Explanation about negative calories from Fitbit from those that know
23susu23
Posts: 68 Member
I have searched and read everything that I can find about this, but I just want to make sure that I am understanding correctly.
BACKGROUND: I've been very strictly following MFP for 3 months. I am female, 58, 5'4", started at 249. Have set MFP and Fitbit to sedentary because I am fairly inactive since retiring. I'm set to lose 1 pound per week. I've lost about 21 pounds in this time, CW=228. (So I'm losing more because I'm so overweight, I guess.) My MFP calorie goal is 1510. I usually average just under that (1400-1450) as I like to leave room for any miscalculations and knew that I wasn't active.
I'm just trying to move more and do a little bit of exercise but not enough to have any calories to eat back. I wanted to lose some weight before I got into much exercise because I have knee replacements and know it is bad with this much extra weight, so I don't want to walk too much yet. I Plan on pool exercises soon as it will be warm enough and will get more into some weight resistant exercises than I have been.
REAL QUESTION: I got a Fitbit Flex to encourage me to exercise (and I like gadgets). I set MFP to subtract negative calories. I didn't realize how inactive I really am. It has been subtracting out 150 to 200 calories for the last couple of days that I have had it. So I should be following these MFP lower calories if I don't get moving more? I thought MFP sedentary was like laying in bed? Guess not? So this is how it is supposed to work, right? And it starts out in the negative and adjusts through the day when exercise is detected by the Fitbit? Seems like eating in the evening is going to be a guessing game as to how many calories I actually will have?
Thanks for any help with this!
BACKGROUND: I've been very strictly following MFP for 3 months. I am female, 58, 5'4", started at 249. Have set MFP and Fitbit to sedentary because I am fairly inactive since retiring. I'm set to lose 1 pound per week. I've lost about 21 pounds in this time, CW=228. (So I'm losing more because I'm so overweight, I guess.) My MFP calorie goal is 1510. I usually average just under that (1400-1450) as I like to leave room for any miscalculations and knew that I wasn't active.
I'm just trying to move more and do a little bit of exercise but not enough to have any calories to eat back. I wanted to lose some weight before I got into much exercise because I have knee replacements and know it is bad with this much extra weight, so I don't want to walk too much yet. I Plan on pool exercises soon as it will be warm enough and will get more into some weight resistant exercises than I have been.
REAL QUESTION: I got a Fitbit Flex to encourage me to exercise (and I like gadgets). I set MFP to subtract negative calories. I didn't realize how inactive I really am. It has been subtracting out 150 to 200 calories for the last couple of days that I have had it. So I should be following these MFP lower calories if I don't get moving more? I thought MFP sedentary was like laying in bed? Guess not? So this is how it is supposed to work, right? And it starts out in the negative and adjusts through the day when exercise is detected by the Fitbit? Seems like eating in the evening is going to be a guessing game as to how many calories I actually will have?
Thanks for any help with this!
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Replies
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Frequency of syncing and a Fitbit setting can make that appear worse too.
FAQ in the stickies for this group gets in to those settings.
Basically, if you have no device syncs to show otherwise, and you have Fitbit set to sedentary, it assumes your calorie burn is barely above sleeping, which will always be less than MFP assumed calorie burn when set at sedentary.
So when MFP gets this much lower value, it'll always have negative calories until a device sync tells Fitbit you've burned more with actual movement.
So infrequent syncs, like morning and night before/after work, will see this issue.
Frequent syncs through the day would not see this issue.0 -
The calorie goal MFP gives you, even when set to Sedentary, is more than what you would burn if you just laid in bed (i.e. BMR).
You and I are actually quite close in a number of stats. I'm also 58 and retired and started at about 250 lbs - but 2 years ago. I haven't been trying to do this fast, but I've rededicated myself in the last couple of months. I'm now at 198 lbs. I also have bad knees, although I'm not to the point of needing replacements (my mom has been through knee replacement surgery 3 times). I'm also 3" shorter than you (5'1"). So anyway, to the numbers MFP gives me and what I'm pretty sure they mean.
I have MFP set to sedentary because I don't have a job and my inclination, if I don't push myself, is to be sedentary. I also have MFP set for me to lose 1/2 pound per week because I do a lot better with achievable goals, rather than stretch goals. I know the guidelines say that losing 1 lb per week is reasonable for me (and that's what I've been losing lately), but...
So, I ran my stats through a BMR calculator and it gives a BMR of 1583 calories per day. MFP sets my calorie goal at 1530 calories per day. If you add the 250 calorie deficit to that, then MFP expects me to burn 1780 calories per day, if I don't exercise. That is roughly 200 calories more than my BMR. I think your numbers work out to be that MFP expects you to burn 335 calories more than your BMR.
Your FitBit is going to assume that no detected steps = BMR rate of burn, so if you don't move much, yeah it'll probably subtract off about 200 calories for the day.
