Do you trust Fitbit for calories per day burned? Seems off...

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  • abovethecity
    abovethecity Posts: 42 Member
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    I don't trust it too much. No possible way that I get an extra 800 calories for walking an hour and riding a stationery bike for 45 minutes, plus extra hundred+ calories for not being as sedentary as mfp thinks I am? I'm 5'2" and 160 lbs. I eat a third of my calories after midnight (night owl!) so I knew exactly what I had left for the day. I lost almost 200 lbs., so I kinda know what I can eat and what my rate of loss should be for the most part. I have a charge 2 that seems to only count 75% of my steps if walking over 3 mph, so why should I trust it at all? This is my second charge 2 btw - both had this problem. Plus it counts a lot of steps just by doing something like tying my shoe and gave me like 3000 extra steps for the bike yesterday even using the spinning session function. Maybe I just don't have any luck with them.

    But I really do wish I could trust it because wow, that would be a lot more food that I could eat!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    All of these things give you a general ball park estimate...I wouldn't expect any of them to be highly accurate.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
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    I think mine is off (I do have a metabolic disorder) due to the fact that it tells me I burn 2200 calories on a slow day,on a very active day(15k steps and exercise) It shows 3000. most days its 2400-2500. I eat 1712 calories and weight loss is really really slow(even dropping calories down lower than that,its always been slow going). thats with weighing everything too.
    Ive had mine a little over 2 years too. wear it religiously. I know it wont take into effect my metabolic disorder but, it would be nice if it was even in the ballpark. even my heart rate can be off by 5 or 10 even at rest(I test it manually to see the difference). my heart rate is low at rest.I have a charge HR.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
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    My FitBit TDEE is within 5% of my actual TDEE so I would say it is fairly accurate.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    Since you have a metabolic disorder, it makes sense yours would be 'off'. You could try to compensate by adjusting your stats. Such as tell your Fitbit profile that you weigh 25 pounds less than you do. That would reduce the BMR that Fitbit uses for you, and reduce calories overall for your activity.
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    I think mine is off (I do have a metabolic disorder) due to the fact that it tells me I burn 2200 calories on a slow day,on a very active day(15k steps and exercise) It shows 3000. most days its 2400-2500. I eat 1712 calories and weight loss is really really slow(even dropping calories down lower than that,its always been slow going). thats with weighing everything too.
    Ive had mine a little over 2 years too. wear it religiously. I know it wont take into effect my metabolic disorder but, it would be nice if it was even in the ballpark. even my heart rate can be off by 5 or 10 even at rest(I test it manually to see the difference). my heart rate is low at rest.I have a charge HR.

  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    edited February 2017
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    StaciMarie1974 wrote: »
    Since you have a metabolic disorder, it makes sense yours would be 'off'. You could try to compensate by adjusting your stats. Such as tell your Fitbit profile that you weigh 25 pounds less than you do. That would reduce the BMR that Fitbit uses for you, and reduce calories overall for your activity.
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    I think mine is off (I do have a metabolic disorder) due to the fact that it tells me I burn 2200 calories on a slow day,on a very active day(15k steps and exercise) It shows 3000. most days its 2400-2500. I eat 1712 calories and weight loss is really really slow(even dropping calories down lower than that,its always been slow going). thats with weighing everything too.
    Ive had mine a little over 2 years too. wear it religiously. I know it wont take into effect my metabolic disorder but, it would be nice if it was even in the ballpark. even my heart rate can be off by 5 or 10 even at rest(I test it manually to see the difference). my heart rate is low at rest.I have a charge HR.

