Fitbit overestimate of calories used that feeds through to MFP

[Portsian]

Hi there

Anyone else noticing that there is big overestimate of exercise calories that the Charge 2 is making? This feeds in to myfitnesspal app, so shows 'extra' calories I could eat. If I followed this I would be gaining weigtt. I have just updated from Fitbit to Charge 2, and the old Fitbit was much more conservative in its calorie estimate. If is is really overestimating then I don't want to use it

Moderator edit: Clarified subject

[mattdi2000]

I completely agree.

I've been strictly calculating my calories IN for the last six months - averaging 2,573.

My Fitbit Charge 2 has my calories OUT average at 3,186.

This is a net deficit of 613 calories per day. Over six months, that's over 111,000 calories. 

According to Fitbit, I should have lost around 31 lbs. I've actually lost more like 12 lb.

And the Charge 2 sometimes doesn't even detect when I do intense exercise (the HR shows "--" when you get too sweaty). So that's actually an underestimate, according to Fitbit.

All my bio data is correct. And my calories IN data is perfect (I've been meticulous, speadsheet, every morsel of food etc).

I wonder if, by overestimating your calories burned, Fitbit wants us to have that "feel good" feeling of achievement - even though it's wrong. 

Some days I just walk quite a bit that day (20,000 steps) and it says I've burned 4000 calories! But I've not even broken a sweat! It's a con.

[Rich_Laue]

Have you read the pinned post on this subject .

MyFitnessPal: How to correct calorie discrepancy f... 

Considering that there are two independent parties involved. it might not be fitbits fault .

Also what ever chamgescfitbitFmakes, will affect every app that pulls Callie it's from Fitbit .

[mattdi2000]

I only use MyFitnessPal for calories IN.

That’s got nothing to do with calories OUT. Which is the issue being raised in the thread.

Maybe read the thread first?

Sent from my iPhone

[Rich_Laue]

And your the only one on this thread @mattdi2000

[mattdi2000]

Your reply doesn’t make sense.

others on this thread have also raised that fitbit overestimates calorie expenditure.

look at the title of the thread... and search “fitbit overestimates my calories” on google. Hundreds of hits.

its not just me...

[Rich_Laue]

Yes I read the title, Fitbit calorie overestsmated when sent to my fitness pal. 

[mattdi2000]

But it’s not ONLY an issue when paired with MyFitnessPal.

It’s an issue, period.

Sent from my iPhone

[AJanice]

I use Versa.

Sent from my iPhone

[mu71rd]

Rich_Laue are you an official response on this matter?

These forums are full of 'official solutions' which are not solutions at all, but just links to other articles about other problems. Very rarely is a discussion actually allowed to shed real light on the issue, because of obsfucation such as this. 

This is clearly a fitbit issue, and has only to do with calories out. Myfitnesspal is an entirely unrelated and removable aspect of any of the stats or figures given in this thread. Please read the whole thread, and then revert. 

[LanuzaFitbit]

Hello everyone! 

Thanks for bringing this up and for sharing your feedback.

I'll be sharing this with the rest of the team so that it can be looked into. Whenever we have any news on the matter we'll be sure to let everyone know.

Feel free to reach out with any further questions.

[WSMel]

This is another post in support of how overestimating calories burned by activities is a very real thing.

My spouse and I were using FB Charge 2s only for calories intake for some months. but we recently "leveled up" and started using it for activity tracking. My 1 hour at 3 MPH rate walk says I burn ~470 calories. It should be about 110 less.

Hilariously, for the same 1 hour at 3 MPH rate walk says hubby burned over 800 cals. Should be around half that.

So, yeah, this feature can not be used as designed with any sense of accuracy.

As suggested by others, a straightforward software change that could be usable across many FB devices is a manual override setting that allows one to customize the multiplier for calories burn at fat burning and cardio levels.

It would be lovely to get a official acknowledgement of the issue even if there is no timeline for addressing it.

[WSMel]

Mmm, I can't see how to edit my previous post.

I want to mention that though this started in 3rd party integration forum, the overestimation of calories burned happens regardless of integration.

Similar thread in Charge HR forum - https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-HR/What-am-I-doing-wrong-Fitbit-overestimating-calories/td-p/...

Similar thread in Alta forum - https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Alta-HR/Alta-HR-Overestimating-Calories-Burned/td-p/1913265/page/2

[LanuzaFitbit]

Hello @WSMel! 

