Does Fitbit way overestimate calories burned?

UltimateRBF wrote: »

azulvioleta6 wrote: »

There is no such thing as starvation mode.

Burning 500 calories is light years away from a strenuous workout.

If a Zip is going through more than about 2 batteries a year, it is defective. This happened to me--I called FitBit and received a brand new Zip in less than a week.

I'm not sure what qualifies you to make this statement. Especially since the definition of strenuous is a highly relative term.
My fitbit tells me I burn just shy of 500 calories for an approximate 30 minute run/jog. It's plenty strenuous. For fitter people it would be a cakewalk.
Worry about yourself.

Seriously. My 8 mile bike ride was barely in the 300 calories burned range, and there were some moments were I put serious consideration into getting off my bike and walking it up the hills. A toddler could have run past me on the hills, but I didn't stop. I was huffing, puffing, sweating, and possibly also muttering expletives. And then it said I burned 301 calories and I was like "NO! That was like 500 ... 1000!" *dies on living room floor*

PrizePopple wrote: »

Seriously. My 8 mile bike ride was barely in the 300 calories burned range, and there were some moments were I put serious consideration into getting off my bike and walking it up the hills. A toddler could have run past me on the hills, but I didn't stop. I was huffing, puffing, sweating, and possibly also muttering expletives. And then it said I burned 301 calories and I was like "NO! That was like 500 ... 1000!" *dies on living room floor*

Hahaha this totally made me chuckle. Yup. Been there...lol

PrizePopple wrote: »

UltimateRBF wrote: »

azulvioleta6 wrote: »

There is no such thing as starvation mode.

Burning 500 calories is light years away from a strenuous workout.

If a Zip is going through more than about 2 batteries a year, it is defective. This happened to me--I called FitBit and received a brand new Zip in less than a week.

I'm not sure what qualifies you to make this statement. Especially since the definition of strenuous is a highly relative term.
My fitbit tells me I burn just shy of 500 calories for an approximate 30 minute run/jog. It's plenty strenuous. For fitter people it would be a cakewalk.
Worry about yourself.

Seriously. My 8 mile bike ride was barely in the 300 calories burned range, and there were some moments were I put serious consideration into getting off my bike and walking it up the hills. A toddler could have run past me on the hills, but I didn't stop. I was huffing, puffing, sweating, and possibly also muttering expletives. And then it said I burned 301 calories and I was like "NO! That was like 500 ... 1000!" *dies on living room floor*

If my workout was a bike ride, my maximum burn would be more like 10, since I would fall off by the end of the driveway

trina1049 wrote: »

earlnabby wrote: »

trina1049 wrote: »

JennyL791 wrote: »

Can anyone define sedentary vs lightly active, beyond the short description given on MFP?

Try this link for defining sedentary vs lightly active.

http://antranik.org/proper-activity-level-for-calorie-intake/

According to that, I am active because of the amount of purposeful exercise I do. However, I spend most of my day, when I am not out walking or swimming, sitting so I have myself as lightly active. It works for me.

Fair enough. Sound like you've got it figured out. Here's a couple of more links for the OP just in case the previous link isn't accurate for her.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14715035

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18562971

Like most things, you have to find what I call your "happy place" where the numbers work for you. All of the descriptions and calculators are great to give you a starting point, then you need to pay attention to your actual results to tweak them until you are in a place that gives you the results you want.

ScreeField wrote: »

I noticed that some activity trackers actually do overestimate steps. I've tried a few--while wearing them at the same time, some reported up to 10,000 steps per day more than others. I also used a footpod and gps to verify steps and distance.

Things like brushing your teeth, riding/driving a car, typing, etc., could increase steps recorded. Things like walking while pushing a cart or stroller can actually cheat you out of steps. Interestingly, the trackers that were best at estimating distances walked, were the worst at adding steps for tooth brushing and driving.

It may be worth a test to see if it's recording when you are brushing your teeth, driving your car, etc. Another check would be to walk a mile and check the number of steps and calories burned. If it records running, do a similar test for running.

