fitbit TDEE higher than I thought, so why haven't I lost?
Strangegirlz
Posts: 92 Member
Hi
I'm just new to the fitbit flex, but over the last 2 days it has given me a calorie burn of around 2700. This seems very high, although when I considered it maybe I am more active than I thought. I hardly ever sit down but I 'm just out and about with the kids or doing house stuff.
Anyway I can't quite understand if this is the case then how come I haven't lost a stack of weight, because my calorie goal based on what I thought my was TDEE-deficit is 1600-1700 cals and I was struggling to lose on this. Now I'm thinking you guys are going to say that I wasn't losing because my deficit was actually too much, however at holiday times or times when I lose my way a bit and consume a lot of extra calories, the weight jumps on me really quick and it doesn't just come off again when I revert back to my regular calories.
For example, last week I was on holiday for 4 days, I ate a lot of food, probably between 2500-3000 per day. I gained 8lbs on the scales. I'm back home 10 days now so plenty of time to get rid of any water weight, however the scales have only dropped 2lbs(this morning) so I'm still 6 heavier. Also during those 4 days I was away I was walking around 12 hours a day, so very active indeed. Last year on holiday I gained 16lbs in 2 weeks and it took forever for me to shift it, at Christmas I gained 18lbs over 3 weeks and have hovered around this weight losing/gaining ever since. I would spend months being good and losing very slowly on the scales, and then have a few days of "bad" eating and what took months to come off would be back on in just a few days, this has been the pattern for a long time.
Prior to learning about TDEE, I was averaging around 1460 cals and losing an average of 1lb per week. When I started lifting I went to 1750 and maintained my weight for 3 weeks, I went to 1900 and maintained there for 3 weeks and then July came and I went on holiday the first week and had a big scales gain and haven't really recovered my eating since then.
So do you think the fitbit is right? The BMR it calculates for me is 20 more than Katch-McArdle. Also I wore my HRM for 24 hours at same time to compare(yes I'm nuts) and it was giving me 2224( non workout day) as opposed to 2700 on fitbit, big difference.
Bottom line is I cannot fathom how I could be burning 2700 calories in a day, still struggle to lose weight and have big gains when I eat more?
I'm just new to the fitbit flex, but over the last 2 days it has given me a calorie burn of around 2700. This seems very high, although when I considered it maybe I am more active than I thought. I hardly ever sit down but I 'm just out and about with the kids or doing house stuff.
Anyway I can't quite understand if this is the case then how come I haven't lost a stack of weight, because my calorie goal based on what I thought my was TDEE-deficit is 1600-1700 cals and I was struggling to lose on this. Now I'm thinking you guys are going to say that I wasn't losing because my deficit was actually too much, however at holiday times or times when I lose my way a bit and consume a lot of extra calories, the weight jumps on me really quick and it doesn't just come off again when I revert back to my regular calories.
For example, last week I was on holiday for 4 days, I ate a lot of food, probably between 2500-3000 per day. I gained 8lbs on the scales. I'm back home 10 days now so plenty of time to get rid of any water weight, however the scales have only dropped 2lbs(this morning) so I'm still 6 heavier. Also during those 4 days I was away I was walking around 12 hours a day, so very active indeed. Last year on holiday I gained 16lbs in 2 weeks and it took forever for me to shift it, at Christmas I gained 18lbs over 3 weeks and have hovered around this weight losing/gaining ever since. I would spend months being good and losing very slowly on the scales, and then have a few days of "bad" eating and what took months to come off would be back on in just a few days, this has been the pattern for a long time.
Prior to learning about TDEE, I was averaging around 1460 cals and losing an average of 1lb per week. When I started lifting I went to 1750 and maintained my weight for 3 weeks, I went to 1900 and maintained there for 3 weeks and then July came and I went on holiday the first week and had a big scales gain and haven't really recovered my eating since then.
So do you think the fitbit is right? The BMR it calculates for me is 20 more than Katch-McArdle. Also I wore my HRM for 24 hours at same time to compare(yes I'm nuts) and it was giving me 2224( non workout day) as opposed to 2700 on fitbit, big difference.
Bottom line is I cannot fathom how I could be burning 2700 calories in a day, still struggle to lose weight and have big gains when I eat more?
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Replies
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I'm a fitbit user too and eat according to my fitbit. It was a promise I made to myself when I got it. I was surprised too at my fitbit tdee. Two months ago I ate at my fitbits tdee which ranged from 2700-2300( winter here so less active) then dropped by 10% and my weight started to drop. For me my body loves a certain number and is very stubborn at moving. But I have got smaller over the time although the scale of course may not show it. For me I'm doing 3 week cut @10% then one week at tdee(Tom week...lol) then repeat. I find at that three week stage I start to stall.
I have been doing this since the beginning but only had by fitbit since start of this year. When I look at the numbers I get now and the excess cardio I used to do no wonder things stalled.
This may not have helped you but my advice would be kick the scales and try tdee for a bit. What do you have your activity set at? Have you put your fitbit details into Heybales sheet to back up where you have your activity? Maybe the low cals have harmed your metabolism and you need a reset.
I think the fitbit does show how active we are and underestimating what we do at home with kids etc is very easy.
