Im new and in need of some help

Hi, I'm sure there will be more experienced members to comment here soon, help give you better advice.
I use both MFP & FitBit. I honestly still don't 100% understand the discrepancies between the two.
FitBit is tracking your overall daily burn, from your sleeping to sitting to moving, so it will give you more calories. My "daily burn" from FitBit is around 2200 calories; it allows me roughly 1800 calories.
However, enter my stats into MFP and I should be around 1300 calories.
Others have posted to use an online calculator to figure out your TDEE and subtract from that.
Either way, it sounds like you'd be safe to split the difference, leaning towards the FitBit side.
I'd start somewhere around 1700 calories/day. See how you feel for the first weeks; do you feel overly hungry/starving, are you getting tired or other side affects? If so you may need to increase your Calorie intake.
If you see yourself losing 1-2 lbs a week, you're on the right track. If you're losing too fast.
At first its a bit trial and error, but the general idea: eat less, burn more. Working out will help burn more & help get you fit and healthier, but isn't essential to weight loss.
Good luck! Once you get started it'll make a lot more sense once the weight starts dropping.

dyerm8 wrote: »

I'm currently 5'4 210 pounds trying to get down to 145. I've been reading online about calorie goals and such and I'm only getting more confused. I'm looking for help/advice on how to lose weight such as how many calories to eat a day and workouts. My fitness pal is telling me 1,400 to lose a pound and half a week. Do I eat those many calories and workout 3-5 days a week?

Fitbit takes into account all the activity it has tracked you doing and your calorie goal there is a set deficit based off of your Fitbit calorie burn (Fitbit estimated TDEE). So fitbit takes into account BMR + tracked daily activity + exercise calorie burns.

MFP estimates the calories you will burn in a day WITHOUT exercise included based on the activity level you selected. With MFP you are supposed to NET your calorie goal (so eat MFP goal + any calories burned through exercise).

MFP gave you 1400 calories for 1.5 lbs per week loss. That means MFP thinks you will burn 2150 calories per day WITHOUT exercise.
Is your fitbit calorie burn higher than 2150?
What activity level did you select?
How many steps did your Fitbit track?

for general reference:
<5000 steps/day = 'sedentary
5000-7499 steps/day = low active
7500-9999 steps/day = somewhat active
>or=10000 steps/day= active
>12500 steps/day= highly active
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14715035


You can sync Fitbit to MFP. You will then get adjustments to your calories goals. Example:

MFP estimates I burn 1812 calories per day at a lightly active setting. That is equal to:
75.5 calories per hour
1.258 calories per min
My Fitbit calorie burn at 10:57 pm was 2206. I have 1 hr 3 mins left in my day. MFP is going to estimate that I will maintain a lightly active setting until 11:59 pm tonight. So:
75.5+3.774= 79.274
79+2206 = 2285

MFP then takes 2285 (what it estimates Fitbit is going to say at 11:59 pm) minus 1812 to come up with an adjustment of 473 calories.

I have MFP set to a 500 calorie deficit.
MFP:
1812 + 473 (adjustment) - 500 (deficit) = 1785
Current Fitbit:
2250 - 500 (deficit) = 1750

Remember MFP hasn't updated with Fitbit since 10:57 pm. When it updates again, I will lose close to 30 calories or so. Not a big deal. If I set my profile to sedentary, my adjustment would be larger and I wouldn't lose more than 5-10 calories at the midnight sync if I lost any at all.

jacquifrench304 wrote: »

Also fit bit says you burn 1800
MFP says eat 1400,
1800 your body uses
1400 you replace with food
400 calories your body has to take from fat /muscle stores you have , this means you will lose around your 1.5lb a week

...I don't think she said this, and it doesn't make sense exactly. She said FitBit gives her 1800calories to eat, not that she burns 1800 calories. Her calorie burn is most likely higher than this based on weight.

I think the explanation from Shadow was very helpful, thank you!

I have lost 26lbs this way since October last year, and many many people who came before me have lost in the hundreds of lbs this way. Check out the forum "Success Stories" for motivation.

