Fitbit, MyFitnessPal, and Breastfeeding

michelleepotter

Sorry if this has been asked before. I thought there used to be a way to search the discussions in a particular group, but since the forums have changed I can't figure out how to do it.

In my FB profile, I set the option that says I am breastfeeding. In MFP, I account for breastfeeding by entering a -500 calorie meal every day. Will this cause me to get double credit for my breastfeeding calories? If so, which is better? Setting it in FB, or MFP?

ZooKeeper1626

I also want to know the answer to this too! I just got the new fitbit Surge in the early release, and I'm breastfeeding my daughter that's a month old. I'm trying not to overeat, but I'm getting different calorie requirements in each of the apps.

editorgrrl

I'm not breastfeeding, but MFP & Fitbit always give me two different calorie goals. It'll take trial & error to find what works for you, but I lost the weight (and have maintained for six months) by following MFP's calorie goal and ignoring Fitbit's.

As for the breastfeeding, hopefully someone'll reply with a definitive answer. If not, I would definitely turn that setting on in Fitbit. Keep doing MFP the way you always have for several weeks, then reevaluate your progress.

heybales

Here's another option so you don't even have to worry about that extra calorie burn - this came from 2 different ladies, and heard back from 2 others that tried it with success.

Set both MFP and FB to maintain weight, no indication if breast feeding being done.

Correct for any non-step based exercise of course, and meet your changing eating goals as indicated by MFP. You don't really want to attempt to follow to diet goals anyway, leave FB for calorie burn, MFP for calories eaten.

The extra calorie burn from the production creates your deficit.
As you lose weight and want that deficit to become less anyway, you feed less often so it naturally happens.

If at the time of weaning there is anymore to be lost, back to small deficit.

michelleepotter

That's an interesting suggestion, heybales. I think it might work out for someone trying to lose, but I met my goal weight a few months back. Right now I'm mostly only tracking as moral support for my husband, but I don't want to inadvertently undereat.

I tried unchecking the "nursing" option on FB and noticed that it doesn't change your calories at all, so I'm just going to go with using MFP to account for my breastfeeding calories.

sheepotato

I am not breastfeeding yet, but I noticed that there is an entry for breastfeeding under exercise. You could try logging your breastfeeding sessions and see where that puts you calorie wise.

michelleepotter

Sheepotato, there are two ways to log breastfeeding on MFP. You can log it as exercise, or as a negative food. I choose to log it as food, because on your newsfeed it always shows whichever exercise you did that burned the most calories. At 500 calories per day, breastfeeding would *always* be the top exercise, and I prefer to see what I actually did in my newsfeed. Some people don't care about that.

I've been logging my breastfeeding on MFP for a year now, but I just got a FB and I didn't know what effect it would have to check the box on FB that says I'm nursing.

elvenbeauty18

I only log in MFP to avoid double entries. I log Breastfeeding into my food tracker every morning and it adds a -500 to the day, since my daughter is EBF and not taking food yet. Once food is started, then the adjustment is about -250 or-300.

sheepotato

michelleepotter wrote: »

Sheepotato, there are two ways to log breastfeeding on MFP. You can log it as exercise, or as a negative food. I choose to log it as food, because on your newsfeed it always shows whichever exercise you did that burned the most calories. At 500 calories per day, breastfeeding would *always* be the top exercise, and I prefer to see what I actually did in my newsfeed. Some people don't care about that.

I've been logging my breastfeeding on MFP for a year now, but I just got a FB and I didn't know what effect it would have to check the box on FB that says I'm nursing.

I was thinking logging it as exercise so I could log each session and get a little closer to the actual calories than the 500c estimate but that might be more of a pain than it's worth. I just really want to make sure I'm covered calorie wise for the first six weeks while I establish a supply.

That's a good point about the newsfeed. I have nearly everything turned off on mine. I look at exercise under the 'printable report' area so I can see how active I was for the week/month. myfitnesspal.com/reports/printable_diary/sheepotato

I replaced my fitbit recently and started using the pregnancy setting, and will try out the breastfeeding option and see what that does first. If it just adds 500c then it will only be helpful for the first 6 months. The negative calorie adjustment to the day is probably the best way to go.