Fitbit is over-estimating calorie burn (or even under-estimating, which some people also experience).

That’s why I posted DATA and FACTS from scientific studies to show that fitness trackers are inaccurate.

PAV8888

Sigh... am I now going around repeating myself?!?!? I guess so!

So much of the above feels full of "fear", uncertainty, and doubt.

You can understand how things work: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10098937/faq-syncing-logging-food-amp-exercise-calorie-adjustments-activity-levels-accuracy/p1

You can then
** Connect Fitbit to MFP
** Use a weight trend app such as trendweight.com in conjunction with Fitbit and MFP to gauge your progress
** Adhere to your (semi) reasonably defined plans and goals more often than not.
** Log obsessively, engage in activities that are likely to be well detected by Fitbit*
**and be one of the majority of the population who tracks close to population averages (which by definition you're more likely to be than not)

And profit!

# of Days Cal eaten (macros multiplied) Weight change in lbs Implicit Daily Deficit Implicit TDEE Fitbit TDEE % difference Implicit Deficit as % of implicit TDEE
January 1, 2014 to April 30, 2014 120 ?? not on MFP -5 to -10* ? ? ?
May 1, 2014 to November 20, 2014 204 ?? not on MFP -39.4 -860** ? ?? no tracker ?
November 21, 2014 to November 20, 2015 365 2560 -72.5 -695 3255 3260 -0.15% -21.35
November 21, 2015 to November 20, 2016 366 2913 -11.1 -106 3019 3117 -3.14% -3.51
November 21, 2016 to November 20, 2017 365 2911 -2.7 -26 2937 3084 -4.77% -0.89
November 21, 2017 to April 30, 2018 161 2920 -0.5 -11 2931 3011 -2.66% -0.38

* activities that are well detected is not an actual health or weight loss goal; it is only a contributor to higher apparent measurement accuracy.

There exist a lot of activities that are extremely beneficial to both health and weight loss; but which are not easy for a band to detect.

If you compare mid/long term weight trend results to your logging every few weeks (as mentioned above 4-6 weeks is a good figure that includes complete hormonal cycles, people without them can often get away with 3-4 weeks) and adjust, you can easily accommodate a higher level of inaccuracy while still benefiting from your consistent logging information.

slw37

KateB989 wrote: »

It is linked but I don’t think it’s syncing correctly! The food I log on MFP is transferring to my Fitbit but the exercise on my Fitbit isn’t logging on the MFP? 😩

Kate--lately there has been a glitch in the Fitbit sync with MFP. Hopefully it will be fixed someday. Check the Fitbit users group on this forum for more information.