And, don't forget, this is only half of the equation. We're all very different. What works for others, may not be accurate for you. Depending on age and lifestyle, BMR represents 45 to 70 percent of daily total energy expenditure, and it is determined mainly by the individual’s age, gender, body size and body composition [1]. There's a big difference between 45 and 70, and that's only part of the calculation for total energy requirements. That means that even if you calibrate the device for age, gender, weight, (most likely), and body composition (not as likely), there's still another 30 to 55 percent of energy requirements to estimate.

[1] FAO/WHO/UNU. 2004. Human energy requirements. Rome, 17-24 October 2001

It's 70% for people who are really inactive. I think you're misunderstanding what that means.

And Fitbit is insanely accurate unless you walk slower than .5 mph if you've got the One, at least.

Abby2205 wrote: »

JennyL791 wrote: »

So, I probably fall somewhere between sedentary and lightly active. Or maybe I think I'm sedentary but I'm lightly active. I have it set to sedentary because I don't think what I need is MORE calorie allowance.

Yesterday was basically a couch potato day, and it said I burned 148 cals in exercise. I did walk the dog for 12 minutes, but it wasn't remotely strenuous.

On a day when I had a strenuous workout, it said I burned 528 exercise cals.

Other days, where I was basically at home not doing much but not sitting around the whole day either, it says 3-400 exercise cals. These are the days that feel off to me.

You sound like me, I found out that my normal daily activity was more active than I had assumed. I'm sure there's an official guide somewhere, but in actual use I found (+/- 1000):
3000 steps=sedentary. For me this would be if I was sick. I think of it as being in bed or on the couch all day, but actually it's getting a cup of tea, getting a blanket, hey where's the heating pad, I guess I could manage a load of laundry, etc.
8000 steps=lightly active. I think of this as not doing much, but it's really it's vacuuming, couple of loads of laundry, up and down the stairs ten times, shopping and errands, 10 minute dog walk. Or normal weekday commute, which I think of as car and train, but in reality also includes a trek from the parking lot to the train and 15 minutes walk between stepping off the train and arriving at my desk, trips around the office all day and the return trip.
12000 steps=active. To reach this I need to do some kind of deliberate exercise.

HOW I WISH this were me.

Sedentary give me about 1700 cal on MFP.

I have to use the treadmill desk or work out to break 1500, according to my FitBit.

PeachyCarol wrote: »

azulvioleta6 wrote: »

There is no such thing as starvation mode.

Burning 500 calories is light years away from a strenuous workout.

If a Zip is going through more than about 2 batteries a year, it is defective. This happened to me--I called FitBit and received a brand new Zip in less than a week.

You can't make blanket statements about other people and exercise, and you always, always do. It comes across as annoying and judgmental. Everyone on here is at a different part of their fitness journey. People are also differently abled, and differently sized.

Additionally, the amount of calories you burn depends on how much you weigh, how fit you are already, how long you exercise and a host of other factors.

I am middle aged.

I have a desk job.

I have fibromyalgia.

I have several very significant injuries that limit what I can do in terms of exercise.

Still, I don't think that I have EVER had a day when I burned less than 1000 calories in activity. I am usually in the 1500-2000 range, even when I'm not trying terribly hard. Yes, I am a tall/large framed person and obviously that makes a difference in calorie burn.

A lot of people here have been very sedentary for years and they have really skewed ideas about exercise. Many of us are from cultures where being inactive is considered acceptable, especially as we age. There are a lot of people on MFP who are not very interested in being physically active. While it might not be necessary for most people to work out a lot in order to lose weight, being active IS important for quality of life and overall health.

Brag about doing 500 calories worth of exercise and you should expect to be corrected. That is just NOT much.

azulvioleta6 wrote: »

PeachyCarol wrote: »

azulvioleta6 wrote: »

There is no such thing as starvation mode.

Burning 500 calories is light years away from a strenuous workout.

If a Zip is going through more than about 2 batteries a year, it is defective. This happened to me--I called FitBit and received a brand new Zip in less than a week.

You can't make blanket statements about other people and exercise, and you always, always do. It comes across as annoying and judgmental. Everyone on here is at a different part of their fitness journey. People are also differently abled, and differently sized.

Additionally, the amount of calories you burn depends on how much you weigh, how fit you are already, how long you exercise and a host of other factors.

I am middle aged.

I have a desk job.

I have fibromyalgia.

I have several very significant injuries that limit what I can do in terms of exercise.

