TDEE & Fitbit

I had the same issue as you. I started out at 2500 calories and had to bump it up to 2800 calories because I was losing weight too fast. With as much exercise as you're doing I think the 1761 would be fine. Those calculators give goods starting points but everyone's body is different so it takes a bit of trial and error to get to the right intake. Just do a calorie number for a few weeks and adjust as needed.

Also, I personally like the idea of macros. Not sure if you've factored them in or not. Makes me feel less hungry if I hit my protein target. There are other benefits but I mostly do it because it makes the whole calorie counting thing easier to sustain.

I use a fitbit one, and what I do is set my MFP to automatically determine calories for a sedentary activity level. I then let it automatically add calories for any exercise based on my fitbit stats. On days when I do absolutely no exercise, MFP is right on, and on days when I run for an hour it adds about 500-600 calories, maybe a bit more depending on my speed.

I have mine set for 2 lbs per week and I consistently lose 2-2.5 lbs per week with that setup.

Basically my theory is to trust MFP and fitbit as they have thousands of people's stats where they compare food in with weight lost and exercise. This means their computers have so much statistical data that they can easily be very accurate. So far its working very well for me. I have read that the only time you really need to carefully calculate TDEE on another site is when you don't have an activity monitoring device.

Of course Fitbit doesn't monitor weight lifting, so if you're doing activities like that, make sure you manually log them on the fitbit app to get the calorie credits. The only activity I currently log is driving, and I use the Drivebit app to do that quickly and easily, and only for drives over 20 minutes or so.

I've never heard of Drivebit before...thanks for the tip!

I use it on my BlackBerry Z10 and it works great.

Its a very basic Android app that only does one thing....you hit start when you start driving and stop when you stop. It logs driving on the fitbit site for that time, but it also cancels any steps that were logged from you hitting potholes or moving around in the car. The calorie count for driving seems high to some people, but I drive about 90 minutes a day and eat all my exercise calories and so far it works for me. I believe the brain uses far more calories for driving than the body though, that's likely the difference over sedentary calorie burn numbers.

I have a Fitbit flex. My best advice is throw it away! Seriously, the flex only measures wrist movement and bases their guesstimate calorie expenditure on that. The flex does not measure calories burned if your arms aren't moving - such as carrying a child, pushing a stroller or grocery cart, etc.

I find the accuracy of the Flex to be highly questionable and would not base any of my calorie calculations on what it says.

I personally, prefer the approach of setting my calorie goal at my BMR and eating some of my exercise calories back when I feel I need too. Note: according to my research MFP exaggerates the exercise calories burned by about 1/2 - so if you eat your exercise back beware!

I use both a TDEE calculator (with body fat % calculations) and a Fitbit Flex. I was pleased to find that the calculations for both are always within 50-100 calories of each other. I have lost weight steadily at a 20% deficit using the online calculator as a guide and the weekly Fitbit summaries as validation.

Pretty darn accurate for me.

I use Fitbit's just because I know my TDEE changes daily- for example, if I'm going to classes and running all over campus to make appointments v. a weekend where I sit on my butt. For me, at least, fitbit lets me change how I eat accordingly.

Fitbit uses the BMI method of figuring out your daily allowance, so if you're not perfectly, statistically average, it will be off. My Fitbit calories are about 250-300 less than my actual TDEE. I got my Fitbit after figuring out my true TDEE over a few months of data collecting, so I appreciate it for what else it does.

Personally, I set my fitbit to a 1 pound a week loss and have it tell me daily where I am at and what I can eat. It adjusts by the minute and automatically takes into account how much I have burned. I never put myself on an I can only eat 1400 calorie budget. With an office job and 6 kids I could be stuck at my desk all day or running around. I can burn 1400 calories one day and 2200 the next depending so I rely on its accuracy to tell me how much based on my movement is left in by food budget for the day.

I use it for all my exercise and found it relatively accurate. Yes you can’t have it know if you are carrying a baby or doing something of that nature only a HRM can give you your burns on that. However, it is MUCH better then guessing and MUCH more accurate as to where you are at for the day with your overall burn. Helps me put down that bowl of ice cream if I haven’t earned it.

I am in maintenance mode right now and I am finding it very helpful to maintaining my weight.
So to the point. Let it tell you daily what you can eat as each day can very greatly.