Separate BMR from Activity Calories Burned

[knelson2]

I will admit to being someone who quite recently learned what BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is and that we burn a certain amount of those calories just to live based on our gender, weight and height.  

Currently Fit Bit combines BMR and activity calories together.  While I think it's very valuable for people to be aware of BMR, it's also nice to see (and reward yourself) for activity based calories. 

It would be really nice to have a clear seperation of the two in a real-time tally on the Dashboard and even on the Fit Bit device.

Ex. Today:

BMR - 790

Activity - 560

Active Minutes - 200

Total - 1350

Frankly, throughout my day, all I care about is activity calories.  Right now as a user I have to do a calculation at end of day (total calories minus my avg BMR) to see how hard I worked that day, sweating my butt off, not just blinking and breathing.

Thanks! I'd love to hear whether or not i'm just missing something and this is available, or if it's something you'd consider for an enhancement. 

Kristi

Moderator Edit: Labels / Updated subject for clarity.

[redhead4515]

What happened to that?

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @redhead4515! Thanks for sharing your post. I've moved it into a similar topic. I hope we receive updates soon.

[nannavb]

Hi guys!

I recently got a Fitbit, the Flex 2, and was wondering this too. What worked for me was going to fitbit.com/activities, logging in, and from there I could see the calories I’d burned. I did only do one continuous exercise, jogging, so I don’t know if you could see the separate calories from multiple workouts. Hope this helps!

Nanna 🙂

[Milliexdj]

Please delete estimated calories,  I dont want to see calories I could burn, or calories just by breathing...not a true reading.  

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @Milliexdj. Thanks for taking the time to share this suggestion about being able to see just the calories burned and not the BMR with us. This idea was already requested in the Feature Suggestions board, so I’ve moved your post here. While this isn't currently planned at this moment, we have left voting open so we can keep tracking this request over time. To learn more about how Fitbit decides which suggestions get developed, visit our FAQs.

[cestsimona]

YES! I can't believe they've been sleeping on this feature for 5 years!! I just got a FitBit and I'm really excited about every single feature, except this. I mean what worth does a tracking device have if it doesn't show you the added value of an exercise compared to your BMR? I'm really thinking about sending it back and going for an Apple Watch, I mean it's worse in every aspect but at least it tells you what you actively burn... very frustrating... 

[yas05]

This. 🙏🏽☝🏽️☝🏽️☝🏽️😭

[norman_cates]

I am astounded this doesn't exist since it is THE fundamental thing people need to know.

I need to know what the difference is in my calories in vs calories out.

And I need to be able to see that graphed against my weight.

Then I could see the correlation. As it is there is no way of seeing this without manually doing all the calculations myself. 

This is something that should have been available from the start.

[AmberI247]

Truly considering returning my Fitbit after learning it does not track active calories and has no one of telling me how many calories I burn during a workout

[yas05]

Yeah, that's what i ended up doing and use the Apple Watch instead. 100%
recommend. 🙂

[norman_cates]

To add to this:

None of your dashboards let us see that difference. This is the 100% most useful stat. It’s the one that trainers, dieticians etc all point at needing. We are continually told to get into a calorie deficit. And yet, you don’t have it anywhere.

In order to find out we have to do a set of manual calculations ourselves. Also, I’d like the option to see that calorie difference graphed against my weight. Bottom axis is date, left and right contain calorie difference and weight. This would actually be helpful.

As a corollary, to also see the macro nutrients in a similar way. Imagine being able to look back and see that where you were higher carb you were gaining weight. Or vice verse depending on our individuality as humans.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @norman_cates, thanks for explaining why you would like to have the option to see separate BMR from activity calories burned. Thanks for sharing your feedback. I've moved it into a similar request.  A lot of users are asking for this option, I hope we receive updates soon.

[norman_cates]

Yes.  That would be lovely.

But based on the age of this post, I'm not going to hold my breath.

Fitbit have the most cross platform ecosystem that I know of.

