Alta HR Overestimating Calories Burned??

[jonathaanv_]

This had been bugging me over the past few days, so much so that I decided to make a post to get feedback. I saw another's post similar to this, but I just wanted to see if anyone else was experiencing the same. 

So I recently purchased the Alta HR after being a proud owner of a regular Alta. Usually when doing workouts and manually logging/tracking them on the app, on a a really good day I would burn around 2800 calories (combination of 1 hour of gym and 45 min 2.3 mile walk everyday). I'm 5'9 and weigh 195 pounds so my BMR is about 2039 or so. 

On on the first full day of owning my Alta HR, I burned 3,700 calories doing the exact same exercises and it inflated how much I could eat and such which threw me off. When doing the same brisk 45 min walk, it said I burned over 200+ more calories doing it than what I would get when tracking it with my regular Alta. I honestly don't know if the addition of the HR feature is inflating my calories burned or maybe I have a defective device. If someone who went from a non-HR device to one could shed some light on this I'd appreciate it.

At at this point I'm considering returning my Alta HR and going back to my old Alta where I felt more satisfied. While Fitbit trackers aren't 100% accurate all the time and they serve as estimates, I felt like I was loosing weight on pace with what my Alta told me and it gave me a better reading. $140 is not something I want to just waste like that.

In your guy's opinion, should I call customer service and consider giving it another chance and maybe exchanging it for another one, or give it up all together? Thanks. 

[hking44]

Thank you for the info! I bought this specifically for calorie burned tracking and heart rate during my workouts. The only reason I didn't buy the Charge HR was the Alta HR was slimmer. I feel the same way...I'm all set with spending $150 on a watch. If it doesn't do what I want it to do I'll return it.

[Adeuel]

Same here.  

Ive been well on track with my Ultra for two years, then the One for a year, then Charge HR and now Alta HR.  It's gotten worse, as has my waistline, following their numbers.  Ultra was spot on.

ive had to go to meal planning and not activitity based eating.

[radiodp]

Same here as well. My Alta HR is wildly overestimating calories burned and active minutes and is basically useless to me. I'm going back to a Flex 2.

[GmaV]

Keep in mind... the Alta HR uses your heart rate to calculate calories burned.  Fitness Pal and other apps only use the information you enter... age, weight, exercise... not saying the calories are correct, but should be more accurate than the other apps! 

[VCPike]

It seems the Alta HR is still grossly over-estimating, even with heart rate. It gets my BMR right, but the more activity I engage in, the wider the gap between actual burn and calculated burn.  According to a TDEE calculator (linked below), I average a 13,614 calorie/week burn if I exercise a couple of days that week ("light exercise"). The Alta HR has been estimating 16,500/week.

https://tdeecalculator.net/

[Mholthaus]

I am having exact same issue, the added calories for my fitness pal is way too high. Active minutes are not even close to accurate. I had a flex before that seemed to be pretty accurate. Have called Fitbit but they are clueless and unhelpful. My next purchase will be a different brand. 

[Mholthaus]

Totally agree that they need a fix or recall. Active minutes and calories burned are a joke. I wish it were true, I would have lost 20 lbs in last month. LOL. 

[Mholthaus]

The Alta HR is terrible, not accurate at all for calories burned. 

[turned60]

I have actually put weight on since I started using the fitbit.  it is a joke!!!!!!!!

[Amylee11]

I'm having the exact opposite issue. I did an intense 2 hours of working out today and my Alta HR said I only burned 485 calories. I'm used to wearing a chest strap and know that my heart rate goes way over the average it gave me. I believe it underestimated my calorie burn by half. 

[Buzzybee101]

The altaHR should give you a better estimate of as it also bases the data on the hart rate

[Buzzybee101]

Charge HR strap :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Replacement-Toamen-Silicone-Wristband-Bracelet/dp/B073D5Y8Cr

---

[meemermaid]

Yes, I noticed that too! I just got the Alta HR and it said I burned like 645 calories and I only had it on for a few hours doing no type of workout.

[NellyG]

@meemermaid these will be you BMR calories (Basic Metabolic Rate) that you burn simply by being alive. Fitbit adds these calories whether you are wearing it or not, as the day progresses.

[sswan]

I agree!  You cannot depend on the calorie counter at all.  My old little fitbit one was much more accurate at counting calories.  I have only been up a little while this morning and walked 1500 and it said I have burned 685 calories already.  I used the fitbit one to track exercise, all my food intake and calories burned to help me lose 20 pounds.  I am disappointed that I won't be able to use the Fitbit Alta HR to do the same thing.  I almost want to return it myself.

[SunsetRunner]

Hi All, I know this is a dead forum but I wanted to post what I'm doing to deal with the issue of my Alta HR saying I burned like 900 calories walking 6000 steps in MyFitnessPal. It isn't a perfect/automated fix but it's easier than some of the ideas I've see on other forums.

1. Disconnect FitBit from MyFitnessPal

2. Continue to use FitBit to track steps, sleep, HR, etc.

3. At the end of the day, go to https://calculator.academy/steps-to-calories-calculator/ and plug in your info and steps to get an actual calories burned number

4. Plug that number into MyFitnessPal manually

I know, it's a little bit of extra work but at least I can see something more realistic as far as calories burned plugged into MyFitnessPal. 

Hope this helps someone!