Using fitbit to track calories

[Tracy2552]

I could use some help with the calories in vs calories burned in my device. I have set a goal to loose a certain amount of weight and am not sure why it says I've burned so many calories lol. This is day 2 so I haven't gone to the gym yet and tracked workout yet! How does this work? Should I manually log my workout or track it at the time?

[ErinScott · Accepted solution]

Fitbit will calculate how many calories you are burning by just being alive and so that will show up. When you get up in the morning, it will say you've burned X amount, and that is simply just what your body burns naturally. When you're walking, or moving around lots (running, or step based activities) it will notice and calculate that you are burning more, so the calories burned will be higher. If you do any non-step activites (most gym stuff) then it won't know so you will need to manually imput those, and then that will show up as calories you have burned.

Hopefully that helps!

[Tracy2552 · Accepted solution]

Ty! That does help 🙂

[Tracy-15]

If i do a circuit training workout which I do most everyday about a 1/2 hour to an hour with weight resistance, how do I know how many calories I burned?  If I just put the amount of time i completed in activities will Fit bit add that?

Thanks

Tracy

[SunsetRunner]

When you put in your activity and the amount of time you did it, then FitBit will calculate calories burned for you. Just be sure that your weight logged into FitBit is accurate. For example: a 130lb person will burn a different number of calories doing 30 minutes of crossfit than a 210lb person doing the same thing for the same amount of time traditionally.

Hope this helps!

Joy

[lndavidson]

Can you manually input exercise on a Flex?  If so, how?  I see "Track exercise", not log it.  How doe that work?  I do elliptical and zumba as well as pilates.  Does the Flex pick that up or can I enter it?

[Tracy-15]

Where you log your food is a tab for activities.  That is where you log your exercise.   If i am walking I don't log it as it will double count it.
If I do my total gym etc.  I take off the fit bit during that and then will log it manually.  If the activity choice is not there, I google "how many calories burned doing .......  I can usually find how many calories burned for the time I did that activity.

[Raviv]

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@Tracy-15 wrote:
Where you log your food is a tab for activities.  That is where you log your exercise.   If i am walking I don't log it as it will double count it.
If I do my total gym etc.  I take off the fit bit during that and then will log it manually.  If the activity choice is not there, I google "how many calories burned doing .......  I can usually find how many calories burned for the time I did that activity.

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It won't double count unless you're inaccurate when entering the start and stop time for the activity.  Manual activiy entries override the automatic tracking, so the only way it will double count is if you override the wrong data by entering the time wrong.

What I do when I'm using a treadmill at the gym is take a picture of the screen when I finish.  My phone (iPhone 6) time stamps the picture with the time I finished, and the treadmill display shows the duration of the exercise.  So if my picture is stamped 6:55 and my workout lasted 47 mminutes, I know the start time was 6:08.

If I'm lifting, my app has an area for notes, so I just add the start and stop time for that and enter the exercise manually when I get home.