Fitbit Making Me Fat?

williamwj2014

I wouldn't trust an electronic device to calculate burn..waaay too inaccurate. You should weigh your food to make sure your accurate.

Also, DRINK LOTS OF WATER! It helps a lot.

lizek316

I've only had my FitBit for one day and I already know that it's over estimating my steps. I was (still am) using the Pacer app on my phone and it's steps and calorie burn seem much more accurate. I'm still going to use both. I might need to make some tweets to my settings which what it sounds like you need to do. I have already changed my stride, my calorie intake and set it for my dominant hand when I don't actually wear it on that hand. It's also more likely to become more accurate the more you use it and log not only your food on the app or website, but also your activity. I'm hoping that's true anyway. I still have Pacer linked to MFP and will probably go off of those calories burned rather than what my FitBit says.

Dragn77

Fitbit consistently tells me to eat *less* than what MFP has as my calorie allowance per day.. if I ate what Fitbit told me to, I don't think I would be getting enough!!!

Also, when it says you burned 2080 calories, thats just telling you what you burned...which is not the same as what you should be eating. If you put in that your goal is to lose weight and how aggressively, it will calculate what your deficit should be. That is what you should be eating...

Anyway, because I have mine set to custom..and use what I actually burn instead of a set number, the amount I burn / should eat changes throughout the day, every day. Every so often, Fitbit is close to the same calories MFP tells me I have left to eat, but usually its lower by 100-200 calories. Check your goal settings on Fitbit maybe?

TheVirgoddess

JessaLee0324 wrote: »

The Fitbit messes with me. Now I "think" I can eat up to 2030 and maintain or eat less and start losing a little. My diary has been at or over each day because of this and the more I walk the higher my burn is.

I'm thinking I need to get rid of this thing. The only issue is that it does help me get more steps in.

I'd start weighing and measuring your food first - see what happens.

JAT74

I set MFP for the amount I can eat to still be able to lose 1lb per week without any exercise. For me that's my sedentary TDEE of 1500-500 = 1000 calories.

That way if there are calories added on to that amount based on my exercise I know I can eat this extra amount and still lose, but generally, whatever the total says even if it comes to 2000 I usually cap the total I eat at 1500-1600 maximum to allow for overestimation by the Fitbit or my workouts. If I only end up at 1500 for the daily burn, I'll eat no more than 1300 and so on.

JessaLee0324

Ok perfect example. I set my Fitbit so that I'm at maintenance. I want to see exactly where I am at and since I do the deductions on MFP it's all good. Here is what Fitbit says

I ate 1682
I burned 2030
Cals left 704

WHAT??????

TheVirgoddess

JessaLee0324 wrote: »

Ok perfect example. I set my Fitbit so that I'm at maintenance. I want to see exactly where I am at and since I do the deductions on MFP it's all good. Here is what Fitbit says

I ate 1682
I burned 2030
Cals left 704

WHAT??????

Okay, I just looked at your diary. It looks like you're getting a FitBit credit every day, and it's throwing you off? Because based on MFP, you have 153 calories left, not 704.

What I recommend doing is picking a website to track your calories. Either FitBit or MFP - don't use both. I use MFP, with FitBit as an accessory to keep me active. I don't log or track anything on FitBit. In fact, I mostly ignore it.

If you choose MFP, you need to adjust your activity level (sedentary, lightly active, active, etc) to better match your actual activity level, instead of getting different adjustments every single day. This way your calorie target will be more fixed, and easier to meet.

Xineoph

You sound like me when I first started using fitbit 2 years ago.
As in most things keeping it simple helps. Work out your calories for the day in MFP and don't try to figure out fitbit adjustments.

In my case I have set my food intake to 1700 calories in MFP. Fitbit says I've earned an extra 760 from exercise, giving me a total of 2460 calories for the day. Ignoring Fitbit I'll eat my 1700 calories (or maybe only 1500) and see how that works out. As I see it while I'm trying to lose a few pounds, why on earth would I want to eat (or drink as the case might be) in excess of 2400 calories?

shellma00

JessaLee0324 wrote: »

Ok perfect example. I set my Fitbit so that I'm at maintenance. I want to see exactly where I am at and since I do the deductions on MFP it's all good. Here is what Fitbit says

I ate 1682
I burned 2030
Cals left 704

WHAT??????

Because your day does not rest until midnight. Even if you sleep for the remainder of your day you still burn calories just by breathing. Fitbit is estimating what it thinks you will have burned for the whole entire 24 hours based on your previous history. So therefore it estimates how many more calories you can eat to never even for that whole 24 hours. I hope this made sense.

shellma00

Sorry was responding on my phone so I see that it mistyped one of my words. Never should be "become".

daw0518

My Fitbit seems to be very, very accurate for me, but everything on the Fitbit dashboard is confusing & way off. The calories/amount left to eat never matches up with MFP & I haven't been able to figure out why. So, I just have my Fitbit syncing to MFP (I think I also enabled negative calories & adjusted some other setting) & then I eat what MFP tells me I can eat. Most days I eat back ALL of the exercise calories given by Fitbit and I still lose weight at the 1lb a week I'm set for.

JessaLee0324

Maybe I will unsync the two accounts and only use the Fitbit for steps. Its too bad

MJ_Watson

redheaddee wrote: »

If you burn 2030 a day and eat 2030 a day = maintain your current weight. To lose weight, eat less than you burn. Seems straightforward enough.

Yes, this. Fitbit provides an estimate for your TDEE, so if you are eating that number, you will not lose weight. If you are estimating servings instead of using a food scale, you could easily be eating over maintenance and start gaining.

You have to set a deficit on Fitbit. To do this on the app, go under account. Click goals, then go down to where it says "diet." Click on "food." It will help you set your goal. Make sure it is the same goal you have in MFP. A 250 cal deficit = 0.5lb lost a week, 500 = 1lb, etc.

I would definitely look into tightening my logging, too. A food scale is the calories counter's best friend! If that doesn't work, you may want to just not eat back a percentage of your calories earned. But I find earning calories really motivating, so I'd probably try the first two before that. Up to you!