Fitbit Calories Burned have increased

[SDbeachchic]

Over the last week, I have noticed that, according to the app, I'm burning more calories than previously when doing the same or less activity level than before. I don't quite understand why this is. I integrate it with LoseIt, so I really teach the calories in vs calories out. It used to be an accomplishment to get "bonus calories" but now, even when I don't go on my long walk in the morning, I still manage to burn enough calories for a bonus...and it is a larger bonus than usual even though my steps are lower. Has anyone else noticed a change?

[SDbeachchic]

Typo - that should be "track" not "teach"

[WinoGelato]

I actually came to the FitBit forums today for the first time to inquire about this very thing which I noticed within the last 5 days.   I use MyFitnessPal and sync my FitBit to it, have been consistent in my activity on a week to week basis for about 3 years now so I know how much I typically burn and what my exercise adjustments on MFP should be.  Starting last Thursday I began seeing higher than normal adjustments, and when I traced it back on my FitBit it seems like I'm getting credit for higher than normal activity, which is increasing my calories burned, but the step count is consistent.

One example:

19,500 steps and a circuit workout on Monday: 2298 calories.
16,400 steps and same circuit workout on Thurs:  2494 calories.

Similar deviation on days when I didn't have an extra workout, just steps contributing to my activity level and  total calories burned.

Happy to have extra calories to eat but since I'm maintaining my weight using the old numbers for over a year now, I'm pretty sure an extra 200 cals/day would not keep my weight consistent the way I would like...

[SDbeachchic]

This is strange that you are also seeing this change. I had opened a ticket with FitBit and they assured me that there were not any changes. This is the response I got:

"Regarding your question about why you had higher calories burned yesterday even when you've had days with more steps, it's because of the different paces and environment you're working on, for example, it's not the same going for walk in a sunny day talking to a friend than going for a walk alone in a cold day, another fact is about the intensity of the exercise, which by the way the heart rate feature of your Charge HR helps calculate it, for instance, if you walk 1000 steps at a heart rate of 80, it will not burn the same amount of calories as if you walked the same 1000 steps at a heart rate of 120."

If you happen to open up a ticket, let me know if they are able to help. 

[RobertoME]

Hi there @SDbeachchic and @WinoGelato, let me start with giving you a warm welcome to our Community. 

If the calories seems are fluctuating, it might involved several factors. As you know this includes your BMR which almost account half of your daily calories.per day.

@SDbeachchic the response you received is not that crazy, in fact this has to do with the intensity of your exercise. Perhaps you have less steps on your exercise, but due to the intensity you invest on that period of time it will result in more calories burned. You can review this by looking at your active minutes or your amount of steps you have on certain periods of time. which can be reviewed on your step graphs.

I'll be around, if you still have more questions. Catch ya later.

[WinoGelato]

Hi Roberto - first, I should probably let you know I'm an avid Chiefs fan.  I hope that won't influence your willingness to help me understand what I've noticed as far as a marked increase in my total calories burned in the last 5 days, without a similar marked increase in step count/activity level.

Here's some text from a discussion I was in on the My Fitness Pal boards where I took screen shots to explain what I'm seeing.   Let me know if this helps clarify what I'm experiencing.

So here is a week's worth of data - I first noticed an increase in my calorie adjustment on MFP on Thursday Oct 13th. As you can see from the screen shots - the step counts fluctuate between 15K-18K for the last 7 days.
The total calories burned though, seems to be disproporationally higher to me, even on a day when my step count was a bit lower, the calorie burns are still above my yearly average of 2193. When I looked at one day as you suggested, choosing last Friday as that was the one that really caught my attention initially, there doesn't seem to be anything unusual about the Calories burned during sleep times, ie my BMR.








To illustrate why I am noticing this, I pulled my MFP report for Calorie Adjustments for the last month. See the cluster of the last 7 days? Starting 5 days ago I saw a marked jump in the calorie adjustments - not that I never get big adjustments, but not for consecutive days which I think this 30 day graph shows.