MyFitnessPal, Fitbit, BMR and Weight Loss
cmfoster2012
Posts: 3 Member
I have a question ... I have, for years, used MFP and have loved using it. I've recently gotten a fitbit and am integrating the two...
But, I have a few questions....
As I've been reading some information on BMR. When I calculate my BMR, it shows as nearly 300 more than the 'allowable' amount of calories that MFP calculates. I've read that I should NEVER eat less than my BMR calculated amount - as it can damage my metabolism... So, Question 1: Is this accurate, in your experience and do you adjust your MFP min calories to your BMR amount to avoid this?
For MFP, I set my 'normal activities' to sedentary per the fact that I work at a desk (and that is what it suggested). Question 2: Since getting my fitbit, my activity/exercise has increased dramatically... Should I be changing this setting OR is it unnecessary, since I have MFP set to pull in my fitbit 'steps' and adjust my calories, accordingly.
Hope my questions have made sense ... thanks, in advance, for your input!!
But, I have a few questions....
As I've been reading some information on BMR. When I calculate my BMR, it shows as nearly 300 more than the 'allowable' amount of calories that MFP calculates. I've read that I should NEVER eat less than my BMR calculated amount - as it can damage my metabolism... So, Question 1: Is this accurate, in your experience and do you adjust your MFP min calories to your BMR amount to avoid this?
For MFP, I set my 'normal activities' to sedentary per the fact that I work at a desk (and that is what it suggested). Question 2: Since getting my fitbit, my activity/exercise has increased dramatically... Should I be changing this setting OR is it unnecessary, since I have MFP set to pull in my fitbit 'steps' and adjust my calories, accordingly.
Hope my questions have made sense ... thanks, in advance, for your input!!
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Replies
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#1. Set your goal to .5 lb. per week for every 25 lbs. you're overweight.
#2. If (and only if) you enable negative calorie adjustments in your diary settings, you can increase your activity level if you want.0 -
editorgrrl wrote: »#1. Set your goal to .5 lb. per week for every 25 lbs. you're overweight.
#2. If (and only if) you enable negative calorie adjustments in your diary settings, you can increase your activity level if you want.
For #1 - not quite following…. I have my 'goal' for weight loss set as you mention. However, the calorie allowance it 'gives' me is less than my calculated BMR. Having read that I shouldn't eat less than the BMR, I'm asking if I should adjust my 'allowed' calories to align with my BMR OR allow MFP to calculate my 'allowed' calories (although it would be less than my BMR), based off of my goal.
For #2 - excellent - I have negative calorie adjustments enabled, so I should be good.
Thanks for your input!!0 -
That calorie goal is ONLY for non-exercise days. MFP doesn't account for exercise until you actually do it.
When used as intended, you log exercise, your daily burn goes up, same deficit comes off, you eat more.
The Fitbit though allows MFP to correct itself - or rather you, for the activity level. And exercise.
Did you select Sedentary activity level on MFP?
Do you have kids or pets?
You aren't sedentary, even with a 45 hr week desk job/commute.
If that's the case, you caused the eating goal to be below BMR by incorrect level.
But, MFP will adjust for you selecting wrong, by giving a calorie adjustment based on what Fitbit says you actually burned, probably an adjustment every day - and therefore you'll never eat below BMR.
And when you actually do exercise, adjustment will be even higher, you'll be no where near BMR.
But you'll still have the same deficit amount daily to lose weight goal.
If that's not the case and you did select Lightly Active, then change the weight loss goal to next notch down, so the deficit isn't as great, and it won't go below BMR.
Don't attempt to use manual eating goals while syncing Fitbit - you won't end up with the results you think you will, it'll be a mess.0 -
Don't attempt to use manual eating goals while syncing Fitbit - you won't end up with the results you think you will, it'll be a mess.
^This. Trust your Fitbit for several weeks, then reevaluate your progress.
