Do you believe your fitbit calorie burn?

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Christine_72
Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I got a fitbit zip a week ago, i went from averaging 2,000ish steps a day up to 10,000, and yesterday i hit 20,207 steps for which mfp gave me 850 extra calories. I'm too scared to eat these calories back, partly because it takes me all day to get these steps in ( I do umpteen laps around my house),i'm not 100% sure that these devices are perfectly accurate and it irks me slightly to essentially eat back all of my work. Walking is the only exercise i do.
What do you guys do, eat all your exercise calories back or 50-75% of them, or none at all? How much do you trust your fitbit calorie burn?

Thanks for any and all advice :flowerforyou:
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Replies

  • shezza4mobee
    shezza4mobee Posts: 250 Member
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    I have another type of tracking device through weight watchers and don't trust it 100%. I can wave my arms 5 mins and get an extra 50 calories. Though I hear fitbits are more accurate. I'm actually wanting to buy one, but swimming is one of my favorite activities, and so far they're water resistant, but not waterproof.

    As for eating back the calories, I hardly ever do.
    If I work out at the gym hard during a session for an hour and earn 800 calories, I might eat 100-200 but never more. (unless I'm having a naughty pizza kind of day!)
    Otherwise, I keep it fairly close to my original total, just because I think a lot of exercise is overestimated, and food underestimated.
  • MindySaysWhaaat
    MindySaysWhaaat Posts: 401 Member
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    I bought a fitbit one a couple weeks ago. The first weekend I got it I went on a 4.5 mile hike with my fiance, got about 21,000 steps, and it told me about 700 calories were earned from it. From what I've been hearing, it's fairly accurate. Since I'm a bit paranoid and have heard many differing stories about whether or not to eat earned calories back, I try to stick to either not eating them back, or not eating all of them back.

    I've also noticed that if you work out earlier and then aren't as active later in the day, it can take calories away from your earned calories, so keep that in mind.
  • sarahas
    sarahas Posts: 3 Member
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    shezza4mobee wrote: »
    I have another type of tracking device through weight watchers and don't trust it 100%. I can wave my arms 5 mins and get an extra 50 calories. Though I hear fitbits are more accurate. I'm actually wanting to buy one, but swimming is one of my favorite activities, and so far they're water resistant, but not waterproof.

    As for eating back the calories, I hardly ever do.
    If I work out at the gym hard during a session for an hour and earn 800 calories, I might eat 100-200 but never more. (unless I'm having a naughty pizza kind of day!)
    Otherwise, I keep it fairly close to my original total, just because I think a lot of exercise is overestimated, and food underestimated.

    Misfit Shine is waterproof and has a mode specifically for swimming.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    I went for the clip on my bra fitbit instead of the bracelet one for the reasons you stated. Everything i have read says fitbits are pretty accurate, i just wanted to hear from real life users :)
  • TMcChamp
    TMcChamp Posts: 165 Member
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    Unless I'm hungry I don't eat those cals back- unless I have done a run or something to add ro those steps and calories burned & even then I don't eat them all back I just have some protein snack (egg or yogurt generally) and see how I go - I have a fitbit charge hr
  • shezza4mobee
    shezza4mobee Posts: 250 Member
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    sarahas wrote: »
    shezza4mobee wrote: »
    I have another type of tracking device through weight watchers and don't trust it 100%. I can wave my arms 5 mins and get an extra 50 calories. Though I hear fitbits are more accurate. I'm actually wanting to buy one, but swimming is one of my favorite activities, and so far they're water resistant, but not waterproof.

    As for eating back the calories, I hardly ever do.
    If I work out at the gym hard during a session for an hour and earn 800 calories, I might eat 100-200 but never more. (unless I'm having a naughty pizza kind of day!)
    Otherwise, I keep it fairly close to my original total, just because I think a lot of exercise is overestimated, and food underestimated.

    Misfit Shine is waterproof and has a mode specifically for swimming.

