Gross Calories vs Net Calories option

[BigBlueWombat]

I would like to have an option to show Gross Calories or Net Calories.  Currently FitBit only shows Gross Calories.

Net Calories is far more valuable in helping people understand the impact of their exercise compared to sleeping or watching TV.

When comparing daily calories burned to calories consumed, Gross Calories is valuable.

Moderator Edit: Added Labels 

[Whitetailremedy]

Having a graph of net calories per day with a line showing ones net calorie target would be a great addition.  On an existing graph I can see whether I have met my goal for a given day, but I would like to what the actual net calories is per day.

[Duke1]

Net calories would need to be broken down to the type of activity executed as well as one's current weight.  Even though it would be a interesting feature to have...it would also require a lot of constant, manual updating throughout the day to get an accurate reading.   You can imagine this practice would get old real fast.

But, suppose if fitbit would engineer its products to where we could custom program our devices online to display the data what we want to see...or to schedule a "power down" period when we are less likely to be active?   That could help yield a more acurate net calorie count.

I hope you don't mind me expanding on your idea.  But, to your credit, it did catch my imagination.

[BigBlueWombat]

@Duke1: I don't follow what you mean about "Net calories would need to be broken down to the type of activity executed as well as one's current weight.".

Could you explain that more?

As I see understand it;

FitBit claims to be able to calculate baseline metabolic rate (calories burned while resting = BMR calories).

FitBit claims to be able to calculate exercise metabolic rate (calories burned while exercising = Total Calories burned).

That should mean Net Calories burned during an exercise period is equal to Total Calories burned during the exercise period less BMR calories that would have been burned during the same time period.

Example:

FitBit tells me that I burn 85 calories per hour while resting, so 85 calories (Total Calories) burned during a 1 hour nap.

FitBit tells me that I burned 692 calories (Total Calories) during a 1 hour gym workout.

FitBit tells me that I burned 337 calories (Total Calories) during a 1 hour yoga workout.

If those numbers were expressed in Net Calories it would look like this.

0 Net Calories burned during a 1 hour nap.

607 Net Calories burned during a 1 hour gym workout.

252 Net Calories burned during a 1 hour yoga workout.

Using Net Calories it is easy to see that my gym workout burned 607 more calories than a nap and 2.4 times more calories than my yoga workout.

If someone exercised for an hour and their FitBit said they burned 100 calories (Total Calories), that person might feel pretty good.  But that's bogus.  The person really only burned about 15 more calories than if they slept for that hour.  What a waste of time!

If my daily goal is 3040 Total Calories and I can burn 2040 calories doing nothing, it can be quite misleading.

If I burn 2540 calories in a day, did I achieve 83% of my goal?

No.  That sounds good, but it really is a half-arsed effort.

My real goal was to burn 1000 calories more than my base metabolic rate (1000 calories from exercise each day).

If my FitBit shows me that I only burned 500 Net Calories (2540 Total - 2040 BMR) in a day, then I can easily see that I only reached 50% of my 1000 Net Calorie goal that day.

Also, understanding Net Calories helps me understand the 'costs' of food choices.

Example; that 250 calorie side of fries or that 250 calorie slice of cake = an extra half an hour in the Gym or almost an entire Yoga class.

Maybe I just don't have time for that side of fries or that slice of cake.

Maybe I am missing something, but Net Calories seems like a simple calculation and one that clarifies the statistics.

[Duke1]

This is a fair question.

Though it seems simple enough to subtract our BMR calories from our
calories burned while exercising to get a net display of our efforts, the
matrices to get an accurate reading is more complex. So, if we go to the
gym, for example, running on a treadmill for one hour probably would burn
far less calories than running on a stair-climber for one hour [That's a
recipe for a heart attack isn't it?]. Overall, the larger the muscle group
that is exercised, the larger amount of calories burned in a given time.

The next part of the equation is current body weight. Even though we tell
fitbit what we usually see on the bathroom scale first thing in the
morning, you know that throughout the day it will go up or down depending
on how often we hydrate between vigorous exercising or eating...sometimes
as much as 5 pounds.

