Quick question on sedentary vs lightly active WITH Fitbit

LivingtheLeanDream

on another tangent....
I've found that if I do 12k steps a day I get 2100 for my TDEE (mix of walking/running)
and if I do 20k+ my TDEE only increases to a maximum of 2400 - and I feel with almost double the effort that 300 cals extra are just not worth the effort. I now only do high steps a few days a week when I really enjoy being outdoors and if the weather is nice enough to be outdoors.

trina1049

I set my Fitbit Charge HR to Sedentary with the negative calorie adjustment enabled and synced. With these settings Fitbit adds calories through out my active days. I usually pre log my day on FMP so I can see the red numbers go down each time the Fitbit and MFP syncs. It motivates me to be active so that I go "green" (have a surplus of calories equaling a deficit for the day). I eat back most of my exercise calories.

If you set both to lightly active and enable the negative calorie adjustment you see more calories in the AM but fewer at night. Just the opposite of sedentary settings. It depends on which you prefer.

I tried both and much prefer the sedentary setting, negative calorie adjustment on and synced because I hated that it took calories away from me rather than added calories for me. I find I stay more active during the day when I know how many calories I have to burn to create a deficit.

I stay active for a minimum average of around 12,000 steps a day, so 5+ miles, but try to do more. I've lost 51 lbs. I checked it for accuracy against my Polar FT7 heart rate monitor and it's pretty accurate so I don't add any exercise to Fitbit anymore unless I swim (can't wear Fitbit in the pool).

ilovesweeties

"RunRutheeRun wrote: »

it expects you to keep carrying on that high activity right up to bedtime so it predicts ahh if she does 10k this early in the day then the rest of the day will be double...and then when we enjoy some well earned rest, the adjustments get made and we 'lose' cals burned as such. Its just the way it works but it also makes sense too...

As an example of this, when I finish my 2200 step walk to work in the morning, I am usually around -50 calories from my expected MFP 'active burn' for the day. Then, I sit down for 4 hours, barely move, and by lunchtime, I am more like -150 calories lower than the expected MFP burn. As other posters have said, FitBit expected me to keep on walking, but I didn't, so it took more calories away. I walk at lunchtime, then walk home and my FitBit calories start to catch up with my expected MFP active burn again.

Unless it's a specific exercise day for me, my FitBit calories will never catch up with MFP and I will end the day with a negative adjustment. On days when I run, my FitBit calories will exceed the MFP estimate and on days when I do a short workout, FitBit and MFP are usually equal (around 2400 kcal).

I think I said earlier, I don't worry about how the calories change over the day. Having worn a Flex for more than a year and a Charge HR for the last five months, I know it is true when Fitbit tells me I had:
2 days*2700 kcal burn + 2 days*2100 + 3 days*2400 calories (over a week)

My weight fluctuations over the last 5 months reflect that as accurate enough that I can eat an average 2400 calories/day to maintain my weight... which is also the MFP predicted active burn for my weight and height.

Now that I know my TDEE is around 2400, what is the point in continuing with FitBit?! I could have worked all that out with online calculators. For me, it's motivation, the ability to look at trends and making sure that under-exercising (and over-eating) don't start to take over again.

Apologies for the rambling response and good luck with your FitBit, OP. I would not be without mine now!

LivingtheLeanDream

@trina1049 great reply and glad to see you also found your tracker accurate..ok we don't need these gadgets but they're an incentive

Christine_72

RunRutheeRun wrote: »

@trina1049 great reply and glad to see you also found your tracker accurate..ok we don't need these gadgets but they're an incentive

Definitely an incentive! When I first got my fitbit in March this year, i didn't change my activity for the first week, and most days I was maxing out at 3,000ish steps Now I hit a minimum of 20,000 steps everyday, and usually hover around 25,000. It's the best $80 investment i could have made.

moonduck

Totally agree! The FB has totally changed my life! Don't know if I've lost that much because of it, but I do think I haven't gained much because of it!

cyronius

Francl27 wrote: »

Pretty much why I personally never synchronized fitbit with MFP. Sometimes the numbers make NO sense.

The numbers always make sense. It's just not always obvious what they're trying to tell you...

