Calorie Adjustments (FitBit)

FairyDandy · July 2015

Hi all!

I'm new to calorie counting.

I previously lost 6 stone with WeightWatchers but gradually fell back into bad habits and regained the weight without ever reaching goal. I have decided to give MFP a go for round 2 as I have had a few failed attempts at the WeightWatchers ProPoints plan (originally I did Points) as I cannot get my head round it! I've never counted calories before but to me this is so far making much more sense than the idea of 0ppt fruit...

However I do have one questions if anyone can help? I have a FitBit charge HR and currently averaging 11K steps a day, I have it linked to MFP with negative calories enabled. Currently, it feels like the calories I earned from walking daily are very high. 10K steps over the day creates a FitBit calorie adjustment of 700-800cals. I am obese and unfit, but still this seems excessive!

So, my question is, does anyone know how accurate these calorie adjustments are? I'm not sure at the moment if I should be eating these calories back as I never ate any of my activity points in WeightWatchers and that didn't seem detrimental to me but the numbers look so big here!

Stats
Start Weight: 18st7lb (259lb/117.5kg)
Current Weight 17st 10lb (248lb/112.5kg)
Height: 5ft 8
Age: 30
Current loss: 11lb (7lb in week one was probably more to do with the huge chinese the night before first weigh in

)

KarenJanine · July 2015

That adjustment seems reasonable given your stats.

The only way to know if it is correct for you is to eat at the level set by Fitbit/MFP and evaluate your actual weight over time. If you are losing then continue eating back the exercise adjustment. If you stop losing then eat back a bit less.

FairyDandy · July 2015

Thanks! I think I just was looking for some reassurance that the numbers don't seem totally mad!

The fine tuning will take a while

PAV8888 · July 2015

You may want to set MFP to lightly active or active as this will minimize your adjustments and enable better meal planning.

Do enable negative adjustments if you do this to get a reduction when you are less active.

Do leave some room at the end of the day if your activity level reduces or you go to bed before midnight as your calories will reduce at midnight to reflect the lack of activity during the last few hours of the day.

Do read Haybale's excellent sticky post in the MFP Fitbit group.

Do trust your Fitbit numbers absent strong indications to the contrary. I have seen very few people (as in personally none) come back and say they are not 90+% accurate

sunnyazgirl · July 2015

I am tryng to figure out how my Fit Bit negatve calorie adjustments are going to affect me when I work the night shift. I work. 7PM - 7AM, and when I work my most active perods are during those hours. I then sleep 8 hours during the day, from 8 AM - 4PM. I work 3 nights a week in a row. I am in a 6 night off stretch now so have flipped back to regular hours. But, on the days I work will I lose my midnight to 7AM calories earned during my sleep time? I wear a FitBit Zip so I can clip it to my bra or waistband and not wear it on my wrist, so t does not have a sleep mode setting. I have a feeling I may have to deactivate the negative calorie adjustment during my work days or just live within the 1250 calories I currently have as a baseline. I average 11,000 steps a day right now (and I really work to get that). I am set at Lightly Active.

StaciMarie1974 · July 2015

I've found my Fitbit to be very accurate.

Question: do you have your MFP profile set to sedentary or lightly active? Because 11k steps a day is lightly active IMO. If you're set to sedentary, you'll have a bigger calorie adjustment for choosing the wrong activity level. The end result will be the same (such as 1250 + 700 vs 1500 + 450) but this would explain why the adjustment is 'big'.

StaciMarie1974 · July 2015

The negative calorie adjustment ONLY comes into play if you're less active in real life (according to Fitbit) than MFP expects. For me, I see negatives early in the day because I get most of my activity in at night. But end of day, its all positive. Both Fitbit and MFP track a 'day' as midnight to midnight. So just be consistent in how/when you log even though you're sleeping midday.

FairyDandy · July 2015

Excellent suggestion! I get the steps from. Walking to and from the train station to work/home plus a walk at lunch so they will be pretty stable during the working week and negative calorie adjustments will sort out my lazier Sundays (a girl needs to rest her feet sometime

) but meal planning at the moment is a little hectic now I think about it.

Thanks very much! I will trust the fitbit unless shown otherwise in time

FairyDandy · July 2015

Oh, I meant to say changing to lightly active was an excellent suggestion. I set it to sedentary because I do have a desk job, I never really considered the commute.

sunnyazgirl · July 2015

StaciMarie1974 wrote: »

The negative calorie adjustment ONLY comes into play if you're less active in real life (according to Fitbit) than MFP expects. For me, I see negatives early in the day because I get most of my activity in at night. But end of day, its all positive. Both Fitbit and MFP track a 'day' as midnight to midnight. So just be consistent in how/when you log even though you're sleeping midday.

Thank you. I guess I will just have to see what happens when I go back to work on Thursday nght. I tend to be more active later in the day, even on a day off. I am not just a mornng person, which is one reason I work nights. I did see a big difference in when I had a positive calorie adjustment yesterday - the first day I had enabled my calorie adjustments. Around noon I had a mni panic attack when I saw it had reduced my calores by 70! I got them back later.

Calorie Adjustments (FitBit)

Replies

Categories