Found solution for overestimation of calories burned

[Beltheaten]

The solution to this problem is both elegant and simple. Change your max heart rate. That will have a cascading effect on every calculation that uses the information. I am 45 and the system uses a standard 220 minus your age to calculate your max heart rate which set mine at 185. I changed it to 195, and all of my figures are looking much more realistic. This is only day two, so I'm sure that further tweaks will be necessary. Meanwhile, it will be much simpler to use the tracker's data to help reach my weight loss goal.

Moderator edit: Clarified subject.

[YojanaFitbit · Accepted solution]

Thank you for join us, we're happy to have you within the Family! Excellent information, I really appreciate your post @Beltheaten, most of people are not aware of this type of changes that can be done on the Fitbit App to improve Heart Rate readings and calories calculations. I personally adjust mine too per doctor instructions to get my Cardio and Fat Burned zones faster! You might have to take in count that heart rate may be affected by any a number of factors at any given moment, such as temperature, humidity, stress level, physical body position and caffeine intake are just a few things that can affect your heart rate. And if you have specific medical conditions and take medications it can impact your heart rate too. It's best if you work with an specialist to know if this change applies for you. 

Congratulations for your discover, keep posting your experience for the next days and weeks so we can have more details about how this worked for you. 

I wanted to add to the information that you provided some tips on how to edit your Max Heart Rate and Custom Zones: 

• On your Fitbit app dashboard, tap Account and find Heart Rate Zones. 
• On fitbit.com, log into your dashboard and click the gear icon in the upper right. Choose Settings > Personal Info. 

Have a lovely day and thanks for sharing! 

[Beltheaten]

Addendum: I was mistaken about tweaking the max heart rate. The way to get realistic calorie burn data from your Surge is to turn off the heart rate monitor all together, except maybe during workouts.  

[YojanaFitbit]

Hey there @Beltheaten! Thanks for replying, your comments are very important to us. If it is working for you in that way, it's great! Most of users use the HR feature all day since, it takes the overall information to keep updating your workouts changes. Any additional comment or opinion it is very appreciated.

If you have time, please check our Discussions board where you will find other members sharing their experiences and tips for an active lifestyle, you might be interested in this topics: Home gym vs going to gym? or How do you break out of your sedentary lifestyle?

Have a nice day, let me know if you have more questions in the future! 

[aravioli]

Hello! How do you figure out your actual max heart rate?

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @aravioli, it's great to see you here, welcome! 

This is a great questions. Fitbit calculates your max heart rate with the common formula of 220 minus your age. You will find more details about heart rate here: What should I know about my heart rate data?

Please let me know if you have any other question. 

[Kristianc4]

Hiya I've had this problem for ages so irritating, says I burn 3000 calories for sitting in all day and on an active day 4000 calories, highest I've had is 5000 and wasn't even a hard day.

I've corrected this by changing my height as I correctly enter my weight for progression, so I am 5ft 9in and to correctly calculate I have to put in that I'm 4ft 6in.

To do this go on Fitbit app, account, picture of yourself, personal and it's second from bottom. Hope this helps thank-you

[JasonLNoel]

Yes, yes, yes!!! 

Thank you, thank you

This works perfect!!!

[AntttRen]

Are you replying to Beltheaten, or Kristian? 

[AntttRen]

Apologies; I meant to type Kristianc4. 

[WendyB]

@Kristianc4  Do you realize you burn calories all day long?

The calories burned are BMR calories. Your fitbit also calculates calories burned for your BMR. You burn calories just by being alive! Even Sleeping. Fitbit includes these burned calories in it's calorie calculations, so even if you did not wear the fitbit, you'll still burn these calories.

Read this

See this thread as well by @ColinM39

To Learn more about BMR

[StefanMillea]

@WendyB this is good info. 

I was miffed by my calorie counts even when taking my BMR into account.  I was trying to lose weight and consistently running a 500-1000 calorie deficit but my weight stayed the same, running at 235 +/- 3lbs for months.  This means I was eating at a maintenance level, rather than a deficit.  So either my caloric intake was incorrectly calculated, or my output was.  I verified my intake (I literally eat the same meal plan every day with almost no variation so this was easy to do) and determined that fitbit must be significantly overestimating my calories burned.

The workaround I found to be the most consistent is to figure out my BMR as fitbit is calculating it. I did this by checking a 15 minute calorie segment in the app where I was totally sedentary (like while sleeping, watching tv, etc) and multiplying this number by 96 (total number of 15 minute segments during 24 hours).  This works because from what I can tell, Fitbit takes your BMR caloric total and applies it evenly throughout the day.  This is why you will see a graph that looks flat during times when you are just sitting around not moving all day.  In my case, Fitbit says I burn 21.1 calories per 15 minutes as a BMR. 

21.1 x 96 = 2025.6 Calories 

When I cross check this with other BMR calculators it is accurate within +/- 10 calories.  

Now, where fitbit seems to go haywire is the actual calories burned above and beyond BMR.  This is not an issue exclusive to fitbit, most fitness trackers are wildly inaccurate at counting calories.  Based on information I found searching forums and tech articles, the estimated variance for my Ionic is somewhere between 15-40% over actual caloric burn. I assume the breadth of this uncertainty is due to the beautiful variation in humans!

Knowing this, I use the following formula to figure out my ACTUAL (rough) caloric burn without BMR:

[(Total calories recorded by fitbit) - (BMR)] x .75(75% to account for fitbit error) = actual calories burned 

In my case it looks like this for yesterday:

Total calories from fitbit record: 4279

BMR: 2025.6

(4279-2025.6)×.75= 1690.05 actual calories burned above BMR

I then add the BMR back in:

1690.05+2025.6= 3715.65 total caloric output.

As you can see, the difference is quite significant (near 1000 additional calories) which is why I wasn't losing weight even when running what Fitbit told me was a 1000 calorie deficit.  

I made these calculations for the first time 3 weeks ago, and adjusted my activity and calorie intake accordingly to create an ACTUAL defecit and I am happy to report that I am down 7lbs and counting.  

This is cumbersome, and kind of annoying, but if you are serious about losing weight, it is absolutely necessary as Fitbit calorie count is wildly inaccurate.  You may need to play around to find the right percentage point to multiply by.  Fitness charts can help with this. Compare the Fitbit recorded caloric burn on a 25 minute walk or some other well documented activity, to what is expected for someone matching your weight and it should give you a good starting point.

I hope this helps!

[HiddenMarty]

do you realize Fitbit usually overestimates calorie burn? That's the whole reason for tweaking. I don't eat nearly as much as the Fitbit says i'm burning and i stay on the same weight for months. For me the reason is that i stress a lot and with regular settings i even entered "the zone"... Zone my **ahem**...

[Steves70119]

To StefanMillea: I'm curious how u enter this info back into back into your fitbit acct/app to keep the app info correct on a cumulative basis. For instance, I'm using an app called Loseit! that connects to the fitbit and integrates the calories burned above BMR into the daily burn total. Loseit! than adjusts my allowable calorie intact based on calories burned (BMR + addl cal) so that i can meet my wight loss goals. I'm trying to find a way to still use the fitbit in conjunction with Loseit! to keep track of exercise cal burn.

Thanks.