HOW DOES FITBIT CALCULATE CALORIES?

This information was provided within the fitbit app on my phone.  

How does Fitbit estimate how many calories I've burned?

Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the rate at which you burn calories at rest just to maintain vital body functions like breathing, heartbeat, and brain activity. Your BMR usually accounts for at least half of the calories you burn in a day and is estimated based on the physical data you entered when you set up your account: gender, age, height, and weight. The calorie burn estimate that Fitbit provides takes into account your BMR, the activity recorded by your tracker, and any activities you log manually. Your tracker's calorie count will reset each night at midnight and begin counting immediately thereafter. BMR is the reason your tracker starts the day with calories already burned—you've still burned calories even if you haven't gotten out of bed yet.

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HOW EASY WOULD IT BE TO BURN CALORIES IF ALL ONE HAD TO DO WAS LIE IN BED ALL DAY?   The problem with this theory is that people still tend to have hearty appetites and the rate that one would burn calories would not keep pace with the rate that one would consume food.  This is why it is either a good idea to eat less and/or spend some time exercising to turn up the internal calorie furnace up a notch or two.  I have seemingly conquered the desire to be a couch potato.  In fact, I have slayed that 'dragon'.  I have not yet conquered the desire to (over)eat.  And perhaps conquest of that particular 'dragon' may be beyond my abilities - but I will never give up trying to tame it.  And that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

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Your Food Diary For:

Sunday, March 13, 2016

BREAKFAST	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
2 Egg Omelette With Ham and Cheese	383	2	21	32	810	2
Bacon	320	0	24	24	1,400	0
	703	2	45	56	2,210	2
L U N C H
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich	520	70	30	18	700	26
CHERRY VANILLA GRANOLA	360	60	11	8	90	23
	880	130	41	26	790	49
D I N N E R
Teriyaki Salmon Steaks, 6 oz	270	3	8	47	365	5
Spicy Curried & Kale Walnut Salad	540	54	39	9	690	0
Beet and Carrot Salad	300	38	12	8	0	30
	1,110	95	59	63	1,055	35
S N A C K S
Chocolate Hazelnut Pirouttes	360	57	12	3	180	30
Red Delicious Apple, 2 medium	190	50	1	1	4	38
	550	107	13	4	184	68
Totals	3,243	333	157	149	4,238	153
Your Daily Goal	4,582	573	152	230	2,300	171
Remaining	1,339	239	-5	81	-1,938	17
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
	*You've earned 2,652 extra calories from exercise today

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       Your Exercise Diary for:

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
STAR TRAC ELLIPTICAL	92	1,582
STAR TRAC ELLIPTICAL	92	1,569
MFP iOS calorie adjustment	N/A	-170
Daily Total / Goal	185 / 30	2,981 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	1266 / 210	19,740 / 4,130

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total calories consumed 3243 calories

total calories burned (elliptical) 3151 calories

total net 92 calories

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fitbit day 193

25121 steps  

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10,000 STEPS

I have been a 'fitbitter' for just over one week. I know that I am joining a community of hundreds of thousands of people who are each day logging and counting their steps. Before I made my purchase, even I was aware that the fitbit is a device that encourages its users to make 10,000 steps per day.  I was curious where this number came from....

I found this article on the fitbit blog dated June 22, 2010

The Magic of 10,000 steps

When you join Fitbit, the default goal we set for each member is the magical number of 10,000 steps a day (you can also choose to customize your goal).  And while this may not be the first time you’ve heard that goal, it might be more meaningful, and motivating, to understand its origins. 

The Japanese first started using the 10,000 steps a day number, as part of a marketing campaign! (to help sell pedometers).  Since that initial campaign however, medical authorities around the world have agreed that 10,000 is a healthy number to aim for. The American Heart Association uses the 10,000 steps metric as a guideline to follow for improving health and decreasing risk of heart disease, the number one killer of men and women in America. 

10,000 steps a day is a rough equivalent to the Surgeon General’s recommendation to accumulate 30 minutes of activity most days of the week. It should be enough to reduce your risk for disease and help you lead a longer, healthier life. The benefits are many:  lower BMI, reduced waist size, increased energy, and less risk for Type II diabetes and heart disease.  In fact, a recent study of the 10,000 steps a day method reported conclusive health benefits. 

10,000 steps daily is approximately 5 miles.  Unless you have a very active lifestyle or profession, you probably don’t reach 10,000 steps on a given day without putting some effort into your activity.  This could be a lifestyle change such as walking to work, or the addition of an exercise routine to your day. 

Another reason to do it?  For most people, it’s convenient, free and simple to do with just a little change to your daily routine.  Working towards a 10,000 step a day goal?  Good for you!  Get motivated with one of our Fitbit groups, like 5k-6k steps a day.  Already mastered 10,000? Maybe Active Maintainers is for you.

After reading this I was wondering was ACTIVE MAINTAINERS was all about.  It is an online group of 'overachieving' people with fitbit.  Naturally, I joined.... This is what the leaderboard looked like this morning, September 12th.

Steps in September

• Mike K. - 582,197 steps#1
• Jennifer K. - 526,615 steps#2
• Debbie A. - 492,026 steps#3
• Tracy E. - 211,113 steps#122
• Chris E. - 210,583 steps#123
• You - 210,492 steps#124
• Alma R. - 210,107 steps#125Tracey V. - 209,941 steps
• #126

This group has nearly 200,000 members.... so my standing of #124 is fairly respectable.  I do not think that this will ever be a group where I will be number 1.

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226.6 lbs

I weigh 226.6 lbs.

I gained 0.8 lbs this week

I have lost 82.4 lbs in 262 days. Today begins Day 263.

I will always be at the beginning of a journey that never ends.

I weigh 226.8 (262 days ago I weighed 309 lbs)

I have lost 26.6% of my weight since Dec 24.

I have a BMI, body mass index of 30.31 

I had a 42.0 BMI on Dec 24 just 234 days ago (Class III obesity)

I have 4 words of RATIONALIZATION for myself today: IT MUST BE MUSCLE

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 FRIDAY MENU

breakfast   oatmeal, bacon, poached eggs                                         590 calories

lunch         almonds, bacon, apples, dark choice cashew bars         1270 calories
dinner        Mariano's huge spinach salad                                          750 calories
SNACK    mango, cacao goji, Quaker Rice Cakes                         1030 calories

total calories consumed 3641 calories

calories burned

Northfield YMCA PRECOR 100i elliptical machine 
(maximum session length limited to 60 minutes)
session 1 elliptical 60 min, 5 min cooldown, level 20, 1095 cal
session 2 elliptical 60 min, 5 min cooldown, level 20, 1108 cal

TOTAL CALORIES BURNED 2203 calories

Friday net calories 1438 calories
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