Working out ‘active’ calorie burn from Fitbit total

adelitazzz75
adelitazzz75 Posts: 18 Member
edited November 25 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all

Am I correct in thinking that to work out ‘active calorie burn’ in a day compared with total calorie burn I need to subtract my BMR from the total calorie burn that my Fitbit charge 2 gives me each day - or do I subtract maintenance calories from the total?

For example yesterday I burned a total of 2760 calories according to my Fitbit (20+k steps plus gym run).

Total burn = 2760 minus BMR (1400) = 1360

OR

Total burn = 2760 minus Maintenance cals (1984) = 776

I do not sync my Fitbit with MFP - I prefer to do the sums myself & record on a spreadsheet - so just wanted to check that my calculations are correct - any advice much appreciated.

Thanks

Replies

  • hippiesaur
    hippiesaur Posts: 137 Member
    BMR is the calories you burn doing nothing at all but breathing and lying in a bed. By 'maintenance' I think you mean TDEE, which is your BMR+your everyday activites (including training as well). So I guess in this case 776 is the 'extra cals' you burned.
  • adelitazzz75
    adelitazzz75 Posts: 18 Member
    Hi - thanks for that - I didn’t know exactly what TDEE was.......but as I suspected its 776 - cheers
  • endermako
    endermako Posts: 785 Member
    adelitazzz75 wrote: »
    Hi - thanks for that - I didn’t know exactly what TDEE was.......but as I suspected its 776 - cheers

    Total Daily Energy Expenditure
  • kam3190
    kam3190 Posts: 157 Member
    You don't subtract anything from it. Fitbit gives you your tdee. So that 2700 is what your body used for the day. If you are losing weight you subtract for that. So to lose 1 lb you would subtract 500 from that and eat 2200.
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    If you sync your Fitbit with MFP, the math will be done for you.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »
    If you sync your Fitbit with MFP, the math will be done for you.

    ^This!

    Why are you trying to assess “active calories” from FitBit? It’s an activity tracker and it measures the total calorie burn in a day, whether they are from just your basic existence (BMR), NEAT (BMR plus non exercise activity) or from purposeful exercise they all add up to that total which is an estimate of your TDEE.

    What are your goals - lose weight? Maintain? What do you have MFP set at for activity level and what calorie target has it provided?

    Why are you hesitant to link the devices and let them provide the guidance they are designed to provide? Do you draw pictures and stick them to the television instead of turning it on and watching a program?
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