Fitbit calorie adjustment

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  • erinc5
    erinc5 Posts: 329 Member
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    I will use/eat them if I am hungry. If I am not hungry, then I ignore all or most of the extra and use as a bonus. That means, I usually end up eating about half of them back.
  • DrifterBear
    DrifterBear Posts: 265 Member
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    It's already been said, but set it to sedentary and use SOME of the increase based on your goals. Also watch out for double counting! I track my runs with a Garmin but wear my fitbit when I run. So the run may say 600 cal but the fitbit is also giving a few hundred for the steps. I want to track both but on running days know that the calorie adjustment is WAY over what it should be.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    that depends on your settings. Fitbit has two options, which you can change if you login (website, not app) and go to Log and click the Gear icon on the upper right of the food logging area.

    Personalized: uses your past daily activity to estimate your daily burn. If you move less than usual, your burn will ultimately be adjusted downward

    Sedentary: Fitbit uses actual data as of your last sync, and assumes BMR only for the rest of the day. So to get more calories earned, you need to move more.
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    Yeah eat them all

    But remember fitbit extrapolates to end of the day based on what you've done...so if it's 10am and you've just done a 5 mile run it will assume that level of activity will continue till midnight ...and each time you synch it will readjust

  • machelle04
    machelle04 Posts: 690 Member
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    lbctfs wrote: »
    It's already been said, but set it to sedentary and use SOME of the increase based on your goals. Also watch out for double counting! I track my runs with a Garmin but wear my fitbit when I run. So the run may say 600 cal but the fitbit is also giving a few hundred for the steps. I want to track both but on running days know that the calorie adjustment is WAY over what it should be.

    I stopped logging my walks/runs and let Fitbit add the adjustment. Last night my fitbit adjustment was 1015 for 41k plus steps/run. I only log yoga and weight training now. So far no issues everything has been spot on.
  • ashleyShades
    ashleyShades Posts: 375 Member
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    Mine is broken and won't track sleep or sync with MFP now for this option =(
  • captmiddy
    captmiddy Posts: 147 Member
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    Each person will need to make their own determination as to how accurate the calorie numbers on both MFP and FitBit are for them. For instance, when I follow MFP and FitBit I go up. I have gone up about 5 pounds over the last 6 months while accurately recording my meals and exercise activity. I know for me, I have to stay about 2 to 3 hundred calories under the estimate or I slowly increase, I didn't do this for the last 6 months. For me the numbers provide a clear guidance and I have to adjust from there. I still consider that to be maintenance though as I gave myself a 5 pound range to live within and now I am at the top of it, and will adjust until I am near the bottom again.

    Remember, not everyone's works exactly the same way, some of us are slow burners :smiley:
  • dujyandco
    dujyandco Posts: 90 Member
    edited January 2016
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    I put mine to sedentary, too, and a 2lb/week deficit, but I intentionally burn an extra 1,000 to 1,300 calories a day exercising (aerobics and walking) -- plus the 'regular' daily activity. There is no way I'd have energy to walk 12 miles a day if I stayed under 1200 calories!!

    Oh--and I have the Charge HR.

    Edited again, to add: And I keep a close eye on the daily calories left between both -fitbit and MFP-, and they seem pretty close in number. Usually like 5-15 calories difference. I guess that'd matter to some, but I usually have 500-900 calories left over, so it doesn't matter to me.
  • DrifterBear
    DrifterBear Posts: 265 Member
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    machelle04 wrote: »
    I stopped logging my walks/runs and let Fitbit add the adjustment. Last night my fitbit adjustment was 1015 for 41k plus steps/run. I only log yoga and weight training now. So far no issues everything has been spot on.

    I use the Garmin to track my running progress to measure improvement. But maybe I need to turn off the feed to MFP. I like seeing it there but the calorie adjustment is unnecessary. I also do Crossfit which doesn't give many steps so maybe I should keep logging that manually.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    StaciMarie1974 wrote: »
    that depends on your settings. Fitbit has two options, which you can change if you login (website, not app) and go to Log and click the Gear icon on the upper right of the food logging area.

