Fit Bit Calorie Burn Reliable or Not

AprilOneFourFour
AprilOneFourFour Posts: 226 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi
My fitbit says I'm burning about 2100 a day. I'm probably consuming about 1600. Not seeing any movement on the scale or the tape.
My TDEE for light exercise is 1991. Minus 20% is about 1600. I do 30DS every day.
Any similar experience? Views on accuracy of these calculations?

Replies

  • pcastagner
    pcastagner Posts: 1,606 Member
    Hi
    My fitbit says I'm burning about 2100 a day. I'm probably consuming about 1600. Not seeing any movement on the scale or the tape.
    My TDEE for light exercise is 1991. Minus 20% is about 1600. I do 30DS every day.
    Any similar experience? Views on accuracy of these calculations?

    "Probably?"


    How are you measuring food?


    I'd say you are "probably" consuming maintenance cals.
  • AprilOneFourFour
    AprilOneFourFour Posts: 226 Member
    I'm using mfp and I'm pretty accurate on weights / measures / mouthfuls

    FITbit says I've burned 60499 in last 4 weeks, eaten 38241, even if I have been under-accounting, it would only be by the odd hundred here or there...

    I suppose I was mainly looking to answer the topic headline question
  • pluckabee
    pluckabee Posts: 346 Member
    I find it fairly accurate.

    This month my deficit should show a loss of 7.3lbs and I have lost 10.6 on average. I don't bother putting in my strength training so that probably accounts for the 3lb discrepancy
  • AprilOneFourFour
    AprilOneFourFour Posts: 226 Member
    I find it fairly accurate.

    This month my deficit should show a loss of 7.3lbs and I have lost 10.6 on average. I don't bother putting in my strength training so that probably accounts for the 3lb discrepancy
    Wow, fantastic. And that does sound like it tallies. Maybe P Castagner is on to something and I'm not loggin accurately enough. I will be vigilant!
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
    Yes and no. For walking or running, I've found it fairly accurate compared to my HRM. Certainly 'close enough'. However, it does NOT do other kinds of exercise well: strength training, cycling, swimming, dancing, sports - anything that's not simply step based. It also has no function to adjust your BMR rate. If you're BMR is different from the average, you're out of luck. This annoyed me greatly because I knew my BMR was 200 calories per day higher than FitBit gave me credit for. However, for many, their default BMR may be too high.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Since I've had mine:

    If you go, by calories burned vs calories eaten, I should have lost about 1.9lbs (since April 26). I'm actually down 3.3lbs.

    Strength training, I don't bother to log.
    Any cardio (that's not walking/jogging) I use my hrm for.
  • AprilOneFourFour
    AprilOneFourFour Posts: 226 Member
    Thanks for the responses. It looks like it's underestimating more than over. Hmm

    Better check I put my details in correctly. My food logging is def not so far out...
  • erayne
    erayne Posts: 47 Member
    It could be that your gaining muscle ?
  • Bekahmardis
    Bekahmardis Posts: 602 Member
    Although I just got my FitBit Flex last Friday, so far it seems to be recording accurately enough. I set MFD to 1200 which is actually about 75 calories *more* than my RMR, and then I let my FitBit tell me what I can eat over that based on all my activities for the day. It appears to be settling out between 1350 and 1450 per day on average, which is about what I had figured my TDEE - 10% to be.
  • Mia_RagazzaTosta
    Mia_RagazzaTosta Posts: 4,885 Member
    It could be that your gaining muscle ?

    Not at a calorie deficit and not from 30DS.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    It could be that your gaining muscle ?
    no

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