FitBit adding an insane amount of calories...?
Options
Replies
-
RealLifeDaria wrote: »higgins8283801 wrote: »RealLifeDaria wrote: »After looking at it, it seems to be giving me WAY more calories/step than it should. For the ~20 minutes I walked my dog this evening at about a 3.0 mph pace, it gave me more than 150 cals. That's WAY too much for a 20 minute walk! I have my height and weight entered in correctly, so I'm not sure why its burn estimate seems so off.
when it syncs to MFP, it adjusts for what it thinks you'll use by the end of the day; if you look tomorrow you'll notice that it will take back ones you really didn't burn. I try and just eat back a little bit of them for this reason
Even for "actual calories" burned so far today FitBit is giving me what seems to be a wildly inflated number--something like 2,500 cals.
That doesn't seem wildly inflated at all. If you took 1000 calories off as your deficit, you'd eat 1500. I'm pretty short and on an active day I burn over 2000. God, if I burned less, I couldn't eat anything.
1 -
RealLifeDaria wrote: »I've been logging in MFP for a few weeks and just decided to sync up my FitBit. I just started using it a few days ago, but I generally log 12K-19K steps a day. I've had my goal in MFP set to 1350 cals/day, but now that I've linked my FitBit its adding and INSANE amount of calories to my adjustment--like over a thousand. That doesn't seem like it can be right?! Any insight? If it's going to say I'm 1,000+ calories under each day by having them linked, I'd rather keep them separate.
MFP is saying I earned 10,259 after walking 5 steps. I have to delete exercise all day long in order to see what I have left for calories. Fit bit is accurate, but it's ridiculous that MFP is adding all this exercise for 5 steps.0 -
RealLifeDaria wrote: »I've been logging in MFP for a few weeks and just decided to sync up my FitBit. I just started using it a few days ago, but I generally log 12K-19K steps a day. I've had my goal in MFP set to 1350 cals/day, but now that I've linked my FitBit its adding and INSANE amount of calories to my adjustment--like over a thousand. That doesn't seem like it can be right?! Any insight? If it's going to say I'm 1,000+ calories under each day by having them linked, I'd rather keep them separate.
What is wrong with being 1000 calories under?0 -
I've also been wondering about this. I set MFP to sedentary and linked my Fitbit. I have anywhere between 13,000 and 25,000 steps a day (average at about 17000). Today I was around 16000 and it said I have 2100 calories. That seems like a lot to me as well. On really busy days, I'll end up with something like 3500 calories. Am I really supposed to be able to eat all that?
Of course not.0 -
RealLifeDaria wrote: »I've been logging in MFP for a few weeks and just decided to sync up my FitBit. I just started using it a few days ago, but I generally log 12K-19K steps a day. I've had my goal in MFP set to 1350 cals/day, but now that I've linked my FitBit its adding and INSANE amount of calories to my adjustment--like over a thousand. That doesn't seem like it can be right?! Any insight? If it's going to say I'm 1,000+ calories under each day by having them linked, I'd rather keep them separate.
MFP is saying I earned 10,259 after walking 5 steps. I have to delete exercise all day long in order to see what I have left for calories. Fit bit is accurate, but it's ridiculous that MFP is adding all this exercise for 5 steps.
Holy thread resurrection and I am not sure I get what you say.
As the OP no doubt noticed with 19K steps she was neither sedentary nor lightly active. She was more than highly active. To reduce the exercise adjustment she was receiving she ought to have increased her MFP activity setting.
Since her actual activity would have remained higher than the highest MFP setting she would have continued to get positive adjustments. The numbers are just accounting. Whether they represent reality for the person is a matter of adjusting your logging to your results after a suitable period of time.
As to @harveygi, getting 10,000 calories after 5 steps seems wrong.
I would disconnect MFP and Fitbit on BOTH ends by telling the web sites to lose the integration/connection to each other. Log off from both using the web. Log off from the apps on your phone.
Then I would log on to MFP and log on to fitbit. From MFP web I would add Fitbit and follow the prompts to enable.
Some of these steps may or may not be necessary. If it still doesn't work, time to contact support.
They do respond.1 -
If you have an iPhone it is probably the internal pedometer function of the phone sending info to MFP which ends up doubling your calories burned.