Personally, I recommend finding a way to move more. I started this lose weight/get healthier thing with exercise first, then added watching what I ate. I can't tell you how much the exercise has helped - and I am a lifelong exercise avoider. If you start slowly, you'll get there. Of course, follow your doctor and/or physical therapist's advice when it comes to your knees, but having seen my mom go through the process and get to the point where nobody would ever know she'd had the replacements, I'm sure there is exercise that you can do. (And you can eat so much more when you exercise!)
Start slowly and set achievable goals. You can get there. Two years ago I never would have believed I could get as fit as I am today.
Oh yeah - heybales is right about the syncing, too. If you can sync your FitBit later in the day, that should give you some idea how much you can eat in the evening. I admit to syncing frequently and getting a little mini-psychological reward if I then see my calories remaining go up. If I see it go down (as I just did - only one calorie, but...) then it motivates me to get moving.0 -
Thanks so much to both of you for spending the time to reply! I know that I do need to get moving! Just wanted to make sure that I understood the calculations.0
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I have searched and read everything that I can find about this, but I just want to make sure that I am understanding correctly.
BACKGROUND: I've been very strictly following MFP for 3 months. I am female, 58, 5'4", started at 249. Have set MFP and Fitbit to sedentary because I am fairly inactive since retiring. I'm set to lose 1 pound per week. I've lost about 21 pounds in this time, CW=228. (So I'm losing more because I'm so overweight, I guess.) My MFP calorie goal is 1510. I usually average just under that (1400-1450) as I like to leave room for any miscalculations and knew that I wasn't active.
I'm just trying to move more and do a little bit of exercise but not enough to have any calories to eat back. I wanted to lose some weight before I got into much exercise because I have knee replacements and know it is bad with this much extra weight, so I don't want to walk too much yet. I Plan on pool exercises soon as it will be warm enough and will get more into some weight resistant exercises than I have been.
REAL QUESTION: I got a Fitbit Flex to encourage me to exercise (and I like gadgets). I set MFP to subtract negative calories. I didn't realize how inactive I really am. It has been subtracting out 150 to 200 calories for the last couple of days that I have had it. So I should be following these MFP lower calories if I don't get moving more? I thought MFP sedentary was like laying in bed? Guess not? So this is how it is supposed to work, right? And it starts out in the negative and adjusts through the day when exercise is detected by the Fitbit? Seems like eating in the evening is going to be a guessing game as to how many calories I actually will have?
Thanks for any help with this!
I'm 5'2, 36 y/o and 182 lbs. I've lost about 37 lbs so far (over the course of a few years). But I've only had my fitbit for about a year. I always had MFP set to sedentary and I wasn't losing weight as quickly as I thought I should. After getting the fitbit, I was also getting negative adjustments of at least 100 calories per day, sometimes much more. This meant that the calorie goal MFP had been giving me for all that time was actually higher than what I should've been eating.
It wasn't until I started forcing myself to move more in order to burn the extra calories and at least not get a negative adjustment. And now I've been losing more weight too.
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forgot to mention, I currently still begin my day with a pretty big negative adjustment number, and then I start earning calories as I burn throughout the day (and sync). But starting off, MFP still expects me to burn more than Fitbit.I have searched and read everything that I can find about this, but I just want to make sure that I am understanding correctly.
BACKGROUND: I've been very strictly following MFP for 3 months. I am female, 58, 5'4", started at 249. Have set MFP and Fitbit to sedentary because I am fairly inactive since retiring. I'm set to lose 1 pound per week. I've lost about 21 pounds in this time, CW=228. (So I'm losing more because I'm so overweight, I guess.) My MFP calorie goal is 1510. I usually average just under that (1400-1450) as I like to leave room for any miscalculations and knew that I wasn't active.
I'm just trying to move more and do a little bit of exercise but not enough to have any calories to eat back. I wanted to lose some weight before I got into much exercise because I have knee replacements and know it is bad with this much extra weight, so I don't want to walk too much yet. I Plan on pool exercises soon as it will be warm enough and will get more into some weight resistant exercises than I have been.
REAL QUESTION: I got a Fitbit Flex to encourage me to exercise (and I like gadgets). I set MFP to subtract negative calories. I didn't realize how inactive I really am. It has been subtracting out 150 to 200 calories for the last couple of days that I have had it. So I should be following these MFP lower calories if I don't get moving more? I thought MFP sedentary was like laying in bed? Guess not? So this is how it is supposed to work, right? And it starts out in the negative and adjusts through the day when exercise is detected by the Fitbit? Seems like eating in the evening is going to be a guessing game as to how many calories I actually will have?
Thanks for any help with this!
I'm 5'2, 36 y/o and 182 lbs. I've lost about 37 lbs so far (over the course of a few years). But I've only had my fitbit for about a year. I always had MFP set to sedentary and I wasn't losing weight as quickly as I thought I should. After getting the fitbit, I was also getting negative adjustments of at least 100 calories per day, sometimes much more. This meant that the calorie goal MFP had been giving me for all that time was actually higher than what I should've been eating.
It wasn't until I started forcing myself to move more in order to burn the extra calories and at least not get a negative adjustment. And now I've been losing more weight too.
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This discussion has been closed.