Fitbit Alta Calories - safe amount to eat back?

stucks7udent

Hey,

I've began syncing my Fitbit Alta with MFP today. I'm a little confused (as I'm sure many are).

I've completed almost 18k steps today whilst at work - usually I'll kick up about 6k if I'm lucky when not at work so I'm set to not very active on MFP.

I've set my goals to the same on fitbit (-1k deficit).

Based on 17k steps, fitbit has adjusted my calorie allowance to have an extra 900 calories. This seems a lot?

I've totalled around 1350 calories today (aiming for 1200 but a small allowance extra for steps).

Is fitbit likely to be accurate? And considering my goal is 1200 calories a day, what is a safe amount to eat back to remain at this deficit?

Already confused on if it's okay to eat steps calories or not. So any other fitbit users who can offer some information, I'd appreciate it.

Thank you

seska422

Fitbit calorie burns can be spot-on for some people and hundreds of calories off for other people.

You really need to use it for a while and see what your results are over time.

If I were you, I'd start with eating back 50% of the adjustment calories for a couple of months and see how that works.

GottaBurnEmAll

Fitbits generally take about three weeks to get to "know" you.

I agree with the advice to start out eating 50% and see what your results are over time.

If you lose weight more quickly than expected (this is what happened for me with my first Fitbit), you can always eat back more of your calories. If you lose weight more slowly, you can adjust the settings in your Fitbit to say you wear it on your dominant hand (I had to do this when I switched trackers), play with your stride length, your age, and things like that.

stucks7udent

Thanks guys.

I only really intend on eating some back on days like this when I know I've done far more than average. See how it goes.

I guess like anyone I have times where I feel more peckish than others, so if the fitbit shows some accuracy it's nice to know i've a small calorie bank for times when I'd like to go over by 1 or 200 calories etc !

At the same time, I wouldn't like to be eating less than I should if I'm burning lots.

Will monitor how it goes in that case and see what works for me .

Thanks again x

GottaBurnEmAll

stucks7udent wrote: »

Thanks guys.

I only really intend on eating some back on days like this when I know I've done far more than average. See how it goes.

I guess like anyone I have times where I feel more peckish than others, so if the fitbit shows some accuracy it's nice to know i've a small calorie bank for times when I'd like to go over by 1 or 200 calories etc !

At the same time, I wouldn't like to be eating less than I should if I'm burning lots.

Will monitor how it goes in that case and see what works for me .

Thanks again x

You should, since you're losing 2 pounds a week, try to eat back a portion of your Fitbit calories regularly.

If for no other reason, you'll start to gather enough real world data to determine how accurate your particular device is.

Secondly, eating back calories from activity is the way MFP is meant to be used.