Tracked Exercise Calories Seem to Be a Moving Target

[SpecificCanary]

In looking through other questions, I see that some folks have had what is basically the exact opposite issue as what I'm about to ask about - I assume these problems are somewhat related, however.

I use the Fitbit app when I go on morning runs to track various aspects of the exercise, including - naturally - the duration and calories burned. I then enter them into another app that I use to track calories (this app isn't configured to receive information from Fitbit, but Fitbit can receive nutrient info from this app. It's a bit of a pain, but I just prefer the other app's nutrition library, so I suck it up). Generally, the other app tells Fitbit about the "new" exercise and the Fitbit app figures out that this is a duplicate and accounts for that by just ignoring it. Recently, however, I realized that this is no longer happening. So, I opened up both apps and much to my surprise realized that the time as well as calories that are estimated through Fitbit seem to be a moving target.

For example - from when I first entered the time and calories from my run this morning, the estimated "active minutes" had increased by 15 minutes, and the calories burned had increased by nearly 100 calories. Checking just now, however, I have lost 3 minutes (from the updated version) and about 20 burned calories. While the time hasn't adjusted for my previous run, the number of calories burned has increased by 55; the run before that has increased by 2 minutes and 63 calories.

I noticed a while ago that right after my run, none of the numbers were accurate, so I've taken to waiting 10-15 minutes or post-shower before entering the numbers into the other app. But now I'm learning that these numbers change for hours afterward. Does anybody know why this happens? Generally, it wouldn't bother me, as I use the other app's better nutritional library to track macros and defer to Fitbit and it's dynamic calorie targeting to determine what's left in my budget, but since the info that Fitbit seemed to previously use to identify duplicates isn't matching up, I'm now worried that the calculations are wrong.

[JohnnyRow]

I appreciate your trying to give specifics, but it is still too hard for me to comprehend what exactly is going on.

I have no idea what you mean by "estimated" - is that something different from fitbit's measurements, and is it before or after?

You say that the other app sends the workout back to fitbit, but fitbit knows to ignore it.  But I don't know how you really know that fitbit is ignoring this.  If fitbit's data is changing, it seems it could be as a result of the other app's input.

In my opinion, trying to figure out what is going on with 2 apps makes this all too complicated.  I would suggest, at least temporarily, break the auto link with other app, then see what happens with Fitbit exercise data.  Otherwise I think you have too many variables and assumptions about interactions with the other app to get any clear answers.

[SpecificCanary]

While I'm not a huge fan of that recommendation, it does make sense and I appreciate that. I'd rather avoid it, but it's definitely a reasonable solution.

I know that Fitbit knows to ignore the other app's input, because when the shared information (start time, duration, burn) matches what Fitbit has, it seems to just delete the other workout, keeping its own information (which has a map; the other app does not). However, if I put in a non-tracked workout, that information continues to live within Fitbit's log. I'm not sure if this is helpful to you or maybe to others who might check this question out, but that's how I came to understand the relationship between the apps.