Fitbit Making Me Fat?

I have only read about fit bit, but it appears that it may only be good for counting steps. I wouldn't put my faith in the caloric burn aspect. Even with a heart rate monitor with chest strap, I would factor in a 20% fudge factor. Check out Scoobys Workshop dot com and go to the fitness tools on the right to find your true caloric needs. Just my 2 cents though.

JessaLee0324 wrote: »

Before I purchased my Fitbit charge, I was under the impression that I couldn't eat more then maybe 1850 calories a day or I'd gain weight.

Fast forward a couple months and all I'm doing is gaining. Fitbit tells me I burn about 2030 calories a day!!! So instead of eating less I eat more. 2030 calories a day is a decent amount and I STILL eat too much!!!!

It's like seeing it makes it OK. (( This sucks!!

OP, I don't know what exercise you do and neither do I know anything about FitBit but here is a small incident that may help you realize of what just might be going on.

I sometimes run with my one friend. I have higher end GPS watch that tracks the miles I run - accurate.
My friend who is not a runner joins me on short runs and one time she clipped her fitbit to her bra.

At the end of the run my GPS gave the data saying it was 3.5 Miles run. Ours was supposed to be a 3.5 Mile run.

Her FitBit displayed she ran/walked/covered (I don't know exact term - Like I said I don't know much about Fitbit) 4.2 Miles.

Hope you are able to find some answer to your puzzle.

Just remember that a fitbit has no understanding about your true stride length, turn over rate or metabolic fitness. It is basically a high tech pedometer that try's to take some guesses. I wouldn't use it as a testament to all things health. That said, I am addicted to mine and except for recharging it once a week it's never off of my wrist. I literally don't go to bed until it says 10,000.

From looking at your diary, it doesn't look like you use a food scale. If not, it's likely you are eating more calories than you think.

(also, sidenote: totally giggled at your Sunday Feb 15 entries. that's my kinda day!!)

Unfortunately any method you use to determine your daily calories burned is going to be an estimate. You just have to try to estimate as accurately as possible. The benefit of a Fitbit (compared to other methods) is that it considers each day's activities in determining it's estimate. Clearly, though, it's estimate is a little too high for you.

You could enter into MFP that you want to lose 1/2 pound per week. This will set your daily calorie target to be 250 cals less than what your fitbit says. Perhaps this will give you a more accurate daily estimate whilst still allowing it to be flexible depending on how active you were. ie you wont actually lose any weight - it will just reduce Fitbit's estimate to make it more accurate.

To lose weight you need to reduce your calories even more. Want to lose 1/2 pound a week ? then tell MFP that you want to lose 1 pound per week. The first 1/2 pound will just be to make the fitbit estimate more accurate. The other 1/2 pound will give you a 250 cal daily deficit so that you lose weight.

I try to stay at least 200-300 calories lower than my estimate for each day and I have been losing weight. And while it seems to be working for me, it isn't unreasonable to think that it could be overestimating YOUR calorie burn. I would take the suggestions of scaling back a percentage.

I also checked out your diary and I am unsure whether you are allowing Fitbit to upload for the earned exercise calories, but I see that you are either running really close or over your calorie goal each day. I don't intend at all to sound mean, but am trying to be helpful. You must eat at a calorie deficit in order to lose weight so you will want to get lower. You are welcome to check out my diary if you are interested. I often (like just a few minutes ago!) fit in the foods I want to eat in my calorie goal so I don't feel deprived and end up eating an entire bag of chips (man I love chips!).

I take it you have altered the setting in your fitbit as a weightloss goal?

Also if you are not weighing your food your probably eating more than you think.

I HAD a fitbit flex - the worst thing I ever spent a $100 on. Tracking steps - only if you swing your arms; mileage - not even close; sleep - what a waste. My advice - toss the Fitbit and go back to your prior eating plan.

sounds like you are underestimating the calories of what you eat. weight your food.

2030 is your daily burn.. if you want to lose weight you need to eat less than that.. 2030 would be your maintenance calories. -500 would have you losing 1 lbs a week. -750 would be 1.5 lbs a week..

didnt you post about your fitbit on another thread and I explained that you have to set your goals on your fitbit dashboard so that you are eating at a deficit and not eating at maintenance??

I read this post entirely different than all of the people who replied. I don't think the OP is saying she wants to lose weight. I think she's trying to maintain and upped her calories because the FitBit said she could but now she's having a hard time keeping to the upped calories and thus gaining weight. Now, I could be totally wrong about all that. Anyway, if I was the OP, I would go back to the 1850 a day she was eating if she was maintaining at that weight. Obviously the FitBit is only an estimate or you need to recallibrate.

[quote="marcolbmp;31359207"}it appears that it may only be good for counting steps. [/quote]

Yes.

My Fitbit was messing with my head a bit when I first got it, so I set my MFP calories to 1200 and eat back up to 1500 (which was my pre-Fitbit calorie goal). I believe it over-estimates my burns so I compensate.

I guess the trick is to just be aware of it and compensate? And agree with the above - weigh solids rather than measure in cups, spoons etc.