Need some guidance

ashleytread

If there is a pre-existing thread that will answer this, please feel free to link.

I'll try to be succinct! I'm trying to lose 10lbs. I'm 38 years old, 5'5" and weigh 140lbs. I use MFP and a FitBit (obviously) - using my FitBit HR, it appears that my TDEE is, on average, 2000 kcal/day. So if I want to lose a pound a week, I need to be eating about 1500 per day.

Exercise: 3 bootcamps per week - 40 minutes of fairly strenuous bodyweight exercise, often HIIT like. 2 days per week - Zumba - high impact for 50 minutes. I'm medium active in my daily life (lactation consultant so my job is fairly sedentary but I have young kids as well).

I don't touch my FitBit - I never track exercise with it. By just using the HR portion of it, is the TDEE it's reporting accurate? I've been logging my exercise into MFP but cutting the time in half so that it's only giving me about half the calories that it would indicate I'm burning.

Would it be best to just unlink my accounts and set my calorie goal at 1500 per day and leave it at that? Not log exercise unless it's in addition to what I normally do? (meaning I wouldn't log the 5 days I currently do). I would use my TDEE as reported by FitBit to alter that amount for days that I may burn less or more than the average 1500?

Or is it better to link the 2?

Hope this makes sense!

heybales

It is attempting to report your TDEE for what it estimates well on.

HR-based calorie burn for bootcamp, bodyweight, and HIIT will be inflated though, so your TDEE really isn't that high.
HR-based calorie burn only has a chance for accuracy on steady-state aerobic exercise, same HR for 2-4 min.
I'm betting those 3 workouts are opposite of steady-state, and of course going into anaerobic often.

With only 10 lbs to lose - you'd be more reasonable to go for 1/2 lb weekly though, and don't setup a fight with your body you could lose even before you've lost the 10 lbs - many have indeed accomplished that.

How you do your sync/unsync depends on what motivates you.

Will you do your workout because your eating level already assumes you are doing to do it, based on past history?
Or will you do your workout in order to eat more that day?

Do you plan better and hit your daily goals with a static daily goal - or you can adjust and move it as the day is different than other days?

I'm really surprised your TDEE is that low though - are you sure the HR is being seen for as high as it is truly getting?
Because those workouts would only be inflated calorie burn based on accurate HR being seen - if like many the Charge HR is NOT accurate at higher HR or harder activity - then it's not actually going to be inflated, could be badly underestimated.

For the Zumba though, you really should start an activity record so it's doing per second HR reading to get a better estimate.

So yes to Fitbit attempting to report TDEE.
No to you getting a decent TDEE estimate because of the way to are using it.

Because for one thing, it sounds like you are replacing the Fitbit calorie count with what you log in MFP - so no wonder the TDEE appears low - it is.
Sounds like they are still synced anyway.

Stop logging workouts in MFP unless you have a more accurate calorie burn from somewhere - just make a wall post about them for friends to see.

Leave everything else alone for a week - and then see where estimated TDEE is.

Oh, bootcamp would likely be logged as circuit training if rests between things are 1 min or less, but weights are being used for like 15-20 reps max.
If less rest or more reps - than it would be logged manually as calisthenics on Fitbit's site.

Might read the FAQ in the stickies above for more info.

editorgrrl

ashleytread wrote: »

I'm trying to lose 10lbs. I'm 38 years old, 5'5" and weigh 140lbs.

I've been logging my exercise into MFP but cutting the time in half so that it's only giving me about half the calories that it would indicate I'm burning.

The less you have to lose, the more slowly it comes off. That's just the way the human body works. 1 lb. per week is way too aggressive at your size, and undereating will not get you to goal any more quickly. Set your goal to .5 lb. per week, and be patient. The smaller deficit will help you transition to maintenance.

Exercise logged in MFP overwrites your Fitbit burn during that time. Trust your Fitbit! Do not log any step-based activity. Log non-step exercise (like swimming or biking) in Fitbit rather than MFP.