Does Fitbit way overestimate calories burned?
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UltimateRBF wrote: »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 think that's what's going on. Normal daily activity burns and exercise burns are not the same thing. For Pete's sake
Oh and I saw my post earlier today now has a flag...LOLOL
I've STRUGGLED to get anywhere close to 2,200-2,300 cal a day total burn. STRUGGLED. I'm trying to keep on a 1,000 cal deficit challenge. It's very, very hard for me. I'm walking on a treadmill as I type this!0 -
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.
This has to be bmr, or your tdee....
In order to truly "exercise"and burn 500-1000 cal. would take hard work.
and it IS ALOT of work, hard work and time !!
you are middle aged, desk job, with pain... to exercise (walk,run,etc) and burn 500 is hard to do.
You have to be counting just living calorie burn. (tdee)
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It's weird what goes on in some of these threads.
Arguments between apples and oranges over what is a lot of exercise or a little.
Competing over who had the most illness/disabilities.
To all the people who have a fit bit do you have negative adjustments turned on? If you do it should matter which setting you have it on in mfp, sedentary or active.
Some days I am super sedentary and need to exercise to get up to what mfp considers sedentary
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MamaBirdBoss wrote: »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!
That don't make no sense.
How are you set to sedentary and doing 45k steps and only getting that small of an adjustment. Are you super fit and walking is really easy for you?0 -
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I'm having the reverse problem, I think. I'm wondering whether the Fitbit is underestimating what I'm burning. Today I took a 30 minute walk (1 mile and a half), did an hour yoga class (average to gentle, not power), laundry, some light yard work -- raking and seeding for about half an hour, and another 20 minute walk (about a mile) before supper. Before lunch but after my 30 minute walk, I got around 60 exercise calories from my MFP adjustment, but by the end of the day, it was down to 13 -- calories got taken away, even though I wasn't exactly a couch potato. Right now, my total calories used from my fitbit, which I assume is my TDEE is only 1245 calories. I know I'm small (5'1.5") and over 50 years old, but still this doesn't seem like much for that amount of activity.0
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MamaBirdBoss wrote: »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!
That don't make no sense.
How are you set to sedentary and doing 45k steps and only getting that small of an adjustment. Are you super fit and walking is really easy for you?
I think it's still small but I just realised I was mixing up calories and kilojoules
so not as bad as I thought. 0 -
christinev297 wrote: »I have to walk around 21,000 steps or over 10 miles to get to that magical 1000 calorie burn.
Yup, same here.
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I'm having the reverse problem, I think. I'm wondering whether the Fitbit is underestimating what I'm burning. Today I took a 30 minute walk (1 mile and a half), did an hour yoga class (average to gentle, not power), laundry, some light yard work -- raking and seeding for about half an hour, and another 20 minute walk (about a mile) before supper. Before lunch but after my 30 minute walk, I got around 60 exercise calories from my MFP adjustment, but by the end of the day, it was down to 13 -- calories got taken away, even though I wasn't exactly a couch potato. Right now, my total calories used from my fitbit, which I assume is my TDEE is only 1245 calories. I know I'm small (5'1.5") and over 50 years old, but still this doesn't seem like much for that amount of activity.
Do you have mfp set to lightly active? How many steps have you taken? It won't really credit the yoga or seeding, just steps.0 -
I'm having the reverse problem, I think. I'm wondering whether the Fitbit is underestimating what I'm burning. Today I took a 30 minute walk (1 mile and a half), did an hour yoga class (average to gentle, not power), laundry, some light yard work -- raking and seeding for about half an hour, and another 20 minute walk (about a mile) before supper. Before lunch but after my 30 minute walk, I got around 60 exercise calories from my MFP adjustment, but by the end of the day, it was down to 13 -- calories got taken away, even though I wasn't exactly a couch potato. Right now, my total calories used from my fitbit, which I assume is my TDEE is only 1245 calories. I know I'm small (5'1.5") and over 50 years old, but still this doesn't seem like much for that amount of activity.
Do you have mfp set to lightly active? How many steps have you taken? It won't really credit the yoga or seeding, just steps.
Today, I did over 11,000 steps. I'm also using the Fitbit HR, so it's measuring heartrate, not just steps, so I'm assuming it's calculating my TDEE since it's measuring how many calories I burn all day based on that. I would assume yoga wouldn't burn too many calories, but yard work and such would. MFP has me set to eat 1200 to lose; I've actually reset to 1000 calories because I do have a low metabolism (it was tested and showed 1136 BMR). However, I assumed BMR is when you're doing practically nothing. 1245 is not much higher than that and that's what the fibit shows I've burned in a day's activity.0 -
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All this is why I keep MFP and my fitbit separate for right now. I'm pretty sedentary and my step count is low (only 1 - 10k days a week). I am comfortable with using it's exercise workout calorie burned approx and just manually enter on MFP. I've had it about three weeks. I might change in the future but for right now, it's simple and straightforward...which I like.0
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To all the people who have a fit bit do you have negative adjustments turned on? If you do it should matter which setting you have it on in mfp, sedentary or active.
