FitBit, Daily Steps?

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  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    I have it paired up in a bid to neither under nor over eat but without knowing the accuracy or what settings to use to optimise performance I feel a bit in the dark!

    Eating back 100% of your exercise calories is likely wrong .............BUT eating back 0% of your exercise calories is likely wrong TOO. MFP gave you a calorie deficit with ZERO exercise. Losing too fast is not healthy weight loss as a portion of the "weight" will be lean muscle.

    Many people on MFP don't have heart rate monitors, or FitBits. They eat a percentage of their calories.....if weight loss stalls, they eat a bit less, if weight loss is too fast (or you are tired) ....you eat a bit more

    Neither FitBits nor HRMs are exact. This is trial and error. But you do have one tool .....I would eat at a more active level. See how it goes.....if you are tired add in some exercise calories too.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Definitely eat the calories back. I've been eating pretty much 20-25% less than what my fitbit tells me in average and I lost 6 lbs last month.. and I'm actually working on decreasing that gap.
  • michellechawner
    michellechawner Posts: 892
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    I've found my fitbit pretty accurate and since I'm in maintenance i just look at it throughout the day to make sure i'm staying on track with maintenance levels.
  • samammay
    samammay Posts: 468
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    I use a FitBit One and MPF. I set MFP to think I am sedentary and set my daily calories on FitBit to be to be what MFP says my TDEE is. I then eat everything FitBit gives me.

    MFP says I should be losing 1.3lbs/wk. FitBit weekly reports say I should be losing 2.1 lbs/week.

    I am losing 2.2 lbs/week average this last 30 days.
  • ElizabethFuller
    ElizabethFuller Posts: 352 Member
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    I love my Fitbit! I go to the gym every other day, run 5k on the treadmill, do a bit of rowing and cycling. The Fitbit only registers the trreadmill but tends to over-estimate the calories burned when compared to the readout on the treadmill (which I've always thought is pretty accuate?) However, the thing it does best is motivates you to move more. On my non-gym days I now walk to and from work, I'm more likely to walk to the shops at the weekend or just take a walk to get the numbers up! I've always considered myself to be pretty active, on a work day I'll hit 13-15,000 steps but at weekends I really need to be reminded to move more. I've stopped eating back my Fitbit calories though, it seemed to make my weight loss plateau :frown: But overall I think the Fitbit is pretty useful.
  • harleygroomer
    harleygroomer Posts: 373 Member
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    You are getting 600 to 700 for 45 minutes of walking??? WAYYYYY TO MUCH. I love this site and the ease with what they have BUT--they tend to over estimate calories burned versus calories you NEED to eat. I FAST walk daily with my trainer and I only get around 475 burned, and that in turn leads my to my weights and then a zumba class maybe 4 but at least 3 times a weeks. All in all I try to burn off 1000 calories but I do not nor could I eat 1300 to 1400 calories a day. That seems a bit much. At any rate I try to leave at lease 200 to 500 calories NOT used daily to insure a steady weight loss. My trainer also has me go STRICT adkins for 10 days every 3 months to shake things up so I don't plateau. Seems to work and I am doing well. I would rethink my food and exercise logs to see if there are any pluggable holes, if you want to speed up your weight loss
  • vicky_gem
    vicky_gem Posts: 13 Member
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    Thanks for sharing all your experiences and guidance so far ! Please keep them coming ! I think so far I've decided from whaf people have said to set my mfp activity level to lightly active and then know I can eat back some, maybe up to 75% but probably not all, of the extra cals burned without too much worry of overrating. Does that sound about right ?
  • vicky_gem
    vicky_gem Posts: 13 Member
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    Hi harleygroomer, the 600-700 extra was from doing around 13000 steps total inc 45-60 mins on the treadmill jogging at 5-5.5mph on slight incline not just a walk of 45-60 mins. I've set my activity level now to lightly active and mfp seems to have adjusted extra cals earned to 450-500. You sound like you've a lot of good tips though , thanks for sharing and please let me know what you think of situ with above info in account!
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    Thanks for sharing all your experiences and guidance so far ! Please keep them coming ! I think so far I've decided from whaf people have said to set my mfp activity level to lightly active and then know I can eat back some, maybe up to 75% but probably not all, of the extra cals burned without too much worry of overrating. Does that sound about right ?

