Fitbit app calories burned
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Jthanmyfitnesspal
Posts: 3,522 Member
I have searched through this forum to find an answer to the question, but haven't hit on it. It must be fairly common.
An online BMR calculator says that mine should be 1672kcal. I have Fitbit setup such that I'm trying to reach a goal weight at a loss of 1 lb per week. (Deficit required is 3500kcals per week or 500kcals per day.)
The "calories burned" field shows 2830. Impressive for a day of office work plus a workout at the gym on the elliptical (480kcal reported) plus a few sit-ups. Subtract 500kcals for trying to lose a pound a week and you get 2330kcal net. This seems too high for a fairly sedentary day (aside from the workout). My experience is that, if I eat this much, I will not lose weight. Any comments?
Also, what is the grey number to the right of "calories burned" (2711). That seems totally random!
Thx in advance.
An online BMR calculator says that mine should be 1672kcal. I have Fitbit setup such that I'm trying to reach a goal weight at a loss of 1 lb per week. (Deficit required is 3500kcals per week or 500kcals per day.)
The "calories burned" field shows 2830. Impressive for a day of office work plus a workout at the gym on the elliptical (480kcal reported) plus a few sit-ups. Subtract 500kcals for trying to lose a pound a week and you get 2330kcal net. This seems too high for a fairly sedentary day (aside from the workout). My experience is that, if I eat this much, I will not lose weight. Any comments?
Also, what is the grey number to the right of "calories burned" (2711). That seems totally random!
Thx in advance.
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Replies
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Only time will tell if your Fitbit accurately estimates your calories. The best way to figure that out is to use it for a month while logging your food as accurately as possible. Then, you can compute your expected weight loss and compare it to your actual weight loss. You don't have to eat all the extra calories it gives you during that testing time, but keep an eye on your weight loss so that you don't end up with too big a deficit.
The "2711" is what Fitbit has set as your daily "calorie burn goal". I have no idea how they come up with it. I do know that mine has never changed, despite quite a lot of weight lost. It used to be easy for me to meet it. Now, it's a challenge. I've heard that it changes if you sign up for Fitbit's premium service, but I haven't seen a need for that, so I don't know how that works, either. If I ever get to a point where I'm at maintenance, I may change it manually to a value that is a reasonable TDEE goal, but for now striving to meet it helps to keep me moving.0 -
Only time will tell if your Fitbit accurately estimates your calories.
Thanks for the response, Nancy. I have been a calorie counter for years. (10 years ago, my BMR was closer to 2000kCal; ah, good times!) Also, I've had the fitbit for a year. I can say with no uncertainty that the fitbit numbers are a bit high. MFP estimates I should be closer to 2150, which is only about 200kCal lower than what the fitbit app suggests. Days where I don't work out, but get a lot of steps (sometimes just doing my job around the office) seem like they have even bigger overestimates of calories burned.
In any case, I haven't been losing weight since linking my fitbit account with MFP. I've unlinked them, and now use the fitbit info as guidance rather than an accurate tally.0 -
The 10,000 and the 2,711 are under your 'Activity Goals' if you go into 'Account.' You can amend them to whatever your target is. Hope that helps.0