Some days I am super sedentary and need to exercise to get up to what mfp considers sedentary
Yes, I have negative adjustments turned on. If you do, it doesn't really matter what setting you have on MFP. You won't get any exercise adjustments with the FitBit until you are already over what it has calculated for your TDEE on MFP. If you have it set for sedentary, you'll get to that amount a lot quicker than if you have it set for active.
I have mine set for active I think...and it takes about 5000 steps before I get any kind of adjustment. Today I walked 18K+ and got about 700 calories in an exercise adjustment.
What do you mean? If you have negative adjustments turned on you get an adjustment as soon as you synch with fit bit for the day.
Say I wake up and synch Fitbit, I might have 15 steps and it will give me a negative adjustment of like 700 kj.
If your not getting adjustments until your Fitbit tdee is higher than mfp doesn't that sound like you don't have negative adjustments on?0 -
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I'm having the reverse problem, I think. I'm wondering whether the Fitbit is underestimating what I'm burning. Today I took a 30 minute walk (1 mile and a half), did an hour yoga class (average to gentle, not power), laundry, some light yard work -- raking and seeding for about half an hour, and another 20 minute walk (about a mile) before supper. Before lunch but after my 30 minute walk, I got around 60 exercise calories from my MFP adjustment, but by the end of the day, it was down to 13 -- calories got taken away, even though I wasn't exactly a couch potato. Right now, my total calories used from my fitbit, which I assume is my TDEE is only 1245 calories. I know I'm small (5'1.5") and over 50 years old, but still this doesn't seem like much for that amount of activity.
Do you have mfp set to lightly active? How many steps have you taken? It won't really credit the yoga or seeding, just steps.
Today, I did over 11,000 steps. I'm also using the Fitbit HR, so it's measuring heartrate, not just steps, so I'm assuming it's calculating my TDEE since it's measuring how many calories I burn all day based on that. I would assume yoga wouldn't burn too many calories, but yard work and such would. MFP has me set to eat 1200 to lose; I've actually reset to 1000 calories because I do have a low metabolism (it was tested and showed 1136 BMR). However, I assumed BMR is when you're doing practically nothing. 1245 is not much higher than that and that's what the fibit shows I've burned in a day's activity.
Hmm, I don't have the heartrate monitor, idk. Hopefully you have some time until midnight (it's 6 out here), that does sound low.
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To all the people who have a fit bit do you have negative adjustments turned on? If you do it should matter which setting you have it on in mfp, sedentary or active.
Some days I am super sedentary and need to exercise to get up to what mfp considers sedentary
If I have mfp @ sedentary it creates a smaller deficit than what I want because a 1000 cal deficit at sedentary would put me below 1200.
And since mfp doesn't allow a deficit that would put a person below 1200, all fitbit adjustments would be to maintain whatever the deficit would be for me at a 1200 calorie goal. Mfp therefore will operate as if I chose 672 (?? or whatever) for a deficit even though I did not, I chose 1000 cal deficit. But sedentary setting makes it as if the deficit created at the 1200 cutoff is what I wanted. So I have to pick an activity setting that allows a full 1000 calories to be taken from mfp's estimated tdee for me at that setting without it dropping below 1200.
I have negative adjustments disabled because I'm consistent in activity, I don't have sedentary days, at most I have sedentary mornings and afternoons...; the negative adjustments and being in the red for calories at any point in the day is just annoying to me at this point, it makes me like like I'm being scolded despite not having done anything wrong yet... Last summer when I got my fitbit my lifestyle was very different than now, when being consistent wasn't yet a habit and I didn't trust that I'd do what I needed to do to maintain my deficit, and fitbit and mfp wagging their finger in my face to get moving was motivating, but now not so much. I do however think negative adjustments being turned on is ideal if you have sedentary days and/or are inconsistent in your activity.
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Lourdesong wrote: »To all the people who have a fit bit do you have negative adjustments turned on? If you do it should matter which setting you have it on in mfp, sedentary or active.
Some days I am super sedentary and need to exercise to get up to what mfp considers sedentary
the negative adjustments and being in the red for calories at any point in the day is just annoying to me at this point, it makes me like like I'm being scolded despite not having done anything wrong yet...