    Do you have your FitBit synched with MFP? If you do (it's the easiest way to make use of it) then just set yourself at sedentary and the Fitbit will tell MFP how many extra calories you've earned over and above what MFP set for you. You can then choose whether you want to eat any of those back. It's really simple and doesn't require any messing around with guessing at numbers. There's really no point in having the Fitbit if you aren't going to make use of the information it's giving you.
  • pinkraynedropjacki
    pinkraynedropjacki Posts: 3,027 Member
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    I use my Fitbit One & MFP & have done for quite a few months now. I do a massive amount of walking so I get a massive amount of calories back. When I got my One I started losing more weigh again even though I was eating all the calories I got back. I set my stride correctly & that's when all the calories fell into place. I can wear my Polar FT60 & do a workout setting my fitbit as an activity to record & the cals are almost spot on. In fact my HRM gives me more.
  • vicky_gem
    vicky_gem Posts: 13 Member
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    Hi mokey41 yes I have them synced with mfp at sedentary as you said-however I wasn't sure if the 600-700 extra I was earning in the day by taking around 13k steps total inc 45-60 mins jogging on the treadmill was accurate and if I could or should eat those back. I have adjusted my activity level to lightly active and mfp is now saying I've earned around 450-500 extra cals from my fitbit data. It's all quite confusing and I don't want to over or undereat !
  • coffee4me57
    coffee4me57 Posts: 195
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    Just interested in the replies-to read later, thanks for sharing!
  • rondabug
    rondabug Posts: 20
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    Thanks for your post! I calculated my fitness level based on the fact that I have a desk job rather than my level of activity. I usually log 3-5 miles of walking @ about 3.5 mph daily, so will bump up my fitness level on fitbit to match!
  • access2003
    access2003 Posts: 11 Member
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    I use a fitbit flex and I won't let the extra cals added back in mess with how much I eat.. I simply use it to see about how may cals I burned. I wouldn't use it as license to eat back the burned cals.. Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose? If I'm saving up for a nice slice of cheesecake for a special occasion, I might do an extra 2000 steps or something to make me think I'm earning it in some way..Other than that its a little tech toy and helps me plan meals and gives me an idea of how much of a lazy butt I can be once in awhile.
  • pinkraynedropjacki
    pinkraynedropjacki Posts: 3,027 Member
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    I use a fitbit flex and I won't let the extra cals added back in mess with how much I eat.. I simply use it to see about how may cals I burned. I wouldn't use it as license to eat back the burned cals.. Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose? If I'm saving up for a nice slice of cheesecake for a special occasion, I might do an extra 2000 steps or something to make me think I'm earning it in some way..Other than that its a little tech toy and helps me plan meals and gives me an idea of how much of a lazy butt I can be once in awhile.

    Actually the idea is to eat back calories burned.... otherwise I'd end up negative net 2000 a day considering I burn off more than I eat.
  • Nicolee_2014
    Nicolee_2014 Posts: 1,572 Member
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    1 of my friends from MFP got herself a FitBit & ended up taking it back as she noticed that whilst sitting down the thing was calculating steps even though she wasn't moving?!?

    I don't own 1 so I can't help you out. I hope you work it out :smile:
  • thegilly6
    thegilly6 Posts: 137 Member
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    I use the FitBit Flex and have had great success. While I may not always I have no problem eating back my calories as I see this as a life change and not a temp diet. I still want to enjoy certain foods and am willing to do the work to do so. I can do this and still loose the max 2 pounds per week.
  • ktrn0312
    ktrn0312 Posts: 723 Member
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    Bump
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    Hi mokey41 yes I have them synced with mfp at sedentary as you said-however I wasn't sure if the 600-700 extra I was earning in the day by taking around 13k steps total inc 45-60 mins jogging on the treadmill was accurate and if I could or should eat those back. I have adjusted my activity level to lightly active and mfp is now saying I've earned around 450-500 extra cals from my fitbit data. It's all quite confusing and I don't want to over or undereat !

    You're going to end up with the same number of calories either way. If I run for 30 minutes with my HRM I average around 600 calories per hour and I'm small and 56 yrs old so that doesn't sound unreasonable that between your regular walking and your running on the treadmill that you're getting 600 extra. I still wouldn't eat all of that back but you could probably safely eat 50% regardless of how you put your settings.

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