And you should right click and save this flow chart for any obstacles you may encounter along the way, it's very helpful.

dyerm8 wrote: »

shadow2soul wrote: »

dyerm8 wrote: »

I'm currently 5'4 210 pounds trying to get down to 145. I've been reading online about calorie goals and such and I'm only getting more confused. I'm looking for help/advice on how to lose weight such as how many calories to eat a day and workouts. My fitness pal is telling me 1,400 to lose a pound and half a week. Do I eat those many calories and workout 3-5 days a week?

Fitbit takes into account all the activity it has tracked you doing and your calorie goal there is a set deficit based off of your Fitbit calorie burn (Fitbit estimated TDEE). So fitbit takes into account BMR + tracked daily activity + exercise calorie burns.

MFP estimates the calories you will burn in a day WITHOUT exercise included based on the activity level you selected. With MFP you are supposed to NET your calorie goal (so eat MFP goal + any calories burned through exercise).

MFP gave you 1400 calories for 1.5 lbs per week loss. That means MFP thinks you will burn 2150 calories per day WITHOUT exercise.
Is your fitbit calorie burn higher than 2150?
What activity level did you select?
How many steps did your Fitbit track?

for general reference:
<5000 steps/day = 'sedentary
5000-7499 steps/day = low active
7500-9999 steps/day = somewhat active
>or=10000 steps/day= active
>12500 steps/day= highly active
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14715035


You can sync Fitbit to MFP. You will then get adjustments to your calories goals. Example:

MFP estimates I burn 1812 calories per day at a lightly active setting. That is equal to:
75.5 calories per hour
1.258 calories per min
My Fitbit calorie burn at 10:57 pm was 2206. I have 1 hr 3 mins left in my day. MFP is going to estimate that I will maintain a lightly active setting until 11:59 pm tonight. So:
75.5+3.774= 79.274
79+2206 = 2285

MFP then takes 2285 (what it estimates Fitbit is going to say at 11:59 pm) minus 1812 to come up with an adjustment of 473 calories.

I have MFP set to a 500 calorie deficit.
MFP:
1812 + 473 (adjustment) - 500 (deficit) = 1785
Current Fitbit:
2250 - 500 (deficit) = 1750

Remember MFP hasn't updated with Fitbit since 10:57 pm. When it updates again, I will lose close to 30 calories or so. Not a big deal. If I set my profile to sedentary, my adjustment would be larger and I wouldn't lose more than 5-10 calories at the midnight sync if I lost any at all.

My fitbit has my calories burned at 2,168 for the goal daily. My steps vary from 2,000 a day all the way up to 15,000 a day.
What are the adjustments for?

Not the goal. Look at what it says you've actually burned. The goal is just something to try to achieve.

Adjustments are to keep your calories reasonable to your activity.
More Activity (positive adjustment) = Can eat more and still maintain a reasonable rate of loss
Less Activity (negative adjustment) = need to eat less to maintain your desired rate of loss

Example:
MFP estimates 1812 calorie burn.
Fitbit says 2281 calories burned for the day based on what it tracked (10,098 steps).
That's a 469 calorie difference. To maintain my selected deficit, I need to eat 469 calories more than my original MFP goal.

Now say I was lazy.
MFP estimates 1812 calorie burn for the day.
Fitbit says 1616 calories burned for the day based on what it tracked (3,172 steps).
That's a 196 calorie difference. In my case, I'm going to lose 112 calories from my goal. Why? Because MFP bottoms out at 1200 calories and to take 196 away from my goal would put me below 1200. It takes the calories away to try and keep me at a 500 calorie deficit.

dyerm8 wrote: »

shadow2soul wrote: »

dyerm8 wrote: »

shadow2soul wrote: »

dyerm8 wrote: »

I'm currently 5'4 210 pounds trying to get down to 145. I've been reading online about calorie goals and such and I'm only getting more confused. I'm looking for help/advice on how to lose weight such as how many calories to eat a day and workouts. My fitness pal is telling me 1,400 to lose a pound and half a week. Do I eat those many calories and workout 3-5 days a week?

