calorie burn isn't consistant

[christy2774]

Does it mean that my fitbit isn't working properly if the calories burned in a day is vastly different from another day when the steps are the same?  On those days it says that I am over budget.  The difference is like almost a thousand calories on some days. 

Thanks

[whome]

Not all steps are created equal, so a 1000 calorie difference with the same number of steps is indeed feasible.

[Dominique]

Can you be more specific: how different is vastly different? What daily step counts are we talking about?

[Dominique]

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@whome wrote:

Not all steps are created equal, so a 1000 calorie difference with the same number of steps is indeed feasible.

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A 1000 calorie difference per day with the same step count is very unlikely IMO.

I personally burn about 1800-2000 calories on low step count days (3-6k) and 3000-3200 calories on higher step count days (25-27k). You can check on my profile for the last few days, since I have had both high and low step counts. I would need extremely high step count days, one walking very slowly and one running very fast, in order to get a 1000 calorie difference with the same step count.

[christy2774]

Here are some of the consistencies. 
10,333 steps. 2340 calorie burn
10,931 steps. 2272 cal burn
11,193 steps. 1115 cal burn
11, 298 steps. 2199 cal burn
So far today....
10,099 steps. Cal burn 783.

These walks are the same speed everyday on my lunch and breaks. But it is starting to say that im over budget food wise because the burn is so low. The 11,193 day and today is so much less. Thats a huge difference. Any ideas?

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone

[Dominique]

Are you sure the 11,193 step day was 1115 calories (and not 2115)? 1115 sounds really off, it's probably less than your BMR. Not sure about today, since I don't know what timezone you're in. However, 783 calories with already 10k steps sounds low. The rest don't seem that inconsistent to me.

What tracker do you have? I have the One, which allows me to record activities (by pressing its button when the activity starts, and pressing it again when it ends). This is great to compare step counts and calorie burns when walking the same set distance every day. This allows you to isolate your main workouts from your other steps during the day.

One thing comes to mind: do you use calorie estimation in your profile? If you're wearing your Fitbit all the time, you should disable it.

[christy2774]

I do wear the fit bit all the time. If it is set up with the auto estimation automatically then yes. I have never changed it. I agree the other numbers were great. I added those to compare the low calorie burn with comparable steps. I double checked and yes the 11193 day is 1115 calorie burn. Today it has barely topped 1000.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone

[whome]

@Dominique - I would need extremely high step count days, one walking very slowly and one running very fast, in order to get a 1000 calorie difference with the same step count.

  Yeah, that is what I figured would need to happen - I agree, unlikely. Especially seeing the additional information.

[Colinm39]

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@christy2774 wrote:
Here are some of the consistencies. 
10,333 steps. 2340 calorie burn
10,931 steps. 2272 cal burn
11,193 steps. 1115 cal burn
11, 298 steps. 2199 cal burn
So far today....
10,099 steps. Cal burn 783.

These walks are the same speed everyday on my lunch and breaks. But it is starting to say that im over budget food wise because the burn is so low. The 11,193 day and today is so much less. Thats a huge difference. Any ideas?

Sent from my Verizon Wireless4GLTEsmartphone

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@christy2774Was the bad day September 22nd.  Fitbit put out fixes for data issues on that day. Read this

Also because speed is involved have you created a timer activity for that through your Log's and examined the pace. I would appear the speed is way down

[christy2774]

The speed is the same on all walks.  I have the same time frames everyday to walk during breaks and lunches.  So it is the same distance and same speed.  It has only been recently that it has been doing this.  Since that hadn't changed, but the calorie burn changed so dramatically, that is why I questioned it.  The other times listed above were decent numbers. Just the two with 1,000 calorie burn are in question in comparison with amount of exercise/steps with over 2,000 calorie burn.

[Stephen1227]

Your listed weight on your profile says 16 lbs.  This is obviously a typo on your part, which can happen to any of us.    I think if you go in and correct this error and enter your actual weight, the problem will be resolved.  You just go into your profile page or your dashboard and look for the little icon gear in the upper right hand corner.  Click on that.  Next, click where it says settings.  Then, scroll down to wear your weight is.  Change it from 16 lb. to the correct weight and save change.  Then, do a manual sync. I believe this is the problem, and you will find the calories burned to be correct since it is using your actual weight to calculate.  

Stephen 

[Stephen1227]

...So I believe that when you had your actual weight listed, Fitbit was correctly figuring your calories burned and allowed for the day,and you were happy because it was accurate.  Then, at some point you likely went in to change your weight because you made progress, and accidentally typed in 16 lbs. and have been unaware of this error, causing the dramatic and frustrating difference in calories burned. Please try this fix.  I think you will be glad you did and the mystery will be solved.  You have been successful with Fitbit, and I believe it will continue to help you reach your goals. 

Stephen