calorie discrepancies

AlexBoBalex79
AlexBoBalex79 Posts: 99 Member
edited December 1 in Social Groups
I'm just curious about that discrepancy with calories between fit bit and my fitness pal. Who should I believe? It shows that I have about 984 cal left to meet my goal. My fitness pal app only shows 84 cal left. They are synced, they both show the same amount of calories from the food log so that's accurate. I checked the frequently asked questions I hope I didn't miss this topic!

Replies

  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Try this