Accuracy of Garmin Vivofit - Calories burnt workout/post workout

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oxnina
oxnina Posts: 203 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey everyone,
I bought a Garmin Vivofit last week with the HRM and I decided to test it out in my Zumba class today.
I set the heart rate monitor on and did my class, and turned it off when I got home, and it said on MFP that I burned 1036 calories (it said Walking leisurely pace, but thats a whole other issue) and i did 5918 steps.
After resting for a bit, and lightly walking around my house, it now says i've burned 500 calories extra which the Garmin Vivofit has adjusted for my calorie count.

I'm confused what to believe. I BELIEVE I burnt about 1000 calories in class because I was working my butt off and my Heart rate was up high the entire class (I'm also 205lbs and 5'6, 23 years old), but now that extra 500 calories doesn't seem right

What do you guys think? Accurate or not?
I'm thinking of not focusing on those extra 500 calories today, and just subtracting that from my total for the day.

Please give me your imput!

Replies

  • FinallyFitMommy
    FinallyFitMommy Posts: 38 Member
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    I have the vivofit too, but I'm not understanding how the calories burned works. It's saying I haven't earned any exercise calories, when that past 3 days in a row, I've been working my butt off, and I don't earn anything. So confusing.
  • jenny3008
    jenny3008 Posts: 97 Member
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    Have you set your height, weight and resting heart rate in the vivofit? I have one and it seems to make a difference.

    It works out your calories for the day as your BMR and then gives you extra calories if you burn more than that. So say for example your BMR is 1800 calories and you burn your 1000 calories at your zumba then you walk around and burn some more calories taking your overall burn to over the 1800 calories then the vivofit gives you those extra calories back.

    I'm not sure how accurate it is? Some days I would say its ok but it did give me a 2550 calorie burn for a 7.5 mile walk, granted it was 4000ft of ascent but I think its a little enthusiastic sometimes. I use it as a guide mainly

    Exercise calories only seem to be registered as such when you have the HRM attached. I personally find I have to wait about an hour to sync or it loses the activity. It seems there is a bit of a bug someplace.
  • JeffseekingV
    JeffseekingV Posts: 3,165 Member
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    Doesn't these measure total calories burnt and not just the calories you burnt doing that exercise?

    ie.. is measuring the calories you expend just to live and breath and is adding the calories burnt during Zumba
  • veloman21
    veloman21 Posts: 418 Member
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    First of all none of these devices are particularly 'accurate' when it comes to calorie burn, there are just too many variables. But they are certainly better than nothing and are good to use as a relative indicator over time.

    You should start and stop your HR reading immediately before and after your exercise. This is how the vivofit knows you are exercising. To be clear that means right before exercising and with your HRM strapped on, press the button on the Vivo until you see the word HEART. After a few moments you will see 2 numbers, for instance 1-82. This means that you are in heart rate zone 1 and your pulse is 82bpm.

    As soon as you have finished your exercise and with the Vivo on the heart rate page, press and hold the button until you see HEART OFF.

    If you are leaving your HR on until you get home, the Vivo hints your workout is continuing and then adds those calories to the BMR calories so you are getting a some double counting.
  • jg0399
    jg0399 Posts: 5 Member
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    Is the vivofit worth it? I've been thinking about getting it, but not entirely sure.
  • jenny3008
    jenny3008 Posts: 97 Member
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    jg0399 wrote: »
    Is the vivofit worth it? I've been thinking about getting it, but not entirely sure.

    I think it depends what you are looking for in a unit.
    I like mine, its simple to use, doesn't look too bad so I can wear it all the time and works well most of the time. I have a forerunner 305 for when I am cycling or fell walking but it doesn't work well in the gym due to the GPS

    It does have its faults, there are often problems with the app and syncing, I can't seem to calibrate my distance correctly so that is normally out if I go for a walk or a run and there is no backlight.

    However I mainly use it as a daytime watch, for reminding me to get up and move and for tracking my heart rate when working out which I generally do with a PT. Depending on what we are doing we can use the HR to time the breaks or literally time them. Also it gives an indication of what my work rate and recovery is like over the course of the session.

    I don't eat back my exercise calories so that fact that it is only a calorie burn indication is ok with me but this is no worse than any other HRM

    All in all I really like it and particularly like the fact I can send the work out readouts to my PT afterwards so he can see the work rate too.

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