Fitbit accuracy and advice

[C702]

My first post, I'm guessing this is a common query so I hope no one is annoyed by this topic.

The reason I ask is, I am a very active person as I am a plasterer.  Today I did 11 hours on 2 ceilings, usually not a long day but they were artex and needed a huge amount of prep.  They were also very high so I was up and down 3 stage steps.  

my stats are around 113.7kg (very overweight though some muscle as a biproduct of my work and past when I was very fit) 34 male and 5ft10

Today being quite an active day I measured:
12800 steps
5296 calories
5.25 miles 
34 floors

I struggle to believe that is accurate because even though I have had an atrocious almost self destructive diet for about 4 years and only retrained into this position after night shift job (where I put on about 3 stone the majority of my bad weight and probably lost most of my muscle mass) I am amazed that after a couple of months of looking after my diet I haven't started losing weight anyway.  

Is it possible I messed up my body so badly that I have had an extremely low BMR and that only by sorting out nutrition and rebuilding my muscle mass will I begin to start losing some of the probably 35-40% fat of my body.

And does anyone really believe I burned over 5k calories because that seems super inflated.

If anyone does reply, thank you, and sorry if this has been asked before again.

[Dominique]

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@creepingjennie wrote:
So basically you're saying that I'm lying about my intake? Nice.

Maybe I should get rid of this thing and get a different device from a
competitor.

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I didn’t say you were lying: I only suggested you may overestimate your intake, which is not uncommon at all. I wasn’t aware of your medical condition (narcolepsy), which appears to affect BMR. You may want to switch to a tracker from a competitor, but I doubt there’s any that will let you take into account the impact of a medical condition like narcolepsy. Because of your condition, you clearly need to customize/adapt the numbers reported by Fitbit (which are based on the total population).

[creepingjennie]

So you think my basal metabolism is something like a QUARTER of what's
considered normal? Seriously? Ok, I guess I will have to start working out
twice a day, seven days per week, sixty minutes at a time and eat about 600
calories per day. That should at least help the scale budge a little,
right! Thank you so much!

[creepingjennie]

If simply having narcolepsy ensures obesity, then the vast majority of
narcolepsy sufferers would be obese. Not just overweight, but OBESE. This
is not the case. I am 5'2" and weigh 170lbs. I am obese despite proper diet
and exercise, as according to this tracker.

I am measuring my food as follows: Measure out two ounces of almond milk
for my coffee, pour a bit back into the container. enter into the tracker 2
ounces. Same goes for everything else. I use the same products, I tend to
avoid processed foods. I rarely eat outside of my home.

I was simply adding in my two cents, not asking for advice. My tracker is
not accurate.

[Dominique]

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@creepingjennie wrote:
So you think my basal metabolism is something like a QUARTER of what's
considered normal?

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Where did I say that? I have no way to know what your calculated BMR would be, since I don’t know your age/height/weight. I only guessed your BMR (as calculated by the standard equation, Mifflin St Jeor, generally considered the most accurate) could be about 1400-1500. Now let’s say your medical condition would result in an actual BMR 30% lower than the calculated one that applies to the general population: your actual BMR would be 1450 x 0.7 = 1015. Calories burned on top of that (about 1000, according to Fitbit) would also be 30% lower: 700. Your average TDEE would come down from 2450 to 1715. Let’s say Fitbit is off by 200 (perfectly possible, estimating expenditure with a fitness tracker is not exact science): you would be left with 1515. Not far away from what the intake logged by you (about 1400). A quarter of your calculated BMR would be 362, not at all what I’m suggesting above.

Given your condition, you should probably talk to a medical professional that understands it and could provide relevant advice. Maybe you’ve already done that.

[Dominique]

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@creepingjennie wrote:
My tracker is not accurate.

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You should qualify your statement: the tracker is not accurate for you (likely because of your medical condition).

[creepingjennie]

My tracker also says that I climbed 17 stories today. Nope. Not even one, actually. So I think my statement stands. It's really only useful for tracking my heart rate, which seems pretty accurate. 

Oh sorry. For me I mean. 

[OddLynn]

There is a sensitivity setting to your tracker that if not set accurately will tell you things like overdoing it on the stairs or various other things. 

I know that with my first tracker, a FitBit Flex then a FitBit HR and even the one I use now the FitBit Blaze, I had to tinker around with them to get all the correct settings. That doesn't mean it's right and you're wrong or you're right and it's wrong, it means neither are perfect. Biology is difficult for humans to grasp, small chipped computers can only do as well as they are programmed and the information put in by the user. Both can be flawed.

