Fitbit calories

joannegustyn1971
joannegustyn1971 Posts: 50 Member
edited December 20 in Health and Weight Loss
I just hooked my Fitbit up to My Fitness Pal account. I’ve just recently become conscious of my steps again after some health issues which slowed me down. I’ve been walking around 3500-5000 steps a day according to my iPhone. That gets me around 40-70 extra calories a day. I always just focus on the available calories so sometimes they get used and sometimes they don’t.
Now with my Fitbit, things have changed. I walked 56 steps this morning getting ready for work and it gave me 115 extra calories! That’s crazy! I will have hundreds of extra calories a day at that rate and can’t be successful.
Is there anyone else who has found this?
Please don’t make me do math to figure out how many calories I have left during the day! :D Lol

Replies

  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,300 Member
    Ignore your first day
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,300 Member
    Starting on your second day your calories between Fitbit and MFP will reach a final adjustment at midnight.

    If you go to bed / stop moving early leave a buffer at night as your calories will reduce.

    That said, it sounds as if you're generally hovering at the low end of lightly active assuming you always had your phone on you. Lightly active generally covers the 3500 to 7500 step range.

    This should give you an idea of your likely calories range for the day and I would look carefully into Fitbit results within that step count that yield much of an adjustment over MFP lightly active as both tools are relying on the same caloric expenditure estimate formula

  • Florida_Superstar
    Florida_Superstar Posts: 194 Member
    Prior to the Fitbit, were you at your goal (maintaining, losing)? If things were working, I wouldn't change anything. I was maintaining for a long time without a Fitbit but then got one as a gift. In *my* case--and I'm not saying this would be true for you or everyone else--it overestimates what my calorie needs are compared to my actual experience. Just don't disregard what you've already learned before you started using the Fitbit. :)
  • HollyPFlax
    HollyPFlax Posts: 79 Member
    As others have said, the fitbit can be inaccurate at first. I'm curious to know what happened to your calories burned later in the day. I've noticed some wacky glitches lately. Last weekend, I ran four miles (not easy for me, I am NOT a runner) and it told me that I only burned 42 calories 😔. This was with the fitbit registering my steps and heart rate for the run. After about 20 minutes, it was back up to ~400!
  • joannegustyn1971
    joannegustyn1971 Posts: 50 Member
    Thanks everyone. I compared two days of walking. One of them was 6400 steps with my phone and I was given 100 extra calories. Today with just over 5000 Fitbit steps, I was given 348 extra calories.
    Because it’s added in to my total leftover calories, it’s hard to quickly know what I really have left.
    I hope that it does work itself out because it is one of the reasons why I bought a new Fitbit.
    Thanks again for the help.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,300 Member
    The questions weren't just what calories you were given before from your phone...

    The fundamental question is more along the lines of: based on the caloric balance implied by your food and drink intake (as logged on MFP) and your steps and calories out (as provided by your phone before you got a Fitbit) was your weight trend reacting in line with the expectations created by the caloric balance you were logging?
  • joannegustyn1971
    joannegustyn1971 Posts: 50 Member
    edited April 2019
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    The questions weren't just what calories you were given before from your phone...

    The fundamental question is more along the lines of: based on the caloric balance implied by your food and drink intake (as logged on MFP) and your steps and calories out (as provided by your phone before you got a Fitbit) was your weight trend reacting in line with the expectations created by the caloric balance you were logging?

    I have been losing weight with my iPhone steps. I will never lose weight with an extra 300 calories I wouldn’t imagine.
    Sorry if my information wasn’t what you were looking for, I was answering everyone in this thread by adding additional information.
  • joannegustyn1971
    joannegustyn1971 Posts: 50 Member
    HollyPFlax wrote: »
    As others have said, the fitbit can be inaccurate at first. I'm curious to know what happened to your calories burned later in the day. I've noticed some wacky glitches lately. Last weekend, I ran four miles (not easy for me, I am NOT a runner) and it told me that I only burned 42 calories 😔. This was with the fitbit registering my steps and heart rate for the run. After about 20 minutes, it was back up to ~400!

    Then there is definitely a glitch, I earned more than double that walking to the bathroom and getting dressed in the morning! 😊
    Congratulations on your run! That must feel great!
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    joannegustyn1971 wrote: »
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    The questions weren't just what calories you were given before from your phone...

    The fundamental question is more along the lines of: based on the caloric balance implied by your food and drink intake (as logged on MFP) and your steps and calories out (as provided by your phone before you got a Fitbit) was your weight trend reacting in line with the expectations created by the caloric balance you were logging?

    I have been losing weight with my iPhone steps. I will never lose weight with an extra 300 calories I wouldn’t imagine.
    Sorry if my information wasn’t what you were looking for, I was answering everyone in this thread by adding additional information.

    So were you losing faster than your selected rate of loss? For example if you told MFP you wanted to lose 1 lb per week, but you were actually losing 2. That will tell you if your phone was giving you the right amount or not.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,300 Member
    edited April 2019
    You can estimate 3500 Cal per lb and see how relatively accurate your iPhone was.

    Sounds as if in combination with your logging your Fitbit may be too over-generous for you.

    You can eat back a % of your total Fitbit calories and compare to your weight trend over time to further calibrate it, or you can continue with your iPhone
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    joannegustyn1971 wrote: »
    HollyPFlax wrote: »
    As others have said, the fitbit can be inaccurate at first. I'm curious to know what happened to your calories burned later in the day. I've noticed some wacky glitches lately. Last weekend, I ran four miles (not easy for me, I am NOT a runner) and it told me that I only burned 42 calories 😔. This was with the fitbit registering my steps and heart rate for the run. After about 20 minutes, it was back up to ~400!

    Then there is definitely a glitch, I earned more than double that walking to the bathroom and getting dressed in the morning! 😊
    Congratulations on your run! That must feel great!

    Your adjustment will adjust up and down throughout the day. After periods of high activity it will adjust up and will come back down after periods of inactivity. The higher your activity level setting is on MFP the more dramatic these swings will be.
  • Fflpnari
    Fflpnari Posts: 975 Member
    I waited a couple of weeks to see my weekly average burn on my Fitbit and eat based on that. I don't sync my Fitbit now. I adjusted my goal on MFP to average a 500 calorie deficit everyday
  • joannegustyn1971
    joannegustyn1971 Posts: 50 Member
    Thanks everyone. 😊
This discussion has been closed.

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