    I could but that would put me at a really low calorie goal. I have tried eating at 1500 calories or less(on 1712 atm), I just end up tired and with no energy,I cant even get anything done around the house when I feel like that. If I told it I weighed 25lbs less that would put me at my goal weight.which is in the healthy BMI range. so if I told it I needed to lose 22lbs it would probably give me very low calories to eat. Im going to check it out to see what it says though. *added*so I went back and checked it out. I put in me weighing 25lbs less,and how much I need to lose. it said 1300+ (too low for me).and said it would also take me a year to lose 20lbs..but if I put in my weight now and what I want to lose it gives me 1800+ basically around what MFP gave me. I lowered mfp to 1712(due to macro changes) and Im feeling good eating at this level,more energy,etc. I have lost some a few weeks ago netting lower than that. which I guess would basically be the same but then I plateau again and it could be another 6 months before I lose again. Id rather have energy and be able to do things then eat so little and feel like Im dying lol
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    My FitBit is accurate for me - and also, the numbers are much higher than what calculators (including MFP and Scooby) would predict for a person of my height (5'2) and with a desk job. Turns out that even though I'm petite, over 40, and have a desk job - you cannot underestimate the impact of NEAT on the total calories burned (TDEE). I don't run marathons, I don't lift heavy things - I walk (13-15K steps/day) and do circuit training with dumbbells - yet my total calories burned is about 2100-2200 in the winter (about 100 cals/higher in the spring/summer).

    I got my FitBit about 3.5 years ago, and at the time was still set at sedentary on MFP. I was averaging at that time, 8K-10K steps/day. I got the good advice on these boards that wasn't sedentary. I raised my activity level to lightly active (now active as I am averaging even more steps) and my baseline calories went up, the exercise adjustments became more realistic - and I continued to lose weight on a pace I wanted (0.5lb/week at that point) until the time I changed to maintenance. During that time, I have trusted the numbers from FitBit and I have lost at the rate I wanted to lose, and now maintain with no significant challenges.

    I do think that FitBit becomes more accurate over time - so I would give it longer than 1-2 weeks to figure out your patterns and your overall calorie burn.

    TL/DR - for your stats, I don't think those FitBit estimates are off base. They seem feasible to me.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    Don't do it here at MFP. Continue eating the ~1700 if that is what you think you need. Just change it thru your Fitbit profile so that the Fitbit burn is decreased.
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    StaciMarie1974 wrote: »
    Since you have a metabolic disorder, it makes sense yours would be 'off'. You could try to compensate by adjusting your stats. Such as tell your Fitbit profile that you weigh 25 pounds less than you do. That would reduce the BMR that Fitbit uses for you, and reduce calories overall for your activity.
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    I think mine is off (I do have a metabolic disorder) due to the fact that it tells me I burn 2200 calories on a slow day,on a very active day(15k steps and exercise) It shows 3000. most days its 2400-2500. I eat 1712 calories and weight loss is really really slow(even dropping calories down lower than that,its always been slow going). thats with weighing everything too.
    Ive had mine a little over 2 years too. wear it religiously. I know it wont take into effect my metabolic disorder but, it would be nice if it was even in the ballpark. even my heart rate can be off by 5 or 10 even at rest(I test it manually to see the difference). my heart rate is low at rest.I have a charge HR.

    I could but that would put me at a really low calorie goal. I have tried eating at 1500 calories or less(on 1712 atm), I just end up tired and with no energy,I cant even get anything done around the house when I feel like that. If I told it I weighed 25lbs less that would put me at my goal weight.which is in the healthy BMI range. so if I told it I needed to lose 22lbs it would probably give me very low calories to eat. Im going to check it out to see what it says though. *added*so I went back and checked it out. I put in me weighing 25lbs less,and how much I need to lose. it said 1300+ (too low for me).and said it would also take me a year to lose 20lbs..but if I put in my weight now and what I want to lose it gives me 1800+ basically around what MFP gave me. I lowered mfp to 1712(due to macro changes) and Im feeling good eating at this level,more energy,etc. I have lost some a few weeks ago netting lower than that. which I guess would basically be the same but then I plateau again and it could be another 6 months before I lose again. Id rather have energy and be able to do things then eat so little and feel like Im dying lol