Now, one other thing is that you are exactly where your body likes to be and it doesn't want you to lose weight. I've had that many times over the years and nothing I would do make my body budge. Trying different things, less food more exercise, more food more exercise or less of both, I finally found what worked for me. I have to walk a lot, at least 10k steps a day and have portion control, otherwise I fail. Every person has a different chemical makeup and if you can't get that balanced, for whatever reason, your body chemistry isn't happy and it won't do what you want. Unfortunately, biology and chemistry are in control not our minds as we all hope.

However, snarky mindset aside, which I really like BTW, you can call FitBit and they will try to make whatever FitBit you have work for you. I've called a few times and they were always helpful. Keep in mind that you can get a lemon, I did once and they replaced it. In Europe...

I have found that the Blaze has worked the best out of all of them EXCEPT when they replaced the software the last time...it definitely sucked for a few days...and they told me how to get it back. 

Good luck, narcolepsy aside, hopefully, you can get your FitBit to work for you the way you want. 

[David_W]

These things over-read by a lot.  I've had a Charge HR for two years.  My average calorie burn for the past month is 3000 cal/day, I'm on a 1000 cal deficit plan and I'm good with tracking and weighing my food.  I have a cheat day at the weekend but even then I don't go overboard.  I lift weights three or four times a week.  Basically I've lost next to nothing in the last couple of months.  For a normal, healthy person losing weight is simple maths.  Burn more than you consume, so if the fitbit is telling me I can consume 2000 cal and I'm not losing weight then the thing is over-estimating my calorie burn.

At which point what exactly am I wearing this thing for?

[Esya]

@David_W

It might overestimate your calorie burn, but not by 50% (3000 instead of 2000). In your case it sounds like you might have hit a plateau. You actually might want to consider eating a bit more and changing up/increasing intensity of your work outs.

[David_W]

I'll be carried out the gym into an ambulance if I work much harder 

I'm going to leave the fitbit off for a month and just stick to an 1850 calorie plan and see if anything changes.

If I see a positive result (I prioritise body fat % over weight) the fitbit goes in a bin! 

[Esya]

@David_W

That is never a good idea 😄 . I made a typo in my post too I see, it should have read eat a bit more and/or increase intensity. Just eating a bit more for a little while might get you out of a plateau.

[GershonSurge]

@David_W,

It would help if we could see the charts on your profile. Many of us can look at your steps and activity minutes and get a good estimate of the calories you are burning. 

Meanwhile, I suggest turning the heart rate monitor off for a few days to see if the calories burned changes. 

I find it difficult to burn 3,000 calories a day without walking or jogging. Weight lifting doesn't burn many calories even if it is strenuous.

An 1,800 calorie plan may work the best for you. It's really the simplest way to go.

[Dominique]

@David_W: your Charge HR was never marketed as a fat loss aid, although it can come handy in estimating your energy expenditure (and therefore can be used to support your fat loss efforts). Even though it may not do so with 100% accuracy (estimating calories burned with a fitness tracker is not exact science), it certainly beats generic rules of thumb like "multiply your body weight by 11 (or whatever) if you are not very active to get your energy expenditure" etc. When my Fitbit says I burned 3000 calories, I know it’s more than on days when I only burn 2500 or 2000 calories. Even if these numbers are wrong in absolute terms, they are most likely right in relation to each other. If you have been tracking your weight and your intake for some time, you should be able to figure out by how much they are wrong (in your case, overestimating).

[David_W]

Sorry, but thats just nonsense.  Why have a calorie tracking and food logging function with suggested plans if accuracy isn't a priority?

Whats the point of even wearing the thing?

[Dominique]

If it doesn’t work for you, or if you haven’t found (or aren’t willing to find) ways to make it work for you, then by all means ditch it and try something else. However, many people have been able to use their Fitbits to their advantage.

[GershonSurge]

@David_W, @Dominique

Last year I lost 14 pounds from May 15th to July 1st. I started at 191.3 pounds and ended up at 177.2 pounds. Since I enjoy little scientific experiments, I meticulously logged my food. The chart below shows my expected weight vs. my actual weight.

The difference was only 0.8 pounds.

I found it took a 3,927 calorie deficit to lose a pound. Whether the difference from the normal 3,500/pound is from Fitbit error or my body doesn't matter. it's consistent.

