MFP and FitBit: need help with calorie goals!

Kirstie155
Kirstie155 Posts: 1,001 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone! I need some advise.

A little about me:
30 year old female
CW:192
GW:155
body fat: 33% (or so?) at least that is what my home scale says...
For the past 3 weeks I have been doing Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 and walking/jogging around 1.5 miles a day, and walking 4 or 5 miles a day on my rest days (Wednesday and Saturday). I have also been logging into MFP during this time. I just got my fitbit last week. I also just bought a super cheap food scale.

So my issue is how many calories should I be eating, and should I eat my exercise calories back? The information can be conflicting and very confusing.
My TDEE-20% is 1803 and my BMR is 1640 (from my calculations anyway). MFP is recommending I eat 1200 calories, and I feel that is too low for me.
Any MFP champs out there have any suggestions? My diary is open, feel free to take a look!
Thanks!

ETA: I make my lunch for work every night before I go to bed. I like to prelog the food, so that I know how many calories I am going to be eating and how many I have left. Fitbit shows that as being an overage since I havent burned those calories yet. Anyone know how to get around this? Just ignore? Stop prelogging?

Replies

  • Padzster
    Padzster Posts: 75 Member
    Everyone does it differently and I'm sure you're going to get lots of different advice, but I would eat 1600-1800 per day and not eat back exercise calories.
    Also, having peeked at your diary as requested, I would swap the ranch sauce, dip etc for greek yogurt 0% with spices, or a healthy homemade vinaigrette which will make a near 10% difference in your total per day. FYI I used to be crazy about mayonnaise, sour cream & chive and pretty much any dressing going, but no longer feel like I'm missing out.
    Good luck!
  • Phrick
    Phrick Posts: 2,765 Member
    I'm betting you picked the "lose 2 pounds per week" option, am I right?

    With only 36 pounds to lose you should set your goal to 1 pound per week, no more than that. While 2 pounds a week seems more desirable, that's too fast for the amount you're looking to lose, and you're more likely to lose a good deal of muscle along with the fat that you lose (and this is especially true if you follow the absurdly low recommended protein intake given by MFP). Lowering your weekly weight weight loss goal will have a number of positive effects - it will give you a higher calorie intake goal, it will encourage sustainable weight loss, it will help in a small way with muscle retention(if for no other reason than that your body won't be compelled to burn as much muscle due to inadequate calories).

    As far as pre-logging, IMO that's one of the best ways to control calorie intake and I'd never recommend someone stop pre-logging. Ignore FitBit's "overage" nonsense and use your superior brain - it's pre-logging, it's food you plan to consume but have not actually eaten therefore FitBit is stupid and you're NOT having an overage or doing anything wrong; in fact you're doing something awesome. If you are the type of person that can't handle it then honestly I'd recommend ditching the FitBit before I'd recommend to stop pre-logging your foods.
  • punkuate
    punkuate Posts: 127 Member
    I have a fitbit and have decided not to eat back any of the calories it says. The reason for this is that it projects what it thinks you will burn based on what you have done so far that day. So if I have been out all day, get home at 6pm and sync,it will think I am going to continue being that active for the rest of the day. If I then ate those calories and synced again in the morning, it does another calorie adjustment and it turns out you have eaten too much.

    If you are doing proper exercise, I would take it off while youre doing it, manually log and eat about 50% back.
  • Kirstie155
    Kirstie155 Posts: 1,001 Member
    Everyone does it differently and I'm sure you're going to get lots of different advice, but I would eat 1600-1800 per day and not eat back exercise calories.
    Also, having peeked at your diary as requested, I would swap the ranch sauce, dip etc for greek yogurt 0% with spices, or a healthy homemade vinaigrette which will make a near 10% difference in your total per day. FYI I used to be crazy about mayonnaise, sour cream & chive and pretty much any dressing going, but no longer feel like I'm missing out.
    Good luck!

    I have been going back and forth between 1600 and 1800 all week, being unsure what is best. I think I will set my goal (and leave it there!!!) for 1700 calories.
    Thanks for the tip with the yogurt :) I do love mayo and sour cream ...mmmmm
  • jkal1979
    jkal1979 Posts: 1,896 Member
    I ignore the meter on FitBit. Personally the only thing I do on their site/app is log my weight and check what they are counting (steps, miles traveled, calorie burn, active minutes).

    If you are following the TDEE method you shouldn't be eating your calories back since those are already factored into your calorie goal. If you use the NEAT formula that MFP uses then you should eat back 50%-75% of your exercise calories.

    If you ever need any help with your FitBit or if you are looking for friends for your leaderboard, there is a great FitBit group on here.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/1290-fitbit-users
  • sargessexyone
    sargessexyone Posts: 494 Member
    If you have everything set up correctly Fitbit and MFP match up at the end of the day.

