Fitbit calories??

StephBirchUK

Hi everyone!

I'm 4ft11 and weigh around 7st 4lbs! I'm not fat but I do have a considerably larger lower half - predominantly my lower stomach and inner thigh area.

I'm trying to do low carb and high protein with weight training and a bit of cardio.

My question is this... Who uses Fitbit and do you use their 'calories remaining' or MFP's? I want to shed body fat - not concerned about the scales and I heard that you need to shed the fat to see muscle - so a calorie deficit is needed? Who eats back their calories that are burned in exercise??

Clobern80

You should sync your FitBit to MFP, let FitBit upload any exercise/movement you do and track your calories in MFP. Then eat what MFP tells you. MFP is already set up to be at whatever deficit you chose (1/2 loss, 1 pound loss, etc.)

Yes, a caloric deficit is needed to lose fat. You should eat plenty of protein and strength train to retain as much muscle and LBM as you can.

Everyone SHOULD be eating back their calories but that is a large part of contention here. I would recommend following MFP and eating everything it tells you and adjusting accordingly if the weight doesn't start to go down after a few weeks. And adjust slowly, 200-400 calories or something.

pichu318

I personally use Fitbit's calorie count instead of MFP's.

If you are trying to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time without losing or gaining weight... this article sums it up pretty well.

If you don't care about what the scale says then this article might help.

Good luck!

http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/can-you-lose-fat-or-gain-muscle-without-losing-or-gaining-weight/
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/fat_loss_muscle_gain_trick.htm

StephBirchUK

pichu318 wrote: »

I personally use Fitbit's calorie count instead of MFP's.

If you are trying to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time without losing or gaining weight... this article sums it up pretty well.

If you don't care about what the scale says then this article might help.

Good luck!

http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/can-you-lose-fat-or-gain-muscle-without-losing-or-gaining-weight/
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/fat_loss_muscle_gain_trick.htm

Thanks a lot!! This is really helpful! xx

StephBirchUK

clobern80 wrote: »

You should sync your FitBit to MFP, let FitBit upload any exercise/movement you do and track your calories in MFP. Then eat what MFP tells you. MFP is already set up to be at whatever deficit you chose (1/2 loss, 1 pound loss, etc.)

Yes, a caloric deficit is needed to lose fat. You should eat plenty of protein and strength train to retain as much muscle and LBM as you can.

Everyone SHOULD be eating back their calories but that is a large part of contention here. I would recommend following MFP and eating everything it tells you and adjusting accordingly if the weight doesn't start to go down after a few weeks. And adjust slowly, 200-400 calories or something.

Good shout! I'll give it a try and just take photos and measurements - cause I'm presuming if I gain muscle the the scales could go up or down depending how that month/week has worked out.

Thanks!

callsitlikeiseeit

my dad got me one for my birthday.

i use it for data knowledge and for comparison, but since i use TDEE for my calories, i dont even bother synching it to mfp.

its a neat gadget but one i could live without lol

kshama2001

StephBirchUK wrote: »

Hi everyone!

I'm 4ft11 and weigh around 7st 4lbs! I'm not fat but I do have a considerably larger lower half - predominantly my lower stomach and inner thigh area.

I'm trying to do low carb and high protein with weight training and a bit of cardio.

My question is this... Who uses Fitbit and do you use their 'calories remaining' or MFP's? I want to shed body fat - not concerned about the scales and I heard that you need to shed the fat to see muscle - so a calorie deficit is needed? Who eats back their calories that are burned in exercise??

MFP is for calorie counting and FitBit for activity tracking, so I use them as designed.

missblondi2u

I log my food in MFP and fitbit tracks my activity. I sync the two and, voila, life is wonderful!

And yes, I eat all or most of my fitbit calories and have lost weight just as expected.

StephBirchUK

missblondi2u wrote: »

I log my food in MFP and fitbit tracks my activity. I sync the two and, voila, life is wonderful!

And yes, I eat all or most of my fitbit calories and have lost weight just as expected.

Wonderful I have them synced but MFP always seems to take longer to update its information.

Thanks for the help!

StephBirchUK

callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »

my dad got me one for my birthday.

i use it for data knowledge and for comparison, but since i use TDEE for my calories, i dont even bother synching it to mfp.

its a neat gadget but one i could live without lol

I like it mainly to make myself walk more - I had no idea that I was walking tonnes more on a weekday than I was on a weekend. So it's made me put in more effort on weekend - especially since the weekend is the time people often have a naughty treat or two.

Just out of curiousity if your TDEE was 1,200 and you ate that much but you wore your fit bit and realised you walked 10,000 steps and burned let's say 300 calories (it's just an example) would you eat back those 300 calories?

I'm thinking this is the way to go? Which is why the Fitbit and syncing it to MFP would be great together.

Clobern80

StephBirchUK wrote: »

callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »

my dad got me one for my birthday.

i use it for data knowledge and for comparison, but since i use TDEE for my calories, i dont even bother synching it to mfp.

its a neat gadget but one i could live without lol

I like it mainly to make myself walk more - I had no idea that I was walking tonnes more on a weekday than I was on a weekend. So it's made me put in more effort on weekend - especially since the weekend is the time people often have a naughty treat or two.

Just out of curiousity if your TDEE was 1,200 and you ate that much but you wore your fit bit and realised you walked 10,000 steps and burned let's say 300 calories (it's just an example) would you eat back those 300 calories?

I'm thinking this is the way to go? Which is why the Fitbit and syncing it to MFP would be great together.

If you are saying that MFP shows that you should eat 1200 calories per day, then you burn an extra 300... then yes, you should eat it back. MFP already cuts out the deficit when you put in your weight loss goal.

If - for some reason - you find that it is not correct and you are maintaining or gaining, then cut out the extra calories and go from there.

There will always be adjustments along the way.

LisaTcan

I normally get 10, 000 steps a day in and then also work out about 3-4 times a week. I have my Fitbit synced with MFP but the number of calories I get from activity seems way too high to me - if I ate that many calories I doubt I would maintain my weight.

brb_2013

LisaTcan wrote: »

I normally get 10, 000 steps a day in and then also work out about 3-4 times a week. I have my Fitbit synced with MFP but the number of calories I get from activity seems way too high to me - if I ate that many calories I doubt I would maintain my weight.

That's why most people won't eat back all the calories just in case the figures aren't correct