    Oh thanks for the info! :) I'll look into it!
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    MindySaysWhaaat wrote: »
    I bought a fitbit one a couple weeks ago. The first weekend I got it I went on a 4.5 mile hike with my fiance, got about 21,000 steps, and it told me about 700 calories were earned from it. From what I've been hearing, it's fairly accurate. Since I'm a bit paranoid and have heard many differing stories about whether or not to eat earned calories back, I try to stick to either not eating them back, or not eating all of them back.

    I've also noticed that if you work out earlier and then aren't as active later in the day, it can take calories away from your earned calories, so keep that in mind.

    Yikes! I shall keep an eye on that. I went for a walk around the block at 9 last night so i could get to 20,000 :#

    Also, one more question,,, sorry! I had my computer switched off all afternoon yesterday, so my steps didn't transfer to my dashboard or into my diary. So i ended up turning it on quickly so it would sync. If i hadn't have turned my computer on, would it have synced yesterdays steps this morning, or would i have lost all that stats because a new 24 hours had started? Boy i hope that makes sense....
  • ElizabethKalmbach
    ElizabethKalmbach Posts: 1,416 Member
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    The combination of fitbit and MFP works perfectly for me. I eat back the calories it suggests (mostly - I don't force myself if I'm full) and still lose weight at roughly the scheduled pace.
  • Docbanana2002
    Docbanana2002 Posts: 357 Member
    edited April 2015
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    Yes, I believe it because I tested it.... log faithfully for a couple of months with a fitbit adjustment, then figure out how much weight you should have lost (calories below maintenance for that time frame /3500). Compare to what you actually lost. Mine is very accurate, with a slight error in the direction of my losing slightly more than my data would predict.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    Docbanana2002 wrote: »
    Yes, I believe it because I tested it.... log faithfully for a couple of months with a fitbit adjustment, then figure out how much weight you should have lost (calories below maintenance for that time frame /3500). Compare to what you actually lost. Mine is very accurate, with a slight error in the direction of my losing slightly more than my data would predict.

    Awesome, that's great news.
  • Angierae75
    Angierae75 Posts: 417 Member
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    I've lost 24 pounds eating back what my fitbit gives me. I trust it.
  • Docbanana2002
    Docbanana2002 Posts: 357 Member
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    MindySaysWhaaat wrote: »

    I've also noticed that if you work out earlier and then aren't as active later in the day, it can take calories away from your earned calories, so keep that in mind.

    You can go on the Fitbit website and in the settings, turn off "calorie estimation". Then this won't happen (it will base your projections based on no activity--rather than your daily average--and only add calories to MFP that you've actually "earned" already).

  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    christinev297 wrote: »
    MindySaysWhaaat wrote: »
    I bought a fitbit one a couple weeks ago. The first weekend I got it I went on a 4.5 mile hike with my fiance, got about 21,000 steps, and it told me about 700 calories were earned from it. From what I've been hearing, it's fairly accurate. Since I'm a bit paranoid and have heard many differing stories about whether or not to eat earned calories back, I try to stick to either not eating them back, or not eating all of them back.

    I've also noticed that if you work out earlier and then aren't as active later in the day, it can take calories away from your earned calories, so keep that in mind.

    Yikes! I shall keep an eye on that. I went for a walk around the block at 9 last night so i could get to 20,000 :#

    Also, one more question,,, sorry! I had my computer switched off all afternoon yesterday, so my steps didn't transfer to my dashboard or into my diary. So i ended up turning it on quickly so it would sync. If i hadn't have turned my computer on, would it have synced yesterdays steps this morning, or would i have lost all that stats because a new 24 hours had started? Boy i hope that makes sense....

    Thanks guys :)

    Can anyone answer the above bolded part? The steps wont sync unless my computer is switched on and i'm in the house. will they still get added the next day or will i lose those steps?

  • cbills65
    cbills65 Posts: 164 Member
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    christinev297 wrote: »
    I got a fitbit zip a week ago, i went from averaging 2,000ish steps a day up to 10,000, and yesterday i hit 20,207 steps for which mfp gave me 850 extra calories. I'm too scared to eat these calories back, partly because it takes me all day to get these steps in ( I do umpteen laps around my house),i'm not 100% sure that these devices are perfectly accurate and it irks me slightly to essentially eat back all of my work. Walking is the only exercise i do.
    What do you guys do, eat all your exercise calories back or 50-75% of them, or none at all? How much do you trust your fitbit calorie burn?

