Fitbit exaggerating on calories by 1k+ a day

[tom.n]

Hi guys,

I have been using the Fitbit for around a month and a half now and it is exaggerating the calories per day by around 1k kcal.

I keep track of all the food I eat. I have a scale, I cook 95% of my meals, snacks I generally eat pre-packaged stuff, maybe I will have 1 snack not weighted once every 2-3 days. So I think I know my calories quite well.

The thing is that the tracker states I burn an average ~3.6k kcal a day. I eat ~2.6k kcal per day to maintain my weight and currently I am eating ~2.2k kcal since I am cutting a little. If 3.6k kcal was correct, eating 2.2k would basically kill me lol. 

I mean, I know this is not supposed to be super precise. Each body is different, I might be counting calories a little bit off. However the difference is around 40%. It is exaggerating by around 1k kcal every day.

Can I make something to better adjust it to be more realistic?

[Gr4ndp4]

Hi, @tom.n welcome to the community, I'm going to move your post over to the Health & Wellbeing - healthy eating board where I believe community members who have more experience in this issue will be happy to assist you. You may also be interested in this article How do I track my food with the Fitbit app? - Fitbit Help Center 

I hope this helps.

Cheers

[Baltoscott]

Hi @tom.n -- this comes up a lot because no one is really 'average' which is what the calorie estimates are based on. My calculated burn also seemed to be overestimate when I was heavier (it seemed more accurate when I got into the 'normal' BMI range; who knows why). But, over time, so long as you are measuring well, it doesn't really matter. If you aren't losing for a couple of weeks at 2.2K, try dropping it down to about 1.8K for the next two weeks.  

[RVtheGrendel]

Yeah my cal burn is off by about 1 thousand cal also.

The problem is fitbit doesn't allow you to enter your body composition results.

If you could enter your non fat mass, muscle weight, bone weight fat weight that you can get from bodytrax or an inbody machine.

I'm sure it would make it more accurate.

What I don't get why fitbit or any fitness tracker has a link up with bidytrax or inbody, or why bodytrax or inbody don't do their own fitness tracker watch? Or why fitbit don't have thier own line of body composition scanners.

Gotta be honest the moment I see a company make an all in system, tracker watch, cal counting app and body scanner I'll buy the compleat kit immediately, regardless of cost.

In the meantime you'd think they would train the fitbit so that if you add your daily weight, and calorie intake everyday the app would become more accurate with your calories burnt!

[tom.n]

Guys

I requested a feature that might help us get better tracking. If possible, upvote it: https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Product-Feedback/User-defined-multiplier-to-improve-calories-trackin...

Tomas

[keyy]

Ironically, the more you eat, the greater the calories you tend to burn - though of course where excess calories above your needs will add to body weight.  However, if you have a lot of visceral fat then you can tolerate a fair bit of reduction in calories since your body will have the option to make for them via burning excess body fat - as long as you supply adequate (not excess) protein, along with fiber, water etc.