Inspire HR not tracking calories accurately

[Ryne1243]

Before I go into it wanna say I am a 241.4 Ib male who is 6 feet tall

Yesterday my fitbit marked me as having burned 3511 calories for 5132 steps. I understand that this includes metabolic rate but when I take that into account it still makes no sense. When I did the math I burned a calorie for every 3.793 steps, and if that were the case I would be really slim by now.

So a few common errors I have heard are 1. The metabolic rate consideration, and 2. The heart rate may by off. As for these I can say I factored number 1 already and the last few times I checked my heart rate and compared it to the watch it was very accurate.

The only thing I could see to be the case at this point is either my device has a bug, or the default fat burn zones are messing up. Either way, I have no idea how to fix this issue. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[MarreFitbit]

Hello there @Ryne1243, welcome to the Community Forums. I appreciate the details mentioned about the accuracy of your calories on your Inspire HR. 

I would like you to confirm your personal information is properly entered in your Dashboard. Fitbit devices combine your basal metabolic rate (BMR), BMR is based on the physical data you entered in to your Fitbit account (height, weight, sex, and age) and accounts for at least half the calories you burn in a day. Because your body burns calories even if you’re asleep or not moving, you see calories burned on your device when you wake up and will notice this number increase throughout the day. 

On the other hand and speaking about your heart rate, since the heart rate data is taken into consideration it will affect the calculation. I find my own hr readings fairly accurate. Have you tried an online calorie calculator to have something to compare your current Fitbit calculations. Have you checked this with your doctor? The only way to have an exact measurement of your BMR and how it is affected by physical activity is by doing a specialized test (you can read more about it here). Still you can try using your own heart rate zone and see how this works out for you and remember that you can go back to the standard heart rate zones.

Also, I was wondering if by any chance, are you manually logging activities?

Keep me posted. I'll be around if you have any additional questions. 

[Ryne1243]

Thank you for the quick response. My BMR does not seem to be the problem here I do not think. I make sure to subtract my BMR from the day's calorie total before doing any calculations. On top of this, I am not logging exercise manually. It only picks up on the steps I do throughout the day. Finally, my heart rate calculations are 100% 

This is why I am so confused. I look at everything and I cannot seem to find where any errors could be. All I know is that when I turn off heart rate I get a much more accurate calorie burn for the day. But, one of the main features of the fitbit is the heart rate and I would really like to keep it on.

P.S. The personal data (height, weight, etc.) In the dashboard are all correct 

[Ryne1243]

Thank you for the quick response. My BMR does not seem to be the problem here I do not think. I make sure to subtract my BMR from the day's calorie total before doing any calculations. On top of this, I am not logging exercise manually. It only picks up on the steps I do throughout the day. Finally, my heart rate calculations are 100% 

This is why I am so confused. I look at everything and I cannot seem to find where any errors could be. All I know is that when I turn off heart rate I get a much more accurate calorie burn for the day. But, one of the main features of the fitbit is the heart rate and I would really like to keep it on.

P.S. The personal data (height, weight, etc.) In the dashboard are all correct