As Fitbit is one of the most used and loved fitness trackers, we decided to do a little research and see how accurate is Fitbit Calorie Burn and does it correspond with all the positive reviews and comments it receives.
If you are curious to find out more and which factors influence the calculation, be sure to read this article to the end! So, without any further ado, let’s get started and discover!
How Accurate Is Fitbit Calorie Burn
No fitness tracker can be 100% accurate in calorie burn tracking. The Fitbit models have the highest accuracy in the entire market. The Fitbit fitness trackers overestimated calories burned by 50% and underestimated calories burned by 4%.
As we said, no fitness tracker can 100% track the burned calories, but if we had to answer, we must say it is highly accurate. To be more precise, Fitbit is maybe the best calorie burn tracker with the highest accuracy compared to the other fitness trackers that offer the same feature.
That being said, one of the main reasons why this brand particularly has the highest calorie count accuracy is because it had the longest time to develop the perfect technology to make calorie counting as accurate as possible.
The many scientific studies on the degree of accuracy of the Fitbit fitness tracking devices have shown exceptional results and proved that if you are focused on real and accurate results and fitness reports, Fitbit is the best device.
For instance, one of these studies has found that the Fitbit fitness device has underestimated the calorie burn by 4%, which is incredibly impressive.
How Does Fitbit Track the Burnt Calories
Fitbit comes with a built-in professionally done algorithm that is responsible for accurate calorie count. This algorithm depends on many factors, and that is how this device can give you an estimated calorie count you might burn for a particular activity, sports, exercise, or workout.
Fitbit’s calorie counting algorithm considers two essential factors: your movement, heart rate, exercise, and your body’s basal metabolic rate. Below, you can read how these factors influence the overall calorie count and tracking.
Movement, heart rate, and exercise
Movement is one of the most important factors that heavily influence calorie tracking. This item, combined with your heart rate and the types of exercises you are doing, enables the Fitbit device to give you an estimated value of the calories you might burn.
Also, Fitbit will be your best friend in keeping quality heart health with the feature to track your heart rate. You will also be able to immediately notice if you are experiencing increased or decreased heart rate without any particular reason.
Body’s basal metabolic rate
The basal metabolic rate is the number of calories you burn to maintain your body’s basic functions. This basal metabolic rate is different for everyone because everybody’s body physiology is unique and depends on various factors.
The main factors influencing one’s basal metabolic rate are height, weight, genes, and biological sex. Therefore, as all of us have different fitness levels, Fitbit’s algorithm considers these factors and provides an accurate value of the burnt calorie count.
Related: How Accurate Is Apple Watch Calories
Which Factors Can Affect the Accuracy of the Fitbit?
Activity levels
The best way to keep the calorie burn levels accurate is by doing vigorous or moderate exercises or workouts. If your lifestyle is not very active and you spend most of the time in the office sedentary, be aware that Fitbit might slightly underestimate your overall calorie burn.
On the other hand, if you are extremely active and in constant movement and rush, and if you do some extreme workouts and exercises, Fitbit might overestimate your calorie burn.
Therefore, the best thing you can do is be average with your physical activities and ensure not to overdo them. This way, Fitbit can give you the most accurate calorie burn number.
Weight
As your weight is one of the biggest factors according to which Fitbit estimates your calorie burn, you must keep this information up to date to get the most precise calorie report. Remember that Fitbit’s estimate might be less accurate for people outside a certain weight range.
Heart rate variability
As Fitbit is not a professional and medical heart tracker, you must remember that sometimes there might be some inaccurate reading of your heart rate. If this happens, you might want to ensure that the device is placed correctly on your wrist and that its battery percentage is over 30%.
Heart rate variability is important because an inaccurate heart rate reading might result in an incorrect calorie burn estimation and report.
Wrist placement
The interesting thing about Fitbit is that it is meant to be worn on a non-dominant hand. Therefore, if the device is not positioned correctly, the likelihood of an accurate heart rate is low, resulting in a poor estimation of the calorie burn count.
The intensity of activity
Intensive workouts, fast running, and sprinting have been shown as factors that can directly influence Fitbit to overestimate the calorie burn and display not-so-accurate results.
Also, slow walking or constant sitting leads up to the inability of Fitbit to give you a precise calorie burn value, so you must take these factors into account and try to keep your physical activities moderate.
Read more: How Does Fitbit Track Sleep
Conclusion
Well, this is the end of this article. As everyone seems to be constantly talking about and absolutely adoring Fitbit devices, we wanted to assemble this article and see how accurate is Fitbit Calorie Burn and if the hype about these fitness devices is for a reason.
After looking at the research and study papers on this topic, we were amazed by this device’s actual calorie tracking accuracy. Additionally, we have included some essential information on the mechanism of work of Fitbit and which factors can influence and affect Fitbit’s calorie burn counter.