Do you find the calories burned to be an over/ under estimation, or very close?

[Callieartz]

I'm just curious because I feel like it may possibly be somewhat of an overestimation for me for some things. For example since it's been colder outside I tend to walk briskly to and from stores ( to avoid the cold) however I wouldn't say I should be getting "active minutes" for this (i.e very high increase in calorie burn compared to a slightly slower pace when I'm inside). I use a HRM to get a more accurate calorie burn for planned exercise but I'm thinking the day to day burn (excluding exercise) may be a little high. Any ideas to adjust for this or am I really burning over 2000 calories just by hitting the 10,000 steps (which isn't too big of a challange) keep in mind I'm 5'3 female at 114lbs so I don't burn too much walking at an average pace for an hour (or so I thought...).

I'm concerned about accuracy because I'm almost to my weight goal and I'm going to start using the fitbit "calories burned" amount as my daily maintenace amount. I may subtract roughly 15% at first to make sure I don't gain and then if I don't I'll trust fitbit's amount and go with that as my daily number to eat. I got the fitbit to motivate me to move more so I can eat more daily, I just want to make sure that I don't go over due to inaccuracy. 

p.s. I just restarted my account however I've had my fitbit since August so these things I've mentioned won't show up on this account if you were to look.

Things I've noticed I get extra "Steps" for: (What are yours?)

Speed Bumps/Bumpy road driving

Blow-drying/ Scrunching my hair

Washing Dishes 

shaking things (clothes, towels etc)

[WendyB]

No I have never really checked on the list you have

You do burn calories just sitting and sleeping. So I can see you getting a calories count on them

[Doug]

As a rough estimate, at 5' 3" you are probably somewhere around 2400 steps per mile, so 10,000 steps is likely to be somewhat over 4 miles distance.  (My wife is 5' 2" and walks 2500 steps/mile vs my 6' 0" and about 2000 steps/mile).

Calories burned while walking tends to be more a matter of distance than time.  At that weight, you are probably around 100 calories per mile.  So walking 10K steps is likely to be a little more than 400 calories from the walking itself.

However, what the Fitbit will show as your calorie count through the day also includes your "BMR" or calories by the body just to breathe, pump your blood, etc.  Fitbit uses your profile data to estimate your BMR.  So yes, while it may true you burn 2000 calories across a day that is NOT to say if you doubled your steps to 20k you'd burn 4000 calories.  It would probably go up around 400 -- the amount more attributed to the walking itself.

[mandy052879]

I'm using the Force and this is what I do. For the extra steps problem what I've been doing is setting the timer on my fitbit and then taking it off.  When I'm done with my task put the fitbit back on and stop the timer that way you're not racking up extra steps from not walking.  As far as the driving i think the solution was to set the timer and then when your done driving create an activity (do an activity search for driving a vehicle) and then log the activity for the time frame you were driving.

Hope this helps!

[Mary]

2000 sounds reasonable.  That's about what I get, though I'm older and larger.  

I wouldn't worry about getting some 'steps' while shaking towels and washing dishes and such.  You are burning calories, possibly more than by if you were walking those minutes.  

The best way to see how accurate your calorie burn estimate is for you is to track all your food for a month and compare your weight change to your deficit.  If you lost at the rate of around 3500 calories of deficit per pound, your Fitbit is estimating just fine.  If you find it's over or under, it might be easier to just tweak your settings (age or height, for example) to lower or raise your BMR estimate.  If you think the Fitbit is overestimating your burn, tell it you're older or shorter than you are and it will revise downward.  That seems easier than mentally subtracting 15% or something but maybe not.

My weight loss is right about what my Fitbit and deficit would predict, so for me it's pretty accurate. 

[Einatb]

I'm 5'2 and weigh 112-113. I walk/run over 25k steps a day and burn around 2200 cals, and even this seems to me an overestimate...although I'm 46, I don't think the age difference explains such a huge difference...

[Mary]

If I plug your data into BMR calculators it estimates 1100 calories a day for you (1200 if I shave off twenty years).  If I put in that you exercise every day, it estimates your total daily burn at 1970.  If I put in "daily exercise plus physical job" it says 2280.  So 2200 seems reasonable to me.  25,000 steps is a huge amount of activity, to me.

