Fitbit Accuracy

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hawilliams78
hawilliams78 Posts: 28 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Is Fitbit very accurate during exercise? I get extra calories to eat throughout the day, depending on my activity, but when I go to actually exercise, like I will do Jillian Michaels for 25 minutes and all it shows me is I had like 5 active minutes according to Fitbit. And it will give me about 50 extra calories to eat.

I've also noticed some issues with the sleep function, even steps seem off sometimes. Making me start to wonder if it's really worth it to keep wearing.

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  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    I have found it to be very accurate -- I've been eating the calories back since July and have lost/maintained exactly as expected.

    Generally, when it doesn't pick up my active minutes it is because my heart rate didn't get high enough to put me into the active zone. Do you have a Charge HR or another type of Fitbit?
  • hawilliams78
    hawilliams78 Posts: 28 Member
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    I have the Charge but not the HR. But I do know my HR does get up there during the workout. I used to use a HRM and I would usually burn 150-250 calories in a 30 minute Jillian workout. So when the Fitbit tells me zero active minutes, I find that strange. But I do think the total daily calories I am burning must be pretty accurate because that is pretty consistent. I burn anywhere from 1800-1900 per 24 hour period. I am 5'3, 37, and 140lbs.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    edited January 2016
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    HAW78 wrote: »
    I have the Charge but not the HR. But I do know my HR does get up there during the workout. I used to use a HRM and I would usually burn 150-250 calories in a 30 minute Jillian workout. So when the Fitbit tells me zero active minutes, I find that strange. But I do think the total daily calories I am burning must be pretty accurate because that is pretty consistent. I burn anywhere from 1800-1900 per 24 hour period. I am 5'3, 37, and 140lbs.

    If it isn't picking up on your heart rate, then it's totally step-based. This count account for the discrepancy. Also, heart rate monitors aren't always useful for non-steady state activity (like a Jillian Michaels workout), so that could be another factor.
  • suzikay12
    suzikay12 Posts: 150 Member
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    Don't count on your fitbit to record your JM workouts. If your fitbit and MFP are linked, record your JM workout as circuit training for ~20 min(I don't count warm up and cool down) and you will enter the time you started. That will sync back to your fitbit in order to record the activity.

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