Still, I don't think that I have EVER had a day when I burned less than 1000 calories in activity. I am usually in the 1500-2000 range, even when I'm not trying terribly hard. Yes, I am a tall/large framed person and obviously that makes a difference in calorie burn.

A lot of people here have been very sedentary for years and they have really skewed ideas about exercise. Many of us are from cultures where being inactive is considered acceptable, especially as we age. There are a lot of people on MFP who are not very interested in being physically active. While it might not be necessary for most people to work out a lot in order to lose weight, being active IS important for quality of life and overall health.

Brag about doing 500 calories worth of exercise and you should expect to be corrected. That is just NOT much.

How much do you weigh? Because if I'm walking, at my weight, I have to walk over 19 miles to get more than 1000 calories in activity.

500 calories of Stairmaster at my weight leaves most people panting on the floor, jello,a t the speed that you have to go.

I used to run track and cross country. A regular three-mile workout, running? 285 calories.

The longest, hardest workout we ever did, so taxing that semi-long-distance runners only did it about once a month, that would leave my legs shaking like leaf and almost everyone else on the track team had to stop?

Run 200 meters. Run up to the top of the stadium. Jog across the top and back down the next set of stadium steps. Run another 200 meters to the opposite side of the track. Repeat. At the end, you will have run two linear miles and up (and then down) 128 floors of stairs. And you will have burned about 600 calories at my weight then.

I'd invite you to join me at that. Because of my exercise-induced anaphylaxis, I'd have to walk the 2 miles. But I can still run the stairs. And at my current weight, I'd still BARELY break 500 cal (having walked the miles).

I think that you're either REALLY overestimating your calories burnt or you're heavy enough that your exercises count for a huge amount more than mine do.

shadow2soul wrote: »

azulvioleta6 wrote: »

PeachyCarol wrote: »

azulvioleta6 wrote: »

There is no such thing as starvation mode.

Burning 500 calories is light years away from a strenuous workout.

If a Zip is going through more than about 2 batteries a year, it is defective. This happened to me--I called FitBit and received a brand new Zip in less than a week.

You can't make blanket statements about other people and exercise, and you always, always do. It comes across as annoying and judgmental. Everyone on here is at a different part of their fitness journey. People are also differently abled, and differently sized.

Additionally, the amount of calories you burn depends on how much you weigh, how fit you are already, how long you exercise and a host of other factors.

I am middle aged.

I have a desk job.

I have fibromyalgia.

I have several very significant injuries that limit what I can do in terms of exercise.

Still, I don't think that I have EVER had a day when I burned less than 1000 calories in activity. I am usually in the 1500-2000 range, even when I'm not trying terribly hard. Yes, I am a tall/large framed person and obviously that makes a difference in calorie burn.

A lot of people here have been very sedentary for years and they have really skewed ideas about exercise. Many of us are from cultures where being inactive is considered acceptable, especially as we age. There are a lot of people on MFP who are not very interested in being physically active. While it might not be necessary for most people to work out a lot in order to lose weight, being active IS important for quality of life and overall health.

Brag about doing 500 calories worth of exercise and you should expect to be corrected. That is just NOT much.

How do you know it's not that much? Seriously. You don't know. For me:

97 Mins Ice Cream Fitness 5x5 (heavy lifting) = approx 200 - 250 calories burned which leaves me physically drained and starving

Today I've worked out for a total of 1 hr 42 mins for 545 calories. Granted it's been a mixture between strength and cardio.

How many calories you burn depends on what your doing and your stats. I'm at a healthy weight now and it would take me hours to get 1000 calorie burns from workouts (when I was heavier, it didn't take long). To get that during lifting, I'd have to be lifting heavy for 388 mins (over 6 hours) and I'm pretty sure my body would give out well before that point. When I was 200+ lbs, 1000 calories wasn't out of the ordinary. However, I'm around 135 lbs now and it would take more time then I can allot to exercise to get to 1000 calorie burns (and that's if my body didn't give out from the stress first).

Mine would. Right now? Absolutely. At the weight that I was at my fittest? Like I said, I probably hit that a handful of times. Ever. And I was in track and cross country--one of the better runners on the team. I was one of about five (out of over 50) who could actually make the whole stadium routine without walking.