    Thanks for any and all advice :flowerforyou:

    This is the very reason I severed the sync between my fitbit and mfp. I figured it was too risky to assume I had all these earned calories if I really hadn't burned that much. It was the right decision for me, but I cannot speak to anyone else's experience with fitbit sync to mfp.
  • MLLeFever
    MLLeFever Posts: 25 Member
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    Docbanana2002 wrote: »
    MindySaysWhaaat wrote: »

    I've also noticed that if you work out earlier and then aren't as active later in the day, it can take calories away from your earned calories, so keep that in mind.

    You can go on the Fitbit website and in the settings, turn off "calorie estimation". Then this won't happen (it will base your projections based on no activity--rather than your daily average--and only add calories to MFP that you've actually "earned" already).


    Where in settings? I clicked through each one but didn't see that option
  • NobodyPutsAmyInTheCorner
    NobodyPutsAmyInTheCorner Posts: 1,018 Member
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    My Charge HR can keep up to 7 days worth of tracking without being synced. So no you won't lose data if you don't sync it all the time :)
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    aimeerace wrote: »
    My Charge HR can keep up to 7 days worth of tracking without being synced. So no you won't lose data if you don't sync it all the time :)

    :+1: Thanks :)

  • ShibaEars
    ShibaEars Posts: 3,928 Member
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    I figure mine is fairly accurate. What I burn in a day is usually pretty close to the TDEE estimates I had calculated. I try to stay under that with food - partly because I'm trying to lose weight and also because I don't want to assume it's 100% accurate and eat too much back.
  • runnrchic
    runnrchic Posts: 130 Member
    Options
    sarahas wrote: »
    shezza4mobee wrote: »
    I have another type of tracking device through weight watchers and don't trust it 100%. I can wave my arms 5 mins and get an extra 50 calories. Though I hear fitbits are more accurate. I'm actually wanting to buy one, but swimming is one of my favorite activities, and so far they're water resistant, but not waterproof.

    As for eating back the calories, I hardly ever do.
    If I work out at the gym hard during a session for an hour and earn 800 calories, I might eat 100-200 but never more. (unless I'm having a naughty pizza kind of day!)
    Otherwise, I keep it fairly close to my original total, just because I think a lot of exercise is overestimated, and food underestimated.

    Misfit Shine is waterproof and has a mode specifically for swimming.

    I love my misfit shine. It is fairly accurate. My monthly burn minus my food for march was about ~6600 (trying to remember from the spreadsheet this morning). I lost 2.4 from the third week of Feb. to yesterday so it's pretty accurate (I weigh once a week or so).
  • MindySaysWhaaat
    MindySaysWhaaat Posts: 401 Member
    Options
    christinev297 wrote: »
    christinev297 wrote: »
    MindySaysWhaaat wrote: »
    I bought a fitbit one a couple weeks ago. The first weekend I got it I went on a 4.5 mile hike with my fiance, got about 21,000 steps, and it told me about 700 calories were earned from it. From what I've been hearing, it's fairly accurate. Since I'm a bit paranoid and have heard many differing stories about whether or not to eat earned calories back, I try to stick to either not eating them back, or not eating all of them back.

    I've also noticed that if you work out earlier and then aren't as active later in the day, it can take calories away from your earned calories, so keep that in mind.

    Yikes! I shall keep an eye on that. I went for a walk around the block at 9 last night so i could get to 20,000 :#

    Also, one more question,,, sorry! I had my computer switched off all afternoon yesterday, so my steps didn't transfer to my dashboard or into my diary. So i ended up turning it on quickly so it would sync. If i hadn't have turned my computer on, would it have synced yesterdays steps this morning, or would i have lost all that stats because a new 24 hours had started? Boy i hope that makes sense....

    Thanks guys :)

    Can anyone answer the above bolded part? The steps wont sync unless my computer is switched on and i'm in the house. will they still get added the next day or will i lose those steps?

    I believe it will still sync yesterday's steps as well. I tend to sync mine through my phone most of the time though since it's connected through bluetooth.

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