Help with Fitbit and my fitness pal synced

Clariss27

I'm
Set to not very active although I do walk a fair way most days. I'm 27 and 15st 6lb. I have recently lost 1 stone but by just using my fitness pal. Now I use a Fitbit and fitness pal together. I'm just wondering why my calorie adjustment is so high with regards to my steps?' Does this seem right?! Many thanks.

janejellyroll

If you're set to sedentary, your adjustments are going to be larger on days when you move more (like 10,000 steps). Many people find their adjustments are reliable (I eat mine back), while other people have found them to be less so. The best way to determine whether yours are reliable is to pay attention to your results. Are you losing faster than you expect? Just as you expect? Some people eat back a portion of their exercise calories while they figure out whether or not it is accurate. Your real life results are going to be your best guide.

Sunna_W

I guess that this feature is based on the Calories Out / Calories In principle.

I just turned it off; and, I un-linked my activity level to MFP and I don't count my exercise in MFP at all (otherwise, I would be spending all of my time making inputs by counting washing dishes, preparing meals, making the bed, showering...)

So, I just use the FitBit to gauge how active I really am, hours slept (the best feature IMO), miles walked (more than I would have guessed), and, whether or not lowering my thyroid medication has lowered my resting pulse rate.

My husband who plays weekend tennis and chides me for my inactivity was stunned to find out that I generally walk at least a mile every day just by walking around at work and in our house, and, based on that, I am actually more active than him when he plays death by doubles tennis until he pukes... LOL

On the plus side, though, I bet you also found out that you were more active than you originally thought. It was eye opening to me that thrashing about in bed while I was sleeping burned calories!

But, I digress...

To me, there is a lot of confusion about "eating back calories lost through exercise" -- if I include them then I am tempted to eat 2000 calories every day... and IMO that defeats the point of MFP, which encourages you to plan your food choices around macros and calories (and log them) to align with your fitness goals.

Both my weight loss calories and my maintenance calories are the same (1400) because I wanted to establish one routine and then stick with it -- forever. The bonus is that I generally stay within my allotted calories and should I stray due to an occasional lapse (American Steak Fries are my downfall), overall, given the fact that I am walking around I really didn't do myself in as badly as I fear.

I think that linking MFP and FitBit might be worth it for someone who was running every day and burning tons of glycogen and needed to eat a set amount in order to have the reserve stores for the next run.

Just my two cents.

janejellyroll

Sunna_W wrote: »

I guess that this feature is based on the Calories Out / Calories In principle.

I just turned it off; and, I un-linked my activity level to MFP and I don't count my exercise in MFP at all (otherwise, I would be spending all of my time making inputs by counting washing dishes, preparing meals, making the bed, showering...)

So, I just use the FitBit to gauge how active I really am, hours slept (the best feature IMO), miles walked (more than I would have guessed), and, whether or not lowering my thyroid medication has lowered my resting pulse rate.

My husband who plays weekend tennis and chides me for my inactivity was stunned to find out that I generally walk at least a mile every day just by walking around at work and in our house, and, based on that, I am actually more active than him when he plays death by doubles tennis until he pukes... LOL

On the plus side, though, I bet you also found out that you were more active than you originally thought. It was eye opening to me that thrashing about in bed while I was sleeping burned calories!

But, I digress...

To me, there is a lot of confusion about "eating back calories lost through exercise" -- if I include them then I am tempted to eat 2000 calories every day... and IMO that defeats the point of MFP, which encourages you to plan your food choices around macros and calories (and log them) to align with your fitness goals.

Both my weight loss calories and my maintenance calories are the same (1400) because I wanted to establish one routine and then stick with it -- forever. The bonus is that I generally stay within my allotted calories and should I stray due to an occasional lapse (American Steak Fries are my downfall), overall, given the fact that I am walking around I really didn't do myself in as badly as I fear.

I think that linking MFP and FitBit might be worth it for someone who was running every day and burning tons of glycogen and needed to eat a set amount in order to have the reserve stores for the next run.

Just my two cents.

If OP has set her status to sedentary but is regularly moving enough to generate substantial adjustments, it's best for her health, energy, and fitness goals if she accounts for that in some way. Eating the right amount of calories to fuel your activity doesn't "defeat" the purpose of MFP. IMO, it *is* the purpose of MFP.

KelGen02

I have the fitbit as well and it is CICO (Calories in Calories Out) My charger broke and I had to order a new one last week so I went several days without my fitbit last week. I logged all my food in MFP as usual and manually logged all my exercise. ( I usually let the fitbit adjust my calories based on my activity) when I got the new charger and synced it to the app it loaded all my calories and exercise that I manually logged on MFP and every single day it showed I ate more than I burned for those days. I am not a fan of eating all my calories back, I usually don't eat any and if I do it is never more than 200 calories, just because I leave room for error as I don't weigh and measure every morsel that I eat. I started this healthy lifestyle back on 11/28/16 and since then have lost nearly 60lbs. I trust the calculations that fitbit & mfp give me and well it works for me so I don't question it or try to change anything. I too was confused on the burn of my activity and tracked it for a few weeks and it does seem to know the difference between my non active, walked to the bathroom kind of steps and my active workout steps. IDK I am not science smart when it comes to CICO or exercise calories by any means I just eat less, move more and try to make healthy choices 90% of the time. Good luck!