Fitbit question : planning meals sround the adjustment,?

JK1542020

So i have pretty active days as i have 2 kids at home, housework to do, meals to cook etc and i excersise. But once kids go to bed around 7.30pm I'm pretty much sat down until bedtime. So i presume my fitbit versa 2 is gonna give me a calorie adjustment whoch will then be reduced once my evening is over.
So how much of my adjustment can i take as gospel? 50%? More? Say the fitbit added 500 calories (number plucked from sky) and im about to make dinner can i use those 500 or am i gonna find that it reduces and i end up over my.allowance?

PAV8888

Per minute of inactivity between last synchronisation and midnight you will end up losing:
(AF - 1) * BMR /1440

BMR can be found here: https://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator
AF = 1.25 or 1.4, or 1.6, or 1.8 depending on your MFP setting of sedentary, lightly active, active, and very active.
Sedentary may be called something else on your phone.

If the number would end up negative and push you below 1200, the negative adjustment would bottom out at 1200 (1500 for males)

JK1542020

AF? Im sorry i dont understand still 🤔 so i cant ever safley eat over 1200?

swimmchick87

After awhile of using my fitbit, I learned which step counts roughly correlate to which calorie amounts. For example, typically 10,000 steps for me means that my calories burned throughout the day will end up at around 2150-2200. It's not exact (there is variation depending on how I got the steps), but roughly. To get above 2,000, which is my absolute minimum goal, I typically need at least 7000 steps. Start paying attention to the calorie burn fitbit gives you at the end of the day vs. how many steps you had- or look at the graphs in fitbit and figure this out from past days. That should help you figure out how many steps you need total to replicate that calorie burn. So at dinner time, you can decide how many steps you still need and if you'd rather walk more and eat more or not do the additional walking/not have extra calories.

JK1542020

Ok. So ive told mfp in sedentary and want to lose 2lbs a week. Mfp gave me 1200 cals.

Its 10.40am here and fitbit has added 368 calories for the adjustment. So now i have a total of almost 1600 calories.

So i can now eat 1600 calories and still lose 2lbs? (Assuming every day is the same).

What is concerning me is that i did a workout video this morning got my kids dressex, did the bulk of the house work...if my activity level now goes down because im doing less activity, will my adjustment decrease causing me to overeat?

Lietchi

I really wouldn't trust a calorie adjustment at 10.40 AM if you know you are more active in the beginning of the day, I'm pretty sure that adjustment will go down as the day progresses.

The best advice would be to simply try it out (on a typical day)? See what your calorie adjustment is right before dinner and then check again right before bed (if you go to bed around midnight) or check the next morning when all data has synced, and see how much it went down.

PS: as a side note: MFP has given you the bare minimum of calories for a woman, which makes me suspect you have chosen a weight loss rate that is too agressive for your current weight (unless you are a very small woman perhaps). Since 1200 is the minimum to ensure adequate nutrition, that number of calories probably corresponds to a weight loss rate slower than 2lbs per week (in the case of not getting a positive calorie adjustment from your fitbit)

JK1542020

Lietchi wrote: »

I really wouldn't trust a calorie adjustment at 10.40 AM if you know you are more active in the beginning of the day, I'm pretty sure that adjustment will go down as the day progresses.

The best advice would be to simply try it out (on a typical day)? See what your calorie adjustment is right before dinner and then check again right before bed (if you go to bed around midnight) or check the next morning when all data has synced, and see how much it went down.

PS: as a side note: MFP has given you the bare minimum of calories for a woman, which makes me suspect you have chosen a weight loss rate that is too agressive for your current weight (unless you are a very small woman perhaps). Since 1200 is the minimum to ensure adequate nutrition, that number of calories probably corresponds to a weight loss rate slower than 2lbs per week (in the case of not getting a positive calorie adjustment from your fitbit)

What i dont get about this though is that everyone on mfp says not to aim for 2lbs a week. But people lose 2lb a week all the time and its considered safe. Safe rate 1-2lbs - pretty much everything ive ever read pr heard about weightloss says this apart from people on here. So whats wrong with aining for 2? I'm obese bmi, over 15 stone and 5ft 4 so whichever way you look at it i have a lot to lose so i wouldnt of thpught 2lbs a week was unrealistic. If i was super close to goal i can see why a smaller loss per week is better. Yes mfp has given me 1200 cals but thats why i got a fit bit...to motivate me to move more and earn a higher calorie count. Isnt that the whole point?

JK1542020

Just for the record i dont eat 1200, i eat around 1500. But the whole idea of me getting a fitbit was to maje sure my activity level was allowing for that level of calories a day.

janejellyroll

JK1542020 wrote: »

Lietchi wrote: »

I really wouldn't trust a calorie adjustment at 10.40 AM if you know you are more active in the beginning of the day, I'm pretty sure that adjustment will go down as the day progresses.

The best advice would be to simply try it out (on a typical day)? See what your calorie adjustment is right before dinner and then check again right before bed (if you go to bed around midnight) or check the next morning when all data has synced, and see how much it went down.

PS: as a side note: MFP has given you the bare minimum of calories for a woman, which makes me suspect you have chosen a weight loss rate that is too agressive for your current weight (unless you are a very small woman perhaps). Since 1200 is the minimum to ensure adequate nutrition, that number of calories probably corresponds to a weight loss rate slower than 2lbs per week (in the case of not getting a positive calorie adjustment from your fitbit)

What i dont get about this though is that everyone on mfp says not to aim for 2lbs a week. But people lose 2lb a week all the time and its considered safe. Safe rate 1-2lbs - pretty much everything ive ever read pr heard about weightloss says this apart from people on here. So whats wrong with aining for 2? I'm obese bmi, over 15 stone and 5ft 4 so whichever way you look at it i have a lot to lose so i wouldnt of thpught 2lbs a week was unrealistic. If i was super close to goal i can see why a smaller loss per week is better. Yes mfp has given me 1200 cals but thats why i got a fit bit...to motivate me to move more and earn a higher calorie count. Isnt that the whole point?

