Am I understanding correctly?....

kmaf2018

Hi All

So I'm new to the fitbit community and must admit I do love my fitbit. However, I've seen lots of posts about peoples confusion with fitbit calories and MFP calories etc etc and the more I read the more I'm getting confused too.

However, I've only been using MFP to log food/drinks and I use my fitbit to log calorie burn via activity level which then syncs to MFP and gives me my "Exercise" calories.

And I try not to eat 100% of my fitbit exercises calories - I read eating maybe 50% was OK. In MFP my goals are set to sedentary which gives me a daily calorie goal of 1280 (I work out 5-6x a week) and my goal was to lose 1lb per week.

I just want to know if the way I log (i.e. just food/drink to MFP and fitbit for activity) is OK and correct?

So take today:

Daily MFP calorie goal is 1280
Food/drink =1257 (I've logged all my food including my dinner)
Exercise = 636
Which gives me a balance left of 659

Take Yesterday
Daily MFP calorie goal is 1280
Food/Drink eaten was 1528
Exercise was 620
Which gave me a balance left of 372 calories (I ate back some exercise calories)

As long as I stick to MFP daily calorie goal of 1280 then there shouldn't be any issues should there and maybe on the days I do feel more hungry just eat back 50% of fitbit exercise calories.

Sorry!

pondee629

Assuming that your "Daily MFP calorie goal" factors in the calorie deficit/surplus/excess you want, you can have your "Daily MFP calorie goal" freely. Regarding the question regarding exercise calories, and eating them back; continue what you are doing, if you like how it's going, after a few weeks, checking the scale, if you are getting the results you want, continue. If the results are not to your liking adjust accordingly. It's more art than science. There is a lot of trial and error going on. There are inefficiencies in calorie counting, both on the intake and expenditure side. Exercise calories are often over counted (hence only eating back half thereof), food is sometimes over/under weighed. If you are losing/gaining/maintaining as you want, you're doing fine. If not, adjust something.

StaciMarie1974

What comes over as 'exercise calories' are not actually exercise calories.

For the sake of numbers I will assume you have MFP set for a 500 calorie per day deficit. MFP tells you to eat 1280 because it expects you to burn 1780. This is estimated based on your stats and stated activity level.

Yesterday's Fitbit adjustment of 620 means you burned 620 more than MFP expected. So instead of 1780 you burned 2400. This is due to a combination of a) being more active in general than MFP expected and b) any exercise you did because MFP's 1780 was based on no exercise.

Since according to Fitbit you actually burned 2400 (not 1780) a 500 deficit would have you eating 1900. Now you want to err on the side of caution, and leave some room for device error. So its perfectly reasonable to not eat all the extra calories if you feel you don't need them. You have to decide that...

kmaf2018

@StaciMarie1974 Thanks for this! I kinda understand! I selected on MFP that I wanted to lose 1lb per week and that I was sedentary and it gave me a daily goal of 1280 which I'm assuming I got that calorie goal because I want to lose weight? So if I wanted to maintain (for example) my daily goal would be 1780 but because I want lose weight it then reduces it by 500 calories?

When you say "exercise" calories are not exercise calories - what are they?

I think I just need to stick with what MFP gives me daily which is the 1280 and only eat exercise cals if necessary?

Thanks for responding

StaciMarie1974

Yes, if you wanted to maintain then MFP would tell you to eat 1780. THis is based on sedentary & before exercise.

The Fitbit adjustment is the difference between what MFP thinks you will burn in a day and what you actually burn in a day. Fitbit estimates total, all day burn based on your actual movement.

And yes, use your judgement on whether or not you should eat more than the 1280. Judge by how you feel in terms of hunger, energy, etc.

kmaf2018

Thats great thanks! I'll just aim for my 1280 and if say I do feel hungrier one day I know I can eat some activity cals back (but not all)