FitBit Calorie Burn Over-exaggerated
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Kidominos, what did you have your activity level on mfp set on? I keep seeing people saying I should trust my fitbit, but it's giving me back an insane amount of calories!! Do you log exercise too??0
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I have both MFP and Fitbit set at lightly active. I had them both at sedentary but i didn't like the high number of the Fitbit adjustment. It was just a personal preference as either setting is correct. The lightly active will have your TDEE higher than sedentary so your FB adjustment won't be as high. I do have negative calories enabled so I am in the negative in the morning until I get enough steps in. Just make sure both your FB and MFP are set up exactly the same.
I only log non step based activities like swimming, biking etc. I found that MFP used to over state my calories burned so I bought a Polar HRM. I do not log walking or jogging. If I am doing an exercise that combines step based with other cardio I use my HRM readings and then just log the start time and it will overwrite my FB data for calories but you will still get credit for the steps.
Sorry, I am watching the NCAA basketball tournament at the moment so hopefully my answer is understandable lol.
ETA: corrected a couple of mistyped sentences during a commercial break
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Kidominos, what did you have your activity level on mfp set on? I keep seeing people saying I should trust my fitbit, but it's giving me back an insane amount of calories!! Do you log exercise too??
Define "insane". If you're truly sitting all day and it's giving you 2000 extra calories, then something is probably off. If you're actually just more active than you thought you were, and it is giving you 1000 exercise calories in a day, then it isn't insane.
For instance, so far today (3pm) I did a 40 minute Zumba workout that didn't push me too hard and I took a leisurely 2 mile walk (2.5 mph). I have done almost 14000 steps and FitBit has given me 763 calories on top of my MFP sedentary allotment. This is pretty typical for me. I will eat back most of those calories, but hopefully not all of them. I have MFP set for a half pound per week weight loss but since I still have quite a bit to lose, I try to aim for 1 lb per week if I can do it without being miserable. So, I like to end the day with about 250 calories left.0 -
On Monday I had over 15,000 steps and my FB adjustment was 332. If I was set at sedentary the adjustment would have been higher.0
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My Fitbit One is almost always under what I actually burn, how do I know? If it was right I would have gained at least 20 lbs. by now, I have been using it since August. Next time I am getting a device that can "do" weight lifting. 0
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I keep seeing people saying I should trust my fitbit, but it's giving me back an insane amount of calories!! Do you log exercise too??
Enable negative calorie adjustments:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings
Increase your activity level: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided
Log exercise in Fitbit—not MFP.
Follow these instructions for several weeks, then reevaluate your progress.0 -
perseverance14 wrote: »My Fitbit One is almost always under what I actually burn, how do I know? If it was right I would have gained at least 20 lbs. by now, I have been using it since August. Next time I am getting a device that can "do" weight lifting.
Sadly there are none that claim to do weight lifting calories.
Polar has one for lifters, but their website mentions it's not for calorie burn, but merely to help know how long to allow the rests a tad more automatically.
Now, the Surge does let you include several exercise types to select from for the actual workout - perhaps they include weights.
I'd be curious from a Surge owner if it is one, and then does it base it on HR (invalid use), or merely time.0 -
Does it matter if it overestimates calorie burn if it motivates you? Not really. I've had a Fitbit Flex since November and love it. It's really helped me lose the extra weight, even if it's only caused me to be more active. That alone has been tremendous.0
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I'm currently testing out the Charge HR (1st day yesterday) and I LOVE it.. It's calorie burn on my first day wearing was very accurate and since it was a kinda lazy day (sick w/respiratory thing that is affecting my breathing so no workout and only did what I had to for "work") it's one of my main concern kind of days. I am comparing the calorie burn to the BodyMedia Fit which for me is/was very accurate. I've used (on/off) the BMF for over 4 years during which time I lost my last 25 lbs and maintained that loss for almost (next month) 4 years. The Charge HR ended up showing a 2.3% higher burn than the BMF -- that was a difference of 49 calories. It's the first device I've tried (Fitbit Zip and Garmin Vivofit) that has been so close - the other devices always showed lower burns and were never consistent (anywhere from 6-47% lower). I'm hoping that the remainder of my week trial shows similar/consistent results.0
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For 2 weeks, I wore my Flex, BodyMedia armband, and used my Garmin HRM when doing intense exercise.
My Flex was within 50-100 calories of the other 2 devices at any given time. I ditched my armband (so uncomfortable) and just make a game out of reaching 20K steps a day or join the challenges, etc. I still use my Garmin HRM for various reasons, of course.
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By insane, I meant that I always get at least 800 calories back. Sometimes as much as 1200. I'm a 15000 a day stepper (but I live in Italy where you HAVE to walk everywhere), I do heavy lifting and a kickboxing class 6 days a week. So even though I'm active, sometimes this still seems like a lot of calories to get back. I have my activity level set on "lightly active'. Is that bad??0
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By insane, I meant that I always get at least 800 calories back. Sometimes as much as 1200. I'm a 15000 a day stepper (but I live in Italy where you HAVE to walk everywhere), I do heavy lifting and a kickboxing class 6 days a week. So even though I'm active, sometimes this still seems like a lot of calories to get back. I have my activity level set on "lightly active'. Is that bad??