I see the negative number as motivating. Say I sat around most of the day relaxing. I see I need to spend 15 mins on a treadmill so I jump in be fore dinner or while I'm cooking.
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Lourdesong wrote: »To all the people who have a fit bit do you have negative adjustments turned on? If you do it should matter which setting you have it on in mfp, sedentary or active.
Some days I am super sedentary and need to exercise to get up to what mfp considers sedentary
the negative adjustments and being in the red for calories at any point in the day is just annoying to me at this point, it makes me like like I'm being scolded despite not having done anything wrong yet...
I see the negative number as motivating. Say I sat around most of the day relaxing. I see I need to spend 15 mins on a treadmill so I jump in be fore dinner or while I'm cooking.
I find it motivating too. It makes me work harder so I can get back into the green as quickly as possible.
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Is it really true that if I go to bed with 600 calories uneaten, and I'm not feeling deprived, I'm full and satisfied, that I won't go into "starvation mode?"
If you went to bed with a 1,000 calorie deficit every day for 6 months, and you were less than 1% body fat, then you might go into "starvation mode". If nobody mistakes you for a POW from the Hanoi Hilton, you are NOT in starvation mode.
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I get that. As i said in my post, that was motivating for me too. It's just not anymore, at least it hasn't been at this point as my activity has become such a habit that I would do it regardless of whether mfp and fitbit scold me or not.Lourdesong wrote: »To all the people who have a fit bit do you have negative adjustments turned on? If you do it should matter which setting you have it on in mfp, sedentary or active.
Some days I am super sedentary and need to exercise to get up to what mfp considers sedentary
the negative adjustments and being in the red for calories at any point in the day is just annoying to me at this point, it makes me like like I'm being scolded despite not having done anything wrong yet...
I see the negative number as motivating. Say I sat around most of the day relaxing. I see I need to spend 15 mins on a treadmill so I jump in be fore dinner or while I'm cooking.
And since this is so, my settings are such that I prefer not to be scolded If I don't have to be. But I wouldn't hesitate to go back to being pushed if I need it. And I do still move more if I wish to eat a little more.
But all this is only relevant for my purposes of explaining to you the combination of factors that made it sensible for me to select a higher activity setting and have negative adjustments disabled. I get the impression that many assume sedentary is the safer choice to ensure they don't overeat, but in reality I would recieve significantly more calories from adjustments for sedentary setting not only because I would begin the day with a lower calorie goal than I would at a higher setting, but also because mfp would believe I wanted a smaller deficit than I actually do, as well.0 -
Lourdesong wrote: »
I get that. As i said in my post, that was motivating for me too. It's just not anymore, at least it hasn't been at this point as my activity has become such a habit that I would do it regardless of whether mfp and fitbit scold me or not.Lourdesong wrote: »To all the people who have a fit bit do you have negative adjustments turned on? If you do it should matter which setting you have it on in mfp, sedentary or active.
Some days I am super sedentary and need to exercise to get up to what mfp considers sedentary
the negative adjustments and being in the red for calories at any point in the day is just annoying to me at this point, it makes me like like I'm being scolded despite not having done anything wrong yet...
I see the negative number as motivating. Say I sat around most of the day relaxing. I see I need to spend 15 mins on a treadmill so I jump in be fore dinner or while I'm cooking.
And since this is so, my settings are such that I prefer not to be scolded If I don't have to be. But I wouldn't hesitate to go back to being pushed if I need it. And I do still move more if I wish to eat a little more.
But all this is only relevant for my purposes of explaining to you the combination of factors that made it sensible for me to select a higher activity setting and have negative adjustments disabled. I get the impression that many assume sedentary is the safer choice to ensure they don't overeat, but in reality I would recieve significantly more calories from adjustments for sedentary setting not only because I would begin the day with a lower calorie goal than I would at a higher setting, but also because mfp would believe I wanted a smaller deficit than I actually do, as well.
I don't know what you mean about the lower deficit, it gives you the deficit you enter (eg 1 lb per week is -500). At the end of day, the calorie allotment is the same no matter what setting you choose, Fitbit overrides it.
I changed mine to sedentary because it projects out that whatever level you chose will hold constant until midnight. When I had it set to lightly active, it would be giving me a calorie adjustment at 9 at night that included whatever I'd done plus assumed I would be lightly active until 12am. When I double checked it in the morning it would have adjusted back down (but it was academic by then).
It's easier to know what I really have at night on sedentary. I go to bed early, though.
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I've got mine set at sedentary too. I've also had it set to lightly active, i can't remember what, if any difference it made..
I'm usually in bed by 8 most nights watching tv. So my active day ends pretty early.0 -
Well it's 1am here, but I haven't been active at all since before the golden state game/Game of Thrones. 0
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christinev297 wrote: »I have to walk around 21,000 steps or over 10 miles to get to that magical 1000 calorie burn. I've been trusting my fitbit, and so far so good.
