Go by Scooby or FItbit for how many calories to eat?

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ccb2004
ccb2004 Posts: 16
in Health and Weight Loss
I went to the scooby website and did the TDEE calculations a few weeks ago. I am 5 ft. 3 inches, 124 pounds, 45 years old. I walk almost every day and do Jillian Michaels dvd's for 30 minutes to an hour every day. I entered 5-6 hours of strenuous exercise a week. My TDEE came up as 2203 and minus 20%, the calculator says I should eat 1763 calories a day. However, I recently bought a Fitbit and on average, it records that I am burning 2,500-2,800 calories a day. This does not even include the times I take it off to do my exercise dvd's or go swimming with my son. So it is not even recording what i burn doing those things. My question is do I go with what my fitbit says and subtract 500 calories to get my daily calories to eat or do i stick with the TDEE that the scooby website says i have?? ANY help would be appeciated!

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  • ccb2004
    ccb2004 Posts: 16
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    I meant to type that my fitbit says that i burn 2,400-2,600 calories a day NOT 2,800. However, that does NOT include the times i take it off to do my exercise dvd's or go swimming so it probably would be up to 2,700 or 2,800 with those added in. I dont know whether to go by the fitbit or the info from the TDEE calculator on scooby fitness?
  • Lrdoflamancha
    Lrdoflamancha Posts: 1,280 Member
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    Why take it off for exercise videos?
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
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    My thought would be to go with the fitbit - it's measuring your specific metabolic rate (albeit not perfectly). Scooby and other calculators are more of an estimate based on "typical" for a person your size, age, etc. But there are always factors they can't work in, like genetics …

    If you go with the fitbit and eat about 2200 calories a day (that's your 2700 minus the 500 for deficit) and Scooby happens to be correct, then really you'll be eating at maintenance and you won't be setting yourself back by gaining weight again, right? And if you aren't satisfied, then you can always try dropping the calories a bit more. On the other hand, at 5'3" and 125 lbs, you must be pretty close to goal, so you don't want too big of a deficit, and even a 1 lb loss per week may be too much; if you even see a loss of 1/2 lb I'd say you're on the right track.

    Just my opinions, I am by no means an expert :wink:
  • amonkey794
    amonkey794 Posts: 651 Member
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    JM videos are not strenuous exercise. You are probably more moderate.

    You are at a healthy weight, maybe you should switch your focus to body recomp. . ?
  • SkimFlatWhite68
    SkimFlatWhite68 Posts: 1,254 Member
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    I don't know, but would be interested to read the comments.

    Why do you take your FitBit off for the videos (swimming ok)? I don't take mine off at all except to have a shower :) Are you then manually entering the video time/calories entry into MFP? That might affect the overall amount if it is syncing to FitBit.

    What does MFP tell you to eat?

    The other thing you can do is use HeyBales Spreadsheet under the IPOARM group. It's pretty accurate.

    Or use a number of formulas and then calculate the average. Tweak in a month up or down depending how you feel and what your results are.
  • ccb2004
    ccb2004 Posts: 16
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    I take the fitbit off when i do the exercise videos because I read that they are not very accurate for exercise other than walking. I use my HRM for the exercise videos. It says that i burn between 250-400 calories depending on the exercise dvd i am doing. So do i add that on top of the 2,400-2,500 that i am averaging on the fitbit?? Ihaven't been adding that because i assumed that the exercise was added into the TDEE formula when i typed in the 5-6 hours of strenous exercise a week. I think jillian michaels IS pretty strenuous. Lol. My GW is 110-115 depending on how i look/feel when i get there. I do want to start on lifting heavy. I meet with a personal trainer week after next. The first personal trainer i had to ditch. He didn't want to work with me on weights, just cardio, even though i told him i wanted to work on lifting heavy. Ugh.
  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member
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    Leave the Fitbit on during your workouts and compare with what your HRM is giving you. You don't add the two together; just replace the Fitbit results for that time period with what you get on your HRM. You'll find the Fitbit is giving you sedentary burn for that duration.

    As for what you're burning, I believe the Fitbit actually underestimates your burn. So if you were to eat everything it said you burn, I still think you'd find your body composition changing over time, especially if you're lifting. I'm testing out a Body Media Fit right now and eating pretty much everything it gives me. I thought my TDEE was about 2500 and I was cutting at 2100. I'm actually burning about 2850 on average and eating 2700/day on average for the last 3 weeks and am not gaining.

    I'd take the higher number and take your cut from that. If you don't lose or change at all, drop it down a touch. But a 500 calorie deficit may be too much.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
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    JM videos are not strenuous exercise. You are probably more moderate.

    You are at a healthy weight, maybe you should switch your focus to body recomp. . ?

    Agreed.

    Set your calories at whatever figure you like. Assess weight and measurements. That will tell you what your maintenance is the best.
  • ccb2004
    ccb2004 Posts: 16
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    Thank you for the help everyone! I am still a little shocked that my fitbit says i burn that much every day! I was totally going by what the calculators said someone my size would burn a day (TDEE), but apparently i burn quite a bit more according to my fitbit. I am hoping it is pretty accurate as i am plqnning on upping my calories a bit from 1,750 to maybe 2,000. Makes me a little nervous, but i dont want too high a deficit and it would be nice to be able to eat more. Lol.
  • texanintokyo
    texanintokyo Posts: 278 Member
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