Fitbit calories burned

golfbrew_matt
golfbrew_matt Posts: 240 Member
edited November 8 in Health and Weight Loss
Has anyone tried eating to their fitbit calorie estimates? Are these accurate?

Replies

  • Lizzy622
    Lizzy622 Posts: 3,705 Member
    I stick with MFP for the calories I eat. What Fit Bit has taught me is if I don't move enough I won't make my daily average calorie goals on MFP.
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    Lizzy622 wrote: »
    I stick with MFP for the calories I eat. What Fit Bit has taught me is if I don't move enough I won't make my daily average calorie goals on MFP.

    True that! :smile:
  • golfbrew_matt
    golfbrew_matt Posts: 240 Member
    I'm not sure I understand what you mean about making your average daily calorie goals on MFP? Do you mean just moving enough to hit your TDEE estimate on MFP?
  • ntdrive
    ntdrive Posts: 105 Member
    I've been sticking pretty much with Fitbit (flex) recommendation since Feb. It's on target.
  • golfbrew_matt
    golfbrew_matt Posts: 240 Member
    ntdrive wrote: »
    I've been sticking pretty much with Fitbit (flex) recommendation since Feb. It's on target.

    Thanks!
  • sympha01
    sympha01 Posts: 942 Member
    No, I get it. The MFP model assumes you eat your daily exercise calories and that exercise calories might vary day-to-day. A TDEE method assumes your exercise burn is averaged out over the week and those calories are simply included in your daily goal up front -- you don't actually "eat your exercise calories" with a TDEE method, you just have an exercise goal that you have to meet. You can use MFP with a TDEE method, but MFP's not really designed to work that way.

    I find that yeah, once I got a Fitbit it made more sense to just have an exercise goal to meet each day (that I might, and hopefully would, exceed), to eat appropriately for that goal, and not try to specifically eat exercise calories particularly on days I get extra exercise. For one thing, in the evening after dinner, MFP typically starts "docking" me calories from my fitbit adjustment every hour because that's when I wind down and get sedentary. And anyone who goes to bed at 10pm or earlier will see their MFP fitbit calorie adjustment decrease substantially between bedtime and when the day actually gets closed out at midnight. So if you eat to your goal, then you'll wake up having actually eaten over your goal.
  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
    Fitbit's calorie estimate is always too low for me. I started manually logging my exercise and calories burned into Fitbit's dashboard to get closer to my true TDEE.

    For what it's worth... I'm trying to maintain my weight, not lose. Fitbit's estimate is usually off anywhere from 200-500 calories a day for me.
  • golfbrew_matt
    golfbrew_matt Posts: 240 Member
    sympha01 wrote: »
    No, I get it. The MFP model assumes you eat your daily exercise calories and that exercise calories might vary day-to-day. A TDEE method assumes your exercise burn is averaged out over the week and those calories are simply included in your daily goal up front -- you don't actually "eat your exercise calories" with a TDEE method, you just have an exercise goal that you have to meet. You can use MFP with a TDEE method, but MFP's not really designed to work that way.

    I find that yeah, once I got a Fitbit it made more sense to just have an exercise goal to meet each day (that I might, and hopefully would, exceed), to eat appropriately for that goal, and not try to specifically eat exercise calories particularly on days I get extra exercise. For one thing, in the evening after dinner, MFP typically starts "docking" me calories from my fitbit adjustment every hour because that's when I wind down and get sedentary. And anyone who goes to bed at 10pm or earlier will see their MFP fitbit calorie adjustment decrease substantially between bedtime and when the day actually gets closed out at midnight. So if you eat to your goal, then you'll wake up having actually eaten over your goal.

    This makes a lot of sense, thanks for clearing things up for me!
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    edited November 2014
    ntdrive wrote: »
    I've been sticking pretty much with Fitbit (flex) recommendation since Feb. It's on target.

    Yes this - MFP set to sedentary, negative calories enabled and I use the adjustments as my guide for calories

    I also log workouts separately with my HRM as cal guide
  • scrittrice
    scrittrice Posts: 345 Member
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    ntdrive wrote: »
    I've been sticking pretty much with Fitbit (flex) recommendation since Feb. It's on target.

    Yes this - MFP set to sedentary, negative calories enabled and I use the adjustments as my guide for calories

    I also log workouts separately with my HRM as cal guide

    Ditto but set for lightly active. Works great for me. If anything, I can eat a little bit more than both FitBit and MFP suggest. (Still working out my maintenance calories.)
  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
    rustyjs00 wrote: »
    Do you log in the steps/distance that you have at the end of the day? if so how do you log it?

    I think you're asking me?

    My walks are mostly hikes, so I log 'hiking' along with a manually-entered calorie burn I pull from an app I use - MapMyHike. Also, the FitBit dashboard has all kinds of different activities you can 'overlay' onto its base estimate. I always manually log strength training and other gym equipment. It gives me a much better TDEE estimate.
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