Help me with my Fitbit please!

bytheplanets
bytheplanets Posts: 11 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
It's around 7:30 pm and my Fitbit says I've walked 18,860 steps so far.

This includes my 3.5 mile walk plus I do lots of incidental walking getting kids to school etc so I'm pretty active. But I didn't add any activities manually.

So my Fitbit says I've burned 2,854 calories today so far. Is this fairly accurate? Could I subtract 500 calories from that (so eat 2,350 calories) and have a 500 calorie deficit for today?

Or is fitbit being way too generous?

For reference my MyFitnessPal settings are set to "slightly active" and they have me eating 1,800 calories a day to create a 500 calorie deficit. So a big difference!

Which is likely to be more accurate?

Replies

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    18,000 steps would put you in the very active range rather than lightly active.

    Best case scenario: link your Fitbit to MFP, eat the 1800 you're given plus the adjustment from Fitbit. Readjust after 3-4 weeks if your loss is too big or small.
  • SusanMFindlay
    SusanMFindlay Posts: 1,804 Member
    edited April 2017
    What are your height, weight, gender and age?

    I'm 41 years old, 5'4, 150 pounds and female. If I walk 18,000 steps in a day, I burn ~2700 calories (but that's for the whole day; not just until 7pm).

    My husband is 49, 6'1 and 215 pounds. If *he* walks 18,000 steps in a day, he burns about 4,000 calories. (I think. I don't have his info. handy right now - but it's at least upper 3,000s and I'm pretty sure he crosses the 4,000 mark somewhere around 15,000 steps.)

    My weight loss verifies that my reported burn is correct. We can't verify my husband's because he doesn't log food - but he eats more than me and is losing too.

    The only thing to watch out for is that the FitBits with heart rate monitors can take a week or two to "get to know you" so they may either overestimate or underestimate for the first couple of weeks.
  • bytheplanets
    bytheplanets Posts: 11 Member
    Thanks for the reply. I am 39, female, 5'9" and 188 lbs.

    I just started using Fitbit so it might take a little time to get to know me.
  • lutzsher
    lutzsher Posts: 1,153 Member
    I honestly feel that my fitbit greatly exaggerates my calorie burn so i completely ignore it unless I do know that I have really put in a ton of work that day, then i do up my calories for the day but only by a few hundred at most. If I log a good intensive treadmill or gym workout i log it separately and don't rely on my fitbit for the estimate either. I basically just use it to make sure im getting in my steps each day, the HR monitor at times, and for the sleep tracking in truth.
  • SusanMFindlay
    SusanMFindlay Posts: 1,804 Member
    bytheplanets wrote: »
    Thanks for the reply. I am 39, female, 5'9" and 188 lbs.

    I just started using Fitbit so it might take a little time to get to know me.

    In that case, your number sounds reasonable enough. Keep in mind that the vast majority of people don't get over 10,000 steps/day - never mind almost 20,000 steps/day. Calorie burns/targets are mostly designed for the sedentary (3,000 steps/day or less - which is the average North American).
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,206 Member
    SusanMFindlay wrote: »
    In that case, your number sounds reasonable enough. Keep in mind that the vast majority of people don't get over 10,000 steps/day - never mind almost 20,000 steps/day. Calorie burns/targets are mostly designed for the sedentary (3,000 steps/day or less - which is the average North American).

    Susan the figures I've seen most often for average "step" activity in the USA is between 5 and 7K. MFP sedentary settings account for about 3500 steps. I was surprised and gratified to see that the Canadian averages may be slightly higher: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-003-x/2011001/article/11396/tbl/tbl4-eng.htm

    As to the rest of it @malibu927's advice is solid. I would add to it by saying connect trendweight.com to fitbit.com and make adjustments based on your trending weight.
  • lemonychild
    lemonychild Posts: 654 Member
    edited April 2017
    All the people that are on here claiming Fitbit exaggerates must have done tallying daily of weight, calories, activity and TDEE for months on end to make that conclusion that after the activity, and calories consumed they have seen false info on their weight, concluding Fitbit is off. If you haven't done this, stop with your assumptions. It's annoying.