Fitbit takes into account all the activity it has tracked you doing and your calorie goal there is a set deficit based off of your Fitbit calorie burn (Fitbit estimated TDEE). So fitbit takes into account BMR + tracked daily activity + exercise calorie burns.

MFP estimates the calories you will burn in a day WITHOUT exercise included based on the activity level you selected. With MFP you are supposed to NET your calorie goal (so eat MFP goal + any calories burned through exercise).

MFP gave you 1400 calories for 1.5 lbs per week loss. That means MFP thinks you will burn 2150 calories per day WITHOUT exercise.
Is your fitbit calorie burn higher than 2150?
What activity level did you select?
How many steps did your Fitbit track?

for general reference:
<5000 steps/day = 'sedentary
5000-7499 steps/day = low active
7500-9999 steps/day = somewhat active
>or=10000 steps/day= active
>12500 steps/day= highly active
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14715035


You can sync Fitbit to MFP. You will then get adjustments to your calories goals. Example:

MFP estimates I burn 1812 calories per day at a lightly active setting. That is equal to:
75.5 calories per hour
1.258 calories per min
My Fitbit calorie burn at 10:57 pm was 2206. I have 1 hr 3 mins left in my day. MFP is going to estimate that I will maintain a lightly active setting until 11:59 pm tonight. So:
75.5+3.774= 79.274
79+2206 = 2285

MFP then takes 2285 (what it estimates Fitbit is going to say at 11:59 pm) minus 1812 to come up with an adjustment of 473 calories.

I have MFP set to a 500 calorie deficit.
MFP:
1812 + 473 (adjustment) - 500 (deficit) = 1785
Current Fitbit:
2250 - 500 (deficit) = 1750

Remember MFP hasn't updated with Fitbit since 10:57 pm. When it updates again, I will lose close to 30 calories or so. Not a big deal. If I set my profile to sedentary, my adjustment would be larger and I wouldn't lose more than 5-10 calories at the midnight sync if I lost any at all.

My fitbit has my calories burned at 2,168 for the goal daily. My steps vary from 2,000 a day all the way up to 15,000 a day.
What are the adjustments for?

Not the goal. Look at what it says you've actually burned. The goal is just something to try to achieve.

Adjustments are to keep your calories reasonable to your activity.
More Activity (positive adjustment) = Can eat more and still maintain a reasonable rate of loss
Less Activity (negative adjustment) = need to eat less to maintain your desired rate of loss

Example:
MFP estimates 1812 calorie burn.
Fitbit says 2281 calories burned for the day based on what it tracked (10,098 steps).
That's a 469 calorie difference. To maintain my selected deficit, I need to eat 469 calories more than my original MFP goal.

Now say I was lazy.
MFP estimates 1812 calorie burn for the day.
Fitbit says 1616 calories burned for the day based on what it tracked (3,172 steps).
That's a 196 calorie difference. In my case, I'm going to lose 112 calories from my goal. Why? Because MFP bottoms out at 1200 calories and to take 196 away from my goal would put me below 1200. It takes the calories away to try and keep me at a 500 calorie deficit.

Okay I think I understand it now, thank you. So my setting should be okay now since MFP will adjust itself from my calories burned from fitbit.

As long as you don't go double-logging, yes. You'll see food appear in the food section of your fitbit dashboard, because MFP is adding that to it (it's symbiotic), but you should only ever log food in MFP, and any exercise that fitbit can't/doesn't count. Aside from swimming, that would be like a walk you took while you were charging your fitbit.

dyerm8 wrote: »

CoffeeNCardio wrote: »

dyerm8 wrote: »

shadow2soul wrote: »

dyerm8 wrote: »

shadow2soul wrote: »

dyerm8 wrote: »

I'm currently 5'4 210 pounds trying to get down to 145. I've been reading online about calorie goals and such and I'm only getting more confused. I'm looking for help/advice on how to lose weight such as how many calories to eat a day and workouts. My fitness pal is telling me 1,400 to lose a pound and half a week. Do I eat those many calories and workout 3-5 days a week?

