so confused about how many calories to eat! Between Fitbit, NEAT, TDEE, or 1200! Too much info

algrif37

I'll try to make it short. I've been on and off a diet for what seems to be forever and I finally just want to do it normally. But I get different info about how much to eat to lose weight. Currently I am 43, female, 172 lbs, 5'5". I used to work out a lot but a sedentary job and now a foot injury with a walking boot has me pretty much not doing anything. My numbers are all over the place. have a fitbit charge HR and seem to burn around 2000 calories a day on that. A nutrition center here checked my BMR and put it at 1550 and they put me on a diet with anywhere from 950 calories to 1150 per day. Which seems low because I always heard that 1200 was the lowest a woman should go. Then I read that I should be at least eating my BMR of 1550. But I don't lose weight. Then I think I should just eat less (all healthy) than what my fitbit says I burned throughout the day. Then I read I should calculate my TDEE or NEAT and eat 20% less than that. What am I supposed to do? This is maddening!!!!! Any advice?

Thank you in advance

janejellyroll

I think the easiest way to do it would be to set your calorie goal on MFP, link your Fitbit, and eat back your calorie adjustments.

This is what I'm doing to maintain and I find it very simple. When I was losing weight, I didn't have a Fitbit, so I went with my MFP goal and ate back 25-75% of my exercise adjustments (to account for any over-estimation).

Kalikel

Just plug your info into the MFP and follow the instructions. You don't have to make it any harder than that.

CoffeeNCardio

janejellyroll wrote: »

I think the easiest way to do it would be to set your calorie goal on MFP, link your Fitbit, and eat back your calorie adjustments.

This is what I'm doing to maintain and I find it very simple. When I was losing weight, I didn't have a Fitbit, so I went with my MFP goal and ate back 25-75% of my exercise adjustments (to account for any over-estimation).

This. Let MFP set you to a goal, then stick to that goal, log as flawlessly as possible, and eat back your exercise calories. For FITBIT specific, you can try eating back 50% of the exercise calories it gives you for a month or so, then if you have lost weight at a safe rate (Like .5-2 lbs per week average), keep doing that, and if not, either eat less or more depending on your loss or lack thereof. Do not log additional exercise in MFP if fitbit tracks your exercise. Go with the calorie burn. At your height 1550 sounds pretty reasonable. I'm 5'2" and I can easily get away with 1350. Just put your stats into MFP and let it pick a number. It picks good numbers 99% of the time.

CoffeeNCardio

If you find your fitbit is way overestimating (don't just guess, do the eating back 50% for a month thing), you can tell it you are one inch shorter than you are and it makes it more accurate. The fitbit community raves about this little tweak. But you won't know until you try it at your height setting for at LEAST a month and then analyze at the end how your loss went. I know it's hard to be patient, all you can think is all the weight you won't lose this month if you do this, but it's really a short time in comparison to the entire process of weight loss, which will be much easier if you nail down your numbers NOW.

diannethegeek

The important thing to remember is that they're all just estimates. Pick one method, stick to it for several weeks, and then adjust up or down based on your real world results.

VintageFeline

Do what MFP says and sync your Fitbit.

I'm your height, a bit younger (33) and heavier (183) and my goal without exercise is 1470 and I lose. I eat my tracker adjustments (Vivofit with HRM for cardio). Weigh and measure at least to begin with to check your intake is what you think it is, stick with it for 6-8 weeks and reassess. Consistency is your friend here, be consistent for a good amount of time to really judge whether you've got your numbers right.

CoffeeNCardio

diannethegeek wrote: »

The important thing to remember is that they're all just estimates. Pick one method, stick to it for several weeks, and then adjust up or down based on your real world results.

VintageFeline wrote: »

Do what MFP says and sync your Fitbit.

I'm your height, a bit younger (33) and heavier (183) and my goal without exercise is 1470 and I lose. I eat my tracker adjustments (Vivofit with HRM for cardio). Weigh and measure at least to begin with to check your intake is what you think it is, stick with it for 6-8 weeks and reassess. Consistency is your friend here, be consistent for a good amount of time to really judge whether you've got your numbers right.

