Fitbit Calorie Burn Advice

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AndyRogan
AndyRogan Posts: 195 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
One day last week, my girlfriend and I hit our targets but got wildly different figures.
She's using a Fitbit Flex, did 15k steps, got 24 calorie burn
I'm using Charge HR, did 13k steps and got 1030 burn.

The step difference is from the height difference.

Its not just that day though. I'm often getting 800-900 burn while she gets 200 for the same distance.
Is this just as a result of the HRM too?
Is mine faulty? It seems to calculate very high.

I could try changing to my dominant arm (the setting is correct).
Any suggestions?

Replies

  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
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    24 calories for 15K steps seems like a typo or an egregious miscalculation.

    Without knowing your relative sizes, etc., it's impossible to say whether the differences seem reasonable.
  • AndyRogan
    AndyRogan Posts: 195 Member
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    Its not a typo
  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
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    Do you mean it gave her 24 extra calories on MyFitnessPal, and you 1030 extra calories? If so, what are both your activity settings? If she's at highly active and you're at sedentary then that would explain that!

    Also things like height and weight affect calorie burn - the heavier you are, the more calories you burn through walking.
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
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    By 'fitbit burn' do you mean the adjustment on MFP? If so, then you can't compare yours with your girlfriend's as this will vary based on your height, weight, gender, activity setting on MFP, weight loss goal, etc.

    What are your Fitbit TDEE readings coming up as? And do your weight (increasing/decreasing/maintaining) and food intake reflect this?
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    KarenJanine wrote: »
    By 'fitbit burn' do you mean the adjustment on MFP? If so, then you can't compare yours with your girlfriend's as this will vary based on your height, weight, gender, activity setting on MFP, weight loss goal, etc.

    What are your Fitbit TDEE readings coming up as? And do your weight (increasing/decreasing/maintaining) and food intake reflect this?

    This

    But did you just do steps because I don't trust the HRM does anything but default to a standard fitbit pedometer

    Check your settings on fitbit and MFP

    24 for 15k steps is laughable even if she's set an active activity level
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    AndyRogan wrote: »
    One day last week, my girlfriend and I hit our targets but got wildly different figures.
    She's using a Fitbit Flex, did 15k steps, got 24 calorie burn
    I'm using Charge HR, did 13k steps and got 1030 burn.

    The step difference is from the height difference.

    Its not just that day though. I'm often getting 800-900 burn while she gets 200 for the same distance.

    Your Fitbit burn is TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), the number of calories necessary to maintain your current weight. It's based on more than just your step count, including age, sex, height & weight.

    Adjustments are the difference between your Fitbit burn and your MFP activity level.

    You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

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