fitbit users...,question!

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CaitMang
CaitMang Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
For thoes of you that have your fitbit synced with mfp... this question is for you!

Do you feel the "exercise" calories they are givng you are accurate? I feel like they are very excessive! For example today... it gave me and additional 1184 calories (Did not work out, just at work)! I think that's insane! If i consumed that plus my daily allowance I'd be eating like 2,600 calories a day.
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Replies

  • hiyomi
    hiyomi Posts: 906 Member
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    Holy! I've never ever gotten that many extra calories from walking, even when I've gotten 10,000 or 12,000 steps! How many steps are you getting daily? I think when I've gotten like 10,000 steps the most calories I've gotten was 700 extra.
  • WA_mama2
    WA_mama2 Posts: 140 Member
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    I ignore it, and I actually unlinked them. Wrist based trackers aren't accurate enough to depend on for eating back exercise calories when you want a deficit, in my opinion. I use my Fitbit as an estimation of what I burned, not a guide for how much I can eat. I end up losing consistently this way.
  • wizzybeth
    wizzybeth Posts: 3,573 Member
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    I did 10,000 steps today and it gave me about 381 calories. I have never seen that many calories....
  • Konigboy
    Konigboy Posts: 86 Member
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    Funny you bring this up. Yesterday, it seemed no matter what I did, I was struggling to get steps in. The amount of walking I did, usually would have been around 14000, but was right under 10000. No biggie, as I just don't have an appetite lately and was no where near my calories.

    Fast forward to today, went out and did yard work and was at 5000 lickety split. Shocked me. Took a walk and just looked at my fitbit adjustment and was thinking, wth, I didn't exercise that much. Today seems crazy. It was close to a 1000 exercise calories
  • hiyomi
    hiyomi Posts: 906 Member
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    Does anyone know why sometimes it adds calories, and then they dissapear as if it took them back? lol I get that sometimes where at 1PM I have 50 extra calories, then by 7PM they are gone and it says zero again :/ lol
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    I got over 1,000 extra calories yesterday for 25,000 steps /10 miles. Sometimes I eat them all back, and sometimes half or none. It all seems to even out in the end.
  • Colorscheme
    Colorscheme Posts: 1,179 Member
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    wizzybeth wrote: »
    I did 10,000 steps today and it gave me about 381 calories. I have never seen that many calories....

    That sounds about right. I get 500 cals for 10k steps because I run/jog for most of them. I'm 5'7" and 158 lbs.
  • Colorscheme
    Colorscheme Posts: 1,179 Member
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    When I take steps, my TDEE is about 2200 a day on average with 10k steps. Today I did 14k so my TDEE will be higher by about 200 cals.

    I'm pretty sure that's accurate but how I have it set up is this:

    -Fitbit on non-dominant wrist to prevent extra steps by accident
    -MFP set to sedentary
    -negative calorie adjustment enabled on MFP
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
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    I'm 5'3" and 111 pounds. I have a Fitbit Charge HR. I'm set as Sedentary on MFP and I have negative adjustments enabled. As of now, I have 27,452 steps and a calorie adjustment of 1354 for the day. I can't eat that much today, but I do eat my usual adjustments which average between 300 to 900 and I've had zero issues. Then again, I weigh everything I eat to the gram on my food scale and overestimate when I can't.
  • lauraesh0384
    lauraesh0384 Posts: 463 Member
    edited May 2016
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    I am at about 17,300 steps right now and so far I have an adjustment of 430. I have negative adjustments enabled and on a typical day I don't get a positive adjustment until I've walked 7-8k steps. I'm 5'6", 165 lbs and I'm set to active. I have a Zip if that makes any difference.
  • emmylootwo
    emmylootwo Posts: 172 Member
    edited May 2016
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    Hmm. Without knowing how many steps you actually got in, it does seem excessive for an average day. I don't link my Fitbit with MFP because the calories sound off most of the time. My only advice would be unlinking the two and changing your activity level in MFP. That way if you're consistent with your daily walking goal (7500, 10,000, whatever steps a day), you'll get a few more calories from the activity level adjustment without having to worry about the day-to-day Fitbit calories.
  • CooCooPuff
    CooCooPuff Posts: 4,374 Member
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    wizzybeth wrote: »
    I did 10,000 steps today and it gave me about 381 calories. I have never seen that many calories....
    Yeah, I usually around 350 for 10k.

  • knelson095
    knelson095 Posts: 254 Member
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    Mines been weird lately...like the other day I had 13000 steps and it added 0 to mfp set at sedentary. Makes no sense when usually it gives me 100 at least for that many steps.

    That many extra calories does seem excessive, though. I personally would not eat many of them back.
  • heatherheyns
    heatherheyns Posts: 144 Member
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    The adjustment depends on the difference between what mfp thinks you should burn and what fitbit says you burned. This means if you are set at sedentary you will see much larger adjustments. Whether they are accurate or not can only be known if you are sure your calories in are spot on, then compare what you lose over a period of time to see if it evens out. I will get 1k adjustments some days because I am obese and set to sedentary, so mfp expects me to burn like 1900 a day, but on a day when I get in 16k steps and I exercise, I might burn 3k, leaving me with a 1100 adjustment. Again, if it is accurate or not only you can figure out, but remember you can not directly tie people's adjustments to their steps, since it depends on weight, intensity, and their settings. If I up my activity level to activate I might not see any adjustments for the same number of steps and if I take a walk, but then sit all the rest of the day my calories will be less than a day I get the same steps but get them by walking around and cleaning all day.
  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
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    Maybe you are under estimating your normal activity level, setting mfp to sedentary when it should be lightly active for example.

    But ultimately the only way to check is to compare it to actual results.

    I find mine to be pretty accurate.

    What's your deficit, 2600 isnt completely unreasonable if your job is remotely active and your deficit is low.
  • ktsj2015
    ktsj2015 Posts: 65 Member
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    i find mine pretty accurate, it always gives me less than mfp would have given me for the same exercise.
  • firef1y72
    firef1y72 Posts: 1,579 Member
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    I had around 2500 Calories added yesterday, thanks to 47000 steps but usually get around 1000 with my usual 20000 steps. Never eat them all back but love the incentive of being able to eat 2000 calories rather than 1500 and still lose weight. For me at least it's pretty accurate too, I'm losing at around the rate Fitbit says I should which is averaging at 2.5lb a week.
  • jtcedinburgh
    jtcedinburgh Posts: 117 Member
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    Where do you find the time to do 47000 steps, firef1y72? I reckon you'd have to be walking constantly all day to achieve that, no? I reckon that must be a distance of 22-25 miles (depending on your height)? I would happily walk this amount in a day but never have the time to do so - I tend to average ~15k-18k steps/day.
  • firef1y72
    firef1y72 Posts: 1,579 Member
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    jtcedinburgh wrote: »
    Where do you find the time to do 47000 steps, firef1y72? I reckon you'd have to be walking constantly all day to achieve that, no? I reckon that must be a distance of 22-25 miles (depending on your height)? I would happily walk this amount in a day but never have the time to do so - I tend to average ~15k-18k steps/day.

    Yep I was walking/hiking/running around after children nearly all day, it's not something I do on a daily basis though. Not sure what it was in miles but came in at a smidge over 30km, which is about double my usual 15km a day.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited May 2016
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    From my own calculations, eating back every single one of my fitbit calories is 90% or so accurate to my weight loss goal, that is if I want to lose 1 pound a week I end up at nearly exactly at 0.9 pounds a week +/- 0.1

    Edit: for normal walking around the house 10k steps gives me about 500 extra calories, but I'm obese so it gives me more calories than many for 10k.

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