How to calculate calories burned from exercise

[brucesharon]

How do I calculate the total calories I have burned from exercise? The Fitbit dashboard burned calories
Includes calories from my BMR.

My total calories before exercise is approximately my BMR as 70% of total calories without exercise. So what is the actual number of calories burned by exercise?

[MariamV · Accepted solution]

@brucesharon thanks for joining us! That's a very good question.  To calculate your calories burned from exercise, go an entire day without syncing and take note of the calories burned from BMR; then sync your tracker and check how many calories were added after that and subtract the amount of calories from BMR and voilá! 

Don't worry about losing your data as your Fitbit tracker can store up to 7 days of detailed information, so a day without syncing won't hurt. Good luck and keep me posted! 

[brucesharon]

thanks for reply,Mariam. This will work.

[brucesharon]

Hi Mariam,
Thanks again for your reply. My BMR stays basically the same the whole week.
So should I just subtract my BMR from my burned calories?
Also, where would I see my actual BMR on the Dashboard.

Thanks.
Bruce

[MariamV · Accepted solution]

@brucesharon Thanks for getting back to me! Yeah, your BMR should stay pretty much the same over the week as these are the calories you burn just by being alive. Just make sure that your Personal Info is correct such as weight and height as this info is being used to calculate your BMR. 

Yes, you are correct; in order to get the calories you burn from exercise subtract your BMR from your burned calories. For example, in my case my BMR calories are about 1093. So let's take Sept 17 when I burned 1093 calories:

And on Sept 18 I burned 1447 calories.

So the calories I burned on Sept 18 just from steps and activities are 1447 - 1093 = 354. 354 calories from the steps I took and the activity I did on Sept 18 (I didn't burn a lot of calories that day, lol ). Hope this makes sense and post me back if you have any other question! 

[jnova28]

Hi @MariamV,

i have been using my Alta now for a month or so and I think my calories are very off. When i go back to the days before i actually owned my FB it says i burned 2,114 - i am taking that to be my BMR, right? so today my total for the day (as of now) is 2,267 calories, however, i went on a short run this morning and my exercise tracker said i burned 391 calories on that run alone. which means it's not accurately counting my calories

in the same vain, my first 1.5 weeks i was burning around 3500 calories per day and as of weeks ago i haven't gone about 2800 calories burned, even though my activity level has been the same (it may have even gone up with a few longer runs and hikes in recent days).

any advice? im a little annoyed!

[brucesharon]

This is how I calculate calories for the day.
Total calories have to be calculated after 12AM of the next day.

1. When you wake up note how many calories you have burned before you take steps.

The next day. Subtract this number from the total calories burned. Next subtract your BMR.

Example: yesterday I burned 2263. I subtracted 400 from that number because it was the amount of calories I burned while sleeping. Next I subtracted 1423 (my BMR)from this.

2263-400-1423= 440 calories burned the previous day for exercise.

If you want to approximate calories burned from an activity look at the calories you have left to eat before exercise. After a run you will see calories to the amount you have left for the day. Subtract the previous amount from the current amount. This is how many calories you burned on an activity.



Sent from my iPhone

[MariamV]

@brucesharon excellent method! Thanks for sharing. 

@jnova28 welcome aboard! Yeah, those 2,114 calories are your BMR calories. If possible could you please let me know what the info is as of today, since you've had sync your tracker after 12:00 am yesterday. Looking forward to your new comments! 

[brucesharon]

 Have you checked your BMR online? Here's a good site with a lot of good calculators.

https://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/basal-metabolic-rate

Fitbit  uses BMR to calculate your  calories burned, Calories needed to lose, gain or maintain,,but it's part of the equation, and they don't list it separately when you first look at your app in the morning 

[brucesharon]

Hi Mariam,

How do I go an entire day without syncing? Shut off bluetooth? Or  don't open the fitbit app?

Your suggestion for calculating the  exercise calories will work well because it doesnt factor in the calories burnt after waking up.

[brucesharon]

---

@MariamV wrote:

@brucesharon thanks for joining us! That's a very good question.  To calculate your calories burned from exercise, go an entire day without syncing and take note of the calories burned from BMR; then sync your tracker and check how many calories were added after that and subtract the amount of calories from BMR and voilá! 