Thanks for sharing that information with everyone! We do not have any news on the situation but I cam keeping my eyes open. I'll be sure to post in here the moment I receive any news.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[WSMel]

Hi yes @LanuzaFitbit I do have a question for you.

Will you please bring up to your leadership/management at FitBit that replying that you do not have news on a broken feature for over two years is damaging to the brand and undermines potential customer loyalty? Bring it up this week, in fact?

After ~6 months of users reporting an issue, you and other moderators should be provided with a new boilerplate response that has more content and is more transparent about bug priority than this empty statement.

I don't expect that you will be able to share the results of such a conversation, but this approach to "community" is more damaging than beneficial and satisfies a marketing strategy of user engagement only in name.

[mu71rd]

Agreed. Customers are not idiots. There comes a point where it is obvious that there is no interest in addressing an issue. 

We will keep asking it, others will keep asking it. Either there is going to be an official acknowledgment that this is an issue, it can be addressed, and we can have confidence in buying new hardware. Or there is tacit acknowledgement that these devices are essentially toy/fashion devices, and nobody should seriously use them to track daily calorie activity.

The answer to which it is will become clear on these very pages. 

[LanuzaFitbit]

Hello @mu71rd and @WSMel.

I definitely understand your frustrating and where you are coming from. I will keep my eyes open and continue to try to get any news on the matter.

Feel free to reach out if there is anything else I can help you with.

[Jade_till]

I've recently bought the charge 3 and i am having the exact same problem. I'm not sure if its fitbit or MFP or both but its so frustrating.

All my info on both apps is correct. i'm 5ft 3, weigh 68.5KG and MFP has given me a calorie goal of 1230cals per day. ALL of this is the same on my fitbit profile. MFP is giving me a BMR of 1732cals a day, sounds about right. I probably walk an average of 5-8000 steps per day, some days less as i'm a receptionist 5 days a week which means 70% sitting and a bit of running up and down steps on hectic days. I try to do 45 mins of work out 3 times a week.

Before the fitbit i would log all my exercise on MFP, usually giving me an extra 300-400 cals on a good day, a usual gym sesh plus the few extra cals from my iphone step tracker (obviously this is no where near as accurate as a wrist tracker as i dont always have my phone on me plus, its not made specifically for that)

I expected that the fitbit would give me a few more cals than i was used too because its so accurate, right? well no.

Today i have done less than 200 steps. I havent even left the house. Yet it is pulling through 427 EXTRA calories to eat today. this is INSANE. If I were to trust this and eat these extra cals i have apparently 'earnt' how on earth would i ever loose weight? Its saying my Fitbit is giving a Full Day Projection of 2159 cals by the end of the day? this is crazy. again, i understand BMR. but surely BMR cals shouldnt be ever considered as extra consumable calories. surely only the actual exercise we do entitles us to a bit extra?

At this point i see no point in the fit bit. It seems this has been an issue for years which they don't want to address. I'm getting the same answers each time, 'Restart device' 'unlink and re link accounts' 'oh thi is how BMR works...' etc etc.

does ANYONE have an actual solution?

My friend has a fitbit Alta (no HR) and finds it to be much more accurately synced with her MFP. 
I'm wondering if i should ditch the HR model or try something completely different?

from a tired and frustrated, unsatisfied customer.

[LanuzaFitbit]

Hello @Jade_till.

Thanks for sharing your experienced with us!

It is possible that this could be happening because of some sort of food plan. Did you set up a food plan on Fitbit or some sort of calorie goal or deficit goal on MFP?

Look forward to your reply.

[Jade_till]

Hi there! @LanuzaFitbit

My MFP calorie goal as created by them is 1230 cals per day. I have followed the instructions that have been posted on threads here to create a personalised food plan and manually enter the max cals per day to match MPF's goal. I have done this but am still having issues!

[LanuzaFitbit]

Hello @Jade_till.

Thanks for letting me know.

What I think is important to mention in this case is that, if you have not manually set a goal and you are getting some automatically, it is only an estimate and not the accurate information. Adding to that, in a general sense, as long as you are eating less than the overall amount of calories that you burn you should be losing weight. The total deficit will determine how fast that is, but you should still be losing weight. 

My question in this case would be if you can share some screenshots of the information that you are getting, totals and estimates, so that we can have a better idea of what you are seeing.

Let me know if there is anything else that I can help you with.