Fitbit calories burned are inaccurate?

[dave_in_ni]

I've always suspected this to be the case to be honest.  I went for a walk this morning with my charge 2 and a Huawei gt, The Fitbit reported 409 calories, the Huawei 187 calories.  This was a 40 min walk, 1.78 miles not very strenuous. Gym workouts the Fitbit is always more than double the Huawei.

Last week I got a lend of a Garmin, they are basically the king of fitness trackers.  3.19 mile walk, 47 mins 497 calories according to Garmin,  Fitbit 790 calories.  

To me the Huawei isn't high enough, Fitbit way too high and Garmin probably about right.

Anyone else notice this?

[Dominique]

The way I look at it, the only calories that really matter are the ones burned over 24 hours. Even then, they may or may not be "accurate" in absolute terms, but I do know that on a day Fitbit said I burned 3000 calories, I have been more active than on day it said I burned 2000.

What do you use the workout-specific calories for?

[dave_in_ni]

Lifting weight, ok it's not gonna be that accurate but it should give a
rough idea. The Fitbit seems to be very generous

[Dominique]

I understand the estimate for calories burned during your weight lifting session may be off by a significant margin, but in what way would a perfectly accurate reading allow you to have a more productive session?

My goals when lifting weights are to gain strength and some muscle. Burning a few extra calories is a side benefit. Having Fitbit telling me how many calories I burned during my workout won’t result into anything actionable, so I mostly ignore the number.

[emili]

I agree that 400 calories for a 40 minute walk is too high. You have your HR reading right on your wrist- which is what your calorie burn is based on. What is it saying your HR is? And to Dominique's point, weight lifting isn't really a calorie based workout. Even though you are sweating from the effort of lifting, your HR doesn't really accelerate to burn significant calories unless you are jumping or jogging during your rest period. I do that which then keeps my pulse up for the duration of the session even while lifting. It is tiring but worth it to me. 

[Rowydah]

Yes, noticed the same even while sleeping. When I wake up I get about 600 calories burned overnight in fitbit compared to 20 calories on Huawei. I guess that fitbit counts the overall calories we burn like doing vital processes a and stuff like that while Huawei counts calories burned only in activity. That's a guess and I'm not sure about a word of what I've just said.

[shipo]

While I cannot speak for the Huawei, I can tell you the Fitbit does in fact calculate your overall calorie burn, including vital processes.  Said another way, if the Fitbit reports zero, either you've taken your tracker off, or your dead.  😛

[Heybales]

And actually, even if you take the tracker off - you are given BMR rate of burn for being alive.

[shipo]

LOL, oh yeah, so I guess 0 = DEAD!  😋

Nope, not even that...  My latest tracker died in July and my dashboard is still showing my caloric burn rate.  I guess there is life after death.