Is my fitbit too generous?

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Replies

  • DrJenO
    DrJenO Posts: 404 Member
    It's also important with adding exercise to MFP to get the time right - the "doubling up" that you mentioned earlier in the thread should get fixed by that.

    I tend to get an extra 100 cal or so with fitbit vs MFP, esp on the days that I am more active. It will give me less on the days that I am not active or minimally active.

    I actually have my calorie deficit set at less than my goal (1lb/week instead of 1.5), and I only eat up to 100-200 of my exercise calories per day. This gives me a cushion of 1000-1500 cal per week to use on the weekends if I want.
  • dawlschic007
    dawlschic007 Posts: 636 Member
    I have always been told not to eat my exercise calories back. Also, I am by no means an expert but maybe if you ate cleaner it would be help too.

    It depends on what plan you are following. For example, if you are doing TDEE minus 20% (or whatever percent you want), then no, you would not eat back your exercise calories because your activity level is already included in that total. If you are following the program that MFP has set up, then yes, you would eat back your calories because they assume that you are not going to work out and base the calorie goal for your projected weight loss without exercise. Thats why if you add a workout to MFP, it will bump your calories up for the day.
  • prattiger65
    prattiger65 Posts: 1,657 Member
    The bottom line is, the one thing that isn't confusing is the scale. If it ain't moving, change something. Obviously you are not in a deficit if you aren't losing, so adjust your calories down or your exercise up. For the record, I think you are eating more than you think. But again, the scale never lies.
  • Heyyleigh
    Heyyleigh Posts: 268 Member
    Everyone has done a great job with helping you with the numbers and advice on your macros. It is said a calorie is a calorie, but I am a firm believer and living proof that there is a big difference in those calories with what goes in your mouth. I just looked at your diary, since you asked the question I am going to tell you what I see.
    First get rid of those double chunk chocolate muffins and the frosted flakes and coffee cakes. If you are serious in this weight loss journey then you must change the way you eat. If there are things that you are not willing to budge on then accept your weight loss will be very slow. Instead of the 1 liter of skimmed milk, try unsweetened almond. Are you really drinking One liter which is roughly 33.8 ounces? A serving size is 8 ozs. If you cant live with out chocolate then switch to organic 85% cocoa bars, or sugar free jello pudding, instead of the frosted flakes, try some of the Kashi whole grain cereals. There are so many delicious things you could be eating and eating so much more great quality food than you do now. For ideas Goggle some menus.
    I suspect that since you are logging and moving with your fitbit that you are serious. But until you clean up that diet - you will be stalled. I lost 31 pds when I got my fitbit in 3 months, I logged everything I ate. I never paid attn to the fitbit site on the logging part for food, its hard to follow MFP and fitbit. So I use MFP for logging and let fitbit sync cals burned etc and activity levels. I am very serious with my fitbit, I average 25K-30K steps a day that comes from walking and biking. I have reached the point where I learned how to eat, a true lifestyle change. Weight loss is indeed 85% diet, 15% exercise.
    Good luck with you journey and happy stepping.
  • Shoechick5
    Shoechick5 Posts: 221 Member
    But again, the scale never lies.

    au contraire... google "Why the Scale Lies" some very good info.
  • ChayB
    ChayB Posts: 50 Member
    Are you taking the calorie burn from your HRM and entering it in a workout calories into MFP? Your HRM is also including what you would burn by sitting around doing nothing so you're double counting if you're doing that. Doing the same walk, same speed at the same weight, my Fitbit will give me about 350 calories back, my HRM is closer to 550. Becareful if you're taking HRM calories at face value.

    Nope, I'm entering it in fitbit so it overrides mfp...
  • ChayB
    ChayB Posts: 50 Member
    The bottom line is, the one thing that isn't confusing is the scale. If it ain't moving, change something. Obviously you are not in a deficit if you aren't losing, so adjust your calories down or your exercise up. For the record, I think you are eating more than you think. But again, the scale never lies.

    Totally agree...but surely I'd be at least losing a little something with the changes I've already made?
    Could always drop the calories a little more anyhow :)
  • ChayB
    ChayB Posts: 50 Member
    Everyone has done a great job with helping you with the numbers and advice on your macros. It is said a calorie is a calorie, but I am a firm believer and living proof that there is a big difference in those calories with what goes in your mouth. I just looked at your diary, since you asked the question I am going to tell you what I see.
    First get rid of those double chunk chocolate muffins and the frosted flakes and coffee cakes. If you are serious in this weight loss journey then you must change the way you eat. If there are things that you are not willing to budge on then accept your weight loss will be very slow. Instead of the 1 liter of skimmed milk, try unsweetened almond. Are you really drinking One liter which is roughly 33.8 ounces? A serving size is 8 ozs. If you cant live with out chocolate then switch to organic 85% cocoa bars, or sugar free jello pudding, instead of the frosted flakes, try some of the Kashi whole grain cereals. There are so many delicious things you could be eating and eating so much more great quality food than you do now. For ideas Goggle some menus.
    I suspect that since you are logging and moving with your fitbit that you are serious. But until you clean up that diet - you will be stalled. I lost 31 pds when I got my fitbit in 3 months, I logged everything I ate. I never paid attn to the fitbit site on the logging part for food, its hard to follow MFP and fitbit. So I use MFP for logging and let fitbit sync cals burned etc and activity levels. I am very serious with my fitbit, I average 25K-30K steps a day that comes from walking and biking. I have reached the point where I learned how to eat, a true lifestyle change. Weight loss is indeed 85% diet, 15% exercise.
    Good luck with you journey and happy stepping.

