Difference in Calories Burned between fitbit, bike and MFP

BigP3te
BigP3te Posts: 5
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, I use a FitBit Flex to track my activity, but I'm getting conflicting info on calories burned during exercise. I use a Technogym Upper Body Bike as I have a complete rupture of my right quadriceps muscle, I normally do 45-60 minutes prior to training, and I've noticed a difference between the bike, MyFitnessPal and the FitBit, and I'd like to find out which is likely to be more correct..

As there is no exercise data on myfitnesspal for 45 minutes of Vigorous upperbody biking I enter the exercise as stationary bike, vigorous effort for 45 mins, and that says I burnt 1257 calories doing that cardio.

The upper body bike (that has no data of my age, height, weight etc) says that I've burnt 360 calories
and my Fitbit, thinks i'm walking for 45 minutes, says i've burnt 762 calories

When on the Upper Body Bike I do have it set on a high difficulty, there are 4 upper body bikes in a row and I've noticed that most people have it set between 3 to 6 for the duration of their stint on it which seems to be on average 5 to 10 minutes, I start on lvl 12, and when I'm ten minutes from the end I start upping the difficulty 2 or 3 lvl's at a time and often end somewhere around lvl 24-28, So I think it's fair to say its vigorous effort.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated..

Replies

  • Railr0aderTony
    Railr0aderTony Posts: 6,803 Member
    A heart rate monitor would give you the closest reading for calories burned, all three of your methods are terribly inaccurate. Fitbit is great for walking or jogging but it is not made for the upper body bike(i have a fitbit also) Like you said the bike has not idea your height or weight or age, and MFP is Horrible inaccurate for exercise calories. When in doubt always go with the lowest one. But you should invest in a HRM, that would be your best bet. I have a Polar Ft7 and that combined with my fitbit, I feel somewhat confident of my daily activity(per fitbit) and my workouts (per HRM) Best of luck to ya.

    41642629.polar-ft7_1.jpg
  • Sonj1973
    Sonj1973 Posts: 188 Member
    Hi there.....:) I've found MFP tends to over estimate, however as I haven't got the luxury of my own HRM or fitbit I tend to use the MFP as a guide...!! It's difficult when you have contradictory info, but then I suppose if you use several different weighing scales its going to become difficult to work out which is closest to you ideal weight!!

    I guess you can either Add all three and divide to find an average of 777 cals burnt (esp if your going to use these three as a guide all the time)....Or stick to one and adjust accordingly see which works best for you!!
  • Sonj1973
    Sonj1973 Posts: 188 Member
    I heart rate monitor would give you the closest reading for calories burned, all three of your methods are terribly inaccurate. Fitbit is great for walking or jogging but it is not made for the upper body bike(i have a fitbit also) Like you said the bike has not idea your height or weight or age, and MFP is Horrible inaccurate for exercise calories. When in doubt always go with the lowest one. But you should invest in a HRM, that would be your best bet. I have a Polar Ft7 and that combined with my fitbit, I feel somewhat confident of my daily activity(per fitbit) and my workouts (per HRM) Best of luck to ya.

    I've heard a lot of good reviews and comments on the Polar Ft7...maybe worth the investment!
  • BigP3te
    BigP3te Posts: 5
    Thank you very much Railr0adertony & Sonj1973, I have ordered a PolarFT7 from Amazon, and it should arrive tomorrow.. :drinker:
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    None of these devices actually measure calorie burn, they all calculate it using a variety of inputs and models. They will all be wrong in different ways for different people for different exercises.

    IMO the best thing to do is to use 1 or 2 of them rigorously, track your body stats (actual vs theoretical) over an extended period of time, and validate which one matches up the closest.

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