Now when it's time to calculate a net calorie burn, just the 5 pound
difference can make a significant impact on the total when applying some of
the various formulas we may find online [You may find this link
interesting:
http://www.exercise4weightloss.com/calories-burned-during-exercise.html].
In other words, our total could vary by a few hundred calories.

So, even when we see the gross calories displayed on our fitbit screen, we
are really looking at a guesstimate at best unless we continuously feed it
more specific and more recent data online or on the device itself. It kind
of gets to the point where we have to go back and keep it simple in order
to maximize our experience.

If weight loss is the primary ambition to wearing a fitbit, I would
recommend using it in a way that makes it fun to move around without
thinking about it as exercise or calorie burning. Use it as a habit
builder.

I hope this helps.

[BigBlueWombat]

Thanks for the detailed reply Duke1.

You make a very pertinent point; Net Calorie burn AND Total Calorie burn are both guesstimeates.

If it is not possible to caclulate Net Calories burned accurately, then it won't be possible to calculate Total Calories acurately.

One could even argue that Total Calorie calculation is even harder than Net Calorie calculation.

Theoretically, Net Calorie calculation from exercises like lifting weights, rowing machine, stationary bike should be able to be made much more accurate because there is a fixed, measurable amount of work done.

Take Squats for instance; If you are squatting 100kg (+body weight), X times a height of 'Y' (varying by person's height), that is a fixed, measureable, amount of work.

Or Stationary Bike; X revolutions at Y force for Z time = a fixed amount of work regardless of the person.

Perhaps FitBit could calculate the calories burned from exercise more accurately if they allowed users to classify the sort of exercise they were doing and FitBit's calories burned calculation formulae took into account the type of exercise.

[while this still wouldn't be 100% accurate, it would be more accurate]

[short of wearing VO2 measuring gear while you exercise, can anyone suggest a better way of improving accuracy?]

The way I would like to use my FitBit is to keep track of the 'extra' calories I have burned through exercise and 'incidental exercise' like walking to the shops or taking the stairs rather than the lift. 

To me, the total calories is a bit of a distraction.  I can't change base metabolic calories.

I'm not really interested in calorie counting what I eat.  It's too hard, it takes too long, there's usually not enough data, and it's too inaccurate.  I'd sooner spend the time doing something positive about the problem than waste my time trying to figure out an unhelpful number.

Perhaps with a more accurate net calorie calculation and a measurement of weight gain/loss, one can have a fair idea of the how much exercise is required to balance food intake less metabolic rate and give one an idea about how much work it takes to change the balance.

[Knavola]

The app really needs to show net calories in/out for the week (m-s or s-s) like in the progress report, which I don't get anymore. The figure is the most important in trying to lose weight or maintain. The daily figure of in and out, no net, is not meaningful enough. As much as a Fitbit supporter that I am, I'm going to want to consider others to get this key bit of info.

[FitGirlJessica]

There should be a location in the dashboard to actually see net calories. For those of us on a plan that requires so many net calories per day to reach certain goals, this would be very helpful.

[TarinFitbit]

Thank you for contributing your idea to our Feature Request forum! This is a great idea and I think is going to improve the weight goal. 

[SunsetRunner]

I was about to make the same suggestion! I would find net calories far more useful - right now sometimes my calories are higher on the dashboard but I've run 10k that day and it would be so much more helpful in achieving the targets I've set if I can see net.

[Duke1]

Credit BigBlueWombat if Fitbit actually has incorporated a net calorie vs. gross calorie viewing option in their new product line by now.  I think we did the work for this company in breaking  down details whether this idea could proceed beyond viable plan or not in our comments above.  If accurate calorie counting is a higher motivator than step counting (which I also see value on further thought), it may give them an edge over their competition.  Of course, the more positive feedback we get on this discussion,  the higher the chance of getting Fitbit's attention if this idea has yet to be developed.