    Personalized: uses your past daily activity to estimate your daily burn. If you move less than usual, your burn will ultimately be adjusted downward

    Sedentary: Fitbit uses actual data as of your last sync, and assumes BMR only for the rest of the day. So to get more calories earned, you need to move more.
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    Yeah eat them all

    But remember fitbit extrapolates to end of the day based on what you've done...so if it's 10am and you've just done a 5 mile run it will assume that level of activity will continue till midnight ...and each time you synch it will readjust

    Ahhhh...new fangled

  • machelle04
    machelle04 Posts: 690 Member
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    lbctfs wrote: »
    machelle04 wrote: »
    I stopped logging my walks/runs and let Fitbit add the adjustment. Last night my fitbit adjustment was 1015 for 41k plus steps/run. I only log yoga and weight training now. So far no issues everything has been spot on.

    I use the Garmin to track my running progress to measure improvement. But maybe I need to turn off the feed to MFP. I like seeing it there but the calorie adjustment is unnecessary. I also do Crossfit which doesn't give many steps so maybe I should keep logging that manually.

    I have been logging my cross fit and weight training on Body Space. MFP doesnt really have accurate stats for me to log my cross fit there. I mainly use the MFP for the calorie intake.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,996 Member
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    machelle04 wrote: »
    lbctfs wrote: »
    It's already been said, but set it to sedentary and use SOME of the increase based on your goals. Also watch out for double counting! I track my runs with a Garmin but wear my fitbit when I run. So the run may say 600 cal but the fitbit is also giving a few hundred for the steps. I want to track both but on running days know that the calorie adjustment is WAY over what it should be.

    I stopped logging my walks/runs and let Fitbit add the adjustment. Last night my fitbit adjustment was 1015 for 41k plus steps/run. I only log yoga and weight training now. So far no issues everything has been spot on.

    This is what I do as well.
  • missblondi2u
    missblondi2u Posts: 851 Member
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    lbctfs wrote: »
    It's already been said, but set it to sedentary and use SOME of the increase based on your goals. Also watch out for double counting! I track my runs with a Garmin but wear my fitbit when I run. So the run may say 600 cal but the fitbit is also giving a few hundred for the steps. I want to track both but on running days know that the calorie adjustment is WAY over what it should be.

    I don't think it works that way. I have both fitbit and MMR ("map my run") linked to MFP. Let's say I run 3 miles in the morning and log it with MMR and also wear my fitbit. If I sync fitbit first, it will give me an adjustment of let's just say 300 calories. When I save the workout on MMR, and MMR sends my 300 calories to MFP, my fitbit adjustment is lowered back down to 0 since MFP has already taken it into account. There is no double counting.

    TL;DR: Your fitbit adjustment will be lowered if you also log activity from other apps in MFP.
  • Marianna93637
    Marianna93637 Posts: 230 Member
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    I disabled the adjustment. The firs day I had it enabled, I ate about 1300 calories, my goal is 1300 and burned about 400 with exercise. Didn't even eat any of it back. Normally I'd feel like it's a victory and feel good about myself, but with the adjustments Fitbit and MFP was telling me that I was over my calories. WTH??

    I disabled it, and at the end of the day I look at both. I see MFP as I always saw it, whether I'm under my goal or not, and Fitbit tells me if I'm in the zone of healthy eating (ate enough, but didn't go over) It ends up matching.

    I first had Fitbit set for 750 calories deficit, because wanted to lose 1.5 lb / week, but it seemed too hard. (I used to have it set like that with MFP) I now have it at 1 lb / week, 500 deficit. I'm sure I will end up losing more, because that's how it worked for the 33 lbs last year.

    Just do it the way it makes sense for you. If I'm doing good, I don't want some app telling me it's still not good enough lol
  • fraserkr
    fraserkr Posts: 110 Member
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    I also set my activity level to sedentary so that when I do exercise, I can have more trust in the calories attributed to exercise. I am not active every day, more like every other day ...

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