I could free weight squat more than most of the football team. When I switched to weightlifting, I could crunch on the ab machine more than any of them, easily. EASILY. I could do back extensions holding a 45 AND a 35lb weight to my chest. I was enough of a monster that when I visited gyms, guys would stop working out to watch me lift on some of the stations. I'd do freeweight calf raises with close to 400lbs.

And I don't think I hit 1000 cals hardly ever.

I exercised 15 hours a week when I was at my lightest. Some days, I'd work so hard that I'd wobble the next day.

Trust me. I was working. I knew how to work. When you're sub-120lbs, it takes an insane amount to burn through 1000 calories.

Could I walk 19 miles in a day now? Yeah. But I wouldn't be doing it tomorrow, too.

azulvioleta6 wrote: »

PeachyCarol wrote: »

azulvioleta6 wrote: »

There is no such thing as starvation mode.

Burning 500 calories is light years away from a strenuous workout.

If a Zip is going through more than about 2 batteries a year, it is defective. This happened to me--I called FitBit and received a brand new Zip in less than a week.

You can't make blanket statements about other people and exercise, and you always, always do. It comes across as annoying and judgmental. Everyone on here is at a different part of their fitness journey. People are also differently abled, and differently sized.

Additionally, the amount of calories you burn depends on how much you weigh, how fit you are already, how long you exercise and a host of other factors.

I am middle aged.

I have a desk job.

I have fibromyalgia.

I have several very significant injuries that limit what I can do in terms of exercise.

Still, I don't think that I have EVER had a day when I burned less than 1000 calories in activity. I am usually in the 1500-2000 range, even when I'm not trying terribly hard. Yes, I am a tall/large framed person and obviously that makes a difference in calorie burn.

A lot of people here have been very sedentary for years and they have really skewed ideas about exercise. Many of us are from cultures where being inactive is considered acceptable, especially as we age. There are a lot of people on MFP who are not very interested in being physically active. While it might not be necessary for most people to work out a lot in order to lose weight, being active IS important for quality of life and overall health.

Brag about doing 500 calories worth of exercise and you should expect to be corrected. That is just NOT much.

I ran 5 miles this morning, I burned about 400 cals, I'm proud of myself (just for doing it, not the calories).

Of course I've burned more calories throughout the day, from general activities (not that much though).

I don't think you're burning 1500+ in exercise per day.

shadow2soul wrote: »

MamaBirdBoss wrote: »

shadow2soul wrote: »

azulvioleta6 wrote: »

PeachyCarol wrote: »

azulvioleta6 wrote: »

There is no such thing as starvation mode.

Burning 500 calories is light years away from a strenuous workout.

If a Zip is going through more than about 2 batteries a year, it is defective. This happened to me--I called FitBit and received a brand new Zip in less than a week.

You can't make blanket statements about other people and exercise, and you always, always do. It comes across as annoying and judgmental. Everyone on here is at a different part of their fitness journey. People are also differently abled, and differently sized.

Additionally, the amount of calories you burn depends on how much you weigh, how fit you are already, how long you exercise and a host of other factors.

I am middle aged.

I have a desk job.

I have fibromyalgia.

I have several very significant injuries that limit what I can do in terms of exercise.

Still, I don't think that I have EVER had a day when I burned less than 1000 calories in activity. I am usually in the 1500-2000 range, even when I'm not trying terribly hard. Yes, I am a tall/large framed person and obviously that makes a difference in calorie burn.

A lot of people here have been very sedentary for years and they have really skewed ideas about exercise. Many of us are from cultures where being inactive is considered acceptable, especially as we age. There are a lot of people on MFP who are not very interested in being physically active. While it might not be necessary for most people to work out a lot in order to lose weight, being active IS important for quality of life and overall health.

Brag about doing 500 calories worth of exercise and you should expect to be corrected. That is just NOT much.

How do you know it's not that much? Seriously. You don't know. For me:

97 Mins Ice Cream Fitness 5x5 (heavy lifting) = approx 200 - 250 calories burned which leaves me physically drained and starving

Today I've worked out for a total of 1 hr 42 mins for 545 calories. Granted it's been a mixture between strength and cardio.

