Fitbit calories

kingston84
kingston84 Posts: 6 Member
edited November 20 in Health and Weight Loss
I am trying to lose 4 stone in weight and have set MFP to lightly active and 2lbs weight loss per week. I can normally log about 7000 steps on my Fitbit on a work day as normal which I have set to negative adjustment in MFP and I have been walking my 10000 steps or more a day for the last 6 weeks. With these settings I have lost 2lbs a week but my Fitbit adds around 600 calories a day when j achieve my steps which I have not been eating I'm just wondering if I should be eating these? It seems excessive as I would be eating 2300 a day????

Replies

  • Angierae75
    Angierae75 Posts: 417 Member
    You can eat them. 10k steps a day is not "lightly active". You can move up to "active" or you can just eat back the extras.
  • ASKyle
    ASKyle Posts: 1,475 Member
    My understanding is that setting yourself as "lightly active" you are already given extra calories to eat to include your daily activity. So, I wouldn't eat them back. Especially since you're losing at 2lb/week as you wanted.

    A lot of people set themselves as sedentary and then log exercise and eat 50% of those calories back.
  • kingston84
    kingston84 Posts: 6 Member
    Thanks. Having been on 1700 calories for a while though won't i gain weight if I switch to active as it then gives me 1950 calories?
  • Krystle1984
    Krystle1984 Posts: 146 Member
    Angierae75 wrote: »
    You can eat them. 10k steps a day is not "lightly active". You can move up to "active" or you can just eat back the extras.

    This. ^^^^

    I'm also set to lightly active but usually manage 13-15k steps. I eat back those calories and have been losing consistently. I average 2100 kcals a day. :)
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I've been set at sedentary from the get go. Some days I hit 12,000 steps, others 20,000. I eat back most, sometimes all of the calories fitbit gives me.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    kingston84 wrote: »
    I am trying to lose 4 stone in weight and have set MFP to lightly active and 2lbs weight loss per week.

    Fitbit adds around 600 calories a day when j achieve my steps which I have not been eating I'm just wondering if I should be eating these? It seems excessive as I would be eating 2300 a day????

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

    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

    Eat back your adjustments for several weeks, then reevaluate your progress. Food is fuel, and we should all be looking for the maximum number of calories at which we lose weight—never the minimum.

    You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users
  • ohmscheeks
    ohmscheeks Posts: 840 Member
    I let Fitbit sync over whatever exercise it has, and I look to MFP only for my calorie limits. :)
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    Pretty much the bottom line with exercise calories is you just have to trust them in the beginning. If you lose faster (haha pfffft :laugh: ) or slower than you wish, then you can tweak how many you eat back.

    I was shocked at how many calories my fitbit gave me when I first got it, and wrote many a post on here questioning it, as I was too scared to trust them or eat any back. But in the end I threw caution to the wind and ate them back, and thankfully it worked for me.
  • karahm78
    karahm78 Posts: 505 Member
    ASKyle wrote: »
    My understanding is that setting yourself as "lightly active" you are already given extra calories to eat to include your daily activity. So, I wouldn't eat them back. Especially since you're losing at 2lb/week as you wanted.

    A lot of people set themselves as sedentary and then log exercise and eat 50% of those calories back.

    My understanding is that the higher you set your activity level in MFP, the more activity your Fitbit has to log before it gives you a positive adjustment (the Fitbit only gives a positive adjustment once you have passed the activity level MFP assumes for your activity level). You are not "double-dipping" so to speak. I eat back most of what my Fitbit gives me and I lose at the rate expected, Fitbit results are very accurate for me.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    karahm78 wrote: »
    The higher you set your activity level in MFP, the more activity your Fitbit has to log before it gives you a positive adjustment (the Fitbit only gives a positive adjustment once you have passed the activity level MFP assumes for your activity level). You are not "double-dipping" so to speak.

    ^This. Your Fitbit burn is TDEE. Your default MFP calorie goal is activity level minus deficit. Adjustments are the difference between your Fitbit burn and your MFP activity level.

    If (and only if) you enable negative calorie adjustments in your diary settings, eating back your adjustments means you're eating TDEE minus deficit. With negative adjustments enabled, setting your activity level is a matter of personal preference. At lightly active you start with more calories but get smaller adjustments.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    This is why I prefer to have it set to sedentary. I start the day in the negative and it gets larger the more exercise i do. It doesn't start moving until I've hit just over 2000 steps.

  • karahm78
    karahm78 Posts: 505 Member
    christinev297 wrote: »
    This is why I prefer to have it set to sedentary. I start the day in the negative and it gets larger the more exercise i do. It doesn't start moving until I've hit just over 2000 steps.

    Agreed! I am set as sedentary and the more I move, the more calories I get. If I don't move, I get less. This is a big motivator for me to move.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    Plus I go to bed around 7:30 every night, which does not constitute lightly active!

    Should add, it's winter here so I'd much prefer to watch tv in my snuggly warm bed, then out on the couch. Just in case people thought I was a granny and went to sleep at that time lol :tongue:
  • vikashsinha
    vikashsinha Posts: 79 Member
    Hi, I am new to using fitbit and MFP. My average step per day in fitbit is around 10000. I get a calorie adjustment of around 700-800 in my MFP as i have enabled negative calroe adjustment. With a daily caloroe intake goal of 1200 kcal, this means on an average MFP tells me to eat upto 2000 kcal. Is fitbit counting my calories burnt accurately? I am skeptical of eating those earned calorie back. Please advice based on your personal experience. I have fit bit HR
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    Eat them back, then adjust if your weight loss isn't up to where it should be
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    edited July 2015
    vikashsinha wrote: »
    I get a calorie adjustment of around 700–800 in my MFP as i have enabled negative calorie adjustment. With a daily caloroe intake goal of 1200 kcal, this means on an average MFP tells me to eat upto 2000 kcal. Is fitbit counting my calories burnt accurately?

    I lost the weight & have maintained for a year by trusting my Fitbit. With negative calorie adjustments enabled, eating back your adjustments means you're eating TDEE minus deficit.

    But you still have to log everything you eat & drink accurately and honestly. Trust your Fitbit for several weeks, then reevaluate your progress.
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