Your Fitbit burn is TDEE, the calories necessary to maintain your current weight. If you follow my directions above, you'll be eating TDEE minus an appropriate deficit for your size.0 -
Thank you, both!! Very helpful information!!0
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I picked my own calorie goal. I learned that if you lay in bed doing nothing for 24 hours, you'd still burn 12 times your weight. So I set my goal at 12 times my goal weight of 125, thus 1500. I'd still lose weight if I laid in bed all day everyday, just slower. But I'm not doing that, I'm up and moving so I burn faster. I'm over 40 so not as fast as 11 years ago. The Fitbit encourages me to get up off my desk chair and get walking several times a day.
I haven't bothered with BMR at all.0 -
I picked my own calorie goal. I learned that if you lay in bed doing nothing for 24 hours, you'd still burn 12 times your weight. So I set my goal at 12 times my goal weight of 125, thus 1500. I'd still lose weight if I laid in bed all day everyday, just slower. But I'm not doing that, I'm up and moving so I burn faster. I'm over 40 so not as fast as 11 years ago. The Fitbit encourages me to get up off my desk chair and get walking several times a day.
I haven't bothered with BMR at all.
Sure you have - just not aware of it.
BMR is the calories you'd burn sleeping deeply all day.
You happen to think that 12 x weight is a better estimate than a formula that uses gender, age, weight, and height.
But you are eating at BMR, and letting everything else in life create a deficit.
Since you merely need to eat less than you burn by a reasonable amount to lose fat weight, this should be interesting when than deficit is no longer reasonable and you are losing muscle weight too.
In addition, you aren't even using current weight BMR (or your version of it), but future weight - so even more deficit.
I'd suggest keeping a close eye on the math in your Fitbit weekly reports - when you are not losing as much as the deficit says you should be - you are no longer burning as much as the healthy body that Fitbit is estimating with.
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That calorie goal is ONLY for non-exercise days. MFP doesn't account for exercise until you actually do it.
When used as intended, you log exercise, your daily burn goes up, same deficit comes off, you eat more.
The Fitbit though allows MFP to correct itself - or rather you, for the activity level. And exercise.
Did you select Sedentary activity level on MFP?
Do you have kids or pets?
You aren't sedentary, even with a 45 hr week desk job/commute.
If that's the case, you caused the eating goal to be below BMR by incorrect level.
But, MFP will adjust for you selecting wrong, by giving a calorie adjustment based on what Fitbit says you actually burned, probably an adjustment every day - and therefore you'll never eat below BMR.
And when you actually do exercise, adjustment will be even higher, you'll be no where near BMR.
But you'll still have the same deficit amount daily to lose weight goal.
If that's not the case and you did select Lightly Active, then change the weight loss goal to next notch down, so the deficit isn't as great, and it won't go below BMR.
Don't attempt to use manual eating goals while syncing Fitbit - you won't end up with the results you think you will, it'll be a mess.
Thank you for this! It all finally makes sense to me now. I have a lot of weight to lose, and set my activity at Sedentary since I also have a desk job. I have my Fitbit synced with MFP, but don't have negative calories enabled. I was worried about whether or not to eat back the calories it tells me I have earned, but this cleared it up for me.
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kkfindsfit wrote: »I have a lot of weight to lose, and set my activity at Sedentary since I also have a desk job. I have my Fitbit synced with MFP, but don't have negative calories enabled. I was worried about whether or not to eat back the calories it tells me I have earned, but this cleared it up for me.
With negative calories disabled, you'll never eat at a true deficit on days you burn fewer calories than your activity level.
With them enabled, choosing your activity level is entirely a matter of personal preference. Increasing your activity level gives you more calories in the morning but smaller adjustments. But negative calorie adjustments never put your calories below 1,200.0 -
I thought the deficit was built in to the calorie level established when I set up my goals. For example, for 1 lb loss per week, my daily goal is 1880. If I didn't even have a fitbit and ate up to or under 1880, I wouldn't lose weight? Having this device has made things more confusing for me, and I'm tempted to return it and just use the HRM I already had.0
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kkfindsfit wrote: »I thought the deficit was built in to the calorie level established when I set up my goals. For example, for 1 lb loss per week, my daily goal is 1880. If I didn't even have a fitbit and ate up to or under 1880, I wouldn't lose weight? Having this device has made things more confusing for me, and I'm tempted to return it and just use the HRM I already had.
