Question about setting maintenance calorie goal

kgirlhart

I know I am overthinking this.

I am trying to maintain, but I have lost 10 pounds since I hit my goal in July. My fitbit estimates that I burn 1850 calories per day. But when I eat 1850 calories I still lose slowly. I really like the idea of using the NEAT formula and eating more on days I burn more. So I have always used mfp's goal and eaten back exercise calories. About 5 months into my weight loss I got a fitbit and synced the two. Right now I have mfp set to lightly active and it gives me a goal of 1680. (This week I manually changed my goal to 1800 because I am thinking that I need to increase my goal up to about 2000-2100). Most days I will get an exercise adjustment, but some days I don't. I am ok with that because I want to eat more when I'm more active and less when I'm less active. I have negative adjustments turned on, so if I am not active at all one day I will get a negative adjustment. If I set mfp to sedentary (which my job is) then I get a goal of 1500 and I was getting a pretty big exercise adjustment later in the day. I feel that I need to eat more than 1500 calories per day unless I am not feeling well or much less active than usual. If I use my own data to figure my tdee I get around 2100 calories. My question really is this: If I start upping my calories manually should I eat back my exercise adjustment, or should I just unsync my fitbit? I know if I did not have a fitbit and I just used TDEE then I would not log or eat back exercise calories. So if I manually change my goal from what mfp says and I have my fitbit connected, do I look at my net calories, or just at my total calories? I don't want to eat more on days I am less active. But I definitely want to eat enough to maintain at my current weight.

I do realize that I am making this harder than it has to be. I just thought someone else might have a fresher perspective because I am driving myself crazy with all these numbers.

cwolfman13

At this point, your own data (ie rate of loss, etc) is going to trump any kind of calculator or activity tracker.

My maintenance calories are based on my own data and real world happenings...

CyberTone

If you want to keep using your Fitbit, I would test out a couple different setting changes. Start by increasing your height in Fitbit by an inch or a couple centimeters and see if that gives you extra Calories. You could also try changing the stride length.

LivingtheLeanDream

So you are burning more than your fitbit says. Increase your calories. If you are losing 0.5lb a week still then you can increase your cals by another 250 per day e.g.

kgirlhart

So if I were to change my goal to 2000 I should just eat 2000 and ignore any adjustment either way? I could unsync my fitbit, but I guess I'm a little worried about my activity slacking off if I'm not really monitoring my calorie burn. I hadn't thought about changing my fitbit settings.

TimothyFish

I don't bother logging food when I am maintaining. Exercise calories are added automatically, so I still log those. However, I still adjust my eating based on my activity level.

kgirlhart

At this point I'm afraid if I don't log I will under eat.

cwolfman13

kgirlhart wrote: »

At this point I'm afraid if I don't log I will under eat.

I would continue to log until you achieve maintenance...just up your calories a bit at a time until you hit it regardless of what calculators and activity trackers are telling you.

kgirlhart

cwolfman13 wrote: »

kgirlhart wrote: »

At this point I'm afraid if I don't log I will under eat.

I would continue to log until you achieve maintenance...just up your calories a bit at a time until you hit it regardless of what calculators and activity trackers are telling you.

That's what I'm going to do. Thanks for your help everyone!

lorrpb

Change your fitbit activity level to one higher than where you've had it. That should bump up your calories to about where you think it should be to maintain.

kgirlhart

@lorrpb How do you change your fitbit activity level. I changed mfp to lightly active so it would give me a higher starting goal but I'm not sure where to change it in fitbit. I have a One so it does not do heart rate. I don't really think I need a HRM since my exercise is yoga 5 days per week, walking 3-4 days per week and running(jogging) 3 days per week. Plus I don't want to wear a fitbit on my wrist. I didn't think I was all that active, but I am a lot more active than I used to be.

lorrpb

kgirlhart wrote: »

@lorrpb How do you change your fitbit activity level. I changed mfp to lightly active so it would give me a higher starting goal but I'm not sure where to change it in fitbit. I have a One so it does not do heart rate. I don't really think I need a HRM since my exercise is yoga 5 days per week, walking 3-4 days per week and running(jogging) 3 days per week. Plus I don't want to wear a fitbit on my wrist. I didn't think I was all that active, but I am a lot more active than I used to be.

It's either on the computer only or I misspoke. I'm away from my computer for a few days so I can't check. I couldn't find it on my phone app. Sorry. I'll try and remember when I get home.

kgirlhart

I'll play around and see if I can figure it out. It may be on the computer I couldn't find it on my phone.

kgirlhart

For now I have just set my calorie goal at 2000 and I trying to hit that regardless of what the Fitbit says.

Christine_72

I can't find an activity level setting on fitbit anywhere, i had a look on my computer.

Maybe the previous poster meant the "sedentary" or "personalised" setting, neither of which would effect the end of the day calorie projection.... I don't think??
I've always had fitbit set to sedentary.

TimothyFish

Christine_72 wrote: »

I can't find an activity level setting on fitbit anywhere, i had a look on my computer.

Maybe the previous poster meant the "sedentary" or "personalised" setting, neither of which would effect the end of the day calorie projection.... I don't think??
I've always had fitbit set to sedentary.

The "sedentary/personalized" setting just tells it where to start from. Active people are more likely to see calories removed from their daily goal if they use "personalized."

cwolfman13

kgirlhart wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

kgirlhart wrote: »

At this point I'm afraid if I don't log I will under eat.

I would continue to log until you achieve maintenance...just up your calories a bit at a time until you hit it regardless of what calculators and activity trackers are telling you.

That's what I'm going to do. Thanks for your help everyone!

You may find that it's far more than you think it is...I did.