FitBit One Adjustments

sabracadabra
sabracadabra Posts: 25
in Health and Weight Loss
Has anyone gained weight with the FitBit adjustments to their food and exercise diaries?

I received a FitBit One as an incentive from my health plan at work, and have had it on me always (except showering) for the last week. It's been telling me I am way more active than I previously had accounted for. I had a goal of 1410 calories/day previously, and that is with the half pound a week adjustment. (I have a desk job and had been in the upper 130s at 5'3") But it tells me routinely that I have burned anywhere from 1800 calories to 2500 calories! It keeps adding calories back to my diary, in addition to the calories I am eating back from my workouts (I have been doing this for years and it has worked to take me down from 161 in 2011.) I record as accurately as possible the start time and duration of my workouts, and it's supposed to not double count those calories but I'm not sure it is doing the job as well as it should be.

I figured if the FitBit is giving me real data on my calories burned, I should follow it for a little while at least and eat how much it is telling me to and still lose. But I feel bloated and gross when I eat how much it recommends, and have gained a few pounds in the course of the week!

For the last few months, I've been tightening up on my food diary and have been trying to track every little thing and be sure to come close to my goal without going over (I was getting a little lax before, and attributed my inability to lose weight to the fact that I was so stressed I wasn't being very careful with my tracking) and have seen no weight coming off. I even increased the duration of my workouts, and though I am seeing better toning I am still not seeing weight come off after the initial weight gain of starting a new weight training program.

My dilema is this: should I try another week of FitBit recommended calories in and see if somehow my body is getting used to the new program, and stick it out? Or should I cut my losses and stop paying attention to it's recommendations and go back to trying to lose weight with just the MFP estimates (which weren't really helping me lose as of late)? Has anyone had this issue before, and have any insights?

Thanks!

Replies

  • kathystrauss1
    kathystrauss1 Posts: 142 Member
    I have the Fitbit Zip. I don't use the calorie recommendations from Fitbit though. I just use the activity calories that MFP gives me when Fitbit syncs to MFP. You also have to be careful not to double count your activity calories burned. If you manually enter exercise you need to put the times in so MFP knows to deduct them from your Fitbit steps. I use Runtastic and MFP automatically does this...usually. Every so often it double counts and I notice wow I sure do have alot of calories to eat. Then just manually deduct your fitbit calories. It's worked for me so far but I have a lot more to lose than you.
  • pluckabee
    pluckabee Posts: 346 Member
    I think your issue might be that you are using both fitbit calories adjustments AND logging workouts and eating those. Workout estimates are notorious for being way overestimated, and most people who use this method don't have fitbit telling them they are burning calories from all their steps as well so the overestimation would be covered by the extra activity they do that they don't log.

    Because you've set a low deficit, 250 calories can be easily eaten up within such a margin of error

    I have found great success in not logging exercise at all and just going by fitbit estimations and for me they have been quite accurate in terms of the deficit it records and the weight I have lost.
  • sabracadabra
    sabracadabra Posts: 25
    I have been logging the start time of the exercise in MFP, and according to multiple FitBit manual readings that should prevent double counting my activity. I like logging my activity in MFP, because then I remember what I did each day and for how long. But I'm wondering if I should put it in for zero calories, and then I'd be able to remember what I did and for how long but then the calorie adjustment from the FitBit would account for it?

    Also, I compare the calorie count before and after with the machine reading at the gym - it is VERY close, so I'm inclined to think that the workout calories I have been logging for the last 3 years are pretty accurate. I've lost a lot of weight with those machine counts, so I'm inclined to think they are pretty accurate. That being said, my gym has the machines that ask for weight and age and measure your heart rate so maybe they are more accurate than others?
  • mygrl4meee
    mygrl4meee Posts: 943 Member
    I have a fitbit and log my workouts. I really havent seen gains but my loss hwd slowed. One confusing thing is sometimes if you look at your food diary say when you were under and ate the adjustments.. then next day shows me over. Very frustrating.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    But I'm wondering if I should put it in for zero calories, and then I'd be able to remember what I did and for how long but then the calorie adjustment from the FitBit would account for it?