Fitbit takes into account all the activity it has tracked you doing and your calorie goal there is a set deficit based off of your Fitbit calorie burn (Fitbit estimated TDEE). So fitbit takes into account BMR + tracked daily activity + exercise calorie burns.

MFP estimates the calories you will burn in a day WITHOUT exercise included based on the activity level you selected. With MFP you are supposed to NET your calorie goal (so eat MFP goal + any calories burned through exercise).

MFP gave you 1400 calories for 1.5 lbs per week loss. That means MFP thinks you will burn 2150 calories per day WITHOUT exercise.
Is your fitbit calorie burn higher than 2150?
What activity level did you select?
How many steps did your Fitbit track?

for general reference:
<5000 steps/day = 'sedentary
5000-7499 steps/day = low active
7500-9999 steps/day = somewhat active
>or=10000 steps/day= active
>12500 steps/day= highly active
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14715035


You can sync Fitbit to MFP. You will then get adjustments to your calories goals. Example:

MFP estimates I burn 1812 calories per day at a lightly active setting. That is equal to:
75.5 calories per hour
1.258 calories per min
My Fitbit calorie burn at 10:57 pm was 2206. I have 1 hr 3 mins left in my day. MFP is going to estimate that I will maintain a lightly active setting until 11:59 pm tonight. So:
75.5+3.774= 79.274
79+2206 = 2285

MFP then takes 2285 (what it estimates Fitbit is going to say at 11:59 pm) minus 1812 to come up with an adjustment of 473 calories.

I have MFP set to a 500 calorie deficit.
MFP:
1812 + 473 (adjustment) - 500 (deficit) = 1785
Current Fitbit:
2250 - 500 (deficit) = 1750

Remember MFP hasn't updated with Fitbit since 10:57 pm. When it updates again, I will lose close to 30 calories or so. Not a big deal. If I set my profile to sedentary, my adjustment would be larger and I wouldn't lose more than 5-10 calories at the midnight sync if I lost any at all.

My fitbit has my calories burned at 2,168 for the goal daily. My steps vary from 2,000 a day all the way up to 15,000 a day.
What are the adjustments for?

Not the goal. Look at what it says you've actually burned. The goal is just something to try to achieve.

Adjustments are to keep your calories reasonable to your activity.
More Activity (positive adjustment) = Can eat more and still maintain a reasonable rate of loss
Less Activity (negative adjustment) = need to eat less to maintain your desired rate of loss

Example:
MFP estimates 1812 calorie burn.
Fitbit says 2281 calories burned for the day based on what it tracked (10,098 steps).
That's a 469 calorie difference. To maintain my selected deficit, I need to eat 469 calories more than my original MFP goal.

Now say I was lazy.
MFP estimates 1812 calorie burn for the day.
Fitbit says 1616 calories burned for the day based on what it tracked (3,172 steps).
That's a 196 calorie difference. In my case, I'm going to lose 112 calories from my goal. Why? Because MFP bottoms out at 1200 calories and to take 196 away from my goal would put me below 1200. It takes the calories away to try and keep me at a 500 calorie deficit.

Okay I think I understand it now, thank you. So my setting should be okay now since MFP will adjust itself from my calories burned from fitbit.

As long as you don't go double-logging, yes. You'll see food appear in the food section of your fitbit dashboard, because MFP is adding that to it (it's symbiotic), but you should only ever log food in MFP, and any exercise that fitbit can't/doesn't count. Aside from swimming, that would be like a walk you took while you were charging your fitbit.

Okay so for example my calories burned yesterday was 2,134 from fitbit so MFP would subtract 750 saying I can eat 1,384 taking away 16 calories from my 1400 goal but on Monday my daily burn was 2,833 MFP would subtract 750 saying I could eat 2,083 calories and still meet my goal? this includes reducing my food intake and excersing more correct?

Yes. Exactly right. Couldn't have explained it better. It does the math entirely on it's own so all you have to do to make this happen is eat the number it tells you to. Don't be surprised if this number shifts aroudnd a bit during the day though. MFP adjusts the number throughout the day so that if you have a really burny morning and a lazy afternoon, it can account for that and keep you on track. Eventually, after watching it day to day, you're going to get a sense for how accurate it is.