How many calories you burn depends on what your doing and your stats. I'm at a healthy weight now and it would take me hours to get 1000 calorie burns from workouts (when I was heavier, it didn't take long). To get that during lifting, I'd have to be lifting heavy for 388 mins (over 6 hours) and I'm pretty sure my body would give out well before that point. When I was 200+ lbs, 1000 calories wasn't out of the ordinary. However, I'm around 135 lbs now and it would take more time then I can allot to exercise to get to 1000 calorie burns (and that's if my body didn't give out from the stress first).

Mine would. Right now? Absolutely. At the weight that I was at my fittest? Like I said, I probably hit that a handful of times. Ever. And I was in track and cross country--one of the better runners on the team. I was one of about five (out of over 50) who could actually make the whole stadium routine without walking.

I could free weight squat more than most of the football team. When I switched to weightlifting, I could crunch on the ab machine more than any of them, easily. EASILY. I could do back extensions holding a 45 AND a 35lb weight to my chest. I was enough of a monster that when I visited gyms, guys would stop working out to watch me lift on some of the stations. I'd do freeweight calf raises with close to 400lbs.

And I don't think I hit 1000 cals hardly ever.

I exercised 15 hours a week when I was at my lightest. Some days, I'd work so hard that I'd wobble the next day.

Trust me. I was working. I knew how to work. When you're sub-120lbs, it takes an insane amount to burn through 1000 calories.

Could I walk 19 miles in a day now? Yeah. But I wouldn't be doing it tomorrow, too.

That was my point. If I read the ticker on her profile correctly, I think she is in the 200's and calorie burns for a 200lb person are a lot different than those of us who are lighter.

I am currently 199.8 lb and I get a 1200 calorie Fitbit adjustment with 80 minutes of walking, 1 hour of swimming laps, and 1 hour of a water aerobics class. I can only do that 3 times a week. It is possible to burn that much in the 200 lb range, but you need a lot of time in which to do it. Good for you @azulvioleta6 if you have no job or other responsibilities and can work out a large portion of the day, every day. The rest of us have lives.

shadow2soul wrote: »

Wait, wait. It just dawned on me. @azulvioleta6 are you talking about 1000 calorie Fitbit Adjustments? (seeing as this is a thread about Fitbit Adjustments)

If that's the case, ya when I set my profile on MFP to sedentary, I'm almost guaranteed to get a 1000 calorie adjustment from Fitbit. That however isn't just exercise, but includes my daily activity as well. My exercise calorie burns are puny anymore . I'm set to lightly active right now and have a 422 calorie adjustment from Fitbit already.

Yeah, I think that's what's going on. She has been using "activity" and "exercise" interchangeably.

However, I have to do something like 30k steps to get anything close to a 1,000 adjustment. I don't have my MFP settings on sedentary, though, I think it's active or lightly active and begin the day with 1463 calories that I set myself with negative adjustment turned off. I weigh 186.

This content has been removed.

I have a fit bit surge and seems about as accurate as gym machines and online calculators. Like it's not massively higher or lower.

I trust it. Not to the point of eating 100% if the exercise back. I would rather risk losing slightly more than slightly less.

My understanding is if you enter into mfp it's not double dipping, for me what's entered into mfp over writes the Fitbit figures.

Also give it more time. Make sure you set up the fit bit correctly, I think there is an option for stride length

Lourdesong wrote: »

shadow2soul wrote: »

Wait, wait. It just dawned on me. @azulvioleta6 are you talking about 1000 calorie Fitbit Adjustments? (seeing as this is a thread about Fitbit Adjustments)

If that's the case, ya when I set my profile on MFP to sedentary, I'm almost guaranteed to get a 1000 calorie adjustment from Fitbit. That however isn't just exercise, but includes my daily activity as well. My exercise calorie burns are puny anymore . I'm set to lightly active right now and have a 422 calorie adjustment from Fitbit already.

Yeah, I think that's what's going on. She has been using "activity" and "exercise" interchangeably.

However, I have to do something like 30k steps to get anything close to a 1,000 adjustment. I don't have my MFP settings on sedentary, though, I think it's active or lightly active and begin the day with 1463 calories that I set myself with negative adjustment turned off. I weigh 186.

I'm at 45,600 steps with my short, squatty legs to get 1,000 cal just from activity. lol. And I AM on sedentary!