New to FitBit and Confused

[Nystyle]

Hi. Nice to meet all of you. I recently got a fitbit as a gift to see how far I walk in a day and also to see how many calories I accurately burn during workouts rather than the estimating so many sites/exercise calculators give me.

I am a user on myfitnesspal and I have a question. I set my calories to 1,950 a day. Obviously it will be more or less depending on exercise/food, but today for example the fitbit says I burned 3,283 calories and took in 2687. Myfitnesspal is also set for 1960 and it calculates the fitbit data as 60 calories burned.

Some MFP users that I saw comment on similar fitbit related stuff basically said that while fitbit says you burned "3000" and took in "2000" that its not really a deficit and thats what MFP shows you. 

Needless to say I am very confused (possibly so confused that I didnt even explain this in a way you can understand). I was going to askl over on MFP, but I notice over the last few months it is a much less supportive group than it used to be. Ask a question and get a bunch of people replying telling you its something you should already know. Not helpful. 

[LanuzaFitbit]

Welcome to the Forums @Nystyle.

Thanks for taking the time to post your question in here. Let me try and help you out.

The first thing I'd like to recommend that you try reading through this help article that talks about how are the calories calculated.

In addition to that, are you manually entering information to MyFitnessPal? If so, what information is it that you are logging there?

Look forward to your reply.

[Nystyle]

Thank you for taking the time to read my entry and respond. I am entering in to MFP my food for the day as well as any exercise not related to what’s on the Fitbit. 

I read the help article but still I am not 100% sure. Yesterday for example MFP said I was 350 over my 1960 intake. Fitbit said I burned 2,100 calories all day. I didn’t get s chance to workout so I didn’t put any exercise in to MFP. MFP calculated the Fitbit adjustment as 4 calories total. 

Also so this morning so woke up after sleeping 7 hrs 30 mins and the firbitvsays I have already burned 1039 calories and the equivalent of 2 flights of stairs. Can that be accurate from sleep or is there a way to calabrate it? (On an old MFP post they keep telling the OP to calibrate, but no one on there can figure out how). 

[LanuzaFitbit]

Hello @Nystyle.

It is not possible to calibrate a Fitbit in that way. However, it is possible that it counted steps and floors while you were sleeping because of an open window or a fan being near which would could the Fitbit to think that you are moving. Also, moving your arms around in your sleep could cause steps to be recorded. Do you move around much when you sleep?

My suggestion in this case and moving forward would be to log everything on Fitbit and see if that improves the situation.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

[Nystyle]

Thank you. My other question is the Fitbit battery lasts about a day and a half, but I’ve read it should be much longer. How do I make it happen? 

[LanuzaFitbit]

Hello @Nystyle.

There isn't really much that you have to do so that the battery lasts more. My suggestion in this case would be to try to follow the tips shared in this help article. It should help with the battery life. If you still find it very short after following all of the tips, please let me know so that I can help you.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have.