Which calories for right defecit? Fitbit charge HR and MFP

sunnyd77

Hi all,
I have been a mfp user for a while and since having a baby 8 weeks ago (and giving into hamburger and French fries pregnancy cravings!), I got a fitbit charge HR and need to get serious about weight loss.
Question though - which calorie guideline should I follow for a defecit? I've been stalled out and this is the heaviest I've been ever. I've been tracking consistently for over a month and kept a weekly defecit based on mfp and fitbit but attributing the no weightloss to my body healing post partum (emergency c-section then trying to breastfeed with no success for a month) and extra stress of having a new baby but wondering if it's just a miscalculation in cico?
I have been eyeballing portions but trying to default to the largest (sometimes knowingly larger measurement) to be on the safe side.

Me:
5'5" 215 lbs 38 yro NOT Breastfeeding mfp set to sedentary and 1lb weight loss per week.
MFP baseline calories = 1550
Fitbit charge hr baseline calories = 1680
Fitbit charge HR adjusts mfp daily about 200-400 calories and according to fitbit my tdee is more like ~2,000 - fitbit daily calorie burn goal is about 2500 and I am averaging about 2,000 total calorie burn. I usually eat some of the fitbit adjustment, averaging about 1700-1800/day sometimes more, sometimes less but keeping an overall defecit.
Is fitbit charge HR accurate in calories burn since it tracks heart rate?
I've been trying to be more active - walking with the baby daily and piyo / calisthenics when I can.
Thanks so much for any advice/insight!!

whiteblossom14

You have to burn 3500 calories to lose 1lb a week so I have been following that guideline.
But I get lost with all this and follow my Fitbit. As yet I have not went over it or mfp. And I am losing about 1-2lbs a week
Good luck x

shadow2soul

sunnyd77 wrote: »

Hi all,
I have been a mfp user for a while and since having a baby 8 weeks ago (and giving into hamburger and French fries pregnancy cravings!), I got a fitbit charge HR and need to get serious about weight loss.
Question though - which calorie guideline should I follow for a defecit? I've been stalled out and this is the heaviest I've been ever. I've been tracking consistently for over a month and kept a weekly defecit based on mfp and fitbit but attributing the no weightloss to my body healing post partum (emergency c-section then trying to breastfeed with no success for a month) and extra stress of having a new baby but wondering if it's just a miscalculation in cico?
I have been eyeballing portions but trying to default to the largest (sometimes knowingly larger measurement) to be on the safe side.

Me:
5'5" 215 lbs 38 yro NOT Breastfeeding mfp set to sedentary and 1lb weight loss per week.
MFP baseline calories = 1550
Fitbit charge hr baseline calories = 1680
Fitbit charge HR adjusts mfp daily about 200-400 calories and according to fitbit my tdee is more like ~2,000 - fitbit daily calorie burn goal is about 2500 and I am averaging about 2,000 total calorie burn. I usually eat some of the fitbit adjustment, averaging about 1700-1800/day sometimes more, sometimes less but keeping an overall defecit.
Is fitbit charge HR accurate in calories burn since it tracks heart rate?
I've been trying to be more active - walking with the baby daily and piyo / calisthenics when I can.
Thanks so much for any advice/insight!!

Honestly, I think that's where your problem is. You might want to consider investing in a food scale (with tare/gram functions) and start weighing your food. You are probably eating more than you think since you are only eyeballing. Even measuring cups will typically cause underestimation of calories consumed.

edit: Oh, and I use the Fitbit Surge and find it to be fairly accurate (it's just the ChargeHR with a few added features...calorie burn is still figured the same way). I've also used a flex and zip that I found to underestimate by about 200 calories a day on average.

editorgrrl

sunnyd77 wrote: »

I got a Fitbit Charge HR. Which calorie guideline should I follow for a deficit?

Short version: MFP.

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

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

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

In the MFP app, go to More > Steps and choose Fitbit.

Ignore your Fitbit calorie goal and follow MFP's, eating back your adjustments. 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 or in MFP—never both. Exercise logged in MFP overwrites your Fitbit burn during that time.

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

minties82

Eyeballing portions is no good. You need to weigh all your solids on kitchen scales and measure your liquids with measuring spoons and cups

If I eyeballed my portions I would (and have done so plenty of times) end up making them larger over time.

Even after weighing my foods all year, I still underestimate the size of most foods.The other day I cut off what I thought was 25 grams of colby cheese and it was 33 grams. I eat cheese a few times a day and still need to weigh it.

As for the fitbit vs MFP, I follow MFP and eat back half of my fitbit adjustment modt days.