Fitbit?

ybodwen

Hi out there,
I've never considered getting a fitbit but it's been about a year of logging/working out pretty consistently and I haven't seen much of a change .
The obvious answer would be that I'm eating too many calories.
Would a fitbit type device help me out with knowing how much to eat based on activity level, etc? I'm not so clear on what they actually do but I'm willing to try something new if it will help.

GauchoMark

It can help. We typically tend to overestimate calories burned and underestimate food eaten. A fitbit helps with one of those issues.

ybodwen

Thanks, that makes sense- but as far as the whole BMR/TDEE thing (which I don't quite get)- does it help with that whole thing?

nicsflyingcircus

A Fitbit estimates your burned calories, that is all. It doesn't actually measure them.

The easier thing to do, since you seem to be at maintenance (no change in a year), is try dropping your calories by about 250 a day, give it 3 or 4 weeks, and see if you start losing weight.

WalkingAlong

A Fitbit estimates your TDEE based on your activity levels but it still relies on the same type of estimators MFP does-- BMR formulas and activity METs values. But it's smarter than guessing.

And if you're not losing, you don't need to know exactly what your TDEE is, just that it's less than you think (or you're eating more than you think, but both cases have the same solution-- you need to eat less).

flightybird

My FitBit has helped me really know how much I'm burning through daily activity. I used to WAY overestimate the amount of walking I was actually doing. It helps me a lot to be more mindful of how much I'm moving. I do have mine set to auto-calculate calorie burn, and some days I will burn 500-600 calories over my BMR just through walking around during daily activities, but some days, I only burn like...65. It's SO helpful knowing what I'm really doing, rather than what I BS myself into thinking.

I just set my food diary to public, in case you want to take a look and see the calculations that the FitBit tosses in for me, and what it looks like in practice.

WalkingAlong

If you have a year of food logs and weight change info, you know more than your Fitbit will.

What they're best for (to me) is motivating you to move more.

flightybird

I totally agree with WalkingAlong. I'm usually not too invested in the "numbers" aspect when it comes to calories as the "oh my gosh, I only took 2500 steps today, I need to go for a walk" aspect.

ybodwen

OK thanks Just lowered my calories using a link from here (scooby's workshop or something) and hoping for the best! It's not hard for me to get moving and I don't think I overestimate my exercise calories so I guess it's the food. I'm also transitioning from nursing my baby so it could be I burn less calories than most people do with that and I was deducting too much for it.

nicsflyingcircus

WalkingAlong wrote: »

If you have a year of food logs and weight change info, you know more than your Fitbit will.

What they're best for (to me) is motivating you to move more.

Yeah, I've started taking walks to get more steps, so that is the real upside to my little gadget.

MelRC117

I think a food scale might be more helpful to you. Knowing how active you are (aside from the motivation aspect) is probably less useful at this point then knowing how much you are actually eating.

ybodwen

I have a food scale and I use it a lot but I guess I can get into a habit of using it always.
I think my calories were set too high because of breastfeeding recommendations which maybe weren't accurate for me personally.
I run several times a week and do piyo- I think a fitbit would just make me think I can eat more because of the steps! So I am going to hold off for now. Thanks for the input- really appreciate it!