calories burned accurate?

[GetFitFargo]

How accurate are the estimated calories burned?  I'm killing myself with T25 workouts and I feel like I burn more calories than it's telling me.  I thought fitbit flex would estimate properly - but it doesn't seem right?  Feel I bought the wrong type of monitor.  Any suggestions?

[sinch]

Thanks for the reply slysam.  I figured out the answer to my own question. My friend who shows a much lower calorie burn than I do is a few inches shorter and weighs less than I do.  I went into my profile and listed my height and weight closer to hers and my calorie burn dropped dramatically.  A smaller person burns fewer calories than a bigger one, so there IS a benefit to being fat!  LOL  The funniest part is before I was able to change my stats back to where they should be, Fitbit send me an email congratulating me on my weight loss and another one announcing that I received a badge for my first 5 lb loss.  I changed the stats immediately and it didn't actually issue the badge.  I stll have to earn that honestly. 

[BodyStrongbyP]

I just joined my fitbit with myfitnesspal and even their #'s don't match.. lol   I decided to use it as a guide not as a literal accounting.  It can get frustrating when you are trying to achieve a certain goal.. I use macros instead of calories now as my main focus but still keep my calorie intake and usage in mind..   so complicated sometimes..

[artism3]

I think the fitbit is pretty accurate when it comes to T25. Check out this website. You can compare your fitbit to the webiste

http://www.t25calories.com/ I do have the fitbitHR

[will519]

Hello, I just put on the Flex and I have walked 1140 steps in a couple of hours and it is telling me that I have burned over 1200 calories, I know that is impossible as I just ran a marathon with a Garmin Heart rate monitor and I burned 3500 calories for 26 miles and equaled over 49,000 steps.  Please advise.  Thank you

[GetFitFargo]

I believe the fitbit figures in the calories you're burning from the exercise + the calories you are burning just by being alive.  Whereas with the HRM it's only calculating the calories burned from the exercise.

Anyone else confirm?

Otherwise I'm not sure what to advise but I believe that is the reasoning behind your differences in calorie burn.

[Heybales]

No, HRM, database, machines, Fitbit - they all include the BMR calories.

Only a couple of calculator sites have option to exclude the BMR sleeping level calories.

Then again - if not working out - were you really going to be sleeping?

The method used by Fitbit and HRM is best estimate.

[Heybales]

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@will519 wrote:

Hello, I just put on the Flex and I have walked 1140 steps in a couple of hours and it is telling me that I have burned over 1200 calories, I know that is impossible as I just ran a marathon with a Garmin Heart rate monitor and I burned 3500 calories for 26 miles and equaled over 49,000 steps.  Please advise.  Thank you

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To above point, during the couple hours you also burned probably 160 calories just being alive.

If marathon took you 4 hrs, probably around 320 calories then.

Just ballpark - I don't know your BMR.

Calories from non-HR devices is based on distance and weight over time - those are very accurate formulas for calorie burn.

Distance of course comes from steps and your stride length setting in your Fitbit profile.

So if steps seems accurate, then distance could be off.

Also, is this first day usage and the calorie burn UP TO the time you looked happened to be 1200?

In that case, that is not just the walk, but living up to then since midnight. And since Fitbit doesn't know what you did since midnight and seeing your first steps - you were given sleeping level BMR calorie burn since midnight.

In which case sounds about right.

[theonlymaskman]

How do you force syncing?  The instructions say to use your desktop client.  How do you access that and where do you find it?  Why can't they have a simple button on the command line "Sync Now"?   Oh, that would be too esay.  Let's just keep it mysterious so users have no idea how to execute a simple command. 

[Heybales]

That's good you are reading the instructions - but I think you missed the
online manual and instructions to download the computer client.

Which when you do - guess what it has - Sync Now button!

Fitbit has a great help site to when you merely start at your device for
support - list of topics with syncing being one of them, and from there can
get the desktop client also.

Not really mysterious unless you think you've read it all and the rest is
being hidden from us.

Better assumption is you've missed something and need to find it.

