How accurate are Fitbit calorie trackers?

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thatonerunnergirl
thatonerunnergirl Posts: 5 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I just started using a fitbit tracker, and according to it I am burning a lot more calories than I think through daily activities & exercise--around 2800 a day on average, some days over 3000! However I don't know if I should trust these numbers. Has anyone here had success losing weight based off their fitbit calorie burn? Or does it overestimate?

I have had a lot of trouble sticking to 1600 calories/day and always end up cheating, so I don't know if such a big deficit is my real problem (my body is trying not to starve so I subconsciously eat bad food to compensate) or if I need to tweak my diet in other ways.

Any experience or advice is appreciated.

Replies

  • readerandwritergirl
    readerandwritergirl Posts: 6
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    The calories are inaccurate and Fitbit has not seen to deal with it. Fitbit uses some kind of a weird score which *kitten* things up.
  • readerandwritergirl
    readerandwritergirl Posts: 6
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    I like the fact that it monitors stair climbing a real plus for fitbit.
  • ZBuffBod
    ZBuffBod Posts: 297 Member
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    Lots of people use FitBit successfully. Like any other device, you may have to calibrate it the first time you use it.
  • sympha01
    sympha01 Posts: 942 Member
    edited November 2014
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    I've been using a fitbit for a little over 10 months. I don't find the calorie counts are accurate as calorie counts, but they are a helpful way of quantifying my baseline so I can tell when I'm slacking off or working extra hard. Fitbit seems to really overestimate walking for me (I walk about 3 mph and it seems to calculate those walks at 6-7 METS, which is significantly higher than most compendiums list). And it underestimates the burn from actual cardio workouts for me, usually putting them at about HALF of what it gives me for just walking.

    I'd say base your calorie deficit on your results. That is, if you're measuring / weighing all your food very accurately and logging everything, then watch your weight loss over 4-6 weeks. For every pound you lose during that period, count 3500 calories. Add that figure to the total number of calories you actually ate during the period, and divide by the number of days. Boom -- that's your actual TDEE. From there, you can figure out how many calories to deduct from that to get a reasonable amount of weight loss.

    ETA -- to be clear, I find the fitbit very helpful. Though the calorie count isn't accurate, it's consistently calculated the same way (though I suspect fitbit just tweaked their algorithm for a few devices that recently got firmware updates, including mine), so I can make sure I shoot for my baseline numbers or work harder etc. etc. It's particularly helpful for helping me be more mindful of when I've been sitting on my *ss too long and motivating me to just get up and move around a bit.
  • choosing_fitness
    choosing_fitness Posts: 102
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    I use fitbit flex and I find it incredibly accurate. I have maintained and lost weight, etc. due to the numbers on the fitbit tracker in comparison to daily calories.

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