    If you want to do it this way then add it as 1 calorie for 1 minute. So for mine I have an exercise I made called "Kickboxing - 75 minutes"- then I add it for 1 calorie and 1 minute at the time I started. It logs it for the record but then I take the calorie adjustment fitbit gives. (or I did - I actually unlinked them yesterday - but this is what I was doing).
  • bagge72
    bagge72 Posts: 1,377 Member
    If you are using your fitbit one, you shouldn't be entering in your exercise calories as well, the fit bit is doing that for you.
  • Collier78
    Collier78 Posts: 811 Member
    I've not had this issue with the flex...I have it linked to both MFP and my Runkeeper..when I look at my diary I only see the calories burned from my run logged once, and MFP automatically adjusts what Runkeeper says I burned vs what Fitbit tracked.
  • CTCMom2009
    CTCMom2009 Posts: 263 Member
    I have been using my FitBit and MFP for a while and have seen consistent losses, as long as I'm being consistent with my food logging and with exercising. I do not use the calorie burns for exercise from MPF, from my FitBit, nor from the machines. I purchased a heart rate monitor and was shocked at the differences between them. The HRM is generally 20% or more lower than what would log from MPF/FitBit/the machines.
  • JustJennie13
    JustJennie13 Posts: 218
    I do not add my fitbit calories burned into MPF (I have the flex). I log my actual work outs. My thought process is this (I AM NOT A PROFESSIONAL) my fit bit tracks my every day life. And before I started wearing it I did not account for every day life burned calories because I did not know what they were other than doing calculators on the internet. I would not eat back a single calorie accounted for on my fitbit because my body burned all those calories before I started watching my food intake and I am obviously here for a reason.
  • sabracadabra
    sabracadabra Posts: 25
    Interesting that the Flex doesn't seem to do the automatic "Fitbit Adjustment" I see on mine with the One! I didn't realize it was there for a few days!
  • sabracadabra
    sabracadabra Posts: 25
    If you are using your fitbit one, you shouldn't be entering in your exercise calories as well, the fit bit is doing that for you.

    It says on FitBit and MFP that you should be able to log your exercise in MFP with the start time and duration and the FitBit won't override for that period of time. It doesn't seem to be working exactly, but I can't tell because it doesn't give enough data on how it apparently leaves that time out!

    I already thought about not logging my exercise in MFP, but that kind of messes up the system I've had going. I like my system! Maybe I'll just unlink the FitBit with MFP...but then what is the point of having this $95 piece of technology on my body all the time? Sigh...
  • sabracadabra
    sabracadabra Posts: 25
    But I'm wondering if I should put it in for zero calories, and then I'd be able to remember what I did and for how long but then the calorie adjustment from the FitBit would account for it?

    If you want to do it this way then add it as 1 calorie for 1 minute. So for mine I have an exercise I made called "Kickboxing - 75 minutes"- then I add it for 1 calorie and 1 minute at the time I started. It logs it for the record but then I take the calorie adjustment fitbit gives. (or I did - I actually unlinked them yesterday - but this is what I was doing).

    That is an excellent idea, thanks!
  • sabracadabra
    sabracadabra Posts: 25
    I have a fitbit and log my workouts. I really havent seen gains but my loss hwd slowed. One confusing thing is sometimes if you look at your food diary say when you were under and ate the adjustments.. then next day shows me over. Very frustrating.

    It is very frustrating!
  • amontanye
    amontanye Posts: 36 Member
    I have noticed that sometimes my activities would double up because of fitbit. I have the flex now (had the zip). Because I have MFP, Runkeeper and fitbit all connected, when I log my runs on runkeeper, it syncs to MFP. It appears it deducts the activity from the fit bit adjustment so that it doesn't double up. Before I had MFP and Runkeeper linked, I always had problems of doubling up and had to adjust my activities to 1 calorie. Looks like the linking is working as it should.
    I tend not to eat back all the "everyday" calories fitbit gives me, but do try to eat back my actual exercise calories. Hope that helps.

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