[arnettamae]

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@Vanille wrote:
You should manually log non stepping activities to get a more accurate number. You could wear a heart rate monitor for the activity and then log the calories after.
https://help.fitbit.com/customer/portal/articles/413311-how-do-i-log-or-record-an-activity-

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I looked at logging activities manually instructions on the URL you give. I used to be able to put in a calorie count when I chose an activity from my list but as of yesterday afternoon (9-30-17) the format changed. I can't log my activity and calorie count directly from my list where I have painstakingly researched the calories burned from each activity for a person of my size and included that number in hours and minutes in the title of the activity for ease of computing. My system has allowed me to lose the weight I wanted to lose and keep it off for two years so I think my calorie burn measurements were pretty accurate.  Now when I log an activity it seems to only give me credit for the number of steps taken during that time period.  I don't take many steps when doing Water Workout or strength training but I burn a lot of calories. I want my old system back!!!

[Heybales]

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@arnettamae wrote:

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@Vanille wrote:
You should manually log non stepping activities to get a more accurate number. You could wear a heart rate monitor for the activity and then log the calories after.
https://help.fitbit.com/customer/portal/articles/413311-how-do-i-log-or-record-an-activity-

---

I looked at logging activities manually instructions on the URL you give. I used to be able to put in a calorie count when I chose an activity from my list but as of yesterday afternoon (9-30-17) the format changed. I can't log my activity and calorie count directly from my list where I have painstakingly researched the calories burned from each activity for a person of my size and included that number in hours and minutes in the title of the activity for ease of computing. My system has allowed me to lose the weight I wanted to lose and keep it off for two years so I think my calorie burn measurements were pretty accurate.  Now when I log an activity it seems to only give me credit for the number of steps taken during that time period.  I don't take many steps when doing Water Workout or strength training but I burn a lot of calories. I want my old system back!!!

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I'm not sure if it's changed or actually broken.

Are you using the app to attempt to manually use a custom workout?

I'm using the website, through Firefox and Chrome - both call on a JavaScript to do something, and it's not working - neither is picking an exercise through the database.

I could still log an Activity Record though, I could delete a custom workout, but could not enter anything in.

Those other functions though aren't calling upon a javascript to do their thing - why I think they have something broken.

Do you sync your Fitbit acount with a 3rd party site like MFP?

[arnettamae]

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@Heybales wrote:

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@arnettamae wrote:

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@Vanille wrote:
You should manually log non stepping activities to get a more accurate number. You could wear a heart rate monitor for the activity and then log the calories after.
https://help.fitbit.com/customer/portal/articles/413311-how-do-i-log-or-record-an-activity-

---

I looked at logging activities manually instructions on the URL you give. I used to be able to put in a calorie count when I chose an activity from my list but as of yesterday afternoon (9-30-17) the format changed. I can't log my activity and calorie count directly from my list where I have painstakingly researched the calories burned from each activity for a person of my size and included that number in hours and minutes in the title of the activity for ease of computing. My system has allowed me to lose the weight I wanted to lose and keep it off for two years so I think my calorie burn measurements were pretty accurate.  Now when I log an activity it seems to only give me credit for the number of steps taken during that time period.  I don't take many steps when doing Water Workout or strength training but I burn a lot of calories. I want my old system back!!!

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I'm not sure if it's changed or actually broken.

Are you using the app to attempt to manually use a custom workout?

I'm using the website, through Firefox and Chrome - both call on a JavaScript to do something, and it's not working - neither is picking an exercise through the database.

I could still log an Activity Record though, I could delete a custom workout, but could not enter anything in.

Those other functions though aren't calling upon a javascript to do their thing - why I think they have something broken.

Do you sync your Fitbit acount with a 3rd party site like MFP?

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Thanks for your feedback, Heybales. I am a Mac/Apple person through and through and use only  Safari for my browser. My Java Script works consistently.

I do my own calorie burn research through FitDay and CalorieLab, both of which seem to give me valid numbers. I don't sync my Fitbit account with those sites or with any other accounts.

I can still log custom activities but the option to record my own calorie burn info is missing as of sometime during the afternoon on September 30. They also changed the feedback format at that same time. Under the new system, Fitbit gave me a step count burn figure of 42 calories for 1/2 hour of vigorous strength training - an activity for which I have been successfully recording 190.