Charge 2 calories burned too high

[LisannevdL]

I just got my new Charge 2 on saturday so I've not tested it very long, but the calorie count on it seems WAY off. The BMR on it seems correct for my height/weight (1555) but then the calories burned when simply walking a bit are way too high.

Saturday, I went shopping for a few hours that got me around 10k steps in total. I also did a kickboxing workout (268 cals) and went biking (219 cals) and Fitbit calculated 3000 (!!!) calories burned that day. That just can't be right, when my BMR is only 1555 I should've burned 1445 cals with exercise according to Fitbit. Subtract the kickboxing and biking (which is way higher intensity than the walking, calories for that seem correct) from that and that leaves 958 calories burned for walking +/- 10.000 steps.

Has anyone else had this problem? I've Googled for a bit and it seems it was a problem back when the first Charge HR was released too, but I couldn't find a solution. I love the Fitbit and the app but it seems when it takes the constant HR into account when you're not very fit it just overestimates by a WAY too high number. If I ate what Fitbit is telling me I can eat, I'd gain an incredible amount of weight in a very short time.

The numbers I got when I was just counting steps without heart rate (using my phone, before I got my Fitibit) was way closer to the actual number I should be getting for something as easy-going as walking while shopping.

Moderator edit: format

[BranLan]

This is also happening on my Versa 3. Fitbit seems to overestimate by a lot. On an indoor bike trainer, Strava, TrainerRoad, and Wahoo all tell me I burned 750 calories, when it syncs from Strava to Fitbit, Fitbit thinks I burned 1270, which is completely wrong and must mean whatever algorithm Fitbit is using is either outdated or incorrect.

[CF-LEES]

Hmmm seems odd.
I did a 20 minute HIT spin yesterday and my Fitbit says I burned 250ish
calories which I think is about right.
I don’t think strava tracks your heart rate right?
Maybe your Fitbit needs an update? It seems odd one persons is completely
off the mark with calories but another’s is pretty accurate.... can’t
believe Fitbit hasn’t addressed this

[BranLan]

My ride was recorded through the TrainerRoad app, which records power, heart rate, speed, and cadence, and sends all of that information to Strava, and at least the heart rate info gets sent to Fitbit because it knows which "active zones" I was in, it just says I burned way too many calories.

I did check and my Versa 3 is on the most recent firmware, all my weights, age, height, and all other information across all platforms is correct. Just doesn't make sense why Google Fit, Strava, TrainerRoad, & Wahoo all tell me I burned within 20 calories of each other, but then Fitbit says I burned 500 calories more that all of them 🤔

Really hope Fitbit addresses this issue.

[Lukewilding95]

Did you manage to sort this out, if not I think I have the solution for the high calories. So fitbit charge 2 uses your heart rate as a calories calculator the higher your heart rate the more calories burnt. 

Solution 

Go to your fit bit app

click heart rate,

then click the cog in top right.

Scroll down to bottom and you will see custom zones,

tick custom zones, 

Set lower limit to your heart rate at fast pace walking,

Set higher limit to full work out.

This helped my calories so much there about right now 

Hope this helps 

[99montez34]

I received credit for 5040 calories out on the 2nd day after first subscribing with my new Sense, if that was what you were implying with "I wonder if it might improve calories burned calculation after a few days to get your resting heart rate.".

My resting heart rate had increased by 1/day over first 3 days and decreased by 1 since yesterday, so that would suggest you may be correct in the reasoning why.

[99montez34]

Also to note, I only went for a hour long leisurely bike ride the day I achieved 5040; yesterday I was given credit for 2710 calories out although being sedentary all day long (reading most of the day).

[cdelecole]

How do you compare the 2000 to 3000 cals my daugther's futbit reports over a normal day with 578 kcals (read kilo calories, factor 1000) which my other brand watch reports over a day with sport ??

An egg is line around 60 calories ... and my watch says 578 kcals is around 11 eggs ... I suppose then the unit is different in the US where fitbit uses cals and in Europe where we use kcals ? Or is it the same ?

[Cbbean77]

I too don't understand.

I have no idea what my BMR is I lift a ton of weights but I know from experience and reversing my diet over the years that my maintenance kcal requirement is around 2600kcal just to keep my muscle so I'd say that's my new BMR but yet when I wake, I've barely burned 500kcal.

I train like a man during my six day split in my gym Plus at least 10,000 steps per day every day, yet it barely shows between 1800 and 2000 kcal total by the end of the day?

This simply can't be right as it would take into consideration also my calories burned lifting (+/-500 kcal per day).

Something's not right... 

[Steves70119]

I've noticed an obvious problem with calorie burn as well with a slight workaround. I felt like I wanted to bring the issue up on another thread. It's in the same "get moving" forum but as a new topic. https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Get-Moving/calories-burned-errors-tracked-activity-cals-burned-vs-lo...