06-11-2016 23:40
06-11-2016 23:40
I'm not entirely sure where to post this; but since its related to localizable text that *can* be found in the iOS app - and that's what I'm using, I guess this is as good a place as any.
For many years I've been slightly confused / mistrusting of Fitbit's calculations of caloric intake vs. caloric burn. Throughout the application(s) the word "calorie" is used to express an amount of energy. Sometimes its used to express the potential energy intake from food and sometimes its used to express the energy consumed through walking (among other things).
My confusion stems from the fact that a calorie is a unit of measure with a specific definition which is roughly; the amount of energy needed to raise 1g of water by 1degC. A *C*alorie is a common expression by (us) Americans to equal 1,000 of those. Generally, its a word that means the same as the metric kcal.
We Americans tend to express our food intake's energy as *C*alories. A can of soda, as an American knows it is ~100*C*alories. A brisk walk, as an American knows it burns ~100*c*alories. I'm failry certain that we are often guilty of mistaking those as two identical amounts. In general, a can of soda is ~100calories whereas a 1 mile walk is actually ~1,000calories. Thusly, you would actually need to walk 10 miles to burn off that can of soda. (note: I'm just picking numbers that are close for simple math)
My mistrust then arises from my wondering if Fitbit is falling into the same trap and considering all [cC]alories to be equal. Can anyone enlighten me as to whether this is just a simplification (and its autoconverting cals and kcals appropriately), Fitbit's doing it wrong or have I just been plain wrong all these years? (Which, honestly... if I'm correct then I have no idea how I'm not morbidly obese at this point)
06-15-2016 11:32
06-15-2016 11:32
@ephermal Welcome to our Community! While Fitbit doesn't provide a definition of calories, it bases the information used on your account on information from the American Heart Association and the FDA which you can check to see what information they have about this subject. At this time I don't have any official Fitbit definition to share with you.
I'll be around!
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06-15-2016 12:59
06-15-2016 12:59
Yup; that makes sense on the nutritional/American Calorie front - which is what actually caused/is causing my confusion in the first place. 🙂 If the definition being used is that of a nutritional Calorie^1 (aka: a kcal) then the numbers for what various exercises burn appear to be off by an order of thousands. Thanks for the input, but I'll leave this open for now until someone can provide a more complete answer.
[^1]: The FDA for certain and AHA by and large deal with nutrition, not consumption of caloric potential.