Calories burned on Inspire 3

[Drb9696]

I just had a question regarding calories burned and I just want to make sure it’s accurate. I know my BMR is 1,492, I am a 5’7 female and 161 lbs. I walked 5,200 steps today it says, no vigorous activity just some grocery shopping. It says my total calories burned including BMR are just over 2,200, does that sound right?

[Julia_G]

Hi, @Drb9696 , your Fitbit will assume your BMR calories and add calories to that based on your heart rate readings.  Although you didn’t take very many steps, anyone not lying in a bed all day will burn more than BMR calories, of course!  If your activities raised your HR to some extent then you will, of course, have burned more than the minimum number, so whether or not this is accurate probably depends on how accurate you feel your heart rate readings have been. It does sound a little generous on the calorie count - did you notice yourself getting out of breath at all during the day?  Does your HR graph show that your heart rate was elevated (say into the fat burn zone) for a portion of the day?

[Drb9696]

Hi there, it says I was in fat burn zone for 3 minutes which doesn’t seem like much to burn that many calories but I’ll keep an eye on it.

[Baltoscott · Accepted solution]

@Drb9696 — that estimate is in the ballpark for your weight/sex + light activity. The National Institutes of Health has a bodyweight ‘planner’ you can use to compare to Fitbit’s recommendations.

But remember, whether you use fitbit or some other resources, your estimated calorie burn is just that — an estimate. None of us is really average, so your burn may be (a lot) higher or lower than the estimate. If you are trying to change your weight, Fitbit can be help you ensure that you are increasing your activity over time, but you also need to take steps to make sure you are reducing the calories you consume. While you can do that by tracking what you eat, looking to build habits that reduce some of the more obvious suspects in your diet may have a bigger payoff. Next month I’ll do a ‘mostly dry’ January to offset some of the increase in drinking I’ve done over a cruise in November and because of increased social drinking through the past two months.