If (and only if) you enable negative calorie adjustments http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings then you can set your activity level however you like: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided
If you increase your activity level you'll start the day with more calories & get smaller adjustments.0 -
perseverance14 wrote: »My Fitbit One is almost always under what I actually burn, how do I know? If it was right I would have gained at least 20 lbs. by now, I have been using it since August. Next time I am getting a device that can "do" weight lifting.
Sadly there are none that claim to do weight lifting calories.
Polar has one for lifters, but their website mentions it's not for calorie burn, but merely to help know how long to allow the rests a tad more automatically.
Now, the Surge does let you include several exercise types to select from for the actual workout - perhaps they include weights.
I'd be curious from a Surge owner if it is one, and then does it base it on HR (invalid use), or merely time.
Weights is an option.
I'm not sure what the formula for it is. The formula doesn't seem to be solely HR dependent, but it does seem to have somewhat of an impact if it gets high enough. Example:
45 mins - 157 cals per Surge Tracking
Fitbit Manual Log - 265 cals
MFP Manual Log - 152 cals
AVG HR - 114
43 mins - 185 cals per surge Tracking
Fitbit Manual Log- 254 cals
MFP Manual Log - 145 cals
AVG HR - 123
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By insane, I meant that I always get at least 800 calories back. Sometimes as much as 1200. I'm a 15000 a day stepper (but I live in Italy where you HAVE to walk everywhere), I do heavy lifting and a kickboxing class 6 days a week. So even though I'm active, sometimes this still seems like a lot of calories to get back. I have my activity level set on "lightly active'. Is that bad??
Nothing is "bad". What matters is what works. I get about 15000 steps a day, too. Your exercise sounds like it is probably more intense than mine. I usually do a 1 hour walk and 20-40 minutes of Zumba a day. I've recently added some weight training, but I doubt I'm burning a lot extra with that just yet. My activity level is set to "sedentary". I usually get 800-1000 calories back. Changing the setting to "lightly active" would cut that by about 200 calories. So, I doubt that an 800-1200 exercise calorie adjustment is insane.
For me, what works is keeping the setting at sedentary and 0.5 lb/week loss but then aiming to have about 250 calories left at the end of the day. You've got a lot less to lose, so you should probably just stick to the 0.5 lb/week goal and not leave as many calories "on the table" as I do.
If it freaks you out to get so many calories "back", then change your setting to active (but, as editorgrrl says, be sure to have negative adjustments enabled). The thing is, that won't change how many calories you can actually eat each day. It will just change how many "exercise calories" you're awarded. However, it could make planning easier as the calories you start the day with are closer to reality.0 -
shadow2soul wrote: »perseverance14 wrote: »My Fitbit One is almost always under what I actually burn, how do I know? If it was right I would have gained at least 20 lbs. by now, I have been using it since August. Next time I am getting a device that can "do" weight lifting.
Sadly there are none that claim to do weight lifting calories.
Polar has one for lifters, but their website mentions it's not for calorie burn, but merely to help know how long to allow the rests a tad more automatically.
Now, the Surge does let you include several exercise types to select from for the actual workout - perhaps they include weights.
I'd be curious from a Surge owner if it is one, and then does it base it on HR (invalid use), or merely time.
Weights is an option.
I'm not sure what the formula for it is. The formula doesn't seem to be solely HR dependent, but it does seem to have somewhat of an impact if it gets high enough. Example:
45 mins - 157 cals per Surge Tracking
Fitbit Manual Log - 265 cals
MFP Manual Log - 152 cals
AVG HR - 114
43 mins - 185 cals per surge Tracking
Fitbit Manual Log- 254 cals
MFP Manual Log - 145 cals
AVG HR - 123
Interesting. And confusing. From researching the studies the METS database came from, if weights was the correct option for what you were doing (5-15 reps, rests of 2-4 min, 2-5 sets, heavy for you), I'd trust it more.
Except that is rather high on Fitbit's database.
They have been doing some cleanup - I wonder if the mixed together circuit training and Weight lifting and averaged the METS and calorie burn on it.
That's a bummer.
Was the 43 min workout more legs?0 -
Both were on a Stronglifts Workout A day.
Looking at the logs, it seems I get a higher calorie burn on days were I failed sets (maybe I'm walking around more).0 -
I have a fitbit one and I think it under estimates. I run and use the Nike app and my calorie burn is always higher on it than on my fitbit. Also, if I log everything as precisely as I can, I lose more weight than what it predicts. I am always disappointed when I look at the exercise calories it gives me because I know I worked harder than that.0
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I have a fitbit one and I think it under estimates. If I log everything as precisely as I can, I lose more weight than what it predicts.
Then lower your weight-loss goal. A healthy, sustainable loss is .5 lb. per week for every 25 lbs. you're overweight. A smaller deficit will also help you transition to maintenance.
The calorie counts & burns are only estimates. We should all be looking for the maximum number of calories at which we lose weight—never the minimum.0 -
shadow2soul wrote: »Both were on a Stronglifts Workout A day.
Looking at the logs, it seems I get a higher calorie burn on days were I failed sets (maybe I'm walking around more).
Well sure, walking around kicking the supports and weight stacks counts as steps, and if arm device wild gesturing probably does too.
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