Fitbit Calories

I just got my Fitbit last week. I am logging all of my food into mfp and all of my exercise into Fitbit. Since there have been some sync issues I just want to make sure I understand how the Fitbit calories work. So far I have been under target every day but one. The days before I started using my Fitbit all show 1393 calories burned. I believe this is my BMR. Yesterday my Fitbit showed 2244 calories burned. Is this my TDEE? My food intake was 1594 so that made my deficit 650. I am set up for a 500 per day deficit. Am I understanding these numbers correctly? Mostly I just want to know that if Fitbit and mfp don't sync then I still know what my deficit was for the day. Thanks!
I posted this in the Fitbit Users group, but it has been 3 hours and no one has responded so I thought I would try here. Thanks!

Replies

  • T0M_K
    T0M_K Posts: 7,526 Member
    I think your assessment is the same as I read it. maybe on those days, bank a little to be safe but it sounds pretty close to me.
  • xLyric
    xLyric Posts: 840 Member
    Yep. Since MFP and Fitbit haven't been working together very well for a while I will instead look at last night's burn from Fitbit and subtract my deficit from there, which is what it sounds like you're doing.

    I know now, after using my Fitbit for over a year, that if I walk 10k steps I burn 2500 calories according to Fitbit, which means I can eat 1500 on a 1k deficit. I've stopped paying attention to what MFP tells me to eat at all and just make sure I get my steps in and I'm good. I just use MFP for logging and the forums now.
  • dollydiva2
    dollydiva2 Posts: 71 Member
    Go on your fitbit dashboard on the Web page and click on your profile pic. That will take you to a page with various graphs. The first one is 30 days average burn and average intake. I know you haven't had it 30 days yet but there should be average figures there. From this you can work out what your average burn per day is according to your fitbit. I work out my deficit from this average and eat to those calories and just log my food in MFP.
  • Toinbot
    Toinbot Posts: 9 Member
    Your calculations sound spot on to me. I've been using fitbit and mfp for about 8 months without too many syncing problems. But if you just minus your mfp cals in against fitbit cals burnt. Then the difference will be your deficit.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,156 Member
    Thanks for your answers. I thought that was right. I just wanted to make sure. Fitbit is a little confusing at first but I think once I have a little more data to average I'll have a pretty good idea of how much I can eat each day.