Do you believe your fitbit calorie burn?
Options
Replies
-
rainbowbow wrote: »Whats the point in purchasing a fitbit if you're assuming its going to be innacurate? I would eat them back, experiment, and see what happens!
For me, it was useless because it was within 20 calories of every single TDEE calculator out there. I am burning on a daily basis exactly what i thought i was (and basing a deficit off of).
It can be helpful if you want to be more active, but, meh. For me it was accurate and just confirmed what i knew already.
Because I was sceptical of the 800+ calorie burn it gave me 20,200 steps. I've never used one of these devices before and was interested in hearing other peoples experiences
yes, I did read the interweb reviews which were all positive, but I take those with a grain of salt. ...
0 -
Mine helps me to see how active I am. I walk a lot and go to the gym (100k steps a week) and I never counted the walking as exercise. So now I'm eating more and happier with that.0
-
christinev297 wrote: »Rabbit judging by your pic it's obviously working for you
Thank you @christinev297christinev297 wrote: »christinev297 wrote: »ncboiler89 wrote: »The step counts are reasonably accurate - the calorie burn estimates....not so much. Since these are walking calories, I would suggest eating back no more than 25% to start with.
I found mine to be very accurate so far. I crunched the numbers after a month and was off by a few hundred calories.
Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the Fitbit award calories based on our speed? I'd think it would not give the same amount for a leisurely stroll as power walking.
I don't think so?? It gives me the same amount of calories whether I pound the pavement at warp speed or do a a few leisurely strolls around my house
Hmpf. Maybe the difference in calories burned isn't that significant? Maybe I can slow down then. :laugh:
heehee probablychristinev297 wrote: »ncboiler89 wrote: »The step counts are reasonably accurate - the calorie burn estimates....not so much. Since these are walking calories, I would suggest eating back no more than 25% to start with.
I found mine to be very accurate so far. I crunched the numbers after a month and was off by a few hundred calories.
Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the Fitbit award calories based on our speed? I'd think it would not give the same amount for a leisurely stroll as power walking.
I don't think so?? It gives me the same amount of calories whether I pound the pavement at warp speed or do a a few leisurely strolls around my house
Hmpf. Maybe the difference in calories burned isn't that significant? Maybe I can slow down then. :laugh:
Hehe yeah probably. I've only got the basic zip. The ones with a HRM may change the amounts based on high your heart rate goes. ..
No there is a difference for intensity of activity ...check your fitbit app ...you can drill down to 15 min time zones and it shows how intense they were0 -
christinev297 wrote: »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
Mine seems good - fitbit one in my pocket or on my belt. I turned off negative adjustments and if I have a busy day the extra calorie spend looks reasonable.0 -
Most of the time I believe it but I treat it like my exercise calories and aim to only eat 50% back. There's been two days this week though that my vivofit has gone nuts and given me WAY too many calories for whatever reason, that I ignore.0
-
christinev297 wrote: »rainbowbow wrote: »Whats the point in purchasing a fitbit if you're assuming its going to be innacurate? I would eat them back, experiment, and see what happens!
For me, it was useless because it was within 20 calories of every single TDEE calculator out there. I am burning on a daily basis exactly what i thought i was (and basing a deficit off of).
It can be helpful if you want to be more active, but, meh. For me it was accurate and just confirmed what i knew already.
Because I was sceptical of the 800+ calorie burn it gave me 20,200 steps. I've never used one of these devices before and was interested in hearing other peoples experiences
yes, I did read the interweb reviews which were all positive, but I take those with a grain of salt. ...
That actually sounds fairly close to me. I looked back to some of my days on vacation where I logged 15,000-20,000 steps and it gave me about 700-900 calories. I ate them all back.
0 -
Mine is always too low by a few hundred calories.0
-
The large adjustments are cuz your activity setting on MFP is much lower than you actually are. Given you have neg adjustments disabled then Raising your activity level in Mfp will give you a higher calorie goal To start than you have now, and any adjustment from fitbit will then be smaller given that you begin your day with a higher calorie goal. But in then end, whatever activity level you have set, if you are consistent in your activity via fitbit the final calorie goal after adjustments should be the same.
So let's say you're set to sedentary and want to lose 1lb/wk and mfp starts your day with 1200 cuz it's expecting your tdee to be 1700, but then fitbit has your tdee after your measured activity at 2200, then you're going to get a very large adjustment of 500 calories bumping you up to 1700 cals maintain your 1lb/wk goal. 2200-500=1700.
Now if your activity setting in mfp is higher, so will your calorie goal at the beginning of your day be higher. Let's say mfp now believes your tdee is 2000, so 500 deficit off that is 1500, and now that's your goal. But fitbit, just like before, has your tdee at 2200 after measured activity, so to keep your 1lb wk goal you will get an adjustment of 200 cals, making your goal 1700... Ending with the same total calorie number as you would have at the sedentary setting. 2200-500=1700.
Since you sync mfp and fitbit, your tdee is ultimately determined by fitbit, not mfp. Mfp is assuming you are as active as the setting you picked, fitbit is going on actual measured activity, and syncing mfp to fitbit makes mfp at the mercy of what fitbit says your tdee was that day, and mfp's belief of what your tdee is gets tossed.
So, if you trust mfp more than fitbit, then why sync the 2?
Hope this makes sense0 -
This is a good post. I've wondered this as well since the Fitbit calculates off of weight, height, and activity but I often wondered how accurate it could be since it doesn't know my metabolism or how much lean muscle I have versus body fat which is a big factor in calorie burn. I'm afraid too eat too much.0
-
The only way to gauge the accuracy is to trust your Fitbit for several weeks, then reevaluate your progress. I eat back 100% of my Fitbit adjustments, lost the weight, and kept it off. But I also:
• log everything I eat & drink accurately & honestly,
• enabled negative calorie adjustments in my diary settings, and
• log exercise in Fitbit—never MFP.0 -
I think it's pretty accurate, though not 100%. I figure that when I'm waving my arms around enough to gain steps on it, I'm probably getting good movement in anyway.0
-
Enable negative calorie adjustments it will take away/add calories accordingly. And just enter everything on mfp only dont double up entries on mfp and fitbit.mfp overwrites calories on fitbit.0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.7K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 394 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.3K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 941 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions