Fit bit question

Chasity6

I just started using fit bit flex. I have a question about how daily calories are changed when MFP linked. So I was active today went for a mini hike after family get together but my MFP calorie goal increased by 600 calories or so. How do you do your calorie intake. Do you eat MFP original goal or do you eat half of the extra calories. I just don't feel that I was that active and I don't want to impede weight loss. Thanks just trying to figure out the fit bit.

ShandaLeaS

I rarely eat into my exercise calories but a lot of people eat 25-50% of them and seem to have success

ColinsMommaOC

Make sure you have your fitbit and your mfp goals set to the same (ie: 1lb/wk). Also be sure to remember that Fitbit, unless you change the settings, will estimate the number of calories it thinks you are going to burn for the rest of the day based on the activity level you have already logged. So if you are very active in the mornings, you will notice a higher adjustment that slowly decreases throughout the day. It also accounts for your total TDEE, so that includes the time after you have finished your day and plan on sleeping.

@editorgrrl is very good at explaining this

Chasity6

Thanks so much for your help it just seemed a little high I have been eating at MFP goal and losing so I was taking calories burned with a grain of salt so to say. I have both set at 2lbs a week so that shouldn't be it.

Lourdesong

You can follow MFP and ignore adjustments if that would make you more comfortable for a bit until you get enough data to approximate your TDEE yourself from your actual weight loss results. If the TDEE number you get is the same as Fitbit's measured TDEE for you, then you should feel comfortable trusting Fitbit and consuming calorie adjustments. If you find Fitbit is overestimating, you can correct for this by eating only a portion of your adjustments.

This of course will work best if you are as precise as you can be in the logging of your intake, e.g. using correct entries, weighing portions in grams, being honest, etc.

For me, I find my Fitbit burn is really accurate, around 50 calories of my TDEE approximated from actual results, BUT only if my activity is around 10-15k steps.
When I'm quite more active than that, it overestimates my TDEE by a lot. When I'm quite less active than that, it underestimates.

These are my findings I've gathered as of now, I've been using Fitbit daily for over a year, trying to understand the data, all while being obese/overweight and losing weight which confounds matters. I suspect it would be much easier to figure out the accuracy of Fitbit for a person of healthy weight in maintenance.

Check out the fitbit group, lots of info and knowledgeable helpful people there.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

editorgrrl

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