Your Fitbit burn is TDEE, the number of calories necessary to maintain your current weight. If you eat at a reasonable deficit from that, you will lose weight.
You're correct, your default MFP calorie goal is activity level minus deficit. Adjustments are the difference between your Fitbit burn and your MFP activity level. If (and only if) you enable negative calorie adjustments in your diary settings, eating back your adjustments means you're eating TDEE minus deficit.0 -
Ok. Now I get it for real! Thank you very much for taking the time to explain it to me. I really appreciate it.0
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kkfindsfit wrote: »Ok. Now I get it for real! Thank you very much for taking the time to explain it to me. I really appreciate it.
You're very welcome! Trust your Fitbit for several weeks, then reevaluate your progress. Everyone's different, so it'll take trial & error to find what works for you.
No need to log any step-based activity—your Fitbit is tracking it for you. Log non-step exercise (like swimming or biking) either in Fitbit or in MFP—never both. Exercise logged in MFP overwrites your step burn during that time, so I log in Fitbit. If you want your Fitbit exercise to appear in your newsfeed, post a status update. That way you get the best of both worlds—an accurate burn + likes.0 -
editorgrrl wrote: »kkfindsfit wrote: »Ok. Now I get it for real! Thank you very much for taking the time to explain it to me. I really appreciate it.
You're very welcome! Trust your Fitbit for several weeks, then reevaluate your progress. Everyone's different, so it'll take trial & error to find what works for you.
No need to log any step-based activity—your Fitbit is tracking it for you. Log non-step exercise (like swimming or biking) either in Fitbit or in MFP—never both. Exercise logged in MFP overwrites your step burn during that time, so I log in Fitbit. If you want your Fitbit exercise to appear in your newsfeed, post a status update. That way you get the best of both worlds—an accurate burn + likes.
Great info! So glad I clicked on this thread 0 -
One more question--how do I log non-step exercise in Fitbit? On the Charge HR I just press the button until it vibrates, creating an activity record, then press again to stop. Is that sufficient to "log" an activity or do I need to go to Fitbit and search for a particular activity (such as stationary bike), then add in the amount calories burned from the activity record? Sorry for all the questions, I just want to make sure I'm doing this right!0
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kkfindsfit wrote: »One more question--how do I log non-step exercise in Fitbit? On the Charge HR I just press the button until it vibrates, creating an activity record, then press again to stop. Is that sufficient to "log" an activity or do I need to go to Fitbit and search for a particular activity (such as stationary bike), then add in the amount calories burned from the activity record? Sorry for all the questions, I just want to make sure I'm doing this right!
It's a matter of personal preference. I've never tried the button. I log yoga, etc. after the fact, and track walks when I want to see the map + stats.
It'll take trial & error to find what works for you.0 -
Got it. Thanks again!0
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kkfindsfit wrote: »One more question--how do I log non-step exercise in Fitbit? On the Charge HR I just press the button until it vibrates, creating an activity record, then press again to stop. Is that sufficient to "log" an activity or do I need to go to Fitbit and search for a particular activity (such as stationary bike), then add in the amount calories burned from the activity record? Sorry for all the questions, I just want to make sure I'm doing this right!
Weight lifting should be manually logged, because if you are doing it right, then HR-based calorie burn will be inflated.
So should select Weights in Fitbit and create a workout record to overwrite the calorie burn.
Use the activity record you created to tell you the start and duration time you'll need - but then you can delete it since you'll just be replacing the calorie burn it says.0 -
kkfindsfit wrote: »One more question--how do I log non-step exercise in Fitbit? On the Charge HR I just press the button until it vibrates, creating an activity record, then press again to stop. Is that sufficient to "log" an activity or do I need to go to Fitbit and search for a particular activity (such as stationary bike), then add in the amount calories burned from the activity record? Sorry for all the questions, I just want to make sure I'm doing this right!
Weight lifting should be manually logged, because if you are doing it right, then HR-based calorie burn will be inflated.
So should select Weights in Fitbit and create a workout record to overwrite the calorie burn.
Use the activity record you created to tell you the start and duration time you'll need - but then you can delete it since you'll just be replacing the calorie burn it says.
Ok. Thank you!0