Does it seem like you guys eat less than that, is that why it seems high to you?  I think studies show that even right after being trained how to measure their caloric intake, most people under-measure it by like 25%.

But there are also studies that show that BMR can vary between people the same size (lean body mass) by as much as 70%, too.  

[Einatb]

Yes, I do eat less than that. Believe me every calorie is counted and I excercise a lot...about 2 hours a day... In the weekends I try to get to 30k steps... And this is how I maintain my weight. That's why I know it is an overestimate.

[Mary]

That's too bad.  You must be very efficient.  I'm beginning to believe some are.  Have you considered telling it you're much older or smaller, to try to ratchet it down or are you ok with just knowing it's always too high for you? 

[Einatb]

No,I'm fine with it as it is.

[Ukase]

It's really too soon for me to tell. My weight seems to vary +/- 5 pounds, just from water intake/loss. It's hard to use my clothes as a guide, so I'm waiting another couple of weeks to see how the tape measurements I took initially compare.

I suspect, that for whatever reason, my metabolism is shot. FitBit has me burning about 20-25 calories an hour doing nothing. I think they are vastly overestimating that, but only time will tell. The past week, according to FitBit and what I've logged, I've burned over 9000 calories beyond what I've eaten. From the scale, this is just not the case. It could be that the internet's calorie estimates are way off - it could be my own math bringing me down. (when I cook, I add up the calories of all the ingredients and then divide by the number of portions I get from that batch)

My gut tells me that my math is correct, but that water weight is making my weight fluctuate a bit.

I've tried to drink a lot more water, because historically, I've never enjoyed it. I used to drink soda all the time.

In a nutshell, the calorie burn counter is overestimating my effort.

[Lawndart]

When I tracked calories, it seemed as if fitbit was about right. But not all calories are alike I believe. It takes much more enrgy to process protein when compared to carbs. Try a web seach of "protein calories vs carb calories". 

[slysam]

I think it may vary by the type of Fitbit you have and wear you wear it, as they will vary in how they track movement. I have a Fitbit One that I usually wear clipped to my bra or my waistband...

>A year or two ago I thought my Fitbit (Ultra at the time) was slightly overestimating my total calorie burn. At that time I was weighing food portions and carefully logging as well I can. I found on average I lost a pound for an accumulated deficit of 4,000 calories. This was when I was weighing portions for most meals, when I wasn't weighing it seemed to be overestimating more (though obviously my food calories were underestimated in that case). I didn't weigh all portions though--I do eat out a couple times per weekend and didn't weigh those portions. And when eating food prepared by others I didn't weigh or necessarily even know what was in the food. So it may have been that my fitbitwas fine, and I was underestimating my food consumption by 500 calories a week. At that time, I was also wearing a heart rate monitor for intended exercise and manually logging my HRM calorie burn if it was different than Fitbit's estimate. When I did this, the fitbit would estimate low for a lot of my activities. So it could be that my HRM was overestimating up to 500 calories per week. Or it could be that my actual metabolism is a little slower than my BMR estimate that Fitbit is working with. Probably impossible to say, but being off by 500 calories a week is still pretty close! Both calories burned and calories eaten are not going to be 100% accurate.

Oh, as an experiment, one month I did not log any activity to Fitbit other than a couple swimming sessions (as Fitbit would have counted that as restful sleep since the Ultra I had wasn't waterproof and I leave it in the locker). That month, my weight loss was actually faster than expected which would make me think my prior overage came from either my food logging or my hrm calorie burn estimates. I did return to logging though because I like for my Fitbit activity minutes to match my perceived exertion as much as possible for my own records.

