How far off are they? What is your daily net goal in MFP and what activity level are you set to? What settings do you have in FitBit?

I think most people find after they get their fitbit they need to tweak the goals/settings a bit in one or both systems to get them to more closely align. For example, when I first started I was set to Sedentary in MFP and I would get huge adjustments from my FitBit and would find the two systems to be off by ~200 calories or so at the end of the day. After wearing my FitBit for a few weeks and tracking the average calories burned (my TDEE) I realized I was a lot more active than I had initially thought so I changed MFP to Lightly Active and adjusted my calorie goal upward to more closely approximate that TDEE-10%. My adjustments at that point were a little smaller but at the end of the day I could still end up differing by 100 calories in the two systems. I was ok with that, I would usually just go by the FitBit estimate since it was on my wrist all day and I felt it was a better approximation than the static settings in MFP. Around Christmas time, my MFP activitly level changed to Active (I think it did it automatically!) and the two numbers are exactly 15 calories different each day. So just this morning, I went in and dropped my MFP goal by 15 calories to 1685 because even though they were so close, my OCD says that if I can get them to match exactly I should try...

I have heard that about FitBit not having a bottom number like MFP's 1200 calories but I haven't had 1200 calories as my goal for a very long time after reading more about TDEE and realizing that I could eat a lot more and still lose weight.

Fitbit and MFP approach calories differently. MFP gives you a certain number of calories for the day based on the activity level setting you chose. What you see at the beginning of the day is what you get for the day, period, and if you add exercise, those will be added to your quota as well.

Fitbit shows how many calories you have remaining based on how active you have been so far that day. If you have periods of high and low activity over the course of the day, those calories will also go up and down as the Fitbit averages your activity level over the day.

So, it depends on your activity level and how you like to see your calorie quota. Personally, I know how much I am going to eat and the minimum number of calories I will burn (because I keep walking till I meet my goal!), so I like to just see my calories in the AM and that's it, so I go by MFP. If your activity level is sporadic and you want to eat more or less each day depending on how active you are, you might want to keep an eye on Fitbit's allowance.

Have you checked how many calories both MFP and Fitbit say you had left at the end of the previous day? When all is said and done and your final burn for the day has been taken into account, they are usually extremely close.

Here is what works for me: When I set my FitBit account up, I could choose how aggressive a calorie deficit I wanted. I chose the 500 cal deficit, so it set my daily goal at 1326. To make it less confusing I changed my settings in MFP to "custom" and made my daily goal match exactly, 1326.

Because of my activity level, I earn extra calories and typically end up around 1450-1600 while maintaining that 500 calorie deficit from what I actually burned that day. It's easier for me to see the same numbers reflected in both apps.

What I ignore all day is that "In-out" meter. I just check it the next morning to make sure I ended the previous day "in the zone" or better.

(Edited for spelling)

Fitbit and MFP approach calories differently. MFP gives you a certain number of calories for the day based on the activity level setting you chose. What you see at the beginning of the day is what you get for the day, period, and if you add exercise, those will be added to your quota as well.

This... If your MFP allowance starts at MFP's minimum 1200, most likely it isn't allowing you the full deficit that you asked for. If this is the case, your MFP allowance will probably always be more than Fitbit's even if all your other settings match. In addition, when you are more active than whatever MFP estimates you burn at your stated activity level you will see more calories added on to your allowance. I actually find my MFP allowance ends up lower when I choose lightly active than it is when I choose sedentary (if set for a loss). That is because MFP isn't allowing me the full deficit I requested. My sedentary calorie burn, according to MFP is around 1500 calories so it sets me for slightly over 1/2 pound a week loss instead of the one pound a week loss. Fitbit does allow the full defciit because it takes it off the total calorie burn and also doesn't ahve a set minimum allowance. I am not saying one is better or worse, different people will do better with one allowance or the other. They are just slightly different in approach.

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kimheejin wrote: »

I just got my Fitbit and for example tho I exercised on the elliptical thirty min it only gave me an allowance of 5* which translates to 5 in mfp. Anyone can help me out on that? Is it an iPhone thing or something? I have about 3500 steps logged so far (halfway thru the day) and set to sedentary in my fitness pal

First you need to understand how MFP and fitbit talk to each other. When you set your MFP goal you say how active you think you are. Fitbit measures how active you actually are. The adjustments you see are the difference between your predicted burn and your actual burn.

Secondly. MFP and fitbit don't automatically update. If you haven't synced them since your workout then MFP still doesn't know it happened.

Thirdly. Fitbit doesn't measure non step based activity. That includes ellipticals. To guest a better estimation of your work out you need to log it as exercise and add your start time and duration.