Calories burned vs. Calories consumed

Lynnllll

I have been tracking my calories here and have lost 8 pounds consuming 1300 calories a day. My summer job is very active and I have a Fitbit that is telling me I am burning 1600-2300 calories a day for the last week. I did up my calorie intake to about 1400 but I gained back a pound already. Am I eating too much? Is it possible that my body went to starvation mode because of the increased activity? Thank you for any advise.

Zedeff

I don't understand your question.

You are losing weight. How could that signify that you are eating too much?

Starvation mode as you are describing it doesn't exist and you almost certainly didn't gain a pound of fat from eating 100 calories.

Lynnllll

I work at an elementary school for 9 months and during that time I burn about 1200-1600 calories a day. With the increased activity, burning 1600-2300 calories, I was hoping it would accelerate the weight loss. But it seems to have done the opposite.

strong_curves

Weight fluctuates, it doesn't mean you're doing something wrong or are eating too much. You're most likely aren't in starvation mode. Are you accurate with your logging? Do you weigh/measure all your food on a scale?

Weight loss isn't linear, this thread may help you:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10084670/it-is-unlikely-that-you-will-lose-weight-consistently-i-e-weight-loss-is-not-linear/p1

Zedeff

Try this experiment.

Weigh yourself and record your weight. Then drink 3 cups of water and stand on the scale and check your weight.

See that 1+ lb weight gain? This is a weight fluctuation. Water didn't cause you to gain a pound of FAT.

Gaining a pound in 1 week does not mean you've gained fat, especially if you're working a physically taxing job that is going to cause muscle inflammation due to recovery, and hence associated water retention.

Don't be so fanatical. Rome wasn't built in a day, you won't reach your goal in a day either, so measure monthly trends and not daily trends.

cwolfman13

body weight isn't static...it fluctuates. most people will fluctuate anywhere from 1-5 Lbs day to day...you are well within natural fluctuations here.

you have to look at your weight control objectives as a trend, not the actual number.

JenMc14

As others have said, weight fluctuates. But, if you're not weighing your food, I'd definitely start doing that to be completely accurate in logging.

Lynnllll

Thank you very much.

editorgrrl

Lynnllll wrote: »

My summer job is very active and I have a Fitbit that is telling me I am burning 1600–2300 calories a day for the last week.

Your Fitbit burn is your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), the number of calories necessary to maintain your current weight. If you eat at a reasonable deficit from that, you will lose weight.

Connect your accounts at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/fitbit

Enable negative calorie adjustments: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

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

No need to log any step-based activity—your Fitbit is tracking it for you. Log non-step exercise (like swimming or biking) either in Fitbit (that's what I do) or in MFP. Exercise logged in MFP overwrites your step burn during that time. Ignore your Fitbit calorie goal & follow MFP's, eating back your adjustments.

You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

brianpperkins

editorgrrl wrote: »

Lynnllll wrote: »

My summer job is very active and I have a Fitbit that is telling me I am burning 1600–2300 calories a day for the last week.

Your Fitbit burn is your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), the number of calories necessary to maintain your current weight. If you eat at a reasonable deficit from that, you will lose weight.

That is assuming that all of the settings are correct, that what the fitbit is counting as steps are actually steps, that the fitbit is correctly differentiating between effort levels, etc. Your often repeated blanket statement is just as accurate as claiming that what MFP gives you when you add exercise is your TDEE. ALL trackers run on estimates ... NONE of them have the capacity to directly measure burns.

Lynnllll

Thank you, this is all helpful information. I never dieted a day in my life until I turned 45 then weight started slowly creeping on. So any advise is very much appreciated.

editorgrrl

Lynnllll wrote: »

Thank you, this is all helpful information. I never dieted a day in my life until I turned 45 then weight started slowly creeping on. So any advise is very much appreciated.

Hands down, the best weight-loss advice I ever received was to read the Sexypants post. So much good "how-to" information: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

zoeysasha37

Weight fluctuation is normal. Your not gaining weight at a deficit. But you need to make sure your really at a deficit. Are you weighing everything you consume with a food scale? If not I'd start there.