Burning lots of calories in Fitbit Charge 2

Yes! Some activities just doesn't seem right, like way too many calories. And there are moments when I'm running that I don't see my heart rate and when it does come back it goes it'll jump from 156 to 90 to 115 its all weird.

Was your prior device HR-based?

Because it spends a couple weeks (and perhaps new model it does anyway) trying to figure out that line between step-based calorie burn for daily activity which is most accurate, and HR-based for exercise which depends on the workout type for accuracy.

And even for the exercise, historical info on amounts of exercise help increase those accuracy estimates.

Also, did you have a manually set stride length prior that has been reset to default - and that's wrong - allowing for inflated daily calories?

And usually the HR accuracy is on the side of missing beats, not getting extra - so opposite problem there when HR goes high. Or it flat out misses the HR, so again the problem of lower than true avgHR being seen.

Unless I know someone was weighing their food, and correctly took into account proper and incorrect usage for HR-based calorie burn - other people's experiences aren't that useful - most people rarely have the knowledge to change 1 variable at a time.

For instance - HR-based calorie burn will inflate anything outside what the formula was meant for - aerobic zone steady-state same HR for 2-4 min.
Lifting, intervals, aerobics classes, anything with HR going up and down - are inflated calorie burns.

If a step based exercise being done - a step-based device not fooled by that - HR-based device is.

MaryJane_8810002 wrote: »

Just upgraded to a Fitbit Charge 2. I’ve heard on Reddit other users complained that the steps and calories were over counted and the heart rate was off. I have a hard time believing that my grocery shopping trip and my 50 minute run/ 20 minute walk really burned nearly 2000 calories. My old Fitbit would never have given me this many calories. Has anyone else had this issue?

Also should I eat those calories back? It’s almost midnight and I’m
Not hungry. I’m trying to just count only 1/3 of the calories that were claimed burned, but it’s still too many to eat back.

So it's midnight, and your Fitbit says you burned 2000 calories for the day? I don't know your stats, but based on your activity I don't see why 2000 would be an unreasonable TDEE.
I also have a Charge 2 and it seems pretty accurate. For me it under estimates more often than not. I usually burn 2000 on a rest day.

I've had to put it on my nondominant hand and tell it that it's the dominant one. It helped a LOT

MaryJane_8810002 wrote: »

not_a_runner wrote: »

MaryJane_8810002 wrote: »

Just upgraded to a Fitbit Charge 2. I’ve heard on Reddit other users complained that the steps and calories were over counted and the heart rate was off. I have a hard time believing that my grocery shopping trip and my 50 minute run/ 20 minute walk really burned nearly 2000 calories. My old Fitbit would never have given me this many calories. Has anyone else had this issue?

Also should I eat those calories back? It’s almost midnight and I’m
Not hungry. I’m trying to just count only 1/3 of the calories that were claimed burned, but it’s still too many to eat back.

So it's midnight, and your Fitbit says you burned 2000 calories for the day? I don't know your stats, but based on your activity I don't see why 2000 would be an unreasonable TDEE.
I also have a Charge 2 and it seems pretty accurate. For me it under estimates more often than not. I usually burn 2000 on a rest day.

Because in the past similar activity would only cause me to burn maximum 798 calories, not 1700+. My Fitbit entire calories burned for the day is 4272.

Is this your first few days using it? Some people find it takes a few days for the Fitbit to "adjust" to them and give more accurate calorie estimates.

tracylp6178 wrote: »

Anyone notice their Fitbit miles vs treadmill miles being way off? I do 5 miles on the treadmill and my Fitbit only says 3 1/2. I've tried adjusting my stride but didn't help at all.

Is that for walking or running?

Running can be adjusted to meet pretty well (unless you get on different treadmills at gym that are traditionally not annually calibrated as they should be).

But walking frankly you do NOT want your stride length set for exercise level pace - because how many hours and calories of the day is that correct? So if it's off by 5% calories for that short time, but correct calories for 95% of your day, doesn't matter.

The device dynamically adjusted for each step based on expected impact and seen impact, if your stride length is set for the middle of your paces (closer to majority of pace), then it can adjust from grocery store shuffle to exercise level pace with accuracy falling off on either side of range. But start at exercise level, it'll be way off as it's estimating the lower end.

Now - your amount seen / done is a big difference, unless it was running. And treadmill where it wasn't accurate either.

Might try a high school track of 800m (if converted) or 1/2 mile (2640 ft) if you can tell the lines for it.