Accuracy of calorie count

[Stockmoose16]

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[bockersjv]

The calorie burn is an indication, are you wearing it 24/7? Also have you calibrated the steps by going for a long walk or run with the GPS turned on?

 

[EMitchell]

I've been wondering about the accuracy of the calorie count as well. Anyone have the details on how the reported calorie number is determined?

 

[poit57]

I'm 5'11" and about 173 lbs. My cousin has a scale that takes your height, weight, age, and sex, then it calculates bone density, hydration level, body fat, BMI, BMR, muscle mass, and maybe some other things.

According to that scale, my BMR is about 1840 calories per day, but my Band usually measures over 2100 calories on days with no types of physical workout. Your total day expenditure calculator sounds like a high estimate for your size and weight, but I'm sort of new to all this fitness stuff.

 

[Black3ternity]

You have to keep in mind that the band tracks your movement and heartrate. And when you don't use your band while sleeping, you're going to "loose" approx. 500 calories per night. Because the Band monitors from 0 - 24, you pretty much cut your calories form the night in half. For me it shows approx. 450 - 600 calories during the night (depending on my sleeping cycles, movement and such stuff) and when I take a rough cut of 250 calories per night and add that on top of my daily 1.900 calories, I get something around my 2.100 / 2.200 which is shown by my scale and on MyFitnessPal. MFP shows 1.840 because I want to lose 0.5kg per week and thus limits me further down so I can burn more than take to me.

If you don't wear your band at night, you're losing that data and thus, the Band will show something around 1.800 / 1.900.
I'm only taking my Band off for charging and resting my wrist every morning for half an hour and so it shows approx. 2.100 calories on average without working out. So it seems pretty spot on.

Here is a screenshot of my dashboard.
I got the band on the 17th of April so that's why there is a flat line before that date and that dip on the 17th because I only had it for half a day due to charging and receiving the package :wink:




Regards,

 

[NBrookus]

I'm a 5'8, 149 pound male, and when I use a total day expenditure calculator, it says at my height and weight, I burn about 2100 cals/day when I do nothing more than carry on with my normal activities.

Which TDEE calculator are you using? Does it include body fat? If not, it's just a very rough ballpark based on average people. The Katch-McArdle formula is pretty good.

Even so, we all do have different metabolic rates.

Is the band completely wrong? I often lose two or more pounds when I take in 1200 calories for a week, so that means the band is definitely wrong.

An initial short-term weight loss of several pounds in not unusual when going on a calorie restricted diet as the body burns up it's glycogen stores. (That weight also comes back very quickly if you start eating more calories again.) If you maintain that rate of weight loss after about the first two weeks, then it starts to be "real" weight.

At your height/weight, I would not cut calories that drastically, or if you do, give yourself a day eating at TDEE every 3 or 4 days. You'd probably get better results exercising more, building muscle and maintaining a lower calorie deficit.

 

[gadgetrants]

How can I say this politely?

I don't think I can.

MFP is garbage (just search my screen name and MFP and you'll see several posts enumerating why). Do your own due diligence and don't trust any guidelines MFP provides.

-Matt

 

[Black3ternity]

I don't understand your rough cut reference, but I wear my band at night, so I expect the calorie count to be accurate since I wear it 24 hrs/day.

Sorry, the "rough cut" was just if you don't wear your band in the night. You have to keep in mind that the dashboard only shows calorie count from 0am to 12pm so if you have 1.900 calories during the day without working out and don't record your sleep but estimate 500 calories during sleep, you habe to cut them in half because you go to sleep in one day and wake up the next. Just to keep that in mind.
If you record your whole day, it's fine like I do.

@gadgetrants:
Thanks for your opinion and information. I for myself use MFP only for collecting the Data but don't "trust" them in terms of diet. Not only because a standalone diet isn't properly working - everybody who wants to lose weight should always do some exercise in terms of cardio / weight lifting because diet alone is pretty bad for your health, especially when I see that someone wants to cut his calorie intake basically in half.

Stay healthy guys and keep an eye out for your body signals

Regards,