Another Fitbit Question?

sebachie
sebachie Posts: 70 Member
edited November 13 in Social Groups
A little background. I had MFP set to 1400 calories and eating back my workout calories. Some days that was good others I just couldn't bring myself to eat all of those calories back. I know I ate at a deficit for a long time and I'm working my way to eat at Maintenance and do a reset. The last 3 weeks I've added 100 calories a day/a week. I'm up to 1810. I believe my TDEE per Fit bit is 1960. I am currently training for a Half Marathon and want to make sure that I am eating to match my level of activity. I also do Body Revolution 2-3 times a week but the bulk of my workouts are running. I'm 5' 2" and 139 lbs.

So My question is: I unsynced my fitbit from MFP because it kept giving me negative calories and it was tripping me up. I have been logging my workouts on MFP with just the 1 calorie. I wear a HRM so I know what my approx burn is per workout. Do I log my workouts on Fitbit to get the most accurate TDEE?

The reason I'm asking is because I just looked back on my Fitbit history and it says that on Sunday I burned 1655 calories all day. Now I ran 5 miles and that accts for 523 calories and I was up and cleaning around the house all day. I can't possibly believe that I only burned 1100 calories for a full day of cleaning and walking around the house.

Sorry if it this doesn't make any sense I'm still trying to wrap my head around the setting and want to make sure that I'm not messing anything up.

TIA

Replies

  • leooftheyear
    leooftheyear Posts: 429 Member
    need to resynch fitbit and MFP, you can uncheck "negative calorie adjustment" under settings if it messes you up, for me i either ignore it (on my rest/strength training days) or it motivates me to move more to reduce the negative number
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Yes, log your more accurate calorie burns on Fitbit.

    Then use your weekly Fitbit reports to see what your average daily TDEE is, and if your 15% off is still correct eating level.

    And don't worry about logging your workouts on MFP.
    Have you ever once used the Exercise diary reporting to review them?

    Just make a wall post about your workout with more info for your friends. See my profile as example.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Another thought though, since you are doing marathon training, and your actual TDEE on some days is going to be massive compared to rest days. Which you will need as long runs are longer.

    The weekly average TDEE method won't work that well actually, as you'll be badly underfed on those long run days, and eating a pretty decent surplus on rest or low burn days.

    You do need to sync accounts, negative and positive.

    Set MFP to maintain, no weight loss goal.
    Set activity level to probably Lightly Active. Go higher if you find rest days still have big positive calorie adjustment. If slightly negative that's fine.

    Now your eating goal is your TDEE after Fitbit syncs occur.
    Take daily eating goal x 0.85 to see what you are really going to eat that day.
    Or take it x 0.15 to see how much to leave in the green uneaten, is what I actually found easier. Write it in the diary notes.
    Memorize your minimum protein and fat goals desired, who cares carbs, you'll need those extras.
    No, you don't need 30% protein on days with say 4000 calorie burn. You need carbs so you have energy for the next day.

    Still manually log workouts, could be in MFP now if desired, Or Fitbit, then just make wall post in MFP to inform FL about workout.
    But use the more accurate calorie burn from HRM for the cardio for that manual logging.

    This will result in you taking 15% deficit daily. After a week or two you'll know about what each of the days will have as daily goal, except long run days will get bigger and bigger.

    And figuring out the 15% to leave green gets easy too. 10% is easy, then half that added on. Keeps the brain sharp with the mental math.

    That way the big burn days get the extra carbs you need back, rest days still have a deficit.
  • sebachie
    sebachie Posts: 70 Member
    Thanks Heybales this makes much more sense to me! I'm just in the beginning of training and logging about 10-15 miles a week. Once the heavy training starts I'll switch to tracking this way.
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