Fitbit app saying I burned 2k callories

[CrazyJacob]

Hi, So while I wait to get my fitbit blaze in the mail I'm using my iPod touch 6th gen for fittness tracking and On my health app it says I took 11 steps today (I didn't work out today) and it said I burned 2000 callories?! what?!?!

[PureEvil]

Hello @CrazyJacob,

Welcome to the community!

What you're probably seeing is your BMR.  Fitbit tracks two types of calorie burn:

• BMR (basal metabolic rate) - This is basically your calorie burn by just breathing, heartbeat, etc.  This is based on your stats (age, gender, weight, height).  This is likely what you're seeing.
• Calories burned based on activities - This is what you'd expect.  If you walked a lot today, you'll burn more calories than if you didn't.

If you want to see this in action, then go over to your activities page, then click on the option for "Calories burned".  What you'll see is that you'll always burn calories at a specific rate, this is what one of mine looks like:

You see that while you sleep you still burn calories, when you're doing an activity, your calorie burn is going to increase significantly.  This is speculation on my part, but I assume that this for you is mostly flat, though never at zero.

I hope this helps.

[CrazyJacob]

---

@PureEvil wrote:

Hello @CrazyJacob,

Welcome to the community!

What you're probably seeing is your BMR.  Fitbit tracks two types of calorie burn:

• BMR (basal metabolic rate) - This is basically your calorie burn by just breathing, heartbeat, etc.  This is based on your stats (age, gender, weight, height).  This is likely what you're seeing.
• Calories burned based on activities - This is what you'd expect.  If you walked a lot today, you'll burn more calories than if you didn't.

If you want to see this in action, then go over to your activities page, then click on the option for "Calories burned".  What you'll see is that you'll always burn calories at a specific rate, this is what one of mine looks like:

You see that while you sleep you still burn calories, when you're doing an activity, your calorie burn is going to increase significantly.  This is speculation on my part, but I assume that this for you is mostly flat, though never at zero.

I hope this helps.

---

Ok, but I don't track my sleep and I didn't do anything today activity or exercise wise, I ran a little too much a while back so I'm resting my body so the only thing my iPod seen me do today is 11 steps so how could that convert to 2000 calories?

[PureEvil]

Hello @CrazyJacob,

So what would happen if you were to just lie in bed and not do any activity and stopped eating altogether?  You'd eventually starve, right?  Not as fast as if you were to do have just run a marathon, but you'll starve nevertheless.  This is because your body, even at a state of rest, is burning calories.  This is your BMR.

Fitbit doesn't need to measure anything to calculate that type of calorie burn.  In fact, even if you don't have a tracker, a person of the same age, weight, height and gender is going burn similar calories.  So effectively a person of your age, weight, height and gender would naturally burn 2000 calories by that time of the day even if they did nothing.  For instance, here's the calorie burn graph I have for an account with a different e-mail which I hadn't bothered deleting:

Despite the fact that on that account it shows no activity, it listed me as having burned 1600+ calories.

This is normal.  You'd burn these calories by simply breathing, beating your heart, etc.

[CrazyJacob]

ok let me say that again, I don't have a fitbit watch yet and my iPod wasnt in my pocket so it seen NO movement or heartrate

[PureEvil · Accepted solution]

@CrazyJacob,

Yes, it assumes that your heart has not stopped beating and that you have not stopped breathing.  And if you were to continue living, that's how many calories you would burn.

Like I said it my original response, Fitbit calculates two different types of calorie burn.

• BMR - which is strictly based on your stats (gender, age, weight, height) and it does not take into account any movement or activity.
• Calories based on activities - Like walking, running, etc.

I understand you don't have your tracker yet.  However, you are still burning calories like someone of your gender, age, weight, and height.  That's what you're seeing.

The graph that you see where I've burned 1600+ calories is one where I had not worn any tracker.  That's just Fitbit calculating how many calories I've burned by simply being alive.

I hope this helps.

[nailsbygina]

I wear this thing all day and says I burned 2000 calories. Then why aren't I skinny!!!!!!??? 

[Chris857]

i need help too my fitbit is saying i’m burning around 2,500 calories a day without working out and my calorie intake is 2,700. I go to the gym every day of the week, what i’m trying to ask is that do i add up the calories i burned at the gym plus the calories im “burning” throughout the day minus the 2,700 ??? i’m so confused 

[Chris857]

i want to be in a caloric deficit 

[JaredTheGeek]

Because you are reading more that 2k calories a day or your personal details in the app are not correct.