Exercise calories

workinprogress73
workinprogress73 Posts: 8 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
this question has probably been asked a million times but...I'm allowed 1250 calories a day but I connected my Fitbit to the app so it adds my steps/workouts. Am I supposed to eat these calories if I'm trying to lose weight? 1250 calories seems really low especially when I'm doing intense workouts. Your thoughts are welcome! Thanks!

Replies

  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    If (and only if) you enable negative calorie adjustments in your diary settings, then eating back your adjustments means you're eating TDEE minus deficit: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

    You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users
  • Pammalla
    Pammalla Posts: 71 Member
    Yes but most people would recommend only eating half of them because Fitbit tends to overestimate the calories burned
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    I lost the weight & have maintained for ten months by eating 100% of my Fitbit adjustments.

    Your Fitbit burn is TDEE—way more accurate than any online calculator. If you eat at a reasonable deficit from that (250 calories for every 25 lbs. you're overweight), you will lose weight.
  • workinprogress73
    workinprogress73 Posts: 8 Member
    I'm sorry to sound ignorant but what is TDEE?
  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
    TDEE - Total Daily Energy Expenditure

    I too eat 100% of my fitbit adjustments and it's kept me on target of .5 lbs a week.
  • gdyment
    gdyment Posts: 299 Member
    workinprogress73 wrote: »
    I'm sorry to sound ignorant but what is TDEE?

    Total Daily Energy Expendature. I eat my workouts.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    edited May 2015
    If you have it linked to MFP then you are supposed to eat them all back but trackers aren't 100% accurate, neither is our food logging so if you aim for 50% then all will be well for your weight loss. :smile:

    When I did eat mine all back I started gaining slowly, so I know they're not entirely accurate.
  • workinprogress73
    workinprogress73 Posts: 8 Member
    Ok thank you! I wasn't sure because it gave me 600 more calories yesterday. My target is 1200 but I only ate 1320. Maybe I'll eat half to start and see how that works out and adjust accordingly. Thanks again everyone!
  • workinprogress73
    workinprogress73 Posts: 8 Member
    So to be clear, I should eat at least half of the calories earned by my Fitbit activity? If my goal is 1200, Fitbit activity adjustment is 600, eating 1500 calories will be fine?
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    workinprogress73 wrote: »
    So to be clear, I should eat at least half of the calories earned by my Fitbit activity? If my goal is 1200, Fitbit activity adjustment is 600, eating 1500 calories will be fine?

    Yes. After about a month of tracking you can do a comparison of expected loss vs actual loss to see if you can eat more or you need to eat less.

    An Example:
    2p7a68se62r9.jpg
    This image is from my Fitbit Profile page on the Fitbit website. It's a 30 Day average of my burn and of my intake

    So taking the numbers:
    Daily Average Deficit - 527
    Total 30 Day Deficit - 15,810 (527*30)
    Expected Loss - 4.51xxxx (15,810/3500)
    Actual Scale Loss - 6.2 lbs
    Trend Weight Loss - 5.3 lbs (from trend weight)
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    workinprogress73 wrote: »
    So to be clear, I should eat at least half of the calories earned by my Fitbit activity? If my goal is 1200, Fitbit activity adjustment is 600, eating 1500 calories will be fine?

    If you're logging everything you eat & drink accurately & honestly, and if you've enabled negative calorie adjustments in your diary settings, then yes, you can eat back 100% of your Fitbit adjustments.
  • workinprogress73
    workinprogress73 Posts: 8 Member
    Wow that just seems like a lot of calories to take in! I'll try eating half for a couple weeks and see if I lose consistently.
    Thanks!
  • gdyment
    gdyment Posts: 299 Member
    yitbcse3ahaf.jpg

    Now that's a lot of calories. :)

  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    edited May 2015
    workinprogress73 wrote: »
    Wow that just seems like a lot of calories to take in! I'll try eating half for a couple weeks and see if I lose consistently.
    Thanks!

    Your Fitbit burn is TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), or the number of calories necessary just to maintain your current weight. If you eat at a reasonable deficit from that (250 calories for every 25 or so lbs. you're overweight), you will lose.

    People who eat back a percentage of their exercise calories do so to compensate for underestimating their food and/or overestimating their burns. Your Fitbit is pretty accurate, so if you're logging everything you eat accurately & honestly and if (and only if) you've enabled negative calorie adjustments in your diary settings, then eating back 100% of your adjustments means you're eating TDEE minus deficit.

    Food is fuel, and we should all be looking for the maximum number of calories at which we lose weight (or maintain)—never the minimum. Trust your Fitbit for several weeks, then reevaluate your progress and adjust accordingly.

    Pammalla wrote: »
    Yes but most people would recommend only eating half of them because Fitbit tends to overestimate the calories burned

    I eat back 100% of my Fitbit adjustments. I lost the weight and have maintained for 11 months.

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