Sense 2 overestimating Calories Burned

[Canuckvik]

• Im finding on my Sense 2 the calories the fitbit says I'm burning is more than double what makes sense.

My weight is definitely correct as it's paired with my Aria 2 fitbit scale and I weigh myself often.

I've tried to reboot the whole device but no luck.

What I'm guessing the issue is, is with the heart rate. I wear the fitbit correctly. With one finger between that bone on the wrist and 2 fingers when working out. My fitbit says my resting heart rate is 52 but I'm not really that athletic, 5,10, 197 pounds. So maybe if this is inaccurate it could give inaccurate calories burned estimates.

For example today I says I did 1800 of calories burned for just exercise on top of the usual calories I normally burn in a day. And all I did was a 30 min jog really and some walking. In total it was 14,000 steps but that includes the 3.75 Km jog. 1800 burned feels too high when online calculators says if should be closer to 1000 max for that.

[JohnnyRow]

I can't figure out what you are saying Fitbit said your total calorie burn was. Just say the total number.

[Guy_]

Hi @Canuckvik - just in case, in the Fitbit App, App settings check the units for energy is in fact calories not kilojoules.

[Canuckvik]

Total Calories was 3837

If I did no exercise I would naturally burn about 2019.

With the exercise alone, I burned 1818 calories.

I paired fitbit with "MyFitnessPal" and they separate these two numbers.

I feel based off what I did yesterday that I didn't burn an extra 1818. But more like 1000 or max 1200 which would make my total closer to 3000 or 3200. 

[Triletics]

@Canuckvik if all you did was "30 min jog" then even 1000kcal greatly overestimates it. Half of that more like it.

[Canuckvik]

Absolutely!

So I did 3.75 Km in about 28 min. So whatever pace that is. Didn't feel very fast when I ran lol. Then there is 14000 steps during the whole day which would include steps taken in that run. I feel like 3837 on the day for total calories burned is high. 

[Triletics]

@Canuckvik it's approx. pace of 7:28/km. For me, that would barely burn 200kcal. For somebody of your weight it would hardly exceed 300kcal. Steps don't matter when it comes to calories because they don't tell the effort. 10k steps running and 10k steps walking would make a huge difference when it comes to energy.

[LZeeW · Accepted solution]

@Canuckvik   Calories from activity are heart rate based.  I think your Sense 2 is overestimating your heart rate during exercise.  This Sense 2 review by the Quantified Scientist is an unbiased review of the Sense 2.  He evaluates the heart rate accuracy near the start, so you don't need to go far to find it.  He compares accuracy during different kinds of exercise.  He doesn't test running, but the walking evaluation starts at 5:20.

I agree that your Fitbit calories from your jog are too high.  I feel like my Sense 2 also overestimates my heart rate at higher heart rates, too.  You are wearing it exactly the way Fitbit recommends, so I'm not sure there that wearing it differently will make a difference.  All data are estimates.  But if you want to follow your data more closely, your MyFitnessPal calories look like a closer estimate.