10,000 steps with my iPhone 6 Health app gets me a bit less than 2,000 kilojoules.
Somebody help me with the maths!
And kudos and amazement @christinev297 for using calories/miles as a fellow Australian. I've barely got the hang of pounds. 0 -
Lourdesong wrote: »
I get that. As i said in my post, that was motivating for me too. It's just not anymore, at least it hasn't been at this point as my activity has become such a habit that I would do it regardless of whether mfp and fitbit scold me or not.Lourdesong wrote: »To all the people who have a fit bit do you have negative adjustments turned on? If you do it should matter which setting you have it on in mfp, sedentary or active.
Some days I am super sedentary and need to exercise to get up to what mfp considers sedentary
the negative adjustments and being in the red for calories at any point in the day is just annoying to me at this point, it makes me like like I'm being scolded despite not having done anything wrong yet...
I see the negative number as motivating. Say I sat around most of the day relaxing. I see I need to spend 15 mins on a treadmill so I jump in be fore dinner or while I'm cooking.
And since this is so, my settings are such that I prefer not to be scolded If I don't have to be. But I wouldn't hesitate to go back to being pushed if I need it. And I do still move more if I wish to eat a little more.
But all this is only relevant for my purposes of explaining to you the combination of factors that made it sensible for me to select a higher activity setting and have negative adjustments disabled. I get the impression that many assume sedentary is the safer choice to ensure they don't overeat, but in reality I would recieve significantly more calories from adjustments for sedentary setting not only because I would begin the day with a lower calorie goal than I would at a higher setting, but also because mfp would believe I wanted a smaller deficit than I actually do, as well.
I don't know what you mean about the lower deficit, it gives you the deficit you enter (eg 1 lb per week is -500). At the end of day, the calorie allotment is the same no matter what setting you choose, Fitbit overrides it.
I changed mine to sedentary because it projects out that whatever level you chose will hold constant until midnight. When I had it set to lightly active, it would be giving me a calorie adjustment at 9 at night that included whatever I'd done plus assumed I would be lightly active until 12am. When I double checked it in the morning it would have adjusted back down (but it was academic by then).
It's easier to know what I really have at night on sedentary. I go to bed early, though.
If your deficit isn't being effected, then sedentary with your chosen deficit level likely has you at a calorie goal above 1200 calories. In which case, it's fine to pick sedentary.
Mine with my chosen deficit would put me below 1200. This changes my chosen deficit to whatever the deficit would be at 1200 calories. And that number then becomes the number MFP is maintaining when making fitbit adjustments. So instead of keeping a 1000 calorie deficit as per my stated goals, it will keep a 672 (or whatever) deficit. By increasing my activity level I get the 1000 calorie deficit I want MFP to maintain when it adjusts for Fitbit.
You're right the tdee is the same no matter what activity level you pick. It's not the tdee number that gets altered, it's the deficit that does.
This issue isn't just with fitbit. If someone puts in 1000 calorie deficit as their goal, and MFP gives them 1200 daily calorie goal, the deficit may only be 500 calories. And if they enter exercise, MFP will adjust to maintain only a 500 calorie deficit, not the 1000 calorie deficit that the person wanted.
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Ah ok, I wasn't aware, good to know.0
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christinev297 wrote: »I have to walk around 21,000 steps or over 10 miles to get to that magical 1000 calorie burn. I've been trusting my fitbit, and so far so good.
10,000 steps with my iPhone 6 Health app gets me a bit less than 2,000 kilojoules.
Somebody help me with the maths!
And kudos and amazement @christinev297 for using calories/miles as a fellow Australian. I've barely got the hang of pounds.
That's 478 calories
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christinev297 wrote: »I have to walk around 21,000 steps or over 10 miles to get to that magical 1000 calorie burn. I've been trusting my fitbit, and so far so good.
10,000 steps with my iPhone 6 Health app gets me a bit less than 2,000 kilojoules.
Somebody help me with the maths!
And kudos and amazement @christinev297 for using calories/miles as a fellow Australian. I've barely got the hang of pounds.
:flowerforyou:
I have never, ever used kj's. Most products have got calories in brackets underneath. And my kgs to lbs and km's to miles conversion calculators are heavily used lol
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I have negative adjustments disabled. I really don't like seeing the red. Same reason I don't pre-log everything I expect to eat until I have enough exercise calories in so I don't go into red. I figure I am following MFP's NEAT numbers and that is my calorie goal without exercise, so I don't need to know anything about calories burned until I get into the plus category.0
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