Fitbit calorie burning stats not accurate

monilove617
monilove617 Posts: 34 Member
edited November 9 in Fitness and Exercise
I've owned my fitbit charge for two days now. Today it estimated that I burned 1500 calories from a 15 minute light cardio workout!! How can this be?? It's impossible!!

I bought this specifically for monitoring calories burned and that estimation is totally false! I've been duped!!

Anyone else have this problem? Seems like everyone loves their fitbit.

Replies

  • jasonp_ritzert
    jasonp_ritzert Posts: 357 Member
    I have a fitbit flex and mine seems close, probably a bit of an overestimation. However, I take it as that, an estimate.

    Did you read the calories burned correctly? It took me a couple days to figure out that the fitbit app will estimate your calories burned as you progress throughout the day. I did a 60-minute run and it estimated I burned about 500 calories, which I think is close considering I was running a 8:30 mile and I'm 210 lbs. Also, make sure you have the settings set properly. You can alter them to make them give you a more conservative calories-burned estimate.
  • andielyn
    andielyn Posts: 233 Member
    edited January 2015
    I have a Fitbit Flex...are you looking at your total calorie burn for the day or just for that activity (i.e. did you manually put that in or "record" an activity?) The way Fitbit works is that it calculates your burn throughout the day based on your BMR (basal metabolic rate--what you burn just being alive) and your activity. It's very possible for you to have burned 1500 calories by this point in the day. My burn for the day so far is 1496 calories.
  • monilove617
    monilove617 Posts: 34 Member
    After my workout I checked the calories burned and it read 800. I'll try to just set the timer for each workout and see how that goes. Appreciate your feedback.
  • Solkre2
    Solkre2 Posts: 29 Member
    If you want to track calories get a heart rate monitor like Polar. I use the Polar Beat that works with my smartphones.
  • simplydelish2
    simplydelish2 Posts: 726 Member
    I HAD a fitbit flex...it went in the trash. It was not accurate in counting steps or calories and was a disaster at showing true sleep rhythms. Some people swear by the Fitbit - I swear at it!

  • monilove617
    monilove617 Posts: 34 Member
    @simplydelish2‌ lol that's hilarious! I wish I looked into it further before splurging!
  • jwbrandal
    jwbrandal Posts: 3
    I first bought the flex and then upgraded to the HR. Syncing it with my fitness pal is the way to go for the food database. As for workouts when I had the flex I used online calculators to log my exercise and that worked fine for me. I do karate and weightlifting so the running exercise tracked doesn't work for what I do. Now that I have the Charge HR when I am working out or doing karate the heart rate monitor tracks my active minutes and calories burned. I feel that it's much more effective.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Keep in mind the calories burned on fitbit reflect:
    -BMR in 15 min segments so depending on time of day, you could have already burned 500-800 calories or more if your workout was at night....this is were most of the calories burned come from typically
    -some calories for daily activity outside of working out
    -workout calories
  • pnut80
    pnut80 Posts: 77 Member
    the calorie burn with the charge hr really threw me off when i first got it. before i even put the thing on in the mornings it was reading like 300 cals burned. but then i researched further and realized that they take into account the calories burned while you are just breathing and being alive. which is ok i guess but im not sure how well it works with weigh loss and calorie counting. i tend to eat back some of my workout cals but with the fitbit i have to be careful! but i do still love my fitbit...as long as the damn thing syncs when i need it to!
  • monilove617
    monilove617 Posts: 34 Member
    I use the timer for my workouts which the fit bit calculates the calories burned for that excercise but it doesn't sync to MFP, only the steps sync.
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