Eating wrong or do FB tell me iam burn unrealistic many calories ?

[NilsNitro]

Hello good folk,

I'm wondering if my Fitbit tells me I'm burning WAY too many calories.

For an introduction of my self 182cm, 113kg (Fat :)) and 32 yo. Using the Fitbit Charge 3.

This is what I normally do during a day:

Bike ride to work 10 minutes (3km)

Work in a warehouse, where I literally go around lifting boxes weighing 8 to 16 kg for 8 hours and walk about 10k to 15k steps.

Bike ride home for 10 min (3km)

Bike ride to the gym for 23 minutes (7,6km)

Swim for 45m or more + sauna for about 2 x 15 minutes

Bike ride home about 28 minutes. (7,6km, Its a lot of hills on my way home)

And I repeat this about 5 times a week and I get a calorie consumption of 5000 to 5500 calories per day? Isn't this extremely much?

I normally don't eat a lot, never buy snacks or something in that order and mostly drink water or coffee. And my calorie intake has been on about 1500 kcal per day sometimes 2000 kcal, (Yes I know this is little, I'm not hiding any numbers here, trust me I have done the math plenty of times) but I haven't lost any weight even though I get according to my FB 3500 kcal deficit per DAY. And it has been like that for the past 10-12 years.

However, after buying my FB I have started to track my food consumption and have started to eat twice the amount of food sometimes, even more, trying to get to a 3000 kcal or 3800 kcal since the recommendation is 1000 kcal deficit. And this is for me the hardest part, I even have to buy chocolate and etc to be able to get the calories needed. Because I am simply not used to eating this huge amount of food.

Can this amount of calories be anywhere near what I burn in reality?

Thanks for the replies, because I am seriously confused here 🙂

[SunsetRunner]

There’s a difference between weight loss and fat loss. I’m assuming you are striving for fat loss. Undereating can make it difficult to lose fat even though you may be able to lose weight. You want the energy burned to come from stored fat and not from muscle. Your calories burned sounds about right but there’s no way to know for sure if it’s accurate. The simplest formula I’m aware of to know how much you should be eating is 10x(weight in pounds)=calories needed WITHOUT exercise. You should be eating more like 2,490 calories and definitely include more carbohydrates because of your physical activity. I would give it a few weeks for any changes to take place after increasing your calories. During this time you may see weight gain because you are replenishing glycogen to your muscles and retained water but don’t concentrate solely on your weight. The weight should go back down so don't mistake that for fat gain. Take body measurements, look in the mirror, and pay attention to how your clothes fit. That’s what is going to tell you if you are losing body fat. When you stop seeing fat loss that's when you drop a little more calories.

[Dominique]

Welcome to the community, @NilsNitro, and congrats for your high activity level!

Calories burned reported by your Fitbit are an estimate / an educated guess, and many people find it’s on the high side. For smaller / older / less active people, the difference between this estimate and the actual number may be just a few hundred calories. For someone larger / younger  and very active like you, it will likely be more than that. Very few people burn 5000 calories or more.

For a second opinion / a reality check, I entered your personal data in this online calculator. According to it, your BMR would be 2113 and your TDEE at the "high" activity level (2nd highest on a scale of 5) would be 3644. I think it would be more realistic than the Fitbit estimate of 5000-5500. For weight loss, I would start eating around 3000 and see what happens on the scale after a few weeks. If you see a nice, steady loss, continue with the same amount. If the weight stays more or less the same, eat a few hundred less until the scale starts moving in the desired direction.