Don't worry about losing your data as your Fitbit tracker can store up to 7 days of detailed information, so a day without syncing won't hurt. Good luck and keep me posted! 

---

Hi Mariam,

How do I go an entire day without syncing? Shut off bluetooth? Or  don't open the fitbit app?

Your suggestion for calculating the  exercise calories will work well because it doesn't factor in the calories burnt after waking up.

[MariamV]

@brucesharon thanks for getting back to me! Yeah, just turn off your bluetooth for an entire day and that shall keep you clear from syncing.  Let me know if that works for you! 

I'll be around. 

[brucesharon]

Excellent suggestion. If I turn off my Bluetooth on my phone but not on my iPad will the phone not track?

[MariamV]

@brucesharon it's nice to hear back from you! Hey do you also have the Fitbit app on your iPad? If that's the case, then turning off the Bluetooth on your iPad might also be a good idea. This is to avoid any unwanted syncs. 

I'll be looking forward to your new comments! 

[SunsetRunner]

I guess I'm somewhat astonished the app/dashboard can't (I should say doesn't) calculate this for you.  It knows your BMR, it knows what it thinks your total is up to the minute, it would be nice (on the verge of *expected*) that it should show your calories separated by metabolism and exercise.  I think many would like that.

Just saying....

[MariamV]

@SunsetRunner welcome aboard! It's lovely to see new faces around.  I think this is great feedback, therefore, I encourage you to make your voice heard by commenting and voting in the Feature Suggestion board; this is where our devs and engineers search for new ideas everyday.

I have found the following:

• Incorporating BMR into calorie counting
• Customizable BMR or resting calorie burn
• Calories burnt without BMR
• BMR category

If these aren't what you're looking for, then I invite you to add a new idea in that board for future review. Thanks for your understanding about this! 

[Drew909090]

I'm a big guy, but the calories burned seem really off. Today, I walked 4.36 miles and the tracker claimed that burned over 1,000 calories. After looking at several charts I find it hard to believe that is correct. Do higher weight people maybe break the calculation?

[brucesharon]

Hi Drew,

Here is a day of my walking.

I calculate the calories this way:

11,086 steps/2158 cal=5.1 calories per minute.

5.1 calories per minute * 82 minutes= 418 calories.

418 calories/4.72 miles =88.6 calories per mile.

These numbers are in the ballpark for my weight which

is 160 pounds.

Issues: do not calculate until after 12 AM the next day.

Does fitbit calculate for mets ( energy level) - so if I am running instead of

walking, does it estimate calories correctly? Or mowing the lawn?

Perhaps the zip doesn't record the energy level as well as other fitbits.

Here’s a great site: www.healthstatus.com/calculate/dee

www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc Calories burned here are in the ballpark, perhaps a bit high,

but approximate.

After 12 AM the next day: To sum up divide total steps by total calories * minutes to get approximate calories burned.

Total calories burned divided by mileage= how many calories per mile.

Best,

Bruce

[LanuzaFitbit]

Welcome to the Forums @Drew909090! Thanks for coming in to help @brucesharon.

Like @Drew909090, it would depend on what exactly happened with that walk. Was it 1k calories for the  run or for the day thus far? If it is for the day, keep in mind that the Dashboard also calculates your BMR, which is the calories that you body burns in order to keep you alive, that they keep counting all the way until midnight before they reset. That could explain why the calories seem higher than they should. 

@brucesharon You can read a bit more about how Fitbit tracks activity in here. Do keep in mind that wrist-based trackers would have a harder time tracking things like lawn-mowing because your hands are not moving around. As for the Zip, it can be that it is not getting a lot of movement on the hip, or wherever it is clipped. Perhaps moving it to a position that allows it to move around more would lead to better results.

If there are any questions, please let me know.

[Dgnokids]

Why doesn’t Fitbit simply tell us what out BMR is so we can perform a simple subtraction to see calories from activity?  If it is a constant based on our profile, simply show it somewhere so we can see it. Please.