Deficit means eating fewer calories than you burn.

Set your deficit to .5 lb. per week (250 calories per day) for every 25 lbs. you're overweight: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided

Enable negative calorie adjustments: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

Ignore your Fitbit calorie goal & follow MFP's, eating back your adjustments.

Please read the Sexypants post. So much good "how-to" information: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

I ignore fitbits calories. 9 times out of 10 it says I'm over, when I'm 300 or more under on mfp. Much confusion was had with this :huh:

I removed the over / under tile from my dashboard - it wasn't helping me at all. I pre log food if I know I'm going to be eating it later - so I was almost always in the red!

Now I just sync and check what MFP says I have left to eat. Simple!

I just got the Flex last week and I am still not sure. Maybe you guys can help me. I have the negative calories adjusted enabled.

I am 5'4" 206 lbs starting weight was 243
I have MFP set to lose 1lb a week which gives me 1460 calories per day
On average I walk 120000 steps a day. My fitbit is telling me on average my TDEE is 2509 calories a day. How many calories should I be eating

riderfangal wrote: »

I just got the Flex last week and I am still not sure. Maybe you guys can help me. I have the negative calories adjusted enabled.

I am 5'4" 206 lbs starting weight was 243
I have MFP set to lose 1lb a week which gives me 1460 calories per day
On average I walk 120000 steps a day. My fitbit is telling me on average my TDEE is 2509 calories a day. How many calories should I be eating

MFP does all the math for you. Your default calorie goal (1.460) is activity level minus deficit. (Your deficit is currently set to 500 calories per day, or 1 lb. per week.) Adjustments are the difference between your Fitbit burn and your activity level. (Click on any adjustment to see the math MFP used to calculate it.)

If you follow your MFP calorie goal, eating back your adjustments, you'll be eating TDEE minus deficit. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

riderfangal wrote: »

Thanks for the help. I am wating about 1500 right now so I may up a bit and see if I still lose

Set your goal to .5 lb. per week for every 25 lbs. you're overweight, and be patient!

jensweller wrote: »

I make sure that I hit 10k per day but average 11-12k. I have MFP set to 1200 cal a day (1 pound a week) however with my fitbit syned to MPF I have way more calories then that. My friend is skeptical of the calorie adjustment. We want to know if the adjustment is only calories burned by activity not calories burned all together such as when your at rest ? The body burns calories when you sleep. Please help explain

MFP makes an estimate of how many calories you burn during the day based on what activity level you selected (sedentary, active, etc).

Fitbit measures your real activity level. Not an estimate.

Fitbit tells MFP what your real activity level is, and MFP enters a "Fitbit calorie adjustment" based on the difference in these. That's why you need to enable negative adjustments....because sometimes on a lazy day your real activity level is less than you told MFP to estimate. On days that you are very active, even just doing a lot of housework or walking your dog more than usual, Fitbit tells MFP you burned extra calories. This cause MFP to increase the number you can eat within the same deficit.


Oh, yes, it gives you some credit for doing nothing. You are still breathing and pumping blood as you watch television or take a nap.