Fitbit claims I'm burning 2400+ calories a day

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EliasAlexander01
EliasAlexander01 Posts: 8 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm 19 years old, 5"2 and weigh about 180lbs (an estimate since I don't have a scales). My Fitbit says my BMR is around 1600 calories, but just by going about my daily life and exercising 30 minutes a day it has me at 2400. Today it reached 3300 because I did 60 minutes of exercise and cleaned the house.

It seems super excessive to me. I don't feel like I'm burning that much and I'm not unusually hungry or anything like that.

Does anyone have a similar experience or think something is wrong with my Fitbit?

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    Depending on what you do in your daily life, that doesn't seem excessive necessarily. 2400 calories burned in a day with regular activity and BMR really isn't particularly high unless you're literally sitting around doing nothing for most of the day.
  • briscogun
    briscogun Posts: 1,135 Member
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    Your BMR is the minimum amount of calories your body burns if you do NOTHING. Litereally, you're a comatose person that doesn't move. So by living and moving and exercising 2400 sounds about right.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Avg Sedentary male (and that is not MFP Sedentary but sedentary in general with no exercise) is figured to be about 2500 TDEE (daily burn).

    So for younger than average so higher BMR, and more active than average, even if a tad shorter than average - no that seems like it could be correct.
    Not out of line at all.

    Now - your specifics could detail that Fitbit is inflating calorie burn on several things. 30 extra min for 900 cal would sound like it, unless you are forgetting you were more active today too, and only some came from extra exercise, some came from extra active.

    Daily activity is done on distance-based calorie burn (from steps), so if your stride length setting is wrong and you have over 10K steps daily - that inaccuracy could build up to decent inflated calorie burn.

    If your HR-based device is getting calorie burn for workouts that are interval in nature with HR all over the place and anaerobic like lifting, then ya that is inflated calorie burn.
    But is that 30 min out of an otherwise active lifestyle, so really a small % of your daily calories?
    Or 30 min out of a very sedentary lifestyle so not so small %?



    Was is your 30 and 60 min of exercise?

    How many steps and distance you average daily, especially out of exercise?

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    For an 180lb young man 2400 sounds rather low to me but there's a huge range depending on your activity level and exercise.

    Hunger signals don't tend to be a good guide to actual needs, MyFitnessPal wouldn't have many subscribers if it were!

    In the end you will need to try a calorie level (whether Fitbit suggested or not) for an extended period of time and make adjustments based on results.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,596 Member
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    I would argue that it is more likely for people to wildly under log their food intake than for an exercise band using automated tracking to wildly overestimate their calories

    More likely does not equal impossible.

    There exist a number of specific set ups that will create the illusion of a large burn where none exists.

    On the face of it your calories spent and activity described are not wildly out of line.

  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,503 Member
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    I'm 56 and my Fitbit claims me to burn 3000 calories a day at 177lbs. And it's right.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png
  • EliasAlexander01
    EliasAlexander01 Posts: 8 Member
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    heybales wrote: »
    Avg Sedentary male (and that is not MFP Sedentary but sedentary in general with no exercise) is figured to be about 2500 TDEE (daily burn).

    So for younger than average so higher BMR, and more active than average, even if a tad shorter than average - no that seems like it could be correct.
    Not out of line at all.

    Now - your specifics could detail that Fitbit is inflating calorie burn on several things. 30 extra min for 900 cal would sound like it, unless you are forgetting you were more active today too, and only some came from extra exercise, some came from extra active.

    Daily activity is done on distance-based calorie burn (from steps), so if your stride length setting is wrong and you have over 10K steps daily - that inaccuracy could build up to decent inflated calorie burn.

    If your HR-based device is getting calorie burn for workouts that are interval in nature with HR all over the place and anaerobic like lifting, then ya that is inflated calorie burn.
    But is that 30 min out of an otherwise active lifestyle, so really a small % of your daily calories?
    Or 30 min out of a very sedentary lifestyle so not so small %?



    Was is your 30 and 60 min of exercise?

    How many steps and distance you average daily, especially out of exercise?

    Thank you so much for such an in-depth reply.

