How do I accurately calculate my daily calorie burn ?

mimimunchery
mimimunchery Posts: 69 Member
edited December 20 in Health and Weight Loss
So I am female, 41years old, 5’8” and about 194 lbs.

According to my new Fitbit my calorie burns for the last three days are:

3,142 calories 3,528 calories and 3,415 calories.

My step counts are high (18,000-20,000 per day) but STILL these calorie counts seem very high for me? I would love to believe I burn that many calories but is it too good to be true?

How do you guys determine an accurate calorie burn for the day?

(Also I checked the Mayo Clinic - it says I would burn 1950 calories a day if I’m inactive and 2,750 if I was very active.).

Replies

  • lx1x
    lx1x Posts: 38,330 Member
    edited March 2019
    About right.. I'm 6'+ and walk avg of 10k steps.. daily total burn is 3000 more or less using Fitbit tracker
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
    Are you just walking or are you doing any higher impact cardio? If it's simply walking, I'd put you at 2800-3000. If you're doing other cardio, it may be close though.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,598 Member
    Why not sync your device to MFP, set goal (weight loss rate or maintenance) in your profile, and try it for 4-6 weeks, while logging eating as accurately as you can? Then you'll know how accurate it is, by comparing your target weight loss rate to your actual weight loss (adjusting via math for any materially over/under days by assuming 3500 calories = roughly one pound of gain or loss).

    If you want to eat the same number of calories every day, average the data from your device over a number of days, and use that as your starting estimate.

    No matter where you come up with an initial calorie goal, it's an estimate. Actual experience after that 4-6 weeks lets you adjust to a more real-data-based estimate. Keep using your own data and adjusting, and you'll have a plenty accurate enough estimate to achieve your weight management goals, whatever they may be.
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
    Sounds accurate to me. I'm 5'3", 112 pounds, and I maintain on 2000 to 2300 calories per day on average. I have been maintaining for three years.
  • Mslmesq
    Mslmesq Posts: 1,000 Member
    I have found my fitbit to very accurate with its estimation.
  • emilysusana
    emilysusana Posts: 416 Member
    I linked my Fitbit to MFP and started out by eating back half the calories i earned through the “adjustment” Fitbit gave me each day (roughly, since it’s a moving target). I had MFP set to sedentary so this was a sizable adjustment most days.

    But after 6 weeks, I did the math and realized I was losing faster than expected. I could actually eat back all the adjustment calories.

    But based on other threads, it sounds like the reliability of Fitbit can depend on the person and the model, so you need to get your own data and see what works for you.
  • kam3190
    kam3190 Posts: 157 Member
    I'm 29. 5ft6 and 220ish I burn about 3500 average (2700 to 3800 ish) and this has been pretty accurate for me. I get pretty highstep counts. 12000 to15000 average. I work on my feet 8 hours a day. Lots of bending and lifting. I also have four young children. I'm a natural fidgeter. I NEVER sit still lol. This has been pretty accurate for me. When I think to when I was gaining weight. .. I was eating ALOT ( like whole pizzas and 2 whoppers at a time)
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,140 Member
    mimimunchery wrote: »
    So I am female, 41years old, 5’8” and about 194 lbs.

    According to my new Fitbit my calorie burns for the last three days are:

    3,142 calories 3,528 calories and 3,415 calories.

    My step counts are high (18,000-20,000 per day) but STILL these calorie counts seem very high for me? I would love to believe I burn that many calories but is it too good to be true?

    How do you guys determine an accurate calorie burn for the day?

    (Also I checked the Mayo Clinic - it says I would burn 1950 calories a day if I’m inactive and 2,750 if I was very active.).

    Sync it, log food accurately, eat back at least half of your adjustment and review in 4-6 weeks against your actual weight loss and adjust as necessary. Real world results are what matter but generally the numbers aren't that far out in my experience.

    There's no reason that wouldn't be that accurate, I regularly burn those sort of numbers and lose weight as expected I'm a little younger, a little shorter and about 20lbs heavier, but only walking about 10-14000 steps per day.

    A lot of the studies like those in the articles above, do not take into account the fact that most devices have a settling in period and are just strapped on brand new. I used a spreadsheet (I think @PAV8888 put together) to determine how accurate my own was by logging food as accurately as possible and tracking my weight and trendweight for 5 weeks, found that my Garmin was about 2% underestimating my calorie burns.
  • rsergeant79
    rsergeant79 Posts: 45 Member
    I found my Fitbit overestimated my total calorie burn - I would often get 3000+ since swapping to Garmin I am usually around the 2700 mark
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,598 Member
    rsergeant79 wrote: »
    I found my Fitbit overestimated my total calorie burn - I would often get 3000+ since swapping to Garmin I am usually around the 2700 mark

    And my Garmin dramatically underestimates mine (like 25-30%, as compared with almost 4 years of food logging and weight loss/maintenance data).

    That's the nature of very good statistical estimates (which is all that fitness trackers can give us): They come close for most people, are further off for a few, and way off for a very small minority. Different devices are likely to differ a bit for any given individual: Different sensors, different algorithms, maybe slightly different research as the foundation.
  • debrag12
    debrag12 Posts: 1,071 Member
    edited March 2019
    my 28 day average is 15,254 steps and 2785 calories.
  • Stellamom2018
    Stellamom2018 Posts: 120 Member
    My fitbit versa has been spot on for my calorie burns, daily and exercise burn. I average 16000 steps on a slow day and 25000 on my 10k training days. I base my daily calories off of my burn, and I have lost 60lbs now at the exact time line I've expected from using my Fitbit as a guide.
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