Fitbit

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stewyh
stewyh Posts: 5
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Hi new to this so here goes , I mow lawns for a living and going on my fitbit i ave over 20000 steps a day. So I have put in my fitness pal that I am active as I play indoor cricket once a week and do heavy weights 3 times per week and not losing weight. Just as an example of a my fitness pal day my goal cal for today was 2780 and I ate 2361 plus it added 838 cal for fitbit exercise and that's not including gym work and it says I got 1247 cal remaining. That's an ave day , so my question is should I be trying to eat to that amount as I have 30% body fat and thought that I could handle that amount of cal deficit or should I keep going at this deficit. Thanks for any advise. Stewart

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  • Snip8241
    Snip8241 Posts: 767 Member
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    Weigh and measure all of your food. That's the only way you can be sure of what you are taking in for calories. It's easy to over eat.
    It sounds as if you are getting enough exercise to be in a deficit but unless you weigh and measure you won't be sure.
  • sweetd6
    sweetd6 Posts: 74 Member
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    If you put that you are "active", then MFP gives you calories based on that. THEN, when FitBit gives you more calories, it is based on the exercise that MFP has already taken into account and given you calories for, so you're getting double calories for the same exercise. Don't eat back calories given to you by FitBit.
  • amyhoss
    amyhoss Posts: 414 Member
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    Do you push mow lawns? I ask because I had my fitbit on when I was cutting the grass with a riding lawn mower and all that bouncing around caused it to register about 10,000 false steps.
  • andielyn
    andielyn Posts: 233 Member
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    If you put that you are "active", then MFP gives you calories based on that. THEN, when FitBit gives you more calories, it is based on the exercise that MFP has already taken into account and given you calories for, so you're getting double calories for the same exercise. Don't eat back calories given to you by FitBit.

    I'm relatively new to the Fitbit but my understanding is that when the Fitbit syncs with MFP it gives calories that are expended above what MFP calculates (based on the daily calorie burn calculated by the Fitbit.) It doesn't double-count them.

    If you are setting your activity level here as active then you track your exercise separately--that's built in to the MFP calculations.

    As someone else suggested it may very well be adding steps while you're riding if you have a riding mower. If you have a push mower I would imagine the Fitbit would actually underestimate the calorie burn.
  • suzy0317
    suzy0317 Posts: 67 Member
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    I have the vivo fit device and it doesn't give earned calories for extra exercise above walking. I have to enter and additional workouts directly into MFP for it to show those calories earned. It's my understanding that Fitbit works the same way.
  • stewyh
    stewyh Posts: 5
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    Thanks guys sorry for late reply I'm in Australia so bit of a time difference, I do push the mower so my steps I assume are pretty good as I am more or less walking for at least 5 hrs a day. I am still eating at least 500 to 600 cal a day under what my fitness pal says to eat .
  • joyalina
    joyalina Posts: 2 Member
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    How long have you been eating at a caloric deficit? If you just started, don't give up. If it's been more than a month, you may not be seeing weight loss on the scale because of your weekly weight lifting. That is, because you said you're lifting heavy weights three times a week, you could be building muscle. If you're eating less calories than you're expending but still not losing weight, try measuring your body fat again. You may be down from 30%. You should also take your measurements. That will let you know if you're losing fat, even if the scale isn't moving.
  • stewyh
    stewyh Posts: 5
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    Thanks, will keep at deficit without fitbit steps and check body fat again and see how I go.
  • GothyFaery
    GothyFaery Posts: 762 Member
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    If you put that you are "active", then MFP gives you calories based on that. THEN, when FitBit gives you more calories, it is based on the exercise that MFP has already taken into account and given you calories for, so you're getting double calories for the same exercise. Don't eat back calories given to you by FitBit.

    I'm relatively new to the Fitbit but my understanding is that when the Fitbit syncs with MFP it gives calories that are expended above what MFP calculates (based on the daily calorie burn calculated by the Fitbit.) It doesn't double-count them.

    If you are setting your activity level here as active then you track your exercise separately--that's built in to the MFP calculations.

    As someone else suggested it may very well be adding steps while you're riding if you have a riding mower. If you have a push mower I would imagine the Fitbit would actually underestimate the calorie burn.

    This is correct. MFP and FitBit sync really well together. If MFP has you burning 2000 a day and according to FitBit you burned 2500, FitBit gives you those extra 500 calories. Don't worry about doubling up unless you start to log your walking (running/playing sports) in MFP. Then you would be doubling.

    PS.
    If you wanted to log your walking (running/playing sports) in MFP, make sure you log the start time as FitBit will not add steps taken during those times. But it's just easier to not log that sort of activity.
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,370 Member
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    Changing your activity level on MFP will make menu planning simpler but shouldn't change the calories FitBit gives you, you'd just get a smaller adjustment but you'd probably be best to enable negative adjustments in the exercise settings here so that it doesn't give you the extra for non-work days. Probably simpler to leave it as it is though and eat more on work days - or set yourself to lose more if you're already eating as much as you feel you need.

    FitBit's job when synced here is to amend your activity level, not so much measure exercise calories.

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