I had the same issue and it seemed like the last MFP update someone left the default iPhone setting on instead of off.
Settings/myfitnesspal/motion and fitness button should be set to off.... If it's on, that's your issue. Turning that off will stop it and your next day will be back to normal.0 -
If you've got FitBit and MFP linked up you need to have MFP set to sedentary and have negative calories enabled.
I've never independently monitored it, but your calorie burn number matches mine, at least. I'm 230ish and 5'3 and on a day that was beyond nuts I did 17k steps and got 1,399 MFP exercise calories and on the next day when it wasn't quite as crazy I did 13.5k and got 822 MFP exercise calories.1 -
This is why I just log my food into myfitnesspal so that it'll sync to the food log in my FitBit app and I use the calories burned in my fitbit app to create a deficit. (For instance, according to my fitbit app, I'll burn 2100 calories by midnight so I should have eaten about 1600 calories to have a 500 calorie deficit for that 24 hour period). For some reason, I don't find that the calories that are auto-logged from FitBit to MFP are accurate, either. Not sure where the problem is in the calculations, but that's why I just rely on the FitBit calculations and kind of ignore the calculations given on MFP.1
-
greatatboats wrote: »If you've got FitBit and MFP linked up you need to have MFP set to sedentary and have negative calories enabled.
I've never independently monitored it, but your calorie burn number matches mine, at least. I'm 230ish and 5'3 and on a day that was beyond nuts I did 17k steps and got 1,399 MFP exercise calories and on the next day when it wasn't quite as crazy I did 13.5k and got 822 MFP exercise calories.
If you are averaging more than 10k steps then you aren't sedentary. When I first got my Fitbit and realized that, thanks to good advice I got here, I changed my setting to lightly active. My baseline calories went up and my exercise adjustments were smaller and more in line with my actual exercise. Now that I average 15k steps/day, I'm set as active. My calories burned from my Fitbit are 2200 on average. I ate back the Fitbit adjustments to lose the last 15 lbs of my weight and now eat them all back in maintenance.1 -
If you have them linked then your MFP activity level does not matter UNLESS you routinely see 0 calories adjusted from Fitbit. That is a clear sign that you're not as active as you think you are, and need to either decrease your activity level w/ MFP or enable negative calories.
Lets say that MFP expects you to burn 2000 in a day if you're sedentary or 2250 if you're lightly active. If you link Fitbit and Fitbit says you burned 2350, MFP will have a +350 or +100 calorie adjustment depending on your activity level. If Fitbit says you burned 2150 and you do NOT have negatives enabled, you'll see a +150 or 0 adjustment. A 0 adjustment occasionally might not be a big deal, but seeing it often would mean you're not burning as much as you think and thus the calorie consumption goal that MFP is giving you may not be right for weight loss. (Or would result in slower weight loss.)greatatboats wrote: »If you've got FitBit and MFP linked up you need to have MFP set to sedentary and have negative calories enabled.
I've never independently monitored it, but your calorie burn number matches mine, at least. I'm 230ish and 5'3 and on a day that was beyond nuts I did 17k steps and got 1,399 MFP exercise calories and on the next day when it wasn't quite as crazy I did 13.5k and got 822 MFP exercise calories.
1 -
One formula I've seen for calculating calories burned per step is to divide your weight by 3500. I don't know your weight but for someone who's 200 pounds and does 19k steps, that's around 1100 calories burned. So the Fitbit might not be as off as you think.0
-
I'm set to lightly active and at 5400 steps my fitbit has already given me an extra 80 calories. I lost 30 pounds a couple years ago eating back my fitbit adjustments. I learned that I am FAR from sedentary, but I'd been trying to eat like I was.
I'm set to lightly active now, eat back most of the fitbit adjustments, and I've lost about five pounds in five weeks, so I'm right on the schedule I was set at. (I recently upped my goal to 1.5# per week because I need to lose another 17 pounds before they'll list me on the kidney transplant list.)0 -
Angierae75 wrote: »I'm set to lightly active and at 5400 steps my fitbit has already given me an extra 80 calories. I lost 30 pounds a couple years ago eating back my fitbit adjustments. I learned that I am FAR from sedentary, but I'd been trying to eat like I was.
