Take a Look

First off, thanks for having an open diary. I took a look for the past week. Your food logging doesn't seem too bad (although you skipped Friday), so I think it's the exercise numbers throwing you off. Sometimes you have both a fitbit adjustment and a logged workout, so you're basically doubling-up and giving yourself the impression you have more calories than you really do. What about your starting calorie goal of more than 2,000 cals per day? Any chance that might be a bit high? You don't say your current height or weight so it's hard to calculate what you might really need. Try plugging your numbers into Scooby and see what you get: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

Two pounds is great, so don't knock it! I suggest not eating back all of your exercise calories, and making sure you're not doubling up when you count them. Try that for a few weeks and see if things change. Good luck!

ljones22903 wrote: »

i agree with the above try logging your stat in scooby i go by my TDEE now. and have amended my calories to reflect that but i dont count any exercise.

OP's Fitbit burn is TDEE—way more accurate than any online calculator. If you follow these instructions, MFP will adjust your goal every day to TDEE minus deficit. But you still need to log everything you eat & drink accurately & honestly:

Connect your accounts at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/fitbit

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

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

You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

chelseatype1 wrote: »

My Fitbit and MFP accounts are connected. What does the negative calorie adjustment do?

Your Fitbit burn is TDEE. Your default MFP calorie goal is activity level minus deficit. Adjustments are the difference between your Fitbit burn & your MFP activity level.

If (and only if) you enable negative calorie adjustments, eating back your adjustments means you're eating TDEE minus deficit.

But you still need to log everything you eat & drink accurately & honestly. Logging works.

chelseatype1 wrote: »

I try not to log my exercise so that I am not tempted to eat back those calories, but I like seeing what Fitbit puts in there for me (makes me feel slightly accomplished).

Do not log any step-based activity—your Fitbit is tracking it for you. Log non-step exercise (like swimming or biking) either in Fitbit (that's what I do) or in MFP—never both. Exercise logged in MFP overwrites your Fitbit burn during that time.

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.

Enabling negative adjustments only matters if your actual burn is less than MFP expects.

Say you set MFP to lightly active and based on your stats MFP thinks you will burn 2200 per day, and for 1 pound /week recommends you eat 1700. Then you have a day where you are not very active, and Fitbit shows you only moved for 2500 steps. Fitbit says you only burned 1900 - you'd see a -300 adjustment. And so MFP would recommend you eat 1700 - 300 = 1400.

If you do not enable negative adjustments, its nothing to worry about as long as you normally see a positive Fitbit adjustment. If its regularly 0 though, then you may want to dial down your activity level: you're being less active than you think.