  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
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    StaciMarie1974 wrote: »
    Don't do it here at MFP. Continue eating the ~1700 if that is what you think you need. Just change it thru your Fitbit profile so that the Fitbit burn is decreased.
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    StaciMarie1974 wrote: »
    Since you have a metabolic disorder, it makes sense yours would be 'off'. You could try to compensate by adjusting your stats. Such as tell your Fitbit profile that you weigh 25 pounds less than you do. That would reduce the BMR that Fitbit uses for you, and reduce calories overall for your activity.
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    I think mine is off (I do have a metabolic disorder) due to the fact that it tells me I burn 2200 calories on a slow day,on a very active day(15k steps and exercise) It shows 3000. most days its 2400-2500. I eat 1712 calories and weight loss is really really slow(even dropping calories down lower than that,its always been slow going). thats with weighing everything too.
    Ive had mine a little over 2 years too. wear it religiously. I know it wont take into effect my metabolic disorder but, it would be nice if it was even in the ballpark. even my heart rate can be off by 5 or 10 even at rest(I test it manually to see the difference). my heart rate is low at rest.I have a charge HR.

    I could but that would put me at a really low calorie goal. I have tried eating at 1500 calories or less(on 1712 atm), I just end up tired and with no energy,I cant even get anything done around the house when I feel like that. If I told it I weighed 25lbs less that would put me at my goal weight.which is in the healthy BMI range. so if I told it I needed to lose 22lbs it would probably give me very low calories to eat. Im going to check it out to see what it says though. *added*so I went back and checked it out. I put in me weighing 25lbs less,and how much I need to lose. it said 1300+ (too low for me).and said it would also take me a year to lose 20lbs..but if I put in my weight now and what I want to lose it gives me 1800+ basically around what MFP gave me. I lowered mfp to 1712(due to macro changes) and Im feeling good eating at this level,more energy,etc. I have lost some a few weeks ago netting lower than that. which I guess would basically be the same but then I plateau again and it could be another 6 months before I lose again. Id rather have energy and be able to do things then eat so little and feel like Im dying lol

    I could try that and see what happens I guess.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    Russandol wrote: »
    I use it as a rough guide, but take what it says with a grain of salt, especially since my Flex doesn't know how to count when it comes to my deficit. Example: my deficit is set to 500. Yesterday my deficit was 725 cals (2258 out, 1533 in), but the app simultaneously tells me "You are under budget" AND "169 calories over". I don't know if it's because the Fitbit meal plan settings clash with my MFP goals (I log all my food in MFP since there's no local database for food on the FB side) or if the mobile app is buggy. The browser dashboard/Windows app seems to get it right most of the time, which is even more confusing. If it can't get my deficit right, can I trust the burn count?

    I'm not sure if I'm understanding your post completely but it sounds like you are trying to analyze and align all the numbers in both MFP and FitBit. One thing I learned early on, was trying to understand and match up the numbers (deficits, adjustments, etc) is just not going to work. They operate under different algorithms and the numbers are never going to match.

    My advice:
    Use MFP to set your overall goals (if trying to lose, choose a reasonable rate of loss to get an appropriate deficit)
    Choose an activity level that is appropriate for your full day, not going by default rules like desk job = sedentary
    Set up FitBit to sync with MFP and enable negative calorie adjustments
    Make sure goals are aligned in both systems (lose 1 lb/week in both for example)
    Track food in MFP (ideally using a food scale for accuracy)
    Log any exercise above and beyond step based activities in FitBit
    Monitor how your calories are allocated and reconciled throughout the day - if you work out early in the day, you may see an initial spike but as the day goes on, your adjustment may get smaller. If you work out late in the day, the opposite may be true and you may find a big adjustment to work with at the end of the day.
    If you have questions about whether everything is jiving - look at the total calories burned and what MFP estimates you burn in a day excluding exercise (this is shown in the MFP app, not sure about the desktop). The difference between these two numbers is the overall exercise adjustment.
    If you have concerns - eat back only a portion of the exercise adjustments, and monitor your actual results over time.

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