I'm set to lightly active now, eat back most of the fitbit adjustments, and I've lost about five pounds in five weeks, so I'm right on the schedule I was set at. (I recently upped my goal to 1.5# per week because I need to lose another 17 pounds before they'll list me on the kidney transplant list.)
I think it depends on how fast you get the steps, because when I hit 5k steps I get 150 cals as those steps came from walking/jogging 4 mph for 30 mins.0 -
RealLifeDaria wrote: »higgins8283801 wrote: »RealLifeDaria wrote: »After looking at it, it seems to be giving me WAY more calories/step than it should. For the ~20 minutes I walked my dog this evening at about a 3.0 mph pace, it gave me more than 150 cals. That's WAY too much for a 20 minute walk! I have my height and weight entered in correctly, so I'm not sure why its burn estimate seems so off.
when it syncs to MFP, it adjusts for what it thinks you'll use by the end of the day; if you look tomorrow you'll notice that it will take back ones you really didn't burn. I try and just eat back a little bit of them for this reason
Even for "actual calories" burned so far today FitBit is giving me what seems to be a wildly inflated number--something like 2,500 cals.
For what it's worth, I'm 38, 5'5", 136 pounds, and I'd burn close to 2500 calories a day (counting everything, obviously) if I walked 19k steps in a day.
What does your fitbit tell you that you're burning in a day total? Honestly I never sync'ed mine because it was a hassle and the numbers definitely didn't always make sense, I just ate 20% less than what it told me in average and I lost just fine.0 -
RealLifeDaria wrote: »I've been logging in MFP for a few weeks and just decided to sync up my FitBit. I just started using it a few days ago, but I generally log 12K-19K steps a day. I've had my goal in MFP set to 1350 cals/day, but now that I've linked my FitBit its adding and INSANE amount of calories to my adjustment--like over a thousand. That doesn't seem like it can be right?! Any insight? If it's going to say I'm 1,000+ calories under each day by having them linked, I'd rather keep them separate.
Seems like our stats are pretty similar. Not sure why you think 2500 is inflated?
And this was at the lower end of your 12-19,000 steps.
1 -
Colorscheme wrote: »Angierae75 wrote: »I'm set to lightly active and at 5400 steps my fitbit has already given me an extra 80 calories. I lost 30 pounds a couple years ago eating back my fitbit adjustments. I learned that I am FAR from sedentary, but I'd been trying to eat like I was.
I'm set to lightly active now, eat back most of the fitbit adjustments, and I've lost about five pounds in five weeks, so I'm right on the schedule I was set at. (I recently upped my goal to 1.5# per week because I need to lose another 17 pounds before they'll list me on the kidney transplant list.)
I think it depends on how fast you get the steps, because when I hit 5k steps I get 150 cals as those steps came from walking/jogging 4 mph for 30 mins.
Yes, it changes by intensity.0 -
Angierae75 wrote: »Colorscheme wrote: »Angierae75 wrote: »I'm set to lightly active and at 5400 steps my fitbit has already given me an extra 80 calories. I lost 30 pounds a couple years ago eating back my fitbit adjustments. I learned that I am FAR from sedentary, but I'd been trying to eat like I was.
I'm set to lightly active now, eat back most of the fitbit adjustments, and I've lost about five pounds in five weeks, so I'm right on the schedule I was set at. (I recently upped my goal to 1.5# per week because I need to lose another 17 pounds before they'll list me on the kidney transplant list.)
I think it depends on how fast you get the steps, because when I hit 5k steps I get 150 cals as those steps came from walking/jogging 4 mph for 30 mins.
Yes, it changes by intensity.
That was kinda broken with my One though! More intense minutes, more steps... less calories. Infuriating.0 -
The app gave me 760.540 extra calories to burn today because I Made a 3100 extra steps... Something is very wrong...0
-
ZOMBIE THREAD ALERT
@sandervoorn: Have you got your fitbit set up for the same weight loss goals as MFP? Assuming you've got it set for 500kcal deficit, then 210kcals for 3100 extra steps seems about right.
EDIT: Also as a note it's best to start up a new thread rather than bump up super old threads, as people are likely to miss your post and just talk to OP (who posted almost 3 years ago)1
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.7K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.8K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 395 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
- 959 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions