Switch to Alta? - discontent over Charge HR calories burned

[tartpief]

Hi Fitbit community

I recently lost (or got it stolen) my Charge HR, having been a dedicated Fitbit user (Zip first, Charge HR - combined with Aria soon) for years.

As a subsitute, I am very interested buying an Alta (in part because I think Charge HR's band is too thick for a girl) but am having reservations because of discontentment over Charge HR's calories burned count.

To get to the point, does Alta have the same problem with Charge HR? That of crediting exercise calories too high? (I don't remember well but I don't think Zip had the same problem, which is why I am considering getting Alta despite my discontentment over Charge HR)

Charge HR actually hindered my weight loss journey because of its exaggerated exercise calories count. According to HR, I should have reached my goal weight loooong ago but I see no difference.

I am 5' 4" and 132-3 lbs. I want to lose weight and become slender. I should have a little above average muscle mass because I strength-train around 4-5 times a week. (for at least 45 mins) I have been doing this for ages and did NOT increase my amount of weight training which means the lack of weight loss does not come from muscle mass increase.

After I got fitbit, I always have tried to eat 1500 calories and I eat more if my fitbit wants me to eat more according to my 1lbs per week goal (I have set my goal to 1lbs-500cal deficit a week) I have it linked to MyFitnessPal but the activity level is already set to sedentary.(despite the fact that I walk around 5000-6000 steps just by travelling to work)

But I religiously followed and no weightloss happened!! and if I eat say, 2100 calories on 2600 calories burned day(according to my fitbit), and if I continue to do it, I always gain weight instead of 1lb/per week weight loss as it should be. 

If any Fitbit staff is seeing this, please fix this. I know this is not just me but universal problem to Charge HR users.

But again, to go back to the question, is Alta any better in terms of accuracy of calories burned?

[slysam]

Hi, I found my One was very accurate for me in terms of calorie allowance when I logged my non-step friendly workouts (yoga, weight lifting, swimming, etc). I would have to work very hard to burn 2000 calories a day though so I would lose weight eating 1400-1600 most days when I was dieting.

I also have a Surge, and Charge HR. I actually get fewer steps with the wrist worn than I do with the One. I have mostly worn my Surge during workouts and sometimes desk-bound days (which is bulky for a female wrist, the face is wider than my wrist). My calorie burn was pretty similar on the Surge as the One other than I don't seem to need to log activity as much. Strangely, I don't recall how the Charge HR compares other than it counted fewer steps than my One. 

To me, not knowing all your stats your calorie allowance did sound high (for your height and weight though there are other factors). Are all your settings correct? 

Oh, one other thing about MFP. I am not sure whether I am giving outdated advice but this is based on my experience when I had MFP and Fitbit linked...

Set your activity level higher to reflect your true activity level not sedentary. If you are getting more than 3000 steps a day, you are not sedentary.  Back when I used MFP (over a year ago now), MFP was deducting the deficit off the base activity level. In my case, if I was set for 1 pound loss, the sedentary activity level setting only added about 350 calories to my BMR. So that was all the deficit that was taken off no matter how active I was in reality. That really isn't a big enough margin of error for me. When I set it to lightly active, MFP took off the whole deficit that I requested so my allowance would actually end up lower at the higher activity level setting than at sedentary. At that level I needed about 7,000 steps to see fitbit adjustment, if your steps are consistently higher you might even want to list your level as active.

I also did not log any calorie burning exercise on MFP because it also adds it on top. I logged the exercise to Fitbit directly. I saw a lot of people struggle with this issue when I was using MFP and Fitbit together as it can work well, but in some cases can result in too high an allowance. 

I don't know about the Alta, it looks pretty. I would be interested to hear how it compares. But I would suggest reexamining your settings especially with the integration between MFP and Fitbit. 

[tartpief]

Most days without extra workout, I would usally record 1600-1700 cals a day
by taking 6000-ish steps. But I would still gain weight when I eat like
1500-1600 calories if I don't do extra workout. There must be something
wrong with Charge HR itself or my setting of Charge Hr or with my
metabolism.
2600 cals in the original post was crazy days like when I walked hours when
travelling (like 25000+steps plus extra workout). But it was frustrating to
do extra hard to take it to over 2000 cals burned (e.g. taking 20000-ish
steps including around 6 mile run) and create caloric deficits but still
maintained or gained weight by eating like 1800 cals.
I will maybe try Alta and get the MFP and Alta dislinked for an experiment.

Thanks for the detailed reply!

[emili · Accepted solution]

I recommend you visit the Alta discussion boards under help forums and see what others are saying about it. It will also give you a chance to take a deeper look into what the alta offers before you commit. Good luck, I hope you find the right tracker for you.