    Thank you :)
    Muffins and cakes aren't a regular thing and I fitted them in my calories so didn't think they'd be a problem so that sucks :(
    No I don't drink a litre, it should say 0.5 of a litre...I've tried almond milk, soya milk, goats milk...nasty stuff...like the frosted flakes, totally not good for me I know! I'm up and about for 2-3 hours before brekkie so I'm usually starving by then hence why I eat so much...I'll look into changing that :)
  • kekeleeks
    kekeleeks Posts: 74 Member
    I have a fitbit and use a HRM. As some of the others mentioned, you want to make sure your settings are the same on both sites. I am lightly active on both sites and they give me roughly about the same amount of calories per day (there is about 100-150 cal difference).

    Nutrition is also important and it is probably time to switch it up. Sugar and Sodium can play an impact on the weight you loose. So you maybe within your calories but think about what is in those calories.

    Lastly, Have you switched up your exercise routine? Are you doing just straight cardio? Add some strength training to your workout plan. This will help push you past that plateau. The body adapts and get used to certain things. When that is happening, that means it is time switch up the game.
  • ChayB
    ChayB Posts: 50 Member
    Thank you Kekeleeks, I'm going to spend a bit of time playing with the two apps today and see what I come up with, I was a bit worried about setting it to lightly active in case it gave me too many calories

    And yep it's been pretty much straight cardio, only started adding in something different this week and I'd like to try 5x5 at some point...
  • prattiger65
    prattiger65 Posts: 1,657 Member
    But again, the scale never lies.

    au contraire... google "Why the Scale Lies" some very good info.

    Don't need to, because it doesn't. UNLESS YOU HAVE AN UNDERLYING MEDICAL CONDITION you will lose weight in a calorie deficit. Period.
  • ChayB
    ChayB Posts: 50 Member
    They'd better not flipping lie as I want to do this right at 1330 cals isn't a lot so I want all of it :D
  • prattiger65
    prattiger65 Posts: 1,657 Member
    They'd better not flipping lie as I want to do this right at 1330 cals isn't a lot so I want all of it :D

    It doesnt, your weight will fluctuate because of lots of factors, water retention, volume of intake, how "regular" you are etc. With that said, you need to be as diligent as possible with your logging, both food and exercise. Watch your macros and make sure you get enough protein and fat. Then, watch the trend in your weight over a period of time, weight loss isnt linear. My weight will fluctuate as much as 5 pounds, but the trend is down, about a pound a week on average. Dont get caught up in all the noise. Weight loss is calories in/calories out. Optimum health requires some exercise and macro watching on top of that. That is overly simplistic, but you get the point im sure.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    I glanced at your MFP diary. It looks about right for a fitbit user. Rarely is there a day where mine doesn't want me to eat more than what it gives me at the start of the day. Mine's set for a 250 calorie per day deficit. (So 1/2 lb per week.) Every day for me starts with 1470 as the target. I have negative adjustments in MFP turned OFF.

    If you find that after 4-6 weeks of doing exactly what you're doing now, you're not losing that 1 lb per week on average over the long term, my guess is your food weights/measurements COULD be off and/or your FitBit is overestimating. Long term, I've found mine to be +/- 70 calories per day from what FitBit and MFP tell me.

    The only exercises I add manually (into MFP) are hard biking, swimming, and weight lifting. I let FitBit do the rest.
  • fushigi1988
    fushigi1988 Posts: 519 Member
    Look at your Fitbit seeting, on the food log page, look where it says your calories for the day, click on the arrow to the left and edit plan.
    Look what your current and target weight is, and what deficit you want.
  • Lesa_Sass
    Lesa_Sass Posts: 2,213 Member
    I looked at your diary and really believe that it is your diet that is the problem.

    I highly recommend more fruits and vegetables and less refined and processed carbohydrates.
  • pyrowill
    pyrowill Posts: 1,163 Member
    I gave up on the fitbit because it was far too generous. MFP and Runkeeper is all I need.
  • KrissyKris10
    KrissyKris10 Posts: 68 Member
    I have a fitbit. I remember reading somewhere that it reccommends entering the override information on mfp. either way, i have known it to double count at times. The sync is sometimes buggy when it comes to entering manual activities. I know what my daily average activity burn is and how much i normally burn for certain activities tho. If it seems higher than it should be, then i know something went wrong.
  • dawlschic007
    dawlschic007 Posts: 636 Member
    I have a fitbit. I remember reading somewhere that it reccommends entering the override information on mfp. either way, i have known it to double count at times. The sync is sometimes buggy when it comes to entering manual activities. I know what my daily average activity burn is and how much i normally burn for certain activities tho. If it seems higher than it should be, then i know something went wrong.

    In order to avoid the double posting, you need to enter the exercise on MFP and make sure that the start time is correct so it can sync with FitBit and override it.
  • Shoechick5
    Shoechick5 Posts: 221 Member
    But again, the scale never lies.

    au contraire... google "Why the Scale Lies" some very good info.

    Don't need to, because it doesn't. UNLESS YOU HAVE AN UNDERLYING MEDICAL CONDITION you will lose weight in a calorie deficit. Period.

    I didn't say you wouldn't lose weight with a calorie deficit. I pointed out a good article that explains why sometimes you don't see those results on a scale right away.
  • prattiger65
    prattiger65 Posts: 1,657 Member
    But again, the scale never lies.

    au contraire... google "Why the Scale Lies" some very good info.

    Don't need to, because it doesn't. UNLESS YOU HAVE AN UNDERLYING MEDICAL CONDITION you will lose weight in a calorie deficit. Period.

    I didn't say you wouldn't lose weight with a calorie deficit. I pointed out a good article that explains why sometimes you don't see those results on a scale right away.

    ok

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