Do you trust your Fitbit?

I have a couple dif trackers (won one) and one is a fitbit...I never use it...I was shovelling snow for 45mins...gave me 6 active mins..psh.

Now my other one I did test and when it said I should have lost 1/2lb a week I did....consistently.

The calories shown on my Charge HR seems pretty accurate for me. I've verified the step count several times and it's spot on. I've never synced mine with MFP since I don't log food here so not sure what it would show there.

It does seem to get comically confused re: the number of stairs when I hike up a mountain.

The number of active minutes rarely shows anything on mine. I don't really care about that so I've never called tech support about it.

I don't sync up my fitbit with MFP because the calorie burn it comes up with is never accurate (at least for me).

I've had my Charge HR since last summer and it has been pretty accurate. It's linked to MFP and I eat at least half my exercise calories back and I've been losing consistently. I love it.

veliia wrote: »

I've only walked 356 steps today , according to mine wrist band i've burned 868 calories. There's no way that's possible. However once I connect it to my app it tells me my active calories are 7 which sounds more reasonable.....i have a different brand tho.

As another poster said, it is giving you the total calories burned for the day. You burn calories being alive, and that is what it is telling you.

I have had a fit bit for 3 years. First a One, then the Force, now the Charge HR. I love having a fit bit. It is the best motivator to get me moving more. I struggled at first to get 10,000 steps, thought it was impossible. Now I get over 20,000 daily. I rarely pay attention to calories burned, seldom eat back calories, find it counter productive for me. I like the HR feature. When I got the Charge HR, my resting heart rate was about 68, now it is between 47-49. I am an old lady (64). Was morbidly obese 4 years ago. Borderline high blood pressure. Out of breath walking up a flight of stairs. Now, normal weight, normal blood pressure, and moving over 20,000 steps/day, all through diet and exercise. I will have a fit bit the rest of my life, it gets me moving, and that is all good for me. The accuracy or inaccuracy is moot point, it makes me move more. Maybe not for everyone, but a perfect tool for me.

To answer your original question...I would not be where I am today without my Fitbit. I trust it. I think the heart rate is wonky, but I trust the step counts.

I was getting crazy high floor counts (like 200+), and realized that I needed to tighten my strap..it was sliding all over my arm which also affected my step count.

Everyone has a favorite tracker--I have gone from Fitbit to Garmin Vevo to Microsoft Band and right back to Fitbit. Overall I think Fitbit is not only more accurate for me, but it motivates me more on my weight loss journey.

I've had my Charge HR since July. At this point, I eat back 75 to 100% of my adjustments, mostly 100%. It's accurate for me and I haven't had issues with overinflated calories or anything. Fitbits aren't close to perfect, but I question some of the responses in this thread because it seems like they believe that the calories they see on the Fitbit are solely from walking/exercise when they're actually a complete picture including your BMR. That's not the fault of the technology, it's the fault of the user. If your Fitbit says you've burned 2035 calories for the day, if you're eating at maintenance you'd eat 2035 calories; not 2035 on top of your calorie allowance.

I've heard other people say they set themselves an inch lower than their actual height to gain more accuracy. The only thing I do now is set it as being on my dominant hand when it's not but only because I like making things harder on myself.

I had a fit bit for 2 weeks. I then realized after a week and a half that the steps it's tracking aren't actually how many steps I am taking, it's tracking my arm movement! I realized that and wanted to take it back to the store right away! What a rip off! and it would calculate everything wrong and I hated it so I stopped using it.

Yes, I trust my Fitbit Charge HR. I've had it for almost nine months and have lost 29 pounds in that time. I've found it to be quite accurate. If anything it slightly under-estimates TDEE. However, I do not sync it with MFP. For anyone doubting their Fitbit's accuracy I would suggest making sure you're wearing it properly, making sure your settings are correct and making sure you understand the calories it gives you (i.e., the difference between TDEE and the calories burned for a particular activity). Some posts on this thread indicate that people don't understand the data being provided by Fitbit.