Fitbit Observations

bscmcse

I have my fitbit connected with MFP. I have my MFP level of activity set to sloth or whatever the lowest is due to the fact that I am chained to my desk all day. When I go to they gym in the evenings and get say a 600 cal add from working out, life is good. However, on the rare occasions when I go to the gym at lunch time and get the same 600 cal add, all day after my workout, I keep getting adds. So by the end of the day, I may end up with 1000 cal add.

Is this because by working out earlier in the day I'm up to my TDEE earlier in the day and the rest of the day keep going as and add? And if that is the case, am I better off working out earlier in the day than later in the day? I'm trying to maximize my cal burn.

ecsumaria

Good question! I wondered the same thing. I am trying to keep a large calorie deficit so I actually lose weight... lol

Alishia6606

I have noticed that too. I'm not to sure on which is better, but I workout in the mornings. Works for me.

MarkaStone

No expert but... if you think about it you have 1000 calories TDEE (just plucked the figure out of thin air to use as an example). You can use them up slowly throughout the day up until you go to the gym at night and then use up an extra 600. Or you can use up that extra 600 earlier in the day and only have 400 calories to get through the rest of the day on which means you get into a deficit earlier because you used your calories earlier. At least that's how my poor addled brain sees it

bscmcse

MarkaStone wrote: »

No expert but... if you think about it you have 1000 calories TDEE (just plucked the figure out of thin air to use as an example). You can use them up slowly throughout the day up until you go to the gym at night and then use up an extra 600. Or you can use up that extra 600 earlier in the day and only have 400 calories to get through the rest of the day on which means you get into a deficit earlier because you used your calories earlier. At least that's how my poor addled brain sees it

That's how I'm reading this and burning twice the calories throughout the day may be just enough push to get me out of bed at 0 dark 30... but I love me some sleep.

T0M_K

i beginning to not trust it. when i see 400 to 600 calories added to MFP from Fitbit and i've not done some sort of strenuous purposeful exercise it makes me wonder what the heck is going on.

T0M_K

like i get 500 calories for 5000 steps. so if MFP is set to sedentary and i only get 3000 to 5000 steps...hardly a workout...its correct that i get an additional 400 to 500 calories? is this literally correct?

bscmcse

Tomk652015 wrote: »

i beginning to not trust it. when i see 400 to 600 calories added to MFP from Fitbit and i've not done some sort of strenuous purposeful exercise it makes me wonder what the heck is going on.

Well, I'm fat and push myself doing cardio either doing steady state cardio for 45min with my heart rate in the mid to high 130s or intervals. Fitbit will add 500cal, MFP estimates 950. I'll stick with the fitbit value. I'm not eating them back, but am trying to get the most benefit from my exercise.

Edit: I also get ~5500 steps in a 45min cardio workout. Attached is an example of approx 45min intervals on the elliptical.

bscmcse

So, I was just doing some comparing:
Yesterday I did 30min cardio at lunch. The workout according to the fitbit was 541 cal and I ended the day with a 1,311 cal add.

Monday, I did a the workout above which was 45min intervals on the elliptical for 673 cal and ended the day with an 800 add.

Does this mean that the earlier I work out I will be burning that many more calories for the day? If so, I will definitely be doing cardio in the morning.