Inspire 2 Calorie Counter

[Kylie_sian]

Hi everyone

I've just got my new fitbit inspire 2 and the calorie counter is showing way too many calories burned when I'm not exercising. How do I get this to show up correctly? I've looked in my settings etc but can't see anything that I need to disable etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! 

Kylie x

Moderator edit: format. 

[Julia_G · Accepted solution]

Hi, @Kylie_sian Fitbit calculates your calories when you are not exercising using a standard BMR (basal metabolic rate) calculator.   You can see one here .  They are all pretty much the same.  You just fill in your height, weight, age and sex and it will give you your basic BMR.

To see the number Fitbit has calculated for you, simply scroll back on your app to a date before you owned your Fitbit and you will be able to see it under calories burned (it’s just a feature of how the app works - as soon as you fill in your basic stats it calculates a BMR and displays it even before you had your device… but that’s another topic!)

Once you are wearing your Fitbit it adjusts the BMR calculation based on your detected activities (steps and exercise) and your heartrate and adds these in.

If your basic stats are wrong (or are using the wrong units - for instance if you entered a weight in pounds, but the units are kg instead or similar with height) the BMR will be wrong, so it is worth checking this.

If Fitbit detects a higher than normal heartrate it will also award extra calories, as to a first approximation, the higher your heartrate the more calories you will burn.  Similarly, if it is detecting a lot of false steps it will also award extra calories.  Generally speaking, however, most of the calories for most people will be BMR calories, so it is worth checking that.

I hope this helps!  Please post again if anything is unclear.  There is always someone here to help.  And welcome to the forums!