Fitbit

mzthang77

I have a fitbit and I have my activity level set to moderately active. I am very confused about eating my exercise calories back that the fitbit tracks. For example I get 1864 calories daily and today I exercised and my fitbit adjustment was 382 calories netting me 1543 (my BMR is 1596). Do I eat to my BMR or stop eating for the day (my food intake today was 1925. Please help as I am very confused and I am thinking about just not using my fitbit anymore if I am going to eat this way. Thanks!

P.S. maybe someone should make a sticky on the fitbit usage

GoGoGadgetMum

I'm really new to fitbit...6 days so far. But I will be making sure that I eat my bmr. For me at the moment my goal is 2000, I've eaten 1794 and my adjustment is 653 so my net is 1141....so I will be eating another 350ish to make sure I net my BMR.

Unsure if this helps you, someone more experienced with fitbit may help. But before I got it I was doing the same with my HRM & exercise cals.

Can I ask what you meant when you said you dont want to eat that way?

Good luck:flowerforyou:

mzthang77

Can I ask what you meant when you said you dont want to eat that way?

Good luck:flowerforyou:

I wrote that " I am thinking about just not using my fitbit anymore if I am going to eat this way". I think you read it wrong.

GoGoGadgetMum

Sorry:flowerforyou:

mzthang77

:bigsmile:

woodsygirl

I found it all very confusing.

This is what I do, I wear mine during the day except when I go to the gym or any type of exercise class. I check fitbit at night to see how much I've burned (usually around 2000-2200). I make sure I eat about 200 calories less. If I exercised without fitbit that day I just sorta add an extra 100 or so to the top. I don't adjust my diary, I just eat in the red or whatever.

So my calories are set at 1800 on MFP, I check fitbit at night and see I burned 2200. I then make sure that I've eaten at least 2000. If I exercised (at gym) then I would eat 2100 or 2200 because I know I burned extra calories not shown.

CaliforniaSweetheart

I have been considering getting one of these as well....

mzthang77

There has to be an easier way

holleysings

When I eat at maintenance, I set MFP to maintain on the activity level that is my lowest burn during the week. Then I eat back anything extra. When I eat at a cut, I set MFP to maintain on the same activity level as my lowest burn and manually change the amount of calories rather than letting MFP choose. Then I eat back anything "extra" that I burn so I can calorie cycle. It sounds complicated, but it's really not!

For maintenance: I'm set to "Active" and maintain weight, which gives me 2450 calories a day by the guided settings. MFP will add calories from fitbit if I burn over 2450 calories (which I do every day.)

For a cut: I set MFP to "Active" and maintain, but manually change the amount of calories to 2200 if I want my cut to be 250 calories a day. (Remember, MFP automatically would have set me at 2450.) MFP will only add calories from fitbit if I burn over 2450 calories, so I do eat those to keep my cut at 250 calories per day.

That's what I've found to work best for me! My burns vary from 2600-3500 a day, so I like to calorie cycle to reflect my activity. PM me if you need help figuring out your situation!

heybales

There has to be an easier way

If your weekly activity doesn't change much and you don't exercise 6 or more hrs a week, get a couple weeks on the FitBit to see what the avg really is.

Take your 15% deficit, and unsync the FitBit.

Just keep an eye on daily burns on the FitBit to confirm it still averages around what you thought.

Don't be trying to figure out a level when you got a tool that already tells you a better amount.

CaliforniaSweetheart

Where do you guys buy your Fitbits?

rfsatar

In terms of my FitBit settings - I have disabled calorie estimation.
I wear the Fitty all day and for all fitness activities (except those involving water - shower, pool etc).
I measure all my exercise cal burns now with a HRM.

In terms of the interaction with MFP - here's where it gets a bit tricky - because of the eating back cals!
I have my MINIMUM calorie allowance custom-set to my BMR and I have adjusted my daily activity setting to Lightly Active.
This brings me quite close to the TDEE calorie calculation (I used Scooby's workshop accurate calculator)- we're talking 30 or so cal difference ... that's like half an Alpen bar!)

I make sure I eat AT LEAST my BMR, and a proportion of my exercise cals to reach my target TDEE deficit.
It means I rarely touch the FitBit adjustment during the week.
I tend to switch up to maintenance at the weekend as I tend not to exercise at all/indulge a little with friends... so sometimes the FB adjustment comes into play, but with maintenance, I can generally stay at a decent level too.

Where my FB has come in handy is seeing what I burn in a day, and how I sleep. Before I got my HRM it was handy to time some activities too.
But in terms of what I can and can't eat... I log EVERYTHING here - food, exercise etc.
I never look at FB's dashboard for that.

I think what it comes down to is what site works best for you.
For me, I started here on MFP, bought the FB to benefit from the calorie adjustment before I started working out a LOT more.
The food database is far more superior, and the exercise log is a nicer lay out.
I know a lot of people in the UK who love the FB badges and that's their motivation to exercise/move more, and seem to be more focussed on the FB site.

Have a look at what works for you and your routine, and stick to that to guide your focus.
Try it out for at least a couple of weeks and see if it works?

KarenJanine

When I first got my fitbit, I gathered data with it for a month (logging exercise on MFP using my HRM) then worked out my average TDEE. Both fitbit and MFP are set to sedentary (I have a desk job so am pretty sedentary outside exercise).

I then set my MFP goal to TDEE -10% for a cut, or at TDEE when eating at maintenance. On a very high burn day I may eat a little more than goal and on a very inactive day I may eat a little less but I try to stick near to that goal.

I keep check of the fitbit adjustments just to make sure I'm eating enough when I've been super active.

Unless your exercise levels vary considerably week by week, month by month, your TDEE should remain relatively stable.