Example: At 8am, I haven't done anything yet that burns a significant amount of calories. So MFP sort of assumes I'm gonna have a lazy day and adjusts accordingly, giving me a negative adjustment. But by 9 I've been up chasing a 2 year old around for an hour, so by that time of day, MFP has corrected and now shows a positive adjustment (eat more).

I know this is happening because I've watched it happening for three months. I can guesstimate having about a 200 calorie positive adjustment on a normal day for me. You will, over a period of time learn how yours goes on a regular day and you'll be able to say "hey, it's only 8am, I know I'm not really over by X calories, it's just not caught up to me doing all this yoga yet." Just check it often throughout the day to make sure you're on track til you have enough data to confidently say "I know what this is going to look like tonight at 11pm, so I can totally have this 160 calorie bag of pretzels right now even though MFP hasn't caught on yet"

dyerm8 wrote: »

CoffeeNCardio wrote: »

dyerm8 wrote: »

CoffeeNCardio wrote: »

dyerm8 wrote: »

shadow2soul wrote: »

dyerm8 wrote: »

shadow2soul wrote: »

dyerm8 wrote: »

I'm currently 5'4 210 pounds trying to get down to 145. I've been reading online about calorie goals and such and I'm only getting more confused. I'm looking for help/advice on how to lose weight such as how many calories to eat a day and workouts. My fitness pal is telling me 1,400 to lose a pound and half a week. Do I eat those many calories and workout 3-5 days a week?

Fitbit takes into account all the activity it has tracked you doing and your calorie goal there is a set deficit based off of your Fitbit calorie burn (Fitbit estimated TDEE). So fitbit takes into account BMR + tracked daily activity + exercise calorie burns.

MFP estimates the calories you will burn in a day WITHOUT exercise included based on the activity level you selected. With MFP you are supposed to NET your calorie goal (so eat MFP goal + any calories burned through exercise).

MFP gave you 1400 calories for 1.5 lbs per week loss. That means MFP thinks you will burn 2150 calories per day WITHOUT exercise.
Is your fitbit calorie burn higher than 2150?
What activity level did you select?
How many steps did your Fitbit track?

for general reference:
<5000 steps/day = 'sedentary
5000-7499 steps/day = low active
7500-9999 steps/day = somewhat active
>or=10000 steps/day= active
>12500 steps/day= highly active
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14715035


You can sync Fitbit to MFP. You will then get adjustments to your calories goals. Example:

MFP estimates I burn 1812 calories per day at a lightly active setting. That is equal to:
75.5 calories per hour
1.258 calories per min
My Fitbit calorie burn at 10:57 pm was 2206. I have 1 hr 3 mins left in my day. MFP is going to estimate that I will maintain a lightly active setting until 11:59 pm tonight. So:
75.5+3.774= 79.274
79+2206 = 2285

MFP then takes 2285 (what it estimates Fitbit is going to say at 11:59 pm) minus 1812 to come up with an adjustment of 473 calories.

I have MFP set to a 500 calorie deficit.
MFP:
1812 + 473 (adjustment) - 500 (deficit) = 1785
Current Fitbit:
2250 - 500 (deficit) = 1750

Remember MFP hasn't updated with Fitbit since 10:57 pm. When it updates again, I will lose close to 30 calories or so. Not a big deal. If I set my profile to sedentary, my adjustment would be larger and I wouldn't lose more than 5-10 calories at the midnight sync if I lost any at all.

My fitbit has my calories burned at 2,168 for the goal daily. My steps vary from 2,000 a day all the way up to 15,000 a day.
What are the adjustments for?

Not the goal. Look at what it says you've actually burned. The goal is just something to try to achieve.

Adjustments are to keep your calories reasonable to your activity.
More Activity (positive adjustment) = Can eat more and still maintain a reasonable rate of loss
Less Activity (negative adjustment) = need to eat less to maintain your desired rate of loss

Example:
MFP estimates 1812 calorie burn.
Fitbit says 2281 calories burned for the day based on what it tracked (10,098 steps).
That's a 469 calorie difference. To maintain my selected deficit, I need to eat 469 calories more than my original MFP goal.

