Fitbit adding to calorie burn

DebiLu64

Hi everyone, I'm new here, 1 week in and lost 4.2lbs! My question is, since I've started exercising (with my fitbit), it has increased my caloric intake, and I mainly exercise after work in the afternoon. Do I (or should I) eat all those additional calories? If I don't, it says I'm not eating my allotted caloric intake.

CyberTone

The MFP daily goal is provided so that you can lose weight without exercise. When you exercise, you are expected to log it and eat back at least a percentage of those earned exercise Calories. Most people will recommend new users eat back at least 50 to 75% of the earned Calories for at least 4 to 6 weeks, and then adjust the percentage based on actual results.

I ate back 90 to 100% of my Fitbit Calorie adjustment and lost weight at the expected rate, and I currently maintain by eating back 100%. I have been logging Calorie intake for four years, weigh all solids, use measuring cups and spoons for liquids, and verify all of the food I log against nutrition labels or web sites; so I am confident that I am not underestimating my Calorie intake. If you are not as confident with your food logging, you may want to start with eating back 50% of the adjustment to give yourself a beginners cushion in case you may be underestimating how many Calories you are eating.

I would recommend reading through the first three posts in this thread on the MFP Fitbit Users group...

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10098937/faq-syncing-logging-food-exercise-calorie-adjustments-activity-levels-accuracy

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

malibu927

Yes, you should be eating those calories back. And that isn't even factored into getting the warning that you aren't eating enough, as that comes up if you're logging under 1000 calories.

LW3380

malibu927 wrote: »

Yes, you should be eating those calories back. And that isn't even factored into getting the warning that you aren't eating enough, as that comes up if you're logging under 1000 calories.

I was going to ask a similar question to DebiLu64, this time it's the extra calories added on to my daily goal from things such as walking and normal daily activities, not my intentional evening work outs (which I normally do add and use up). So far I have been deleting them when they are synced and added throughout the day, is that right?

WinoGelato

LW3380 wrote: »

malibu927 wrote: »

Yes, you should be eating those calories back. And that isn't even factored into getting the warning that you aren't eating enough, as that comes up if you're logging under 1000 calories.

I was going to ask a similar question to DebiLu64, this time it's the extra calories added on to my daily goal from things such as walking and normal daily activities, not my intentional evening work outs (which I normally do add and use up). So far I have been deleting them when they are synced and added throughout the day, is that right?

No. They are part of your total activity for the day - that’s what FitBit does, measure calorie burn from total activity, not just intentional exercise. MFP calculates a target based on info you entered, an activity level and a goal rate of loss. FitBit measures your activity and calorie burn all day long and the adjustments are the difference between what MFP thought you would burn and what you actually did - doesn’t matter if those calories were from pacing, running errands, or running a marathon - they count toward your TDEE and eating less than your TDEE is what results in weight loss.

Many people are more active than they think, Sedentary really means about 7,000 or less steps - so if you have yourself set at Sedentary because of an office job or just your perception, but you average 10k or more steps you will likely see an adjustment even if you didn’t “exercise”.

And yes, you should still be eating those back, at least a portion of them.

And enable negative calorie adjustments if you haven’t, that will be a safety net if you truly have a Sedentary day because you are sick, stuck in meetings, or on a long road trip. Those are the only days my negative cal adjustment kicks in - I average 12k steps a day and am set as active in MFP.

LW3380

Perfect...thanks @WinoGelato that's so much clearer, I now feel more confident with what my FitBit is telling me.

CyberTone

LW3380 wrote: »

malibu927 wrote: »

Yes, you should be eating those calories back. And that isn't even factored into getting the warning that you aren't eating enough, as that comes up if you're logging under 1000 calories.

I was going to ask a similar question to DebiLu64, this time it's the extra calories added on to my daily goal from things such as walking and normal daily activities, not my intentional evening work outs (which I normally do add and use up). So far I have been deleting them when they are synced and added throughout the day, is that right?

No need to delete those Fibit Calorie adjustments throughout the day. In fact, each time MFP and Fitbit sync, each adjustment will include them until that last one at 11:59pm. If you stop moving at 7:00pm for example, the next few adjustments up until midnight will even start decreasing to account for you not moving at your MFP estimated hourly burn rate.

Read through the posts I linked above.