CoachJen71

RunRutheeRun wrote: »

What I find odd/annoying even, is that I can do 28000 steps on two different days, one of those days I will have ran perhaps 10k worth of them and the rest walked, then on the other day I will have walked all of the 28k - my TDEE will be VERY different, the mix of running and walking will make my TDEE reach 2500, just walking them it will be 2100. I know it makes sense as I wasn't exerting myself enough but when you have a really active day and do high steps it feels like you're not getting 'rewarded' properly....sighhhh don't mind me, I have a habit of going off on a tangent lol

My gripe is that I can get 18K steps from class time and walking the playground at recess on a teaching day, and only get the same calorie credit for hiking hills the same number of steps. And of course since I hike slowly, I don't get green bars, but recess duty I do. (I have a Flex. Wondering if a Charge HR would be more accurate.)

trina1049

RunRutheeRun wrote: »

@trina1049 great reply and glad to see you also found your tracker accurate..ok we don't need these gadgets but they're an incentive

I resisted the trackers for a long time and now I wish I had one sooner! You're right @RunRutheeRun, we don't need them but they are a great incentive to get moving. I was pretty much a slug, but not anymore. As for accuracy, the HR was extremely close to Scooby and IlFYM TDEE calcs as well as my Polar HRM. It was surprising.

DiIDE

I love my Fitbit as it makes me more aware of how much exercise I need to do. But it is really only a guide I find, as I have found that arm movements and motion adds steps even when you are not walking. One example was a day when I did not do many steps,but spent over an hour in the garage sawing timber, the Fitbit recorded the arm movement as steps and I did over 10,000 steps that day. Another time I was sitting on a train for an hour and when I stepped off the train found that my step count had gone up a lot. Even cleaning your teeth and towling yourself dry after a shower increases steps. Sorry to disappoint you all but I was very disappointed when I noticed this. Has anybody else noticed this?

LivingtheLeanDream

@DilDE yes the trackers that are worn on the wrist do pick up hand movements I found this when I had the Flex, when I switched to the One I realised how much harder I had to work to get my average steps in and also it would have estimated me having a higher TDEE, the One seems much more accurate and I think thats all to do with it only taking into account steps.

My hubby has a Charge and we had a laugh one day he was driving a tractor all day, he had 30000 steps from sitting in the tractor!!

DiIDE

I will do more research when I replace my charge. What is the One you have now?

LivingtheLeanDream

DiIDE wrote: »

I will do more research when I replace my charge. What is the One you have now?

It's called the Fitbit One, I like it as it's discreet and not on my wrist - I never liked the look of my Flex when I was dressed up, it looked wrong with a dress lol

I think the other wrist worn fitbit ie The Charge might not be so bad with hand movement but I'm not totally sure about that either.

Christine_72

DiIDE wrote: »

I will do more research when I replace my charge. What is the One you have now?

Yep I'd stick with the fitbit one or zip. I'll never get a wrist worn one because of everything mentioned here, plus you pay a lot extra for the heart monitor devices which would also be a waste of time for me as the only exercise i do is walking.

WinoGelato

I have a Flex. I average about 15K steps a day (walking) and do some light weights a few times a week. My cals burned according to FitBit is about 2300.

When I first got mine I was set at sedentary and I would get huge exercise adjustments. I got good advice from HeyBales that if I was averaging >10k steps (at that time) I was more likely lightly active, so I changed my activity level and got a higher starting baseline of calories with lower exercise adjustments, which I felt was more indicative of my true exercise and not just the steps I get in daily life. Now that I get even more steps I'm set at active, so my maintenance cals in MFP are about 1900 and my adjustments are around 300-400 cals/day. I eat them back and am maintaining my 30 lb loss fairly easily.

I think others also explained this but yes, FitBit tries to estimate your calorie burn throughout the day... So when I wake up it is using the 6 or so hours from midnight to when my alarm goes off estimating extremely low activity and I have a negative adjustment. I work out in the morning so then I get a bump, but then when I get to work and am sitting at my desk it goes back down again. It fluctuates throughout the day but overall I find it to be very accurate.

Hope this helps.

Christine_72

@WinoGelato Being set at active, do you lose many calories from the time you stop exercising to the time you go to bed?
I'm only set to lightly active, and i lose around 300 calories by the next morning, as my activity levels drops to sedentary levels at around 5pm.

I hope I'm explaining this clearly...

WinoGelato

christinev297 wrote: »

@WinoGelato Being set at active, do you lose many calories from the time you stop exercising to the time you go to bed?
I'm only set to lightly active, and i lose around 300 calories by the next morning, as my activity levels drops to sedentary levels at around 5pm.

I hope I'm explaining this clearly...

I know exactly what you mean. Depends what time I "stop" for the day, I usually plop myself on the couch with a glass of wine about 9pm, and go to bed around 11pm. I check it before I go to bed and then it drops around 50-100 cals. I actually used to think it was worse but doesn't seem like the decline is as significant as I remember a while back. Once I knew to expect it I just factored that into my eating plan for the day so I leave a little buffer.

Christine_72

Thanks 50-100 calories is definitely workable. I thought it would have been a lot more than that.