fitbit calories

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fiberartist219
fiberartist219 Posts: 1,865 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I just got a Fitbit Charge HR, and synced it up with MFP. It has already given me 99 exercise calories today, and I haven't done anything. I'm at 85 steps and all I did was get out of bed, go to the bathroom and then the kitchen.

Is Fitbit just guessing my TDEE higher than MFP?

Replies

  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited May 2015
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    no...you burn calories all day long...even if you just sleep, sit on the couch, brush your teeth....it is working correctly...

    as soon as you get out of bed these are your first steps of the day....make sense?

    edited to add....mpf does not use tdee...mfp will adjust the calories you burn through the day and you can eat a portion of these back if you choose....

    click the exercise section of the website, then click the red minus sign next to Fitbit adjustment... this will show you how mfp is calculating your calories.

    edited to add one more thing: You have two choices in Fitbit to calculate your calories for you.. see your dashboard and settings in Fitbit to learn how these work.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    Fitbit figures calories by TDEE and adds them up continually over the course of the day (by noon, it will only reflect how many total calories you burned up to noon). Basically, it gives you your BMR plus activity calories for whatever you are doing. This does not mean that they are exercise calories. For the amount of calories to eat, stay with MFP. If you have your Fitbit synced correctly, it will "talk" to MFP and tell it how active you are and you will get extra calories awarded as you exercise or move around more than the activity level you set it at.

    When I wake up in the morning, I already have about 450 calories burned because that is my BMR plus small amounts of movement since midnight. Make sense?
  • fiberartist219
    fiberartist219 Posts: 1,865 Member
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    Ok thanks. I'll check the settings and watch it for a few days.

    I'm glad I got the fitbit so I can track my sleep pattern and heart rate. There is a ton of helpful information. I just know that if it over estimates calories, I will eat them. I fell off the MFP wagon a few years ago because I was so hungry and lightheaded when I followed the calorie goals. Perhaps those calories really are OK to eat, but I know that I didn't get 99 calories of exercise yet today.
  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
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    The 99 calories aren't from exercise, its from being alive. Fitbit doesn't just count exercise calories, you burn calories all day by just being alive.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    fiberartist219 wrote: »
    I just got a Fitbit Charge HR, and synced it up with MFP. It has already given me 99 exercise calories today, and I haven't done anything. I'm at 85 steps and all I did was get out of bed, go to the bathroom and then the kitchen.

    Is Fitbit just guessing my TDEE higher than MFP?

    Adjustments are the difference between your Fitbit burn (which is TDEE) and your MFP activity level. Click on the adjustment to see the math, but MFP has calculated that at 11:59 p.m. you will have burned 99 calories more than your activity level.

    You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users
  • weavingtheweb
    weavingtheweb Posts: 135 Member
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    With just 85 steps and doing nothing all day it doesn't sound right to have been given 99 exercise calories already. With being sedentary it usually starts giving me extra calories after about 2000 steps. I am aware that it is based on user stats.
    However, I do start lots of days with 99 negative calories.
    My guess is OP has negative adjustments enabled and that is what they are seeing.

  • BeesmaMFP
    BeesmaMFP Posts: 1,096 Member
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    fiberartist219 wrote: »
    I just got a Fitbit Charge HR, and synced it up with MFP. It has already given me 99 exercise calories today, and I haven't done anything. I'm at 85 steps and all I did was get out of bed, go to the bathroom and then the kitchen.

    Is Fitbit just guessing my TDEE higher than MFP?

    Are you sure there isn't a minus in front of the 99? I'm asking because when I awake every morning, MFP tells me (based on my fitbit data) I've earned a negative number of calories from exercise and it's always between 90 and 99. That changes throughout the day, but when I awaken is the only time I have a negative adjustment. I've never, ever had a positive adjustment upon waking... To me, it doesn't make sense you've earned exercise calories in your sleep. Yes, of course, we burn calories while sleeping--I always have 500+ calories already burned when I awaken--but unless you were up walking in your sleep, I don't understand how you earned exercise calories. :)
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    weavingtheweb wrote: »
    I start lots of days with 99 negative calories.

    My guess is OP has negative adjustments enabled and that is what they are seeing.

    Yes, it's possible the adjustment is -99 calories and OP is misreading it.

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