Calorie Display Question

[Keith_F]

I got a Fitbit Charge 2 for Christmas and am starting to figure out how to use it.  Tonight I went into the Activity Log on the website and looked at my activity data for the first two days I wore the device.  I am confused by what I see in the Calories Burned view.  I note that I am burning about 20 calories every 5 minutes (4 cal / min) between the hours of midnight and 2:00 or 2:30AM (I am asleep during this time).  After that, the burn drops to around 1.2 cal / min for the remaining time that I am sleeping and continues for a good portion of the work day (I drive a desk for a living).  It seldom goes above 5 calories per minute during this time even when I am up and moving about.  I am 55, 5'10" and around 200 lbs, and a 1.2 cal / min average yields 1728 calories per day, which agrees with an online BMR calculator I used.  What's up with the 2.5 hour, 4 cal / minute jump during my sleeping time?

[YojanaFitbit]

I'd like to start saying "Welcome"! It's great to see you here @Keith_F. Let me just add a little of background about calories. Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the rate at which you burn calories at rest just to maintain vital body functions like breathing, heartbeat, and brain activity as you know. Your BMR usually accounts for at least half of the calories you burn in a day and is estimated based on the physical data you entered when you set up your account: gender, age, height, and weight.

Besides that he calorie burn estimate that Fitbit provides takes into account your BMR, the activity recorded (sleep) and your HR (heart rate) information, so your tracker was detecting more information about your sleep by your HR during that time so it might be why it go up during that time. 

Have you noticed any other day in which you can see that jump in your calories burned while sleeping? 

I'd like to know that to keep assisting you! 

[Keith_F]

Thanks for your reply.  I've been keeping track for several days and my calorie burn is highest - by a significant amount - between the hours of around midnight to 2:00 or 2:30am.  In addition, the amounts vary from day to day, from a low of around 73 to a high of several hundred. It makes no sense. Is there a way that I can send you the data to look at, and would that even be helpful?

[Keith_F]

I wanted to provide some additional information, as tonight was my first night back in the gym after a very sedentary week.  I am even more confused after looking at my workout data.  After an 80 minute intense workout consisting of weight training and core work, the app is showing that my total active minutes so far today is 102.  The average of the past three days - when I literally sat on my butt almost all day each day - was around 175 active minutes. Calories burned so far today (with 4 hours left until midnight) are about 2,700, compared to an average over the past three days of 3,000.  When I look at exercise on the dashboard for today, I am seeing an entry timestamped midnight that the app logged 159 calories of walking exercise.  There is no entry for my workout this afternoon, and I am seeing no time in the fat burn or cardio zones in the log, even though when I looked at my device during my workout, it indicated that i was in those zones.  Do I need to exchange my device for a new one, are am I not understanding something?  Help!  

[YojanaFitbit]

Hope you're doing great @Keith_F! Thanks for sharing that information. In regards fo the high amount of calories that you're getting in the morning, I would suggest to restart your Fitbit Charge 2, check if your profile information is accurate and check if your sleep record shows any change in particular during that time. 

All Fitbit trackers calculate active minutes using metabolic equivalents (METs). METs help measure the energy expenditure of various activities. Because they do so in a comparable way among persons of different weights, METs are widely used as indicators for exercise intensity. For example, a MET of 1 indicates a body at rest. Fitbit trackers estimate your MET value in any given minute by calculating the intensity of your activity. 

You earn active minutes for activities at or above about 3 METs.  To stay in line with the Center for Disease Control's (CDC’s) “10 minutes at a time is fine” concept, minutes are only awarded after 10 minutes of continuous moderate-to-intense activity.  If an activity gives you active minutes one day and fewer active minutes the next day, remember that the intensity of exercise is key. Often what seems like the exact same amount of effort over the same distance in fact differs slightly enough to change your active minutes total. 

Being said that, it's pretty weird that you're getting almost the same amount of Active Minutes when you don't workout than when you're actively exercising. Have you logged any activity during those days? Have you check if your activities are lasting longer than 10 minutes in moderate or high intensity?

If see the graph in the Fitbit.com Dashboard, your Active minutes will be showed in a different way, have you check the intensity of your activities. See 1 graph, yellow and green bars are how Active minutes are showed:

 Hope this helps, I'll be around in case you have more questions! 

[SunsetRunner]

Calories burned inaccurate on my versa 2. Everyday it shows 2000cal burned and I am not active at all these days. I left the device to charge overnight and it showed 1116 calories burned in the morning. How is this possible? 0 steps , no exercises logged and over 1000 calories burned? Is there any options in settings where I could fix that?