    I used to be more active because I walked to and from uni (35 minutes each way), but since they cancelled classes a few weeks ago my average daily steps has dropped to like 6000 a day.
    I only started using my Fitbit again since classes were cancelled so I don't know what my estimated calorie burn was before that.
  • xxzenabxx
    xxzenabxx Posts: 935 Member
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    EliasAlexander01 wrote: »
    I'm 19 years old, 5"2 and weigh about 180lbs (an estimate since I don't have a scales). My Fitbit says my BMR is around 1600 calories, but just by going about my daily life and exercising 30 minutes a day it has me at 2400. Today it reached 3300 because I did 60 minutes of exercise and cleaned the house.

    It seems super excessive to me. I don't feel like I'm burning that much and I'm not unusually hungry or anything like that.

    Does anyone have a similar experience or think something is wrong with my Fitbit?

    Doesn’t sound like too much to me. I can easily burn around 2400 without doing too much crazy cardio and I’m a female. My BMR is 1500. Walking, cooking, cleaning can all add up. And then if you do a workout for 30 minutes then it’s even more likely. Even 3300 could be possible. According to a study -I’ll see if I can find it- our ancestors used to eat around 4000 calories a day! They were just more physically active than us. As a society, we have become way more sedentary than we used to be. So good job with staying active!
  • Jacq_qui
    Jacq_qui Posts: 429 Member
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    My average daily burn for last week, according to fitbit, was 2504. It was half term so I wasn't as active as normal, but I did a few gym sessions, a few hiits, and a few walks. Medium active I'd say.

    I've often questioned whether this was correct so it's interesting to see other responses here.
  • SusanofRockwood
    SusanofRockwood Posts: 122 Member
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    Hello. Just returning to mfp after a hiatus but can comment that in my experience it doesn’t matter too much how accurate calorie counters are as long as you consistently see a deficit between burned vs consumed. It’s what goes in that matters most so keeping a tight food journal, weighing things like pasta etc made a huge difference to my original weight loss. I was very very sedentary then and lost 35 lbs by cutting the junk and eating only until mfp said that’s it for the day! I am very active now but gained 10 lbs so back to basics here!
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    EliasAlexander01 wrote: »
    heybales wrote: »
    Avg Sedentary male (and that is not MFP Sedentary but sedentary in general with no exercise) is figured to be about 2500 TDEE (daily burn).

    So for younger than average so higher BMR, and more active than average, even if a tad shorter than average - no that seems like it could be correct.
    Not out of line at all.

    Now - your specifics could detail that Fitbit is inflating calorie burn on several things. 30 extra min for 900 cal would sound like it, unless you are forgetting you were more active today too, and only some came from extra exercise, some came from extra active.

    Daily activity is done on distance-based calorie burn (from steps), so if your stride length setting is wrong and you have over 10K steps daily - that inaccuracy could build up to decent inflated calorie burn.

    If your HR-based device is getting calorie burn for workouts that are interval in nature with HR all over the place and anaerobic like lifting, then ya that is inflated calorie burn.
    But is that 30 min out of an otherwise active lifestyle, so really a small % of your daily calories?
    Or 30 min out of a very sedentary lifestyle so not so small %?



    Was is your 30 and 60 min of exercise?

    How many steps and distance you average daily, especially out of exercise?

    Thank you so much for such an in-depth reply.

    I used to be more active because I walked to and from uni (35 minutes each way), but since they cancelled classes a few weeks ago my average daily steps has dropped to like 6000 a day.
    I only started using my Fitbit again since classes were cancelled so I don't know what my estimated calorie burn was before that.

    So are you trying to answer the question of what is the 30 & 60 min of exercise by saying there is none anymore, it used to be walking?

    And since the calorie burn is based on distance, not steps directly, that's why I asked about distance too.
    Someone could have 6K grocery store shuffles, or 6K exercise pace steps - very different distance and therefore calorie burn.
  • IronIsMyTherapy
    IronIsMyTherapy Posts: 482 Member
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    Doesn't sound astronomical. My BMR is 2400
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,055 Member
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    Heck, I'm a 5'5" 64-year-old li'l ol' lady weighing about 125 pounds, and my TDEE is around 2200 most days (with less than an hour of exercise most of the time), based on 5 years of careful logging experience. I admit I'm mysteriously a good calorie burner for my demographic, but you're much younger, heavier, and 100% more male. 2400 seems plausible for you . . . maybe even low. Experiment with believing it, and in a few weeks you'll know.

    Best wishes!

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