    To OP @bytheplanets that is correct, you take your TDEE and subtract a deficit to come up with cals u should eat. by midnight u will have burned even more cals and the TDEE would be higher
  • Silentpadna
    Silentpadna Posts: 1,306 Member
    lutzsher wrote: »
    I honestly feel that my fitbit greatly exaggerates my calorie burn

    How do you know? For many people, especially those whose exercise is mostly cardio, it can be pretty close.

    In the @SusanMFindlay post above, her husband is about my size - a little taller and about 5 years younger. I burn pretty much the same as he does. Fitbit is pretty much spot on for me and many others. The deficits I carry with Fitbit have given expected results - and I eat as much as 2800 calories on an active day. (Usually when I hit 4000 burned overall it's a small surprise, so I don't always bring my deficit down).

    I've also found that if I ignore my Fitbit input and eat without the exercise addition, I hit an energy wall the next day.
  • SusanMFindlay
    SusanMFindlay Posts: 1,804 Member
    edited April 2017
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    SusanMFindlay wrote: »
    In that case, your number sounds reasonable enough. Keep in mind that the vast majority of people don't get over 10,000 steps/day - never mind almost 20,000 steps/day. Calorie burns/targets are mostly designed for the sedentary (3,000 steps/day or less - which is the average North American).

    Susan the figures I've seen most often for average "step" activity in the USA is between 5 and 7K. MFP sedentary settings account for about 3500 steps. I was surprised and gratified to see that the Canadian averages may be slightly higher: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-003-x/2011001/article/11396/tbl/tbl4-eng.htm

    That's good to hear. Most figures I've seen estimated 3,000-5,000.
  • KWlosingit
    KWlosingit Posts: 122 Member
    My fitbit is spot on too.
  • xLyric
    xLyric Posts: 840 Member
    My various Fitbits, which I've had for a couple of years altogether, have always been very accurate. I'll get worried every once in a while at a high burn, but if I actually sit down and work it out it's always right where it should be. As long as your stats are entered correctly in Fitbit then yeah, you can just subtract 500 from its burn and eat that. I do that as well, and ignore MFP's calorie goal completely because I don't like them synced.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    First 18k steps is more than lightly active. So its not a surprise in my opinion there is a difference.

    Also, if it says you have burned 2854 as of 7:30 pm, you're going to burn more even if you sleep the next 4.5 hours. BMR burns some...

    As to if its accurate from your initial post I don't know. If it were me, it would be too high. But I'm 127ish pounds, female, 42 and if you're younger and/or heavier and/or male then your # would be different from mine.
    bytheplanets wrote: »
    It's around 7:30 pm and my Fitbit says I've walked 18,860 steps so far.

    This includes my 3.5 mile walk plus I do lots of incidental walking getting kids to school etc so I'm pretty active. But I didn't add any activities manually.

    So my Fitbit says I've burned 2,854 calories today so far. Is this fairly accurate? Could I subtract 500 calories from that (so eat 2,350 calories) and have a 500 calorie deficit for today?

    Or is fitbit being way too generous?

    For reference my MyFitnessPal settings are set to "slightly active" and they have me eating 1,800 calories a day to create a 500 calorie deficit. So a big difference!

    Which is likely to be more accurate?

  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    bytheplanets wrote: »
    Thanks for the reply. I am 39, female, 5'9" and 188 lbs.

    I just started using Fitbit so it might take a little time to get to know me.

    Then the safe assumption is to leave some of the calories 'on the table' in case it is overcompensating. Such as aim for a 700 deficit, figuring if there is a 200/calorie per day error then you're covered. And at your stats, that would be safe to do I think.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    SusanMFindlay wrote: »
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    SusanMFindlay wrote: »
    In that case, your number sounds reasonable enough. Keep in mind that the vast majority of people don't get over 10,000 steps/day - never mind almost 20,000 steps/day. Calorie burns/targets are mostly designed for the sedentary (3,000 steps/day or less - which is the average North American).

    Susan the figures I've seen most often for average "step" activity in the USA is between 5 and 7K. MFP sedentary settings account for about 3500 steps. I was surprised and gratified to see that the Canadian averages may be slightly higher: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-003-x/2011001/article/11396/tbl/tbl4-eng.htm

    That's good to hear. Most figures I've seen estimated 3,000-5,000.

    I was lucky to max out at at 3,000 steps before i got my fitbit :blushing:

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