TDEE, Fitbit and MFP

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mdoyle28
mdoyle28 Posts: 62 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Good morning:).

My stat are
SW....187 (11/2012)
CW....151-154(Been here for a month)
GW....145
Height is 5 8, medium frame

I purchased a fitbit one nearly a month ago because I was unsure of my TDEE and what activity level to select. However it came out averaging a TDEE of 2800, (I am set as lightly active in MFP)....It seems so much higher than I imagined although I do stay very busy as I run a daycare and walk or go to the gym daily for an hour as well as a 20 minute morning workout at home 5 days a week. I have read to use TDEE to determine calories but am afraid to increase this to 2400-2600 calories a day as it seems really high, as I have been trying to stay under 1800 a day.

I am wondering if there are people out there using fitbits TDEE calculation for their calorie intake and deficit calculation and if they have found it to work well or if maybe fitbit is higher than should be, if it is to high then I just don't know what to use as a guide anymore. I understand with less than 10 lbs to lose my loss is going to be slow but it just isn't budging and could be cuz I am only consuming a total of 1500-1800 calories on average.

Replies

  • LarryDUk
    LarryDUk Posts: 279 Member
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    It is probably more likely because you are very close to the weight you should be or you may be there already. I'm no expert, but I would ignore weight at thsi point and go with how you look and feel. maybe change up your exercise a bit as well. From what I can see you look great!
  • mdoyle28
    mdoyle28 Posts: 62 Member
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    Thank you:). That means a lot and I agree with the scale piece just so hard to not achieve the initial goal.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    I have my Fitbit set to integrate with MFP and it tweaks the food goal up if it detects extra activity. At rest it clocks 17 calories per 15 minutes or 1632 per day which is about my measured RMR so good enough for me.

    It may depend what sort of activity you do as to whether Fitbit accounts of rit well - it's an accelerometer so walking / running / jumping certainly get its attention.
  • Bekahmardis
    Bekahmardis Posts: 602 Member
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    Well, it looks like your BMR is about 1475 and, with your TDEE calculated by your FitBit (mine is too...), I'd say you're probably fine eating at the 1800 calories if you still want to lose weight. I'm in "maintenance" mode now, but got here via the FitBit Flex and it has been amazing at keeping me steady! I would go ahead and trust those numbers, but if you want to keep losing, you'll be okay at 1800 - 2000. It's a pretty high deficit, though. But as long as you eat *between* your BMR and your TDEE, you'll lose weight - it's just a matter of "how fast."
  • Jess830409
    Jess830409 Posts: 285 Member
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    I have found my fitbit pretty darn accurate. I am 5ft 3 in and currently 132 lbs. On a day I do zero exercise and just lounge around it calculates me at around 1,600 calories burned - on days I work, run and hit my exercise program I can be upwards of 2,500. In comparison with all of the online calculators and charts this is right on.

    My advice would be to trust the numbers - in my experience they have not been off :-)

    Good luck and keep up the good work!
  • pilarter
    pilarter Posts: 49
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    Well, it looks like your BMR is about 1475 and, with your TDEE calculated by your FitBit (mine is too...), I'd say you're probably fine eating at the 1800 calories if you still want to lose weight. I'm in "maintenance" mode now, but got here via the FitBit Flex and it has been amazing at keeping me steady! I would go ahead and trust those numbers, but if you want to keep losing, you'll be okay at 1800 - 2000. It's a pretty high deficit, though. But as long as you eat *between* your BMR and your TDEE, you'll lose weight - it's just a matter of "how fast."

    This. I have a Zip for last couple months, and it is accurate, very, specially for medium-high activities. Not that much for light activity like computer work, driving, as it does not detect movement. This I log manually. I got it because I was at a stall and I was not sure whether I was eating too much or too little. I found out that runtastic underestimates calorie burn when walking briskly, because it only takes into account the number of minutes you walk, not speed, so I had been seriously undereating. I am 5´6´´ 145 lbs, 2 lbs far from goal, I lost 5 lbs thanks to fitbit adjustement.
  • mdoyle28
    mdoyle28 Posts: 62 Member
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    Thanks everyone...I will trust my fitbit and shoot for 1800-2000 daily and if it goes a little higher occasionally I won't stress it considering tdee is 2800:). I will stick with small weekly losses but continuous losses, which is most important:)

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