    I have MFP set for 1.5 lb and Fitbit set at -750, which is 1.5 lbs.

    I have MFP set at lightly active active and no exercise. MFP gives me an estimated burn of 1940 per day. With my Fitbit I average 2100.

    MFP starts my day out at 1200 but as I move about my day and exercise Fitbit will add to MFP. I pre-log my days as well and it will show an "overage" pretty much most of the day until Fitbit and MFP catch up with each other.
  • Kirstie155
    Kirstie155 Posts: 1,001 Member
    I'm betting you picked the "lose 2 pounds per week" option, am I right?
    I had it set at 1.5 lb lost per week, but I see how that could be too high. I lost the first 22 over the course of a year...up and down and up and down. Ready to keep it off and get the last 36 lbs gone for good.
    As far as pre-logging, IMO that's one of the best ways to control calorie intake and I'd never recommend someone stop pre-logging. Ignore FitBit's "overage" nonsense and use your superior brain - it's pre-logging, it's food you plan to consume but have not actually eaten therefore FitBit is stupid and you're NOT having an overage or doing anything wrong; in fact you're doing something awesome. If you are the type of person that can't handle it then honestly I'd recommend ditching the FitBit before I'd recommend to stop pre-logging your foods.
    Thanks for this! I know it makes good sense, and then if someone at work says" wanna go grab some ice cream" I can see if it fits in with what I had planned, or if I can shave some calories somewhere. I hate tallying at the end of the day to find out I am over budget. Not that anyone grabs ice cream at the office....just an example!
  • Kirstie155
    Kirstie155 Posts: 1,001 Member
    I have a fitbit and have decided not to eat back any of the calories it says. The reason for this is that it projects what it thinks you will burn based on what you have done so far that day.
    ......

    If you are doing proper exercise, I would take it off while youre doing it, manually log and eat about 50% back.
    This is the problem I have been running into. Thoughts on just NOT eating back your exercise calories at all?
    I'm not body building or anything, just some walking/jogging and a 30 minute JM video. Obviously if I feel lightheaded or super hungry I will feed by body, but for the first 2 weeks of doing the JM video I calculated my TDEE and ate back all of my exercise cals...resulting in no change at all! I was so mad at myself!
  • HaibaneReki
    HaibaneReki Posts: 373 Member
    I have set up Sedentary daily activity in MFP and .5 kilo per week. I eat back fitbit cals, because it's actuallly all that's over my BMR. MFP takes care of the deficit. I don't even use endomondo for tracking my runs since my Flex is scary accurate with the over all activity-burned calories through the day. I sync every hour or so (either PC at work or phone).
  • rebeccawesterfield5
    rebeccawesterfield5 Posts: 132 Member
    I have a fitbit and have decided not to eat back any of the calories it says. The reason for this is that it projects what it thinks you will burn based on what you have done so far that day.
    ......

    If you are doing proper exercise, I would take it off while youre doing it, manually log and eat about 50% back.
    This is the problem I have been running into. Thoughts on just NOT eating back your exercise calories at all?
    I'm not body building or anything, just some walking/jogging and a 30 minute JM video. Obviously if I feel lightheaded or super hungry I will feed by body, but for the first 2 weeks of doing the JM video I calculated my TDEE and ate back all of my exercise cals...resulting in no change at all! I was so mad at myself!
    Did you take measurements?? I have followed an exercise program very similar to yours since January. I owe my defined muscles to JM's bullying, hee hee! I remember when I first started, I did not lose weight the first few weeks, but I lost inches and my clothes started fitting better. Keep at it, keep letting MFP and fitbit synch and you will see a loss on the scale soon. After the third week of 30 DS, I started seeing consistent loses, I am so glad I pushed through! Good luck, sounds like you are on the right path!!
  • Kirstie155
    Kirstie155 Posts: 1,001 Member
    Did you take measurements?? I have followed an exercise program very similar to yours since January. I owe my defined muscles to JM's bullying, hee hee! I remember when I first started, I did not lose weight the first few weeks, but I lost inches and my clothes started fitting better. Keep at it, keep letting MFP and fitbit synch and you will see a loss on the scale soon. After the third week of 30 DS, I started seeing consistent loses, I am so glad I pushed through! Good luck, sounds like you are on the right path!!
    I have not taken measurements, but I did take pictures and don't see any change in them. I can absolutely tell that I am getting stronger, those 30 second planks are doable now!
    I don't do RI30 in 30 days, I did 2 weeks of week 1, and am about to start week 2 for the second time. I just didn't feel ready to move on yet.
    Thank you everyone for your input! MFP is such a great community :)
  • Kirstie155
    Kirstie155 Posts: 1,001 Member


    If you ever need any help with your FitBit or if you are looking for friends for your leaderboard, there is a great FitBit group on here.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/1290-fitbit-users
    Thank you so much for this!

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