FITBIT- Calories burned?

ShiraDarling

Maybe someone can help me here, the following are my stats from the last two days using my FitBit . What I'm confused about is the calorie burn- both have very similar calorie burns even tho I took an extra 5000 steps today and I also had 45 "very active minutes" today compared to none yesterday.

Can anyone explain this to me?

YESTERDAYS STATS-

Took 17,260 steps
Had zero "very active minutes"
Burned 2874 calories.

TODAY'S STATS-

Took 22,115 steps
Had 45 very active minutes
Burned 2910 calories

piersonj

The first thing that comes to my mind is that if you take away the 45 minutes of very active for today, then compare your average activity levels for the two days today would have been lower than yesterday. Did you generally move around more yesterday but didn't have a dedicated active time? Today were you seated more then went for a walk/run for 45 minutes.

If you haven't already, you can put an activity level square on your fitbit dashboard. It shows how many calories you burn through out the day in 15 minute intervals. If you compare the two days by this chart you will probably better understand where your calorie burn is coming from.

ShiraDarling

Hmm, well both days I didn't have a dedicated "active time" , didn't go for a run or the gym. Both days just working , doing the same thing more or less. I work a labour intensive job on the pipeline 13 hours a day.

WalkingAlong

They're just rough estimates based on your movement.

Seajolly

I don't trust the calories burned on my FitBit. I just look at the step counter. When I workout, I wear a heart rate monitor, which gives a more accurate estimate of calories burned.

Francl27

Yeah it was very confusing to me too. It makes no sense whatsoever sometimes.

TahoeSki

Did you log any flights of stairs via your Fitbit?

ShiraDarling

No I didn't log any flights of stairs, as I didnt climb many.my entire day is spent outside

editorgrrl

YESTERDAYS STATS-
Took 17,260 steps
Had zero "very active minutes"
Burned 2874 calories.

TODAY'S STATS-
Took 22,115 steps
Had 45 very active minutes
Burned 2910 calories

It's impossible to walk 17,260 steps & have zero active minutes. The Fitbit app's been buggy lately. If you look at the website dashboard for that day, you'll see your actual active minutes.

The calories look spot-on to me. Walking 5,000 steps burns way fewer calories than you probably think (especially if you're used to the inflated calorie burns you get when logging exercise on MFP). I wasn't losing much weight at all until I got an activity tracker, connected my accounts at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/apps/show/30 & stopped logging step based exercise.

Edited to add that MFP has a "Fitbit Users" group: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/1307-fitbit-users

scrapjen

I've worn a Fitbit for over three years now - it's really interesting to see how things compare day to day. But that IS what I love about the Fitbit, is it's hard to keep track of every thing you do (especially if it's the movement all throughout the day, not a dedicated exercise session). People say "I prefer my HRM" ... and I do have a HRM and use it for specific workouts, but it doesn't/can't track a full day.

When you look at your "daily activity" graph ... I'm assuming on the day you didn't get any specific "active minutes" that you were "moderately active" for much of the time. Sometimes the cut-off for moderate vs active is very small, so even if it doesn't quite register as "active" you are still getting a similar calorie burn.

I know that all these devices are just estimates, but I've been pretty pleased with my Fitbit over the years. In addition to just steps, it takes into consideration number of steps per minute (to differentiate between a walk and a run) and I think it even takes some "impact" into account. Stairs ... while a "fun" function on the Fitbit do NOT affect calorie burn (which is probably a good thing as they can be inaccurate and affected by changes in air pressure).

Steps/VAM are primarily how the burn is calculated but then the Fitbit is recording everything and changes in lightly active time, sedentary time, can all make a difference in the final burn without showing much change in steps/active minutes

Just some of my stats ...
Mon 29179 steps, 3259 burn 142 VAM (198 aerobic minutes on my Omron)
Tues 26821 steps, 3265 burn, 140 VAM (134 aerobic minutes on my Omron)
Wed 25469 steps, 3022 burn, 129 VAM (152 aerobic minutes on my Omron)

I record my stats every day and publish them on my blog if anyone was interesting in looking at my numbers. http://jenbsjourney.blogspot.com/p/day-to-day-doings.html

I do just look at the numbers every day and have goals (I try to break 3000 burn) ... I don't take it as gospel, I realize it's just an estimate. I do often use a HRM to double check my exercise and compare calculations. I only eat back half my exercise calories (or try to) to give myself some wiggle room in case the numbers are off (in burn and/or intake).

Dayiscoming

Thanks for that info scrapjen. I was trying to figure out how many calories to eat back and thought around half the exercise calories seemed good too. I'll have to play around and see what happens. I took a look at your blog. I like what you had to say about the fitbit and you are doing great with your weight loss and fitness journey. Keep up the awesome work!