Which is why I've kept using it, plus the price is VASTLY less than an Apple Watch that has a closed eco system and the Apple watch does a LOT more than I need.

BUT, if Fitbit cannot even supply this BASIC piece of information and help us actually know what's going on in our own bodies, then there is no loyalty to be had. All they are doing is encouraging third parties to create paid apps that can take the data from Fitbit and MyFitnessPal and actually make it useful. Since neither of those platforms presents data in a useful way.

[yas05]

EXACTLY THIS👆🏾. Thank you for putting it so clearly.

[sbarrett4]

Pull the active calories out of the resting calories to see the number of calories burned during an exercise instead of only total calories

Moderator edit: Subject for clarity

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @sbarrett4, and thanks for taking the time to share this suggestion about showing active calories vs resting during an exercise instead of only total calories. We rely on feedback like yours to help us develop products and features that we know our community wants to see. If this suggestion receives votes from other customers and gains popularity, it will be shared internally with various teams at Fitbit. To learn more about how Fitbit decides which suggestions get developed, visit our FAQs.

Watch this space for status updates. In the meantime, try visiting Health & Wellness to talk with other members about all things health and fitness.

[SUP_Crazy]

I came searching for this tolic/suggestion because I think net calories burned are a more important metric than total calories burned during an exercise period. There also could be some confusion among users that they are seeing net calories, when I'm effect they are seeing gross calories burned. I could start a workout and sit in the couch and Fitbit will tell me I've been burning calories.

[zvkjr]

Hi Fitbitters!

I just bought my FitBit Charge 4 specifically to know how many calories I burn during an activity such as running or jump rope. I've been losing weight, logging it in my fitness pal and super happy with my result so far. I went for a brisk walk this morning with my new Charge 4 (approx 1h.10m) and my Fitbit said I had burnt 1,000 calories which I know is not accurate. After doing some research I discovered the Fitbit includes your BMR and there is no option to disable it. This is confusing in so many ways I cannot begin to start, it completely defeats the purpose of having a Fitbit.

I am not going to lie, I was quite annoyed about this. It also shocks me this request has been going within the Fitbit community since 2016 and nothing has been done about it. If known about this issue beforehand I wouldn't have bought a Fitbit.

I am going to shop around for an Apple iWatch or Whoop I think. 

[nawazsumar]

Absolute #1 feature for me, really dissappointed to find as a new Fitbit user (charge 4) this isnt possible. An option to "turn off BMR" or "override BMR (including allowing to enter 0)" would allow this.

Including BMR is counter intuitive in the situation where you burn a certain amount of activity calories over a longer period of time. You end up with a higher calories burned count than if you worked harder and burned the same activity calories in less time (just cause you were alive longer!).

Please add this feature, it is the number one reason I will probably move away from Fitbit for my next device.

[JohannaSG]

Just like so many people have said preciously - please add this feature!!! Its soooo fricken confusing to have it auto added... Why can't one decide this from the beginning?? 

[dclotte]

It would be very interesting to see what amount of calories you burnt through movement and beside that see your basal calories burnt and your total (basal + movement). You can now manually count the calories you burnt through exercises but would be handy if it were different categories in your calorie burn graph!

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @dclotte, thanks for explaining why you would like to have the option to see separate BMR from calories burned from exercises. Thanks for sharing your feedback. I've moved it into a similar request.  A lot of users are asking for this option, I hope we receive updates soon.

[Bit-Twiddler]

Don’t forget to separate MINUTES from ‘met-3’ and ‘active’.
We don’t all need met-3 performance, BUT do need to count ALL basic minutes.
And just like it says ‘Active Minutes’ on the display, label them as Met-3 or All Minutes.
It would mean so much to Senior users. ALL NEW USERS will be happy with the minutes counter reporting as expected. And those that really want Met-3 measures, will be happy it’s there too.

Sent from my iPad

[AKA2020]

It will be helpful to have separate meter for Active Calories. All I care about is active calories (not the average BMR). I didn’t bought Fitbit to show BMR.

[Mico311]

Totally agree