Eating back steps

emmajulie98765

Hi I weigh 10.4 and have set my goal to lose 1lb a week, so it gives me 1200 calories per day, I’m down as lightly active. Today I’ve done 16 000 steps, my Fitbit is linked up so MFP has given me extra calories. Do I get to eat these back and still remain in deficit? Thanks!

nanastaci2020

Yes, as 16k steps is MUCH more active than you're set up for. If you're nervous or don't have enough data to 'trust' your Fitbit's reporting, then consider eating a portion instead of all.

sijomial

With that amount of steps your Fitbit has a lot of adjusting to do because Lightly Active is way understating your activity level. The ultimate number at the end of the day will be the same but if want smaller adjustments then raise your activity setting.

It's not MFP giving you extra calories, it's your Fitbit telling you that you are burning more than you told MFP to expect. As you are using Fitbit to set your variable calorie goal you will have to trial how accurate it is for you.
It's not just steps - it's all your activity and exercise Fitbit is attempting to estimate for you and sending over adjustments.

A flawed analogy but think of yourself like a car, the more you drive the more fuel you need to put in and you are "driving" far more than most people

cwolfman13

emmajulie98765 wrote: »

Hi I weigh 10.4 and have set my goal to lose 1lb a week, so it gives me 1200 calories per day, I’m down as lightly active. Today I’ve done 16 000 steps, my Fitbit is linked up so MFP has given me extra calories. Do I get to eat these back and still remain in deficit? Thanks!

You're getting the adjustment because you are more active per your device than what you set in MFP. 16K steps is way more than light active. The more you move, the more energy/fuel your body requires.

emmajulie98765

Yeah I just set it as that as it says as an example teachers are lightly active! I’m now on 18 000!!