Manual entry of calories doesn't add properly into total

[kwantie]

I didn't realize until now, that when I manually add calories from a not stepping exercise, it doesn't add that total amount of calories into my total, only a portion. This doesn't make sense. I've been ripped off calories I've been burning that didn't get entered into the many many  months I've been doing this? Why won't it when you manually enter it?

I have usually entered these on my cel phone because I have a better app to calculate the calories burned, and therefore just use their calculation. Plus, the FITBIT app online doesn't allow you to come up with calories based on activity and time from what I recall. That's why I use LOSE IT for those types of calculations. FITBIT isn't always that user friendly when it comes to this and entering food data for the day.

[LanuzaFitbit]

Hello @kwantie.

I'd like to take a closer look into this, if you do not mind. 

Could you share some examples, with screen shots if possible, of the calories not being added to your total in full? From what you are saying I assume that those calories are coming from Lose It, which is connected to your Fitbit account. Is that correct?

Let me know if you have any further questions.

[kwantie]

Interesting that in the email I received notifying me of your reply, it had two places marked "reply to this post" I believe it said exactly...so I used one which created an email.  Trying the other now which is taking me back to where my original post and yours was. 

To answer your question, I am getting the calorie count for my activities from Lose It, because when you enter an activity in FitBit you have to produce the calorie count number yourself and get it from somewhere else it seems. Then I’m manually entering it.  I prefer the manual entry format on my cel because the online computer version asks for more details, and I prefer the briefer version. 

Is there an easy way to contact you by email to provide what you have asked for?

[kwantie]

Hopefully you see the message I just posted. Not sure if I posted it right.  Sigh.

[Gumdrop]

I’m getting this too.

It’s not the app, because I used both app and desk top. Same issue.

The increase will show on the individual hour calories burned, but not in the overall total. It goes from 19 cals to 78 cals per 15 minute segment. Even If 19cal/15min is bmr this still leaves about 169 cals that the overall calorie expenditure should increase by.

it increased by 3. It was 2369 prior to adding 233 cals worth of tai chi and 2371 after. Then went back down to 2369 after deleting the activity.

[Gumdrop]

Sorry, replied to OP, but I’m getting the same thing. Not sure how much it will help, but,

[GSaldiveri]

@kwantie - I've always figured it this way - When you are working out the tracker is tracking your calorie burn during that time frame. If you modify the amount of calories burned during that time frame it should change the overall calorie count by the difference of the two.

For instance: Say I just synced and my calorie count is 2000. Then I work out on a treadmill for 1 hour starting at 4pm. The fitbit recognizes the exercise as a walk (or maybe a treadmill) and logs say 450 calories bringing my total up to 2450 calories. Fitbit didn't know that I had the elevation on the treadmill set to 8 which upped my calorie burn for the hour to 700 so I have to manually log the exercise. When I do that I log it starting at 4pm and set the duration to 1 hour and calories to 700. My calorie burn for the day should now be 2700 and just 250 calories higher than what was already logged, not 700.

I realize you said from a non stepping exercise, but I would think it's still working the same way. It's logging calories during that time frame so you are still only adjusting the amount burned during that same time.

I could be wrong, but this has been my experience.

[kwantie]

Hi.  Just to be clear, I don't wear my fitbit for example in the pool.  If I have burned 400 calories during my class in the water, then I manually add 400 to my calories burned, and my total number burned should reflect that addition fully. This is not what it's doing.

[GSaldiveri]

Ok, in that situation I agree, it should add in the total amount.

Just did a test - Right now I showed 768 cals, I added in a 1hr swim during a time today that I know I had my fitbit off. I logged it as 500 calories. My total calorie burn went up to 1199 instead of the 1268 I was expecting.

Seems strange that the difference is just about what my BMR would have been for the hour. No idea as to why that would have been subtracted out though.

[LanuzaFitbit]

Hey everyone!

Thanks for sharing your feedback and your experiences.

I will be passing this information on to the rest of the team so that it can be looked into. As soon as I receive any news or updates I'll be posting about it in here to let everyone know.

Please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions.

[kwantie]

Just a quick note as I won't be back to this issue for several days.  I tested it again tonight.  When I added my swim on my cell phone and only entered the calories and not the length of the activity, it took my 425 calories burned OK and put all of it in the total output for today. The problem seems to be that if we enter any length of time with the calories, it ignores our specific caloric number and determines it's own calorie output.  Rather than take my 425 calories this time, it only too around 150 or so, which is less than 50% of what I indicated.  I don't think I need to send you pictures at this point.  You can easily test it to see what it does for you and delete it afterwards.  It shouldn't matter what you enter, as long as you an activity, length and the calories you want, and you will see the result. If you have questions feel free to contact me. I will use this new method without a time length that I will use from now onward.

Moderator edit: Labels

[LanuzaFitbit]

Hello @kwantie.

Thanks for sharing your feedback and your experience on the matter.

As I mentioned before, I will be sharing all information with the team so that this can be looked into. Whenever we receive any news on the matter we will be sure to let everyone know.

If there are any further questions, please let me know.

[Sarahla123]

Hello

Do you have an update regarding this matter? As i am having the same issue. When i manually add in a workout (which is not recognised by Fitbit) it seems to subtract the calories i have burned throughout the whole day. 

[qr1]

This is a major issue.

Manually logging activities with a specific duration seems to remove the BMR or watch-recorded activity of that duration as all have mentioned.

On the other hand, if I log an activity with the watch itself, the calorie count will be much higher.

This is very misleading and demotivating for people who would like to manually log activities.

This error persists even if activities are synced from different platforms such as Endomondo etc.

Solution: Change the duration of all manually logged activities to 1 minute (or 1 second if possible)

This will show the calories added up correctly.

This is a serious issue and should be solved as it grossly underestimates calories burned when not using the Fitbit.

[startiger]

This is not an error.

Your BMR rate is *included* in activity calorie burned counts (so if you burn 500 calories bike racing, that number of 500 *already includes BMR burn rates*). They have to subtract it from the total to get an accurate estimate for your calories burned. The reason for this is that Fitbit already has your BMR calculated in (say 1400 cal a day etc), so they have to subtract BMR from every activity entered since adding it again would be adding BMR twice.

[Percyvasan]

I left my Fitbit on charge and forgot to wear it for a few hours.  After I started wearing it, I tried to add an estimated no of steps / calories for the charging period.  It would not add to the days' total.