Fitbit is driving me crazy!

I have no answer to your specific question, but I solved my Fitbit frustrations by returning it and buying a Nike Fuelband. Problem solved.

starrk123 wrote: »

I have a personal trainer and when I work out with her twice a week the workouts are brutal and I am sore and sweat a LOT. Two more days a week I do Les Mills Body Pump and one day I do Body Flow. In between I run - working up to two miles. I'm exhausted when I'm done but feel great an hour later. My fitbit subtracts 49 calories from the 1300 I have for the day... instead of adding 300-600 for the calories I've burned! I don't get it!?! Why is it taking calories away from what I can eat when I am working out so hard?

Are you logging the calories anywhere?

Also keep in mind, your Fitbit Adjustment is the difference between your Fitbit Calorie burn and MFP's estimated calorie burn based on your activity level. When I first started using Fitbit, I had my activity level set to Sedentary and it took exercising just to meet MFP's estimated calorie burn. I wasn't active enough during my normal day to day activities for my workouts to actually amount to added calories on MFP.

I have both MFP and Fitbit set to the same calorie goal and don't have negative adjustments enabled. What MFP has as my daily goal includes my deficit, so setting Fitbit to that manually keeps that balanced. I don't do negative adjustments since my MFP goal is what I would need if I don't do anything except be at the computer all day. When I do more, Fitbit adds to that on MFP.

Also, how are you wearing your Fitbit? I ended up having to wear it on my non-dominant hand but set it to dominant so it's less sensitive. But then, I tend to talk with my hands, and that does skew things a little bit!

acheben wrote: »

dubird wrote: »

I have both MFP and Fitbit set to the same calorie goal and don't have negative adjustments enabled. What MFP has as my daily goal includes my deficit, so setting Fitbit to that manually keeps that balanced. I don't do negative adjustments since my MFP goal is what I would need if I don't do anything except be at the computer all day. When I do more, Fitbit adds to that on MFP.

Also, how are you wearing your Fitbit? I ended up having to wear it on my non-dominant hand but set it to dominant so it's less sensitive. But then, I tend to talk with my hands, and that does skew things a little bit!

I have MFP set at sedentary because I have an office job and I usually sit at my desk all day. I have found that on days that I am stuck at my desk, I actually have a negative adjustment of around 50cals, which means I am more sedentary than MFP accounted for.

Which is why I had to manually adjust my calories. I started with what MFP said, and after a few weeks, I discovered I need to dial it down about 100 calories. I suck at the math part, so it's been kinda trial and error for me, but I've finally got a good balance going.

editorgrrl wrote: »

dubird wrote: »

I don't do negative adjustments since my MFP goal is what I would need if I don't do anything except be at the computer all day. When I do more, Fitbit adds to that on MFP.

Sorry, but you're wrong. With negative calorie adjustments disabled, you never eat at a true deficit on days you burn fewer calories than your MFP activity level.

Set your goal to .5 lb. 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

I don't like the negative adjustments because Fitbit constantly updates and I can't plan for my meals for the day. 95% of the time, there's a positive adjustment from Fitbit. It's sometimes tiny, like 40 extra calories, so on days I don't get that, yeah, I might be a bit over on my calories in, but that's not often anymore. Not since I dropped my calories for the day down a little bit.

I had my calories set for 1/2 lb a week for the first month with my Fitbit and I wasn't losing anything. I've had to go back and forth with MFP and Fitbit to find a calorie goal setting that worked for me. Probably because I suck at math, I don't know. I just know the negative adjustments weren't helping me and made me frustrated when I was trying to see how much I had left for dinner for the day. I can't plan what to have for dinner when it keeps adjusting.

auddii wrote: »

dubird wrote: »

editorgrrl wrote: »

dubird wrote: »

I don't do negative adjustments since my MFP goal is what I would need if I don't do anything except be at the computer all day. When I do more, Fitbit adds to that on MFP.

Sorry, but you're wrong. With negative calorie adjustments disabled, you never eat at a true deficit on days you burn fewer calories than your MFP activity level.

Set your goal to .5 lb. 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

I don't like the negative adjustments because Fitbit constantly updates and I can't plan for my meals for the day. 95% of the time, there's a positive adjustment from Fitbit. It's sometimes tiny, like 40 extra calories, so on days I don't get that, yeah, I might be a bit over on my calories in, but that's not often anymore. Not since I dropped my calories for the day down a little bit.

I had my calories set for 1/2 lb a week for the first month with my Fitbit and I wasn't losing anything. I've had to go back and forth with MFP and Fitbit to find a calorie goal setting that worked for me. Probably because I suck at math, I don't know. I just know the negative adjustments weren't helping me and made me frustrated when I was trying to see how much I had left for dinner for the day. I can't plan what to have for dinner when it keeps adjusting.

It changing all the time would drive me nuts. I calculated a 1 month average of my TDEE as determined by fitbit and manually updated my goal. It's been working for me...

Well, it wasn't like every 10 minutes, but every morning it would take away, and then add back over the day. So I would look after lunch and oh, I only have about 700 calories for the rest of day! But then look after I get home from work and have about 850 for the day, which is about what it would be without the negative adjustment. So for me, it's just easier to go without the negative adjustment.

starrk123 wrote: »

I've been tracking closely and haven't lost a pound in 2 months. I am very frustrated trying to find that balance.

Open your diary for personalized advice, but you need to log everything you eat & drink accurately & honestly. Logging is simple, but it ain't easy. Logging works.

Hands down, the best weight-loss advice I ever received was to read the Sexypants post: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

I find if my active minutes are high in fitbit then I have a lot of exercise calories.