Calories and which to use...
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ChelleBelle2708
Posts: 131 Member
I've been using MFP for past month. I completed the profile
79kg, goal weight 70kg. Lose 0.2kg per week, sedentary level. Total 1640 calories.
I completed the plan guide for FitBit and I got 2050 calories!
I log my food with MFP and activities via FitBit. I have the Charge HR but I'm majorly confused with calories and to work out how much I'm using and eating etc.
I'm sorry if this sounds simple. An illness I have made things like this a little hard to process. A dumbies guide would be great!
79kg, goal weight 70kg. Lose 0.2kg per week, sedentary level. Total 1640 calories.
I completed the plan guide for FitBit and I got 2050 calories!
I log my food with MFP and activities via FitBit. I have the Charge HR but I'm majorly confused with calories and to work out how much I'm using and eating etc.
I'm sorry if this sounds simple. An illness I have made things like this a little hard to process. A dumbies guide would be great!
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Replies
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Go by the calories that MFP says you can eat. Go ahead and eat the exercise calories that FitBit reports. (Leave a few if you tend to be more sedentary in the evening, as I am.)
So, if MFP says your daily calorie goal is 1650 and FitBit reports 400 calories of exercise* - then you can eat 2050 calories that day.
* in this case the exercise that FitBit reports includes not only deliberate exercise but also normal daily activity over and above what MFP expects you to burn.
Which "tile" on the FitBit dashboard is "giving" you 2050 calories? If it is the one with the little flame in it, then that is your "daily calorie goal" - what you'd like to burn, not what you can eat. If it has a fork and knife, then that is the amount you can eat - but use MFP's instead.
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Thank you
It's the box with knife and fork. It says 1046/2087 eaten.
Where do I find the exercise tile? - ignore. Just figured out what you meant by Eat your exercise. That's the number on MFP. Allowance - food + exercise = what's left0 -
Also FitBit is saying I have 1079 left, where as MFP says 940
Have I sone something wrong?0 -
ChelleBelle2708 wrote: »Also FitBit is saying I have 1079 left, where as MFP says 940
Have I sone something wrong?
Fitbit just thinks you might be a little more active till the end of the day than MFP does. Either Fitbit will decrease or MFP will increase before the night is over based on how active you are for the rest of the day.0 -
ok but my starting calories for the day is also different?
Also, the calories burnt on FitBit says 1900!! and yet its only 430 in MPF (I've only been walking today, no additional exercise)0 -
ChelleBelle2708 wrote: »ok but my starting calories for the day is also different?
Also, the calories burnt on FitBit says 1900!! and yet its only 430 in MPF (I've only been walking today, no additional exercise)
Those include the calories your body burns during the day, even asleep your body burns calories0 -
ChelleBelle2708 wrote: »ok but my starting calories for the day is also different?
Also, the calories burnt on FitBit says 1900!! and yet its only 430 in MPF (I've only been walking today, no additional exercise)
FitBit and MFP use different methods for determining how many calories you have left for the day. Plus, there are two different settings in FitBit for how it determines that. They will never agree until the end of the day (midnight), at which point they should be very close to the same if your settings - weight, height, goal rate of weight loss - are the same. That's why most people recommend that you just look at the MFP number for how many calories you can eat.
(It sounds like, in FitBit, you have your food plan set to use "personalized" as an estimate of how many calories you have left for the day. That's fine, especially if you use MFP to determine how much you can eat, but if you change it to "sedentary" then it will probably show a lower number than MFP, rather than higher. Changing this won't affect anything else.)
As for the FitBit 1900 vs. 430 MFP - you're comparing apples to oranges. FitBit estimates that you've burned 1900 calories so far today. That's for everything - being alive, walking, exercising, misc. movement. MFP took that number from FitBit and compared it to what it expected you to have burned so far today and concluded that you'd burned 430 more calories than expected, so you get 430 "exercise" calories.
You should read the FAQ in the stickies for the group. Heybales did a comprehensive job of explaining all this.0 -
That is fab!!! I finally get it... haha... takes me a while I'm afraid, but thank you for taking the time to explain it. Now that I have logged my dinner etc, they seem pretty close in available calories now.
Thank you again0 -
You're welcome. It certainly can be confusing.0
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Ok so looking at yesterday finished stats.
Fitbit said 1972 calories eaten with 212 left.
MFP said same eaten and 158 calories left.
Are they running about right or am I missing something again?0 -
On the MFP exercise tab, the Fitbit calorie adjustment - click on the "i" for more info.
What time was last sync?0 -
23.59
It says there is fit calorie adjustment of 520 calories0 -
Ya, yesterday's should have updated to no time stamp, just stating what the Fitbit calorie burn was.
And does what it report as Fitbit calorie burn on MFP really match what Fitbit reports on their site for the day?0 -
These are the stats from yesterday...
Fitbit... 2,434 calories burned, 1972 calories eaten, 212 calories left
MFP... 1610 goal, 1972 calories eaten, 520 exercise. 158 calories remaining.0 -
Actually I think it does match... On MFP it says, totally calories burnt with Fitabit 2432, less calories consumed 1972, 520 calorie deficit. Does this sound right?0
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Yes, that "i" place is only place to see what the reported Fitbit calorie burn is, to confirm if it matches what Fitbit is saying.
The rest is just math, but that location is still the easiest to do it.
MFP
1610 goal + 500 deficit = 2110 estimated daily burn
2110 + 520 Fitbit correction = 2630 daily burn
Fitbit
2434 daily burn
So off by 200.
Did you manually set an eating goal on MFP, or manually change the macros?
You can see what the real MFP estimated daily burn is on that "i" pop-up too.
MFP Calories burned = ? (I calculated 2110 above, but is that what it says?)0 -
I'll go check when I'm home on PC. I haven't manually entered anything or changed anything as far as I'm aware
Thank you for your help. I'll check as soon as I'm home0 -
It says 1914 (MFP calories burned)
Also on FitBit under goals diet section it says 250 calories deficit0 -
So the eating goals should never match between them, as the deficit goals don't match.
That should cause Fitbit to be 250 higher.
So MFP based on your BMR and selection of activity level has estimated a non-exercise daily burn of 1914.
500 cal deficit off means eating goal should be 1414.
Your eating goal in same state is 1610 though, 196 cal difference.
You must have manually set it at some point.
Or you messed with the macros a way back when the eating goal was 1610, and while MFP has auto-adjusted your daily burn down as you weigh less, the manually set goal stops that from happening on your eating goal. You normally would have received a pop-up asking to adjust that goal based on new weight when it was 10 lbs less.
Or you missed that pop-up, or said no, or it was buggy right at moment it was needed.
Either way, your profile is no longer automatic - hence the differences in eating goals.
Merely going in to diet/fitness profile, and probably just hitting Save, should reset it.
You'll know it worked when the eating goal drops to 1414.
So that almost 200 calorie issue on MFP with 500 cal deficit combined with Fitbit using 250 cal makes it a close match, but not exact.0 -
ok. I've been on MFP and gone into Goals, and then under Your Fitness Goals I've changed them... so its now saying...
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