EM2WL and Bodymedia Fit (and other calorie monitors)

terrigrace

Just want to ask a few questions to those of you using calorie monitors like BMF or fitbit or Omron. I've been using my BMF for 3 weeks now. Some days I'm shocked at my calorie burn, other days disappointed. How do you all use your numbers to figure out your TDEE? I figured I would take the average of the last three weeks, since there is a reasonable spread of my "low burn" days (it averages out to 1 a week - the day after I work my double evening/night shift).

Also, I'm trying to eat my 10% cut. Do you all use the 10% cut off the average on your calorie monitor? Does anyone track their calories all day and simply eat the 10% cut of that particular day? I'm trying to be consistent, but I'm not sure if I should be consistent on the 10% each day, or the total of what I'm eating each day?

Hope I'm making some sense! Thanks in advance for any information you all might have.

terrigrace

Correction, I've had the BMF for a little over a month. My average calorie burn is 2505 per day. So subtracting 10%, should I be eating 2200 per day? Wow, I've been way under if that's the case. Again, thank you for any comments!

PLUMSGRL

I have the BM core, and upon the advise of others, I used an average of the past 28 days for my TDEE. My average has been about the same over the last month (give or take 75 cals), so I'll just readjust it for every 5 pound loss.

crystalwelshroberts

Correction, I've had the BMF for a little over a month. My average calorie burn is 2505 per day. So subtracting 10%, should I be eating 2200 per day? Wow, I've been way under if that's the case. Again, thank you for any comments!

I have a BMF and it is tempting to adjust daily...but dont't!! Stay at 2200 every day and recalculate weekly to make sure your TDEE is still accurate.

I think consistency is key! i try to stay 300 calories under my average TDEE. Some days I have a high burn, then I just make sure to net my BMR.

Love my BMF!!!

nannabannana

bump to read all later

cinblog1965

I use a fitbit, but was driving myself crazy keeping up with calories burned by month (i get a little OCD when it comes to spreadsheets) so now I just set MFP to my BMR and then log my exercise here and eat those calories also so I don't go under BMR.

Debbiedebbiey

I've had a bodybugg for 15 wks. 1st month I ate a 500 deficit everyday. Lost nothing. Then bumped up to eating TDEE, did a reset. Did both, daily ( because sometimes I was not able to workout). Thought that would be a more "true" number. Then did monthly TDEE, well neither has helped. Most days I ended up eating my daily, bc the longer u wear it the easier it is to estimate the number you'll end up with by days end,,,WELL... Today I drug out my HRM, for cardio & guess what ? My b.bugg said I'd burned 233 ....the HRM said 93 !!!!! OMG ! Times that by 10 wks of eating at TDEE ( or what my bugg said TDEE was) equals one big fat belly & a 10lb gain ! But I'm so relieved to finally know WTH the problem is! Sad part is I got my HRM 2days after my bugg, it was too complicated I thought so I never wore it ! Oh well, going forward, I've calc TDEE on scoobys workshop. It's says eat 1600 is my cut, where I was eating at 1900 for cut plus eating exercise cals back. Lol ! Think I'll be gettn rid of the bugg. Tired of all the questions about the strap anyway. I'll still be logging cals on MFP ! Good luck. Stay on top of your numbers ! Sorry so long :ohwell:

Ange_

I'm doing EMTWL and use a fitbit and i think i've now got a system that works well for me.

Ok so after doing a week or 2 recording with your device log on and see what average burn is per day over a whole week.
So fitbit's website lets you look at a week and says what the overal burn is and i just divide it by 7.

Then to workout what to eat the next week and beyond, just take your daily average and x by 0.90 (for a 10%cut, i do 15% so x 0.85). And that gives me what to eat every day.

Simple.

Usually every week do this calculation again just to see where i'm at and to make sure my activity level hasn't changed. So long as it is in the ballpark i don't usually change it as i like to keep my calorie intake pretty much a roundish figure.

Now another thing i should note is that i use a HRM in addition to my fitbit to record exercise. So pretty much i just use the fitbit for daily activity, and the minute i go for a run or lift some weights i strap on my hrm. And when deciding if i need to eat more in a day to get my net calorie intake to my BMR i ignore any fitbit adjustment, which for me is usually minimal anyway.

Now if you are using a bodymedia fit but not a HRM for exercise, which i believe doesn't automatically sync to MFP then it is slightly more complicated.

I think you'll need to check at the end of the day if you suspect you've done a lot of extra exercise that will take you under your BMR if you eat your normal allowance. If you can work that what you are likely to have burnt by midnight and then just times that number by 0.85 then then that might give you a ball park figure that you could eat. That would have you eating at exactly 0.15% cut for that day (i pick 15% for that day since you've probably already figured into your 10% cut value for the week a more active day on this day, you've just done a little more than you expected) which should ensure you've eaten above your BMR. And maybe after a week of doing that you can check all your numbers and see if that was a reasonable thing to do - that you've eaten roughly 90% of what your burnt over the last week.

Hope that helps.

fitfunk

So glad I'm not the only spreadsheet addict! I am still playing with this. Training for a half marathon, so am typically very active half the week and much less active the other days. Initially I had MFP set to Sedentary, figuring I'd just eat back the Fitbit exercise adjustment to stay above net BMR. But that created a huge Fitbit adjustment, so I upped the MFP to Lightly Active.

The thing that drives me crazy currently is that the Fitbit adjustment sometimes erodes over the course of the day. So sometimes I click Complete Entry with a 100 cal balance and wake up to find - due to disappearing exercise credit - that I'm now retroactively over the cal goal for the previous day!

The more I read, the more it does seem to make sense to find a TDEE - X% and just stick with it. Maybe be cognizant of, for instance, a 10-mile run day (extra eats) vs a sloth-like day.

What's working for others who have played around at this and lived happily ever after?

Ange_

Funny how the extra information and technology actually makes things more difficult for most people.
It has taken me weeks to work out what works for me.

I think it would be good if there was a sticky thread on here with some ideas of what people can do. My method as outlined above works for me, but there are probably a lot of other ways to do it out there as well.

twinmomtwice4

I've had my BMF since May and have gotten into a pretty good rhythm with it.

On Monday mornings, I do a 7-day average report from the previous week to get my average. Then I run a 28-day report and if the two averages are pretty similar, I just round up and take a 20% cut from there.

My numbers haven't varied very widely so it's been easy for me to figure out. On the times that my averages have varied greatly, it's usually because I didn't get in a couple workouts or had a rest day where I actually really rested!