Just bolding these out there;)

Asher_Ethan

I typed your information into scoobys calculator. It says your BMR is 1670 and your TDEE 2004. Do you fee hungry a lot? If so I would start out slow and just go with a 1800 calorie a day goal. If you think you will be fine on a deficit try 1600 a day.

nutmegoreo

Oh boy! You have been doing a lot of reading, so I understand your confusion. Unfortunately, you will likely get just as many different answers here. In my opinion, the best indicator (since all these calculators are a guesstimate anyway) is based on your results. Since you are currently unable to workout, you will have to focus on loss through diet alone. Good news is that you can do that! Bad news is that without the extra activity, you will end up having to eat on the lower end of calories.

What type of injury are you dealing with? Some injuries are best served by eating at maintenance until they heal. Your body is working to repair itself. I would not go lower than the 1200. It is simply too hard to get enough nutritional food to support your body functioning on less than that.

How are you calculating your calories in? If you are not using a food scale for all solid and semisolid (yes peanut butter should be weighed), you are probably underestimating the number of calories you are eating. It really doesn't take much to wipe out the deficit.

If your fitbit is accurate (mine seems to be pretty accurate, but it's a Zip), you should be able to lose weight on 1500/day at a rate of about 1lb/week.

My suggestions:

Use a scale and ensure logging is accurate (the database entries are not always accurate, so make sure you are picking the right ones), and enter them by weight (grams is preferable, because they are a bit more accurate than ounces).

Start at 1500/day for about 4 weeks, and then adjust based on what your results are. The reason for the four weeks, is that when you are ready to start exercising again, there is usually a corresponding weight increase from water retention, increased sodium one day will show up on the scale the next day. TOM will (for many) increase weight (again, water retention). The four weeks will give you a solid base for analysis.

Francl27

Asher_Ethan wrote: »

I typed your information into scoobys calculator. It says your BMR is 1670 and your TDEE 2004. Do you fee hungry a lot? If so I would start out slow and just go with a 1800 calorie a day goal. If you think you will be fine on a deficit try 1600 a day.

Sounds right with what her fitbit is saying...

I agree with 1600 a day, but you have to log accurately. And don't ever go back to that 'nutrition center'. What horrible advice.

Pawsforme

The Scooby site and my Fitbit Charge HR are very, very close to being in complete agreement. But that was only after I adjusted my activity level upward on Scooby. I was under-estimating how much I move until I got my Fitbit a few months ago. Comparing my calorie intake and rate of loss to their numbers indicates they are quite accurate.

That's a long winded way of saying that if you have your settings right (age/height/weight/stride length) on your Fitbit, then IME you can trust it to give you reasonably accurate information.

The only other thing I can add is to ditto those who've said pick something and stick with it. It takes awhile for any dieter to figure out what works.

I don't link my Fitbit with MFP. I've read about way too many people having issues, and I prefer to keep things simple. Which for me means keeping the data separate. The Fitbit gives me my calorie burn and I use MFP to log my food.

missblondi2u

Let your technology do the math for you. I've had my fitbit for about two months now, and it's been pretty accurate for me based on results. I recommend linking it to MFP and trusting the adjustment it gives you. If you're not losing after a month or so, you can bump it down a bit, keeping in mind that your losses won't be linear.

WBB55

So here's what I want to say you. Baring significant health issues, it is very totally most likely that your FitBit is calculating things close to correct if it's telling you you're burning 2000 every day. So, as close as things get in this world, this is your "CO" (calories out)... whatever your FitBit is telling you.

This means the only things you really have to track is your "CI" (calories in). This can be tough. REAL tough. You have to track it every day. Everything you eat. Using accurate entries from the database. Weighing your food with a scale. If you do this every day, and you make sure your "CI" is less than your "CO" on average on a daily basis, YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT OVER TIME. You may not lose anything in a specific week. But you WILL lose.

