Fitbit's calculation of calories burnt is too high

[Neelankshi]

Hi,

I bought my Fitbit Blaze 2 days back. I have been tracking my calories expended using other apps on my phone so far. Those apps have always showed my calorie burnt through activity in the range of 350-400 for 10,000 steps for a normal walk. My stats are Female, 26 yrs, 69 Kgs and 5 ft 3 in.

The fitbit app shows my calories burnt through activity in the range of 500-550 which is too high. I'll share my three day stats of my usual phone app v/s fitbit

Day 1

Phone app - 652 calories for 18600 steps

Fitbit Blaze - 1168 calories for 19243 steps

Day 2

Phone app - 476 calories for 14932 steps

Fitbit Blaze - 1055 calories for 15909 steps

I use third app to log my food and water intake because it has a rich database for Indian food. I intended it to sync with Fitbit but, if I do, it will shoot my calorie intake in the third app and will indicate me to eat more calories then I should be. This will eventually make me gain weight rather than lose.

Please guide me.  

[meami5]

I can help with the calorie situation, in a way. Which app are you using for your food?

[Neelankshi]

I am using healthifyme. Its an indian app.

[meami5]

It gives you your calorie limit I take it? What I do is use macronutrientcalcalator.com and use it to find your daily calorie needs for weight loss and your macro nutrient split. Take a note of the numbers and every day as you log your food stay within those numbers and weight loss will follow. Even if you just use that as a short term thing untill you figure out what is going on with your fitbit.

[Kait5991]

All I can think of is that the Blaze is taking in count your heart rate and calculating calorie burned that way, where the apps on your phone (if they have no access to heart rate) are just taking your weight and height and calculating what you would burn that way. 

I'm not totally sure what you should do about syncing food calories because I haven't totally figured it out either! Currently I log my food in MyFitnessPal and sync it to Fitbit, but really try to keep in the same range of calories each day even if it says I can eat more. 

[meami5]

I totally agree. Calories burned will be via heart rate . That's what I do with my fitness pal also, stick to my allotted daily calories.

[Neelankshi]

I think I'll do the same.. stay within the initial limit rather than
allowing myself to eat more as per fitbit's calculations of calories.

But, still... I am lil disheartened.. I thought everything will be in sync
after I buy my Fitbit. 😞 slightlh disappointed..

[Neelankshi]

Thanks but, logging on a website would be difficult.. plus my current app
healthifyme is doing well for me. Its just that I wanted a fitness tracker
to track my activity.

[meami5]

I'm pretty sure the activity tracked with your fitbit will be far more accurate than your other apps, as it is based on your heart rate. If the calories burned are out at all they will be by single digits. Good luck hun. 

[Neelankshi]

Hi, today I have been sitting since morning with very little walk and
fitbit yet says 45 caloris burnt through activity in 156 steps. Seriously!
45 calories in just 156 steps. That's so wrong.

[AjaySingh]

What I absorbed so far is, fitbit keeps calculating calories even though you are not in any kind of activity. I have seen situation where i didn't wear my watch at all for the whole day and saw calories numbers increased.

[Kait5991]

Your body burns calories just by living, this is what your Fitbit is showing you! 

[Neelankshi]

Right, but 45 calories for 156 steps is different from what I burn without any activity. All I am saying is Fitbit needs to improve its algorithm for calorie burnt through activity.

[Rich_Laue]

@Neelankshi ate you also taken into.consideration that calories have been being burnt since midnight. Your brain burn, every breath, every heartbeat, calories are neing burnt while laying in bed.

[shipo]

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@Neelankshi wrote:

Right, but 45 calories for 156 steps is different from what I burn without any activity. All I am saying is Fitbit needs to improve its algorithm for calorie burnt through activity.

---

How have you determined the 45 calories burned is associated with those 156 steps?

[Neelankshi]

Yes. I deducted the calories burnt naturally from the total number. I have more data points to prove my case - 

As per my BMR, the calorie count that my body burns without doing any forced activity is 1390. My fitbit shows that I burnt - 

Day 1 - 1946 calories for 9423 steps and I ate 1247 calories

Day 2 - 2568 calories for 19243 steps and I ate 1317 calories

Day 3 - 2445 calories for 15909 steps and I ate 1142 calories

Day 4 - 1878 calories for 6420 steps and I ate 1257 calories

Day 5 - 2058 calories for 8501 steps and I ate 1146 calories

Day 6 - 1594 calories for 2115 steps and ate 1159 calories

Day 7 - 1466 calories for 413 steps and ate 1122 calories

 (these calories burnt numbers include 1390 as well)

Now as per the equation = I expended a total of 5565 kcal in 7 days.

It is said that to lose a pound of weight one needs to burn 3500 calories. That means I should have lost 1.59 pounds in 7 days which clearly did not happen. So, what am I missing here? Don't you think the Fitbit app is calculating the number of calories as too high?

[Neelankshi]

That's the calories burnt by body for being alive. I am talking about the calories burnt through activities like walk, run, jog, swim, cycling, stair climbing etc.

[AlejandraFitbit]

Hello all, I hope you are doing fine!

Regarding to the calories inquiry, I recommend taking a look at the How does Fitbit estimate how many calories I've burned? article. Also keep in mind that your calories will be estimated in the exercise that you have been doing during the day and the food you logged. Please check that you are not doubling your information by manually logging your information.

See you around. 

[SanskaarBoy]

Hi Neelankshi,

Were you able to sort this out? I have just done the Healthifyme and Fitbit sync 2-3 days back and am observing the same. Can we trust Fitbit and eat those extra calories?

Also what struck me was that earlier Healthifymy used to show calorie burn requirement as 500kcal for me with an intake of 2600kcal.. After syncing with Fitbit, it shows around 1.2 kcal burnt even thought fitbit sats around 2.5kcal burnt.. maybe the delta is the doing nothing calorie burn and the target which Healthy gives is over and above this?

Looking forward to your response. Thanks

in advance!

[Heybales]

3 yr old set of posts. Unlikely to get answer.

Reading through the prior responses though only 1 person understood that Fitbit is showing calories burned whether you have steps or not, because you do indeed burn calories even sleeping.

And Fitbit has no designation of Active calories, like those above and beyond say a sedentary level of burn.

Most the posts in this topic are incorrect understanding of how things work - you don't really want feedback unless they have learned now.

Your other app sounds like it has a setting for a goal number of calories burned above say some level like Sedentary, that's sounds like the burn requirement - it's a goal, obviously not a requirement.

Sounds like it's using very different math, and you aren't providing enough info to see if there is really an issue or not. 1200 cal burned sounds like above BMR, perhaps above sedentary, whereas the 2500 burned is all in, total daily, what would be called TDEE.