Oh and I don't think you are nuts wearing a hrm for 24 hrs....but I would say that as I have done that a few times too...lol
Feel free to add me if you like
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You might post the question in the Fitbit Users group - I just quickly scanned some of the posts there and some comments were about under and over estimating steps depending on arm/hand use and movements. Also, are you logging exercise both on MFP and FB websites and do you have the two accounts linked? If you log on both sites and have the sites linked, you could be getting double credit which would increase your calorie burn.0
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^^^^ fantastic point I forgot about the basics. Yip def only log on one, I prefer mfp, I only use fitbit to see dashboard. I use the stopwatch function for non step related exercises and record my hrm cal burn. I wear mine in the middle of my bra.0
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hmmm thanks guys, I haven't logged any exercise because I haven't quite worked out the deal with that. I thought I had my exercise factored into my cal goal based on TDEE so I never logged exercise on MFP, so maybe I need to change that? Fitbit gave me around 350 cals for my cardio and I know from HRM it's around 535, so I should probably make an adjustment somewhere?0
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Yeah - don't log the exercise if you have already calculated it into your activity level/TDEE.0
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Remember that the FitBit is basing all non-moving time calories on BMR, not your actual BMR or your better estimated Katch BMR based on BF%, but age, weight, height BMR.
And that BMR may just be off by a fair amount compared to actual or best estimate.
And that difference will show up exactly the most on really sedentary days, where most of the time is spent not moving.
Active time where it bases it on weight and movement can be much more accurate.
But if that is decently accurate for what it's using as BMR, then indeed your TDEE may be higher and you need to re-adjust your manual goal.
Or setup some other method, because right now you shouldn't be syncing, so the FitBit is a backup TDEE calculator if used, or a mere curiosity and not worth the money spent if it's telling you your TDEE is higher but you are basing eating goal on a lower estimated one.
So again, it depends.0 -
I don't have a FitBit, but instead a BodyMedia Fit. My guess is that they work in much the same way. I use mine to find my TDEE and use that number to determine my calorie intake - I don't really care about the calorie burn of any individual workout, but just the number I get at the end of the day, averaged over time.
I do allow mine to sync to MFP, just to see what that number is, then I go to my Exercise tab and delete that adjustment, as I don't want it messing with my daily calorie goals (or my macros).
Since your exercise is factored into figuring out your TDEE, you don't want to be eating those calories back. For me, the options are either:
1) Allow it to sync and just ignore what it does to my calorie and macro goal (which gets confusing and requires math!),
2) Allow it to sync (out of curiosity) and just delete that adjustment, and
3) Don't sync the two and just work off your FitBit to find your TDEE and use that number to create your MFP goals...
I do log my exercise into MFP, but then just make the calories burned "1" so it doesn't mess with my goals.0 -
Thanks guys. Seeing what a big fluctuation I have had in my days so far has made me think I need to wait a few weeks and work out an average TDEE based on the fitbit. Until then I would like to make negative calorie adjustments at the end of the days that require them, but not have my macros stuffed up, so I'm guessing I need to do that manually myself or set MFP activity level lower and customise my calorie goal to my BMR and allow the fitbit to add the additional calories?0
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Thanks guys. Seeing what a big fluctuation I have had in my days so far has made me think I need to wait a few weeks and work out an average TDEE based on the fitbit. Until then I would like to make negative calorie adjustments at the end of the days that require them, but not have my macros stuffed up, so I'm guessing I need to do that manually myself or set MFP activity level lower and customise my calorie goal to my BMR and allow the fitbit to add the additional calories?
No, too low.
At the least set MFP to sedentary with no weight loss goal, and then go manually set your goal to 15% less than what they put there.
Then totally sync FitBit and eat back the adjustments.0 -
Thanks guys. Seeing what a big fluctuation I have had in my days so far has made me think I need to wait a few weeks and work out an average TDEE based on the fitbit. Until then I would like to make negative calorie adjustments at the end of the days that require them, but not have my macros stuffed up, so I'm guessing I need to do that manually myself or set MFP activity level lower and customise my calorie goal to my BMR and allow the fitbit to add the additional calories?
No, too low.
At the least set MFP to sedentary with no weight loss goal, and then go manually set your goal to 15% less than what they put there.
Then totally sync FitBit and eat back the adjustments.
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I was wondering along the same lines. When I figured my calories most recently, I put lightly active because I've only been working out 2 or 3 times a week. But my fitbit is showing an average daily burn of 2362 over the last month. Although I haven't been working out as much in the past, I'm on my feet a lot (gardening, canning, cooking, walking, chasing/cleaning after four kids, etc). My calorie adjustment is often over +400, even if I don't officially work out that day. So I'm thinking the 1700 calories I've been eating might not be enough.0
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I was wondering along the same lines. When I figured my calories most recently, I put lightly active because I've only been working out 2 or 3 times a week. But my fitbit is showing an average daily burn of 2362 over the last month. Although I haven't been working out as much in the past, I'm on my feet a lot (gardening, canning, cooking, walking, chasing/cleaning after four kids, etc). My calorie adjustment is often over +400, even if I don't officially work out that day. So I'm thinking the 1700 calories I've been eating might not be enough.
If your Fitbit is averaging 2362, then yes you should probably be eating more - anywhere from 2,000 to 2,300, depending upon your goals..0 -
I started upping my calories 6 days ago, but I find it very hard to eat that much, my average TDEE for the last 6 days goes up to almost 4000 but getting my intake over 2300 without eating fast food is difficult. I have my first sesion with a nutritionist next tuesday so with a bit of luck I'll get some help.
So far I've maintained my weight with some ups and downs this last week even after eating almost 800-1000 calories over my normal intake for the last 2 months so i´m hoping that when I get to TDEE-15/20 I won't baloon up...
http://www.fitbit.com/user/267DWH0