Now say I was lazy.
MFP estimates 1812 calorie burn for the day.
Fitbit says 1616 calories burned for the day based on what it tracked (3,172 steps).
That's a 196 calorie difference. In my case, I'm going to lose 112 calories from my goal. Why? Because MFP bottoms out at 1200 calories and to take 196 away from my goal would put me below 1200. It takes the calories away to try and keep me at a 500 calorie deficit.

Okay I think I understand it now, thank you. So my setting should be okay now since MFP will adjust itself from my calories burned from fitbit.

As long as you don't go double-logging, yes. You'll see food appear in the food section of your fitbit dashboard, because MFP is adding that to it (it's symbiotic), but you should only ever log food in MFP, and any exercise that fitbit can't/doesn't count. Aside from swimming, that would be like a walk you took while you were charging your fitbit.

Okay so for example my calories burned yesterday was 2,134 from fitbit so MFP would subtract 750 saying I can eat 1,384 taking away 16 calories from my 1400 goal but on Monday my daily burn was 2,833 MFP would subtract 750 saying I could eat 2,083 calories and still meet my goal? this includes reducing my food intake and excersing more correct?

Yes. Exactly right. Couldn't have explained it better. It does the math entirely on it's own so all you have to do to make this happen is eat the number it tells you to. Don't be surprised if this number shifts aroudnd a bit during the day though. MFP adjusts the number throughout the day so that if you have a really burny morning and a lazy afternoon, it can account for that and keep you on track. Eventually, after watching it day to day, you're going to get a sense for how accurate it is.

Example: At 8am, I haven't done anything yet that burns a significant amount of calories. So MFP sort of assumes I'm gonna have a lazy day and adjusts accordingly, giving me a negative adjustment. But by 9 I've been up chasing a 2 year old around for an hour, so by that time of day, MFP has corrected and now shows a positive adjustment (eat more).

I know this is happening because I've watched it happening for three months. I can guesstimate having about a 200 calorie positive adjustment on a normal day for me. You will, over a period of time learn how yours goes on a regular day and you'll be able to say "hey, it's only 8am, I know I'm not really over by X calories, it's just not caught up to me doing all this yoga yet." Just check it often throughout the day to make sure you're on track til you have enough data to confidently say "I know what this is going to look like tonight at 11pm, so I can totally have this 160 calorie bag of pretzels right now even though MFP hasn't caught on yet"

What if you don't eat those calories back? I work in the food industry and I'm a closer so I dint get off until 11. I usually don't get a break so that means no dinner. Is that going to affect anything?

The standard advice is that you should eat back 50-75% of your exercise calories, then adjust if that's not resulting in weight loss. Not eating back your exercise calories can be unhealthy if you're creating too much of a deficit. The idea is to NET 1400 or whatever you're set to for optimum health while losing. So If your burn is 2500 and you only eat the 1400, you have created a deficit of 1100 calories, and that's really just not enough to sustain a person burning 2500 calories. If you don't do this healthy, you won't do it. It's too painful that way and thus too hard to stick to.

It's actually illegal for a job not to give you a break if you work over 4 hours (could be six, I forget), but I know we all have to live, and I've myself been in that position. Hold that fact over their heads and advise them you WILL be taking a federally mandated 15 minute break to eat, or if you're not one for confrontation you can buy some protein bars and eat one whenever you have time. I like the "Zone Perfect" cookies and cream flavor. 10 grams of protein, other vitamins and nutrients and it tastes awesome. 180 calories if you can manage to stop at just one, I never can, they're delicious. And you can scarf one down in all of three seconds. They can hardly argue with you about that if they're deliberately blowing off your break.

CoffeeNCardio wrote: »

How to Enable Negative Adjustments[/b]: Go to Settings....Diary Settings...scroll down and put a check in the box labeled Enable Negative adjustments

Is this only for paying users cuz I don't see that and I'm in a lul right now so upset cuz I stopped seeing results weeks ago. I've been PERFECT and nothing. I've been having stomach issues but I'm getting agrivated!