I need help to figure this out

apgant

MFP has my daily calorie intake set at 1530 based on my goal of a 2 pound weight loss a week, being active with a calories deficit of 1000 calories. I have my goal for 5 workouts per week each lasting 60 minutes. I am unsure what to set my calories burned to on Fitbit. I have messed around with the numbers but I keep getting negative calorie adjustments on my MFP diary daily. I want to get credit for all my exercise calories instead of them being taken away from me. I am not going over on my food intake either. I just don't know what my number should be on Fitbit for calories burned.

NancyN795

First, read heybales FAQ in the stickies for the group. That may clear up your confusion.

Bottom line, if you don't want negative adjustments then you're going to need to change your activity level in MFP. Changing the "calories burned" goal in FitBit isn't going to change how many calories FitBit reports to MFP. That just changes what your goal for your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is. You've still got to move enough to meet it.

You're always getting credit for your exercise calories (and your normal daily activity calories). But, if your normal daily activity is sitting at a desk, then exercising for an hour 5 days a week doesn't qualify you as "active" - it qualifies you as a sedentary person who exercises 5 hours a week.

Also, if you really only have 15 pounds to go to your goal weight, then 2 lbs per week is way too aggressive. The consensus I've seen (and I admit, I don't know the source of this number) is that you shouldn't try to lose more than 0.5 lb per week per 25 pounds to lose. So, 2 lbs per week is appropriate for someone with more than 75 pounds to lose. My understanding is that if you try to lose faster than that, you're going to lose muscle, not fat. I would also be very, very hungry - and I know that I can't sustain that for long.

If you don't want to change your MFP settings, and really want to try for 2 lbs per week, then I guess you should set your "calories burned" goal in FitBit to 2530. That is 1000 calories more than your daily calorie intake. You'll still get negative adjustments, though, unless you start moving more throughout the day.

editorgrrl

Set your goal to .5 lb. per week for every 25 lbs. you need to lose: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided

If (and only if) you enable negative calorie adjustments, you can set your activity level anyway you please: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

Raising your activity level will make your adjustments smaller, but at the end of the day your calorie goal will always be your Fitbit burn (which is TDEE) minus your deficit.

heybales

apjoines wrote: »

MFP has my daily calorie intake set at 1530 based on my goal of a 2 pound weight loss a week, being active with a calories deficit of 1000 calories. I have my goal for 5 workouts per week each lasting 60 minutes. I am unsure what to set my calories burned to on Fitbit. I have messed around with the numbers but I keep getting negative calorie adjustments on my MFP diary daily. I want to get credit for all my exercise calories instead of them being taken away from me. I am not going over on my food intake either. I just don't know what my number should be on Fitbit for calories burned.

First - that exercise goal has no bearing at all on eating goal.
You've got your Food diary and those weight loss goals, you've got your Exercise diary and those time/calorie burn goals.
Those goals don't mix in any math.

Is your daily job outside of exercise actually Active as described in the profile options. Advice above good.

On Fitbit, calories burned is just a goal that will hopefully get you to an eating goal you can adhere to and sustain.

Say you know from experience you like to eat 2000 calories daily. That allows a couple treats, glass of wine, dessert, ect.
Well, if you want to lose 1 lb weekly, or a daily 500 calorie deficit - then you better burn 2500 calories daily if you want to eat that much.

So you set your burn goal to 2500 and try to reach it, knowing if you are less, you get to eat less, or more you get to eat more.

And that goal on Fitbit - has absolutely no bearing on the math of what you actually burn or what your eating goal is or the Fitbit calorie adjustment on MFP.

It is purely an encouragement goal, much like the exercise goal on MFP that most never even notice, because you have to log exercise to see how you are doing with it, or look at that diary to see it.