2 pounds a week is safe for people with a lot of weight to lose. As you get closer to goal, it is no longer a safe rate of loss. If you need to eat 1,200 to lose two pounds a week, that's a *potential* indication that it is not a realistic goal for you.

Lietchi

JK1542020 wrote: »

Just for the record i dont eat 1200, i eat around 1500. But the whole idea of me getting a fitbit was to maje sure my activity level was allowing for that level of calories a day.

And that's a good strategy. I was just pointing out that if you don't get a positive calorie adjustment from being extra active and/or exercising (and therefore having that 1200 calorie goal per day instead of a higher number), your deficit probably won't amount to the deficit needed for a 2lb loss per week.

As for the rate of loss, the faster it is, the more likely you will lose muscle mass and the more likely that you will have problems sticking to your calorie goal. At your weight, 2lbs is probably just about possible (the guideline I've read here is max. 1% of your bodyweight per week) but not in the long run.

I'm 5ft4 too. I weighed 208lbs when I started, but I consciously chose to set my rate of loss at 0.5lbs per week, which gave me a calorie goal of 1750 per day.
Because I wasn't in a hurry, because I wanted to give myself time to create good habits and because I didn't want to feel deprived (avoiding bingeing and giving up completely). There is no bonus weight loss for suffering There is no way I would have been able to stick to 1200 calories per day. Heck, I weigh 172lbs now and have a calorie goal of 1550 and I am very happy to have my calorie adjustment from my activity tracker: I'm eating between 1900 and 2200 calories a day on average, even those 1550 calories (if I were inactive) would be hard to follow.

JK1542020

I see. Thank you for your help. So...mfp has given me 1200 based on me asking to lose 2lbs a week. Ive attached a photo of my day so far. At the moment (1.30pm) fit bit has added a calorie adjustment of 681 calories. Ive reached almost 7000 steps.

So i eat dinner at 6pm. Lets say the adjustment is 500 at that time. If i want to eat back half so 250cals to allow for a drop before midnight would that be fair? It wont drop by over half will it?

And if i do eat back half of my calorie adjustment will i still lose 2lbs?

And based ob the fact its given me a calorie adjustment should i assume im not actually sedentary but more active then that - assuming every day was the same?

JK1542020

Lietchi

JK1542020 wrote: »

I see. Thank you for your help. So...mfp has given me 1200 based on me asking to lose 2lbs a week. Ive attached a photo of my day so far. At the moment (1.30pm) fit bit has added a calorie adjustment of 681 calories. Ive reached almost 7000 steps.

So i eat dinner at 6pm. Lets say the adjustment is 500 at that time. If i want to eat back half so 250cals to allow for a drop before midnight would that be fair? It wont drop by over half will it?

And if i do eat back half of my calorie adjustment will i still lose 2lbs?

And based ob the fact its given me a calorie adjustment should i assume im not actually sedentary but more active then that - assuming every day was the same?

I'm not sure how much the drop will be, but eating half seems like a prudent strategy the first few days/weeks, until you have the necessary experience allowing you to estimate more precisely how much margin you need to leave due to being less active later on in the day.

Ultimately, at the end of the day - when you have stopped eating and your calorie adjustment is final (midnight) - the goal would be to arrive at 0 calories left to reach your desired weight loss rate.

An added complication is, of course, the accuracy of your Fitbut calorie adjustment. For that, you can monitor your weight loss and eat back more or less calories of your adjustment to arrive at the desired weight loss rate. Both MFP and Fitbit only estimate your calorie burn based on a series of parameters (they don't measure actual calorie burn), so monitoring your progress is very useful: you can then adapt your calorie intake accordingly.

heybales

If you hit the couch and then bed about the same time nightly, tonight just note the last calorie goal you see.
The next morning after device sync with Fitbit account, view prior day eating goal and note the difference.

That's about how many calories you'll lose when the time of inactivity starts.
So each day eat almost to goal but leave that much in the green.
It'll be gone the next day and you will have reached goal.
This way the daily activity and adjustment can change, it's that final bit that matters. Plan on a yogurt or something to fill out the calories.
25 over is better than 100 under consistently.

And just so you know - MFP calculates the adjustment, not Fitbit. Fitbit is only sending the daily burn figure and timestamp to be used by MFP as far as any calorie info.
MFP projects rest of the day's calorie burn at your selected activity level.

Oh - and I knew you'd discover you were no where near sedentary since a mama!

Also, if set to sedentary on MFP but you are actually more with the kids - the adjustment you get after a workout in the morning will not go down through the day, it'll increase. Because you are more than sedentary.

And I thought I recalled from last thread 2 lbs was over-aggressive. Maybe not.

The reason why experienced people on here are warning you about the 2lb weight loss goal when you don't have over 50 lbs to lose - is because they are not currently part of the majority over 50% of people that fail at a diet or fail to maintain weight if they reach goal.

Many used to be perhaps, but then they learned.
Too aggressive backfires, for many reasons.

And while all the tabloid sites (replacement for the grocery store junk mags) tout 1200 calories no matter what you are doing and your personal stats - the advice you are hearing here comes from those that have actually researched the ill effects of those blanket recommended diet levels.