The only activities I found the fitbit One to estimate low compared to my HRM (so far) are slow walking and the elliptical with no resistance settings used. My HRM might have been underestimating on the slow walking, because Fitbit was actually very much in line with online calculators estimating based on my height, weight, age, gender, walking speed and distance walked. My heart rate was below my aerobic zones and the way HRM's are calibrated that are most likely to give good estimates for aerobic activities where your heart rate is within aerobic zones (not below or above). I think it was overestimating for the ellipical as that was right in the steady state aerobic zones according to my HRM, the Fitbit calorie estimate is based on how much and how fast you move as well as your profile stats. I think with zero resistance the elliptical involved my body following momentum so I was going faster than I should if my muscles were doing all the work. It was fine when I tested again with moderate (to me) resistance though.

Fitbit and my HRM pretty much agree on the calorie burn for brisk walking on a fairly flat route. I did a test on a track walking a consistent 4mph after 15 minutes of jogging so my heart rate was up to start (I wanted to make sure I was within aerobic zones at the start of the test). My fitbit estimated that I burned 95 calories in that mile, my HRM estimated 92 calories, and an online calculator I used estimated 93 calories. They were all pretty close, but I guess Fitbit slightly high *if* the hrm was accurate. I generally just go with Fitbit for walking as it is easier than putting on the strap and using my HRM app.

But to see a calorie burn over 2000 I do need something like 10,000-20,000 steps. I think my highest recently was 2200 for over 20k steps. It does depend what I am doing though since it credits higher for faster walking and impact. And I log some activities using my HRM, so if I go to a Spin class or circuit training class I can have a higher calorie burn with lower steps. I don't get extra steps from arm movements unless they are big enough I am moving my whole torso as my Fitbit is clipped to my torso. I am sure it is different for Flex and Force users.

[LourdesA]

I've wondered if the calories burned feature is accurate, too. It seems to have a daily calorie amount set around 1,800-1,900 calories (exercise plus bmr). I take an hour long HIIT class everyday, plus just walking around at work and general activities. I think the calorie amount might be low because I'm very short (5'1) and skinny (I'm 112 lbs, but my body fat % is always <20%, typically 15%-17%). When I was in college and quite an avid runner I needed to consume up to 3,000 calories per day to maintain my weight. I think I burn more than 1,900 calories now, but that may be wishful thinking. Whenever I've logged my food intake the calories always way lower than what I imagine it to be in my head.

[Haynaku]

I compared my treadmill and fitbit zip calorie burn and they are very different even if I take regular steps on both, meaning same pace, no incline.  My fitbit zip seemed overestimating my calories burned.  1,318 calories burned for only 3,909 regular steps (1.63 miles) I made part of my day... hhmmm.... I only burn about 300 calories on my treadmill for about 2.7 miles!  I double checked my numbers and they are correct as to my height, weight, etc.  What should I do to make this fitbit zip more accurate?  Any suggestions?  Thanks.

[JenniLacey]

Although you may get some phantom steps, I've also noticed you may skip steps when you're carrying things or lifting. These phantom steps will not increase your calorie needs according to fitbit to make enough of an inpact on weight.

You do burn calories doing things like the dishes and other tasks that may not involve actual steps. Although I have noticed a few extra steps for these sort of activities it alligns with how many calories I would burn for those specific activities. Ex. when I fold the laundry I get some extra steps even though I'm not walking but I am burning more calories than I would if I were sitting down reading a book.

I'm roughly the same height and weight as you. I get around 20k steps a day (active job/working mom and I run 6x week). My average total calorie expenditure according to Fitbit is 2500 cals. I have only been using Fitbit for about 6 weeks but before I got it I was trying to lose weight and eating around 1500 cals a day. I couldn't understand why I was starving all the time and finding weight loss difficult. I found out through wearing my Fitbit that was burning a lot more calories than I had thought and increased my calorie intake to around 2100 cals. I lost the stubborn 5 lbs that had been plaguing me for the last 8 months within a month. I finally don't feel like I need to chew my right arm off from hunger.

I'm finding it's pretty spot on. I was skeptical at first too that I was burning that many calories because I too am petite but I figured it was worth a try because what I had been doing wasn't working.

What I would suggest is to increase your calorie intake slowly by about 100-200 cals per day a week and keep record of your weight until you seem to be holding steady. Keep in mind that weight fluctuations are normal and you may go up and down within a 5 lbs range.