Fitbit calorie burn accuracy?

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graciesparklesgrace
graciesparklesgrace Posts: 16 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have a fitbit HR. i just got it and yesterday i wore it for a full 24 hours. In those 24 hours it said my total calorie burn was only 1600 calories, but I maintain my weight by eating 2100 calories. I’m very confused. Any thoughts? i’m a little concerned now that i’m eating too much and will gain. I didn’t do much different than any day yesterday. Thank you!

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  • emmylootwo
    emmylootwo Posts: 172 Member
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    How long have you been maintaining your weight?
  • graciesparklesgrace
    graciesparklesgrace Posts: 16 Member
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    about a week or so
    emmylootwo wrote: »
    How long have you been maintaining your weight?

  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    graciesparklesgrace wrote: »
    about a week or so
    emmylootwo wrote: »
    How long have you been maintaining your weight?

    Make sure you have all your stats entered correctly on Fitbit. And if I am understanding correctly when you look at your Fitbit calorie burn for yesterday it says 1600 or are you just looking at the MFP adjustment?

    A week isn’t really long enough to know if that’s the correct amount for maintenance or not.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,721 Member
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    (1) Fitbits just give a different sort of estimate. It's still an estimate - not a measurement - of your calorie burn.

    (2) Most devices take a while to "learn you". Give it some time.

    (3) My Garmin Vivoactive 3 underestimates my all-day calorie burn by a few hundred calories a day, as compared with data from a meticulously-logged year of weight loss, and 3 years of maintenance. It happens. If you're near the central mean of the bell curve(s) for the research they base their estimates on, the estimate will be close to accurate for you. If you're not, it won't.

    (4) A week at the same weight isn't enough to know your maintenance calories are accurate. If you're female and premenopausal, give it one full menstrual cycle plus a bit, say 6 weeks. Consider using a weight trending app to record daily weights during that time (Happy Scale for iOS, Libra for Android, Trendweight (requires a Fitbit account), Weightgrapher, others).

    Devices exist to support us and make our lives easier. Don't let a device push you around. ;)

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