To Eat or Not to Eat that is the question.

sgeorgopoulos07
sgeorgopoulos07 Posts: 1 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi! I've just purchased a fitbit flex. I'm all synced up with my fitness pal and super happy about it. However, I'm a little scared, I've noticed that most days it's adding additional calories to eat...not a small amount either...like 500-600!! Who has a fit bit? Should I eat these Calories or shouldn't I? That is the question!!

Replies

  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,354 Member
    Eat them.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    I don't do the gadget thing, but try eating them. Eat as much as you can while still being able to lose!!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,469 Spam Moderator
    Eat half and see how that goes.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • pmm3437
    pmm3437 Posts: 529 Member
    1) You should only wear it when exercising.
    2) You need to eat back a portion of exercise calories.
    3) What % you eat back is based on how accurate you believe your estimates are. With a Fitbit or other HRM device, it should be fairly accurate. Maybe start with 75-80%, and adjust from there.
    4) You don't have to eat all or even most of the calories back, if you don't want to. This is assuming you are properly fueling your workouts, and getting adequate RDA minimums for protein and fat. As long as your energy levels recover properly, you should be fine.
    5) As a general rule, the leaner you are ( closer to goal weight ), the more of them you should/will have to eat back in order to keep your energy levels up.
  • rockmama72
    rockmama72 Posts: 815 Member
    I wear mine all the time (not just during exercise) and love it. Doing challenges with my friends and family has really helped!

    A few days a week I stick to 1200 calories. A few days a week I eat the extra calories. Once in a while I eat the whole shebang... TDEE all the way. It's working beautifully.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,368 Member
    Also make sure that your activity on MFP is set as sedentary.
  • SingRunTing
    SingRunTing Posts: 2,604 Member
    pmm3437 wrote: »
    1) You should only wear it when exercising.
    2) You need to eat back a portion of exercise calories.
    3) What % you eat back is based on how accurate you believe your estimates are. With a Fitbit or other HRM device, it should be fairly accurate. Maybe start with 75-80%, and adjust from there.
    4) You don't have to eat all or even most of the calories back, if you don't want to. This is assuming you are properly fueling your workouts, and getting adequate RDA minimums for protein and fat. As long as your energy levels recover properly, you should be fine.
    5) As a general rule, the leaner you are ( closer to goal weight ), the more of them you should/will have to eat back in order to keep your energy levels up.

    No.

    Fitbits are designed to be worn all the time. Even when sleeping, if you want to track your sleep patterns. I usually take mine off at night, but I put it on when I'm getting ready in the morning and take it off before bed. But I started off tracking sleep and found out that I normally have 97% or better sleep patterns. I'm a heavy sleeper.

    OP: try eating back half and see what happens. If you are losing faster than you should, eat back more. If you are losing slower than you should, eat back less.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    What do you have your activity level set to in MFP? How many steps a day are you averaging? If you're set to sedentary but you're not, that would be one reason why you get a lot of calories added.

    My suggestion: build in a buffer. Assume a 5-10% error rate until you have some results. Such as if Fitbit shows you burn an average of 2500/day, then assume this can be off by 5-10%. Which would mean your true burn is 2250-2375. So leave 125-250 of those calories, feel free to eat the rest.

    Over time you should be able to judge based on success. If you are set up for 1 pound a week loss, and you're leaving calories behind and averaging a faster loss: you can eat more of your calories. (This assumes accurate logging, of course.)

    Love my Fitbit, and have found it to be fairly accurate on my calories burned.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    Ps-Fitbits are designed for all day wear. Just take the Flex off to charge occasionally. You do not have to set MFP to Sedentary, that's up to each person. If you normally do not get extra calories from Fitbit (and have negatives disabled) then you're not being as active as MFP thinks you are.
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,927 Member
    Also, enable negative calorie adjustments on MFP for those days you don't work out MFP possibly overestimates your calorie goal.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    If (and only if) you enable negative calorie adjustments, eating back your Fitbit adjustments means you're eating TDEE minus deficit: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

    Ignore your Fitbit calorie goal and follow MFP's, eating back your adjustments. 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 Fitbit burn during that time.

    You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users
  • Kimegatron
    Kimegatron Posts: 772 Member
    I wear mine from the second I wake up, to when I go to bed. I like seeing how many steps I make, and it also helps me know how many calories I've burned. I eat my exercise calories because I like treats before bed. Also, if I don't, I will be way to hungry and can't sleep.
  • youdontknowwhatyousaw
    youdontknowwhatyousaw Posts: 221 Member
    I have the fitbit charge HR, and it is very accurate, for me. It usually gives me between 500-700 extra calories and I eat them, haven't had a problem with it.
  • Bshmerlie
    Bshmerlie Posts: 1,026 Member
    I have the Fitbit charge HR and I have tracked the past six weeks of calories burned and it was right on. I think it will depend upon what kind of exercise you do and how accurate you are with logging your food.
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