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Significant difference between calories tracked via Strava/Fitbit (Charge 2)?

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Hi all,

I'm a new user - just purchased my Charge 2 last week to track my calorie use during the day and also my sleep cycles. Previously, I used Strava with a Polar H10 HRM to track my runs. I've also linked Fitbit to Strava.

 

This Sunday, I decided to try the tracking via Fitbit's Run feature (paired with my phone for GPS estimates). It's a run workout that combines running with a bit of interval training at the stations. That appeared to work fine - the workout was tracked (even if I couldn't figure out how to look at the time-of-day on my Charge 2 during the exercise), and lo and behold, it also showed up on both my Fitbit Dashboard and Strava, with all GPS and everything.

 

(Note: all HR tracking was done via the Charge 2 on this run, I did not use/bring the H10.)

 

The runs match in some regards - distance for example. But Fitbit accrued 1h25m, Strava only counted 51:13, and correspondingly, FitBit calculated 864kcal and Strava only 771kcal. They both work of the same data set and personal profile. (39/M/VO2 57)

 

I'm now a bit confused on whom to believe. Clearly, the Fitbit tracked the time correctly, giving it the benefit of the doubt. But still, I'd like to understand where that difference comes from?

 

Is Strava maybe misjudging the interval training episodes? Or is Strava excluding the BMR for the time? (If the later, would Fitbit properly account for this on import, if I used Strava to track runs?)

 

In short, which one should I use for what - H10/Strava vs Fitbit/Charge 2?

 

Thanks for all insights!

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Hello @LarsMB, good to see you again in the Fitbit Community. I would recommend to give more importance to your Fitbit data as it will account other information like BMR based on your demographic details from  your account. It might be also the explanation of the difference you are seeing with Strava and your Fitbit Dashboard as you mentioned at the end of your post.

 

Many of the third party integrations are not developed by us and we don't have the control over this data or how it will be interpreted by these services.

 

If the difference of data is too obvious perhaps it's an issue at the moment to sync, So it wont hurt tor try to re-connect both of your accounts.

 

  1. Log in to your fitbit.com dashboard
  2. Click the gear icon on the top right corner
  3. Click "Settings"
  4. Click "Applications" on the left side
  5. Click "Revoke Access" under the "Fitbit + Strava" app
  6. Go to https://strava.fitbit.com/ and click "Connect" and follow the rest of the prompts to finish reconnecting your Fitbit and Strava accounts

Hope this helps. See you until the next time.

Roberto | Community Moderator

"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” What's Cooking?

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Hi Roberto, thanks for the response.

 

I think the difference might be as follows - FitBit's exercise shows the incremental impact of the exercise only (it accounts for the BMR separately), whereas Strava calculates the total calorie use during the exercise (which includes the BMR).

 

That'd explain the difference in calories, would it not?

 

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Hello @LarsMB, it's nice to hear from you again. It will depend on how is taken the information from Strava. It's possible what you mentioned if Strava only takes the calories from the specific exercise is exporting.

 

From your Fitbit account's end; indeed each exercise will shown the incremental impact on your calories but in your overall numbers it will show your daily BMR plus your exercise impact combined. 

 

So this take me back to the previous point, depending on how Strava translate the calories it will make sense. According on how Fitbit works in relation to Strava we can say it prioritized the calories from the exercise only.

 

See you around!

Roberto | Community Moderator

"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” What's Cooking?

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