So pick a goal. 1600, let's say. And eat that on average every day logged as closely as possible. Then let's say your average TDEE from your FitBit is indeed 2000. After 6 weeks, check your stats. Have you lost 5 lbs? If so, then your calculations are correct. Have you lost 8 lbs? then your TDEE is a bit higher... closer to 2250 (or you're overestimating on your food logging). Have you lost 3 lbs? Then either your TDEE is closer to 1850 (or you're underestimating on your food logging).

There's nothing like real world data to help you figure things out.

StaciMarie1974

The Fitbit total daily # should be your TDEE, unless you're using the HR function when not doing cardio. That might inflate the daily burn #. (A heart rate monitor is only reliable for steady state cardio.) I suspect that is the case if you're sedentary and injured/off your feet.

There are a couple of formulas for BMR - the one MFP uses comes up w/ 1436 for your stats. If you're truly sedentary and only very basic movement throughout your day, your total daily burn may be as low as 1700-1800.

1) Trust your judgment and don't go back to the nutrition center that told you to eat at an unhealthy low range.
2) The 'don't eat below your BMR' is bunk/not founded in science.

If you put a 1 pound weight loss in to MFP and select sedentary, I'm guessing MFP will give you a # like 1225-1275. If you are truly unable to do much movement due to the injury, you may want to try .5 pounds for now if you don't think you can eat at that level and be satisfied. It will require accurate food logging, and patience. But you can lose weight even with an injury.

algrif37 wrote: »

I'll try to make it short. I've been on and off a diet for what seems to be forever and I finally just want to do it normally. But I get different info about how much to eat to lose weight. Currently I am 43, female, 172 lbs, 5'5". I used to work out a lot but a sedentary job and now a foot injury with a walking boot has me pretty much not doing anything. My numbers are all over the place. have a fitbit charge HR and seem to burn around 2000 calories a day on that. A nutrition center here checked my BMR and put it at 1550 and they put me on a diet with anywhere from 950 calories to 1150 per day. Which seems low because I always heard that 1200 was the lowest a woman should go. Then I read that I should be at least eating my BMR of 1550. But I don't lose weight. Then I think I should just eat less (all healthy) than what my fitbit says I burned throughout the day. Then I read I should calculate my TDEE or NEAT and eat 20% less than that. What am I supposed to do? This is maddening!!!!! Any advice?

Thank you in advance

algrif37

So much great feedback thank you!! I need to sit down and look at all my settings. What is the scooby site may I ask??

algrif37

Oh I forgot to add. I have severe plantar fasciitis in one foot and a bone spur It's really inflamed right now and I just got a cortisone shot and am taking anti inflammatories and letting it rest. Although I do walk around in the walking boot splint just not in an "workout" capacity. Just normal life

I_Will_End_You

I'd say either set your goal on MFP and sync it with your Fitbit (eat what MFP tells you after Fitbit adjustments), or eat 1600 per day flat.

cwolfman13

TDEE and NEAT are 6 of 1, half dozen of the other when done properly and when comparing apples to apples rate of loss goals...the only difference between the two methods is where you account for exercise activity. With TDEE you account for exercise in your activity level and with NEAT you account for it after the fact when you log it and get calories to "eat back".

your fitbit may or may not be a more accurate way of essentially determining your TDEE.

As has been stated, it's all estimation...nobody has a calorie requisite of exactly XXXX calories...any of these calculators or other technological gadgets are simply estimates and provide you with a reasonably good jumping off point...they aren't gospel and your real world results over several weeks should provide you with the information you need to make adjustments per those results.

Just pick a method and be consistent and as accurate as possible with your logging...don't use generic database entries like "homemade chicken soup" or "scrambled eggs" and the like...these are just some randos entries and who knows what they actually put into it. create recipes in the recipe builder for homemade stuff and/or log individual ingredients separately. When in doubt, tag your search with "USDA"...i.e. "porter house steak - grilled - USDA"

A food scale is also a beneficial tool as many people are for *kitten* when it comes to estimating portions.

algrif37

I'm meticulous with my food counting. I measure everything on scales and never guesstimate. If I have to guess I usually pick something close on MFP and add 10-20% on just to make sure

algrif37

So fit bit charge hr is counting my TDER since it is counting my heart rate?