Fitbit steps exercise calories seem too high

Dropthoserolls
Dropthoserolls Posts: 4 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi,

So I recently added my fitbit to sync with mfp. My daily calorie goal is 1690. I am at 3500 steps and it has given me 690 exercise calories. This seems ridiculously high as I didnt even get a workout. Any advice??

Replies

  • Dogmom1978
    Dogmom1978 Posts: 1,580 Member
    edited July 2020
    I don’t sync my Fitbit to MFP. I enter “walking slow pace 2.0 mph” and if I do that for 90 min dog walk, I burn only around 300 calories. I would rather underestimate than grossly overestimated.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    What's your activity level set to on MFP? What's your weight? Is this the first day you've had them synced? Is your goal to lose weight or maintain? Is it early in the day where you are? It's hard to tell what is going on with the limited information that you've provided.
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    edited July 2020
    Was it early in the day when you synced and saw this adjustment? That is relevant.

    If I wake up at 6am and walk 1.5 miles, MFP will show a big adjustment if I sync after. If I don't do much after that: the adjustment goes down as the day wears on.

    For end of day stats, I tend to get a Fitbit adjustment if I am over 5,000 steps daily. The exact # varies day by day of course. I am set to Sedentary. Right now - almost 5pm - my adjustment is +79 and 5,000-approximately steps. If I don't 'do' anything else, the adjustment will go down as the next 7 hours play out.
  • Dropthoserolls
    Dropthoserolls Posts: 4 Member
    I am 225 pounds, female and 5 foot 6. I synced it yesterday and today it is around 5pm and It gave me the exercise calories around 3pm. My goal is to lose weight 1 pound a week so I have a 500 calorie deficit.
  • Dropthoserolls
    Dropthoserolls Posts: 4 Member
    Anybody?
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    You synced it yesterday and you're seeing adjustments today? Do you mean you *started* the sync yesterday?
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    edited July 2020
    What does Fitbit show for the total # of calories you burned yesterday, the day before?
    Based on your posts above MFP gives you 1690 and this is based on 1 pound loss or 500 deficit. So MFP expects you to burn about 2190 daily. You'll have an adjustment for yesterday if Fitbit says you burned more than 2190.

    Fitbit estimates total calorie burn, not just for 'exercise'. Your BMR is 1700-1800 approximately, depending on age. Then if sedentary you probably burn another 300-500 daily just for regular daily movement. If your job is active, you're on your feet a good bit during the day, the activity burn would be higher. So a # without intentional exercise would be perhaps 2000-2300, depending on your age and activity level. And that MFP projection falls in the middle of that.

    If you're walking/running for cardio, time spent doing that burns extra. So... having an idea of what you 'burn' will help you know if your Fitbit #s are realistic or way off.

    If you still think they're way off, then make sure your data is set correctly in the Fitbit profile. If you accidentally set yourself as taller, heavier, younger, or male: then Fitbit is basing its calculations off of bad data.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Dropthoserolls wrote: »
    I am 225 pounds, female and 5 foot 6. I synced it yesterday and today it is around 5pm and It gave me the exercise calories around 3pm. My goal is to lose weight 1 pound a week so I have a 500 calorie deficit.

    Just to add to already excellent info. Especially double-checking stats on Fitbit. Even timezones.

    It's not the steps that is causing an adjustment, Fitbit is getting a distance off those steps.
    Distance and time is what is used to calculate calories.
    Total calories for the day is sent to MFP, and is what allows MFP to create an adjustment.

    So you seem to be thinking your Fitbit is counting your daily burn as too high.

    That isn't a huge number of steps - but you could have bad stride length default setting, and it got a big distance from those limited steps.

    What was your distance for that day of big adjustment?

    And that was 3500 steps, not 35K, right?
  • Dropthoserolls
    Dropthoserolls Posts: 4 Member
    heybales wrote: »
    Dropthoserolls wrote: »
    I am 225 pounds, female and 5 foot 6. I synced it yesterday and today it is around 5pm and It gave me the exercise calories around 3pm. My goal is to lose weight 1 pound a week so I have a 500 calorie deficit.

    Just to add to already excellent info. Especially double-checking stats on Fitbit. Even timezones.

    It's not the steps that is causing an adjustment, Fitbit is getting a distance off those steps.
    Distance and time is what is used to calculate calories.
    Total calories for the day is sent to MFP, and is what allows MFP to create an adjustment.

    So you seem to be thinking your Fitbit is counting your daily burn as too high.

    That isn't a huge number of steps - but you could have bad stride length default setting, and it got a big distance from those limited steps.

    What was your distance for that day of big adjustment?

    And that was 3500 steps, not 35K, right?

    It was 2.59 miles. I have all the default settings for stride and also for time zone. I checked and the time zone is correct. I just dont get why the huge calorie burn and I am not even working out. I am just working around the house doing light activities. Even today it gave me 890 extra calories and I did 2.69 miles it says and 6600 steps. I am not sure if I can eat any of these calories and lose any weight. I am already eating my allotted 1640 calories which is a 500 calorie a day deficit.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Dropthoserolls wrote: »
    heybales wrote: »
    Dropthoserolls wrote: »
    I am 225 pounds, female and 5 foot 6. I synced it yesterday and today it is around 5pm and It gave me the exercise calories around 3pm. My goal is to lose weight 1 pound a week so I have a 500 calorie deficit.

    Just to add to already excellent info. Especially double-checking stats on Fitbit. Even timezones.

    It's not the steps that is causing an adjustment, Fitbit is getting a distance off those steps.
    Distance and time is what is used to calculate calories.
    Total calories for the day is sent to MFP, and is what allows MFP to create an adjustment.

    So you seem to be thinking your Fitbit is counting your daily burn as too high.

    That isn't a huge number of steps - but you could have bad stride length default setting, and it got a big distance from those limited steps.

    What was your distance for that day of big adjustment?

    And that was 3500 steps, not 35K, right?

    It was 2.59 miles. I have all the default settings for stride and also for time zone. I checked and the time zone is correct. I just dont get why the huge calorie burn and I am not even working out. I am just working around the house doing light activities. Even today it gave me 890 extra calories and I did 2.69 miles it says and 6600 steps. I am not sure if I can eat any of these calories and lose any weight. I am already eating my allotted 1640 calories which is a 500 calorie a day deficit.

    People get big adjustments every day with no exercise.

    Increased daily activity can actually add a lot of calorie burn to the day.

    So you are set to sedentary, and are of course well above that. So do expect some adjustment without exercise.

    Are your MFP meal totals show up on Fitbit as calories in?


    Because MFP gives the extra calories above what it estimated you'd burn. It'll display steps.
    But it doesn't give miles.

    So you must have been reading the Fitbit for miles.
    What did Fitbit say the daily burn was for that day, or today with the 2.69 miles so far?

Categories