This was the second time I did this experiment. The first time it was with the Zip. In that case, I only needed about a 2,800 calorie deficit to lose a pound. 

It doesn't matter that both devices are inaccurate. Since I know one is about 400 calories high each day and the other is about 400 calories low, I can adjust.

Since then, I mostly stopped counting calories. Since last July I stayed between 172 and 174 pounds with minor excursions outside the range. I step on my Aria and if I'm outside the range, I adjust by eating more or less food.

Your HR is almost certainly not accurate. That doesn't mean it's not useful. As long as you eat at least the number of calories equal to your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)  Just keep increasing the deficit until you lose from one to two pounds a week. This will represent a deficit from 500 to 1000 calories.

You don't look like you need to lose much weight. We look to be about the same weight. If you want a 1,000 calorie deficit, you will likely need to get about 12,000 steps a day. Weight lifting burns few calories compared to walking or jogging even if you have a tough work out. 

[A_Lurker]

Like @GershonSurge said, I took a period of time (just over 6 months) of calorie counting and expected weight loss vs actual.

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Manage-Weight/Weekly-Weigh-In/m-p/1593430#M46798

So, for 6.5 month we have:

Total deficit:     251,728 calories

Pounds lost:           64.1

Deficit per pound:  3930 calories

So for me it was off by about 12%.  Here's the thing - all measurements, be they BMR, calories burned through activity, etc. are based on the average person.  Some will burn more, some will burn less.  The Fitbit is a data collection tool.  Comparing results to expected let you adjust your plan.  I find it best at comparing how active I am day to day.

Having said all that there are a number of people here who would be happy to help you tweak your diet and/or exercise to get better results.  I'm probably not the best person to help if you don't have a lot to lose (even though I'm down over 100lbs I still have a lot to go).  I think the strategies for losing a smaller amount of weight can be quite different.  For example, losing 2lbs/week may be fine if you have a lot of weight to lose, but perhaps not realistic for the last 10 pounds.  However, if you want to open a dialog about it, let's start with some information.

1) How much weight do you need to lose?

2) How long have you been trying? (looks like a month)

3) Are you logging/counting your cheat meals on the weekend

4) How do you measure/log your food

Others have asked about general activity levels.

Using myself as an example, when I was sustaining a 2lb/week loss I pretty much logged everything by using a food scale in the kitchen.  I didn't take 'an apple', I logged the weight of the apple.

granny smith, small = 83 calories

granny smith, large = 119 calories

granny smith, 10oz  = 163 calories

I'm just using that as an example as one of the large granny smith apples we get during the fall here are pretty damn close to 10oz (so even if I booked it as large I would be off by 25%).  I have to go find an old post I did about post-workout shakes (because you mentioned lifting).  Although I don't use it, peanut butter is one of those things you have to watch as well.

I'd also suggest that you sign up for a free trendweight.com account.  It can give you a graphical view of which way your weight is going.  I mention that because you said you weren't losing as much as you expected.  So, it sounds like you're losing something.  One of the good things about the community here is that if you want some assistance we'll try and help.  We may not know what's going to work for you, but we can always give you some suggestions.

[A_Lurker]

Okay, I found the old post about working out and post-workout shakes.  It's just an example of how you can be off, even if you are the average person that the tracker uses.  It's also not a bad example of how a food scale (one that weighs in grams) can be useful.  Sigh... although my pool is now open it's definitely not warm enough to sit on the steps of it reading yet!

Yesterday I came home early, sat in the pool reading for a while (beautiful afternoon and I'm not often home early).  Then I swam some laps for about an hour.  Not strenous laps, and not continously, but when I checked my data later I burned about 320 cals.  I actually did higher than that in the plant just before I left, but that's another story.  So, if I'd done a workout that burned 320 calories I might think that protein shake with a Tb of peanut butter is a healthy end to my workout.  Oops, hang on, I burn 80 calories sleeping, so I really only burned 240 calories.  Oh well, my smoothie was only 224 calories, I'm still okay.  That was 130 for the scoop of protein powder and 94 calories for my 1 Tb of peanut butter.  However, I'm eyeballing my food so that scoop of powder might be 150, and that heaping Tb of peanut butter might actually be 2... omg it was closer to 3 when I weighed it.

Workout - 320, no 240

Smoothie - 224, no 432

Hang on, I'm working out, how come I'm not losing weight?  I'm working out every day and eating well, I don't get it.