Very Dissapointed with my fitbit charge HR (calories burned)

[Isabel38]

Hi everyone, I just want to know if someone is experiencing the same situation with the fitbit tracker... I've been using the fitbit tracker (charge HR) since April, doing more than 30.000 daily steps and nothing happens with my weight, I have tried to track all the calories consumed and most of the time (6 days a week) I could reach the daily goal of 750 calories difference between calories burned/consumed. It's very demanding to get 30.000 a day, but the results are really frustrating, sometimes I think that all the calories burned in my fitbit are just a fake. My weight is 152 lbs and 5'3" tall. I need help because honestly I feel very sad about all of my useless effort.

[Proudpatriot]

You say you are getting 30,000 steps a day but are you raising your heart rate?  Lots of steps are well and good but 10,0000 steps that includes half an hour of vigorous walking/jogging is better than 30,000 steps of leisurely walking around.

[James_R]

Hey Isabel, 

Don't be discouraged, there's plenty of things we could try to understand whats going on. for instance, what is your diet like? If you're on a decent diet you will notice early muscle gains at such a high level of activity which'll plaeteau eventually.

Also consider the times at which you eat and frequency, little and often tends to be a lot more effective than 3 set meals a day as it keeps you in an anabloic state rather than catabolic. 

It may also be worth considering upping your caloric intake a bit closer to maintenance. When i 'cut' to trim off fat after 'bulking' for muscle gains I never go further than a 500 calorie deficit as the body tends to resist more extreme deficits and retain fat. 

Don't think of your effort as useless though, we all have to start somewhere, and we all have to learn what's right for us. You can succeed with perseverance and adaptation. 

[Isabel38]

I get the daily steps doing jogging in place, increasing only to a 98-99
bpm average, trying to keep the fat burning mode. Thanks for responding!!

[MelHM]

The only thing I can think of is how accurately you're weighing your food.  I have the EXACT goal target of 750 calories a day and it's worked very accurately for me... sometimes getting within 0.2 lbs per week.

Are you weighing with a food scale and are you weighing in grams?  Are you eating out much?  How chefs prepare food can be drastically different, even eating at the same chain restaurants.  Do you count things such as Olive Oil accurately along with condiments that you'll use in your food.

How are you reacting to a 750 calories deficit.  In my opinion, if you feel like you're up to it, try and 1000 calorie deficit.  IMO, the more active you are, the more you can get away with a larger calorie deficit as long as you're sticking with a good nutrition plan.  If you're at a 1000 calorie deficit and you're not experiencing much hunger throughout the day, then something's amiss.

Also, only weigh yourself once a week and do it at the EXACT same time every week for consistency.

[Dangermouse1]

Great to see you are trying.

I hope this doesn't come off as too harsh because it's not intended that way.

The fat burning zone is a myth.  You really need to get your heart rate up and actually be moving to get some gains from exercise.  HIIT is one of the best methods to exercise - short, intense bursts follwed by short rests.  As many burpess as you can for 1 minute the 30 seconds rest 10 times is one example.  Sprints for 30 sec followed by 30 sec rest is another, jump rope with a similar program.  If you google HIIT you will see some great ideas.  Don't focus so much on the steps, particularly with the method you are using to gain steps.

This all comes from my research and experience as a personal trainer.

Also, make sure your diet has good quality calories and is limited on processed foods.  I do not advocate cutting out food groups but am a great believer in eating wholegrains, veggies, fruits, good quality proteins and good fats.  Not too much of the low fat yoghurts, muesli bars etc. 

Good luck!

[Heybales]

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@Isabel38 wrote:
I get the daily steps doing jogging in place, increasing only to a 98-99
bpm average, trying to keep the fat burning mode. Thanks for responding!!

---

90 is usually found in studies to be the cross-over point where the average person even enters what would be considered exercise level, compared to daily routine level, of activity.

I'm finding it hard to see a fat-burning zone that is that low, unless your HRmax was calculated to be very low. Or you are attempting to use the bottom of the zone, not the top.

Besides that fact, dittos to above, it's a myth for fat-burning mode.

You'll burn more calories overall, and just as much fat in grams, working at a higher level. You don't STOP burning fat, you just burn more carbs - during the actual workout.

After the workout though, you'll burn more fat to compensate for that bigger carb burn.

So get going faster.

The fat-burning zone, better called Active Recovery HR zone for much longer before that fad started, is great for specific purposes. Endurance cardio training, recovery cardio after a day of hard lifting, ect.

Dittos to intervals if limited on time. Tabata is the name.

HIIT is now becoming the fad name tacked on to anything with intense sessions to it, and it also has it's place, and can be overdone too.

[Isabel38]

I want to thank to all of you for your help, I have to add that only this year I tried to make steps as a workout, because before that I used to go to the gym and practice spinning, aerobox or 1 hour of elliptical workout 4 times a week. My main concern now after all this discussion is to see if I will continue using the fitbit or not, because it was very stimulating to me to see everyday how many calories I was burning, but my conclusion is that the data is not accurate at all, because it's not possible to get 3100 calories burned everyday doing a low intensity exercise. My diet is not very restrictive, I eat vegetables, ham, eggs, and some pasta mixed with vegetables as an example of a meal. I drink mango juice, a lot of tea and also I eat flaxseeds, and sesame seeds. I only eat fast food once or two days a month and I rarely go out for dinner, because It's not possible to count calories in a meal in a restaurant.

What's your opinion guys about stop using the fitbit? Don't you think that 30.000 steps and 3100 calories burned per day with a low intensity workout is not accurate at all?

[RivalDealer]

I imagine that the 3100 calories per day is your TDEE rather than calories burned during activity.

[shannonsgrammy]

Thanks for this reply. I, too, am having the same problem as Isabel. I think it may be inaccurate input of my calorie intake, but it is still pretty discouraging at first.

[Isabel38]

Exactly, it's my TDEE.

[Isabel38]

I used a TDEE calculator, and according to my low intensity workout, I have a total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) of 2050-2090 calories, and my fitbit indicates that my TDEE is 3100-3200, so we have here a huge difference of more than 1000 calories. Any comments about this? Thanks for all of your replies!

[Heybales]

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@Isabel38 wrote:
I used a TDEE calculator, and according to my low intensity workout, I have a total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) of 2050-2090 calories, and my fitbit indicates that my TDEE is 3100-3200, so we have here a huge difference of more than 1000 calories. Any comments about this? Thanks for all of your replies!

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So you have a device that you have not commented on regarding accuracy of distance measurements (the basis of step-based calorie burn), or if HR model the accuracy of it seeing your HR the whole time giving you an estimate of 3100-3200.

No comment regarding rest of the day outside a low intensity workout.

And you have a rough 5 level TDEE table where you guessed what level seems correct based only on descriptions of exercise and nothing about daily life, and it gives an estimate of under 2100.

Guess which one is closer to reality?

How many hours a week of this low intensity exercise do you do?

What is your daily activity during the 45 hr work week/drive time average?

Do you have a kid or kids at home that means increased activity after said work and on weekends?

Unless you can prove your Fitbit is seeing a ton of extra steps and therefore distance and therefore calorie burn.

Or the HR during exercise as massively higher than it really is because of misreadings.

Or you prove out the steps is decent but the distance is way off from what Fitbit sees compared to known distance.

[Isabel38]

a) My device: Fitbit Charge HR
b) I exercise approximately 2.5 -3 hours daily most of the time from Mo-Su. I divide the exercise in two sessions, 1 hour at night and the rest of the time after lunch.
c) The rest of the time my daily activity is very low, trying to play at least 3 times daily with my dog, doing desk job, housework and I have no kids.
d) When I have to go shopping, I always try to walk in a fast pace and sometimes I don't use public transportation to walk a little bit more. I always sweat a lot when I walk outside and my BPM reaches 110-115 ( not uphill, just flat surface).
e) My fitbit sometimes misreads my bpm, sometimes its higher and in other cases not showing any signal. I have had to adjust the device more tight to solve the problem, but my skin got irritated for this. When the misread happens, I always took off the device and I workout holding the device in my hand until the the BPM is normal.

Thanks!!

[Heybales]

So at least 19 hrs of exercise weekly. Or pretty close.

And pretty active during the day too.

And the TDEE table stops at Extremely Active - and this is what you selected (2 x daily exercise) and only got around 2100 calories?

If you received 2100 calories for Extremely Active which is clearly the level you are, your BMR would be around 1100, which would mean you are likely short and very near goal weight.

If that is not true, then reread your list of what you do - and why do you think your daily burn could not be up around 3100 calories?

What experience do you have with calorie eating levels that maintain weight outside of a diet - like did you ever log what you used to eat that got you to the point of needing to lose?

If not, and your only experience with calorie levels is 1200 often recommended as bare minimum for sedentary average female (which you obviously aren't) - then you have no experience with calorie levels to know what high or low means.

[tommy21969]

Hi , being on a diet and exercise regularly takes a lot of will power . It looks like you are on the right track , congratulations ! Now , I am not a dietician but looking on what you eat :

" My diet is not very restrictive, I eat vegetables, ham, eggs, and some pasta mixed with vegetables as an example of a meal. I drink mango juice, a lot of tea and also I eat flaxseeds, and sesame seeds"

That doesnt sound to me like diet at all ( please dont be offended ) , however 30.000 steps a day that is very impressive ! Try going on more strict diet and with amount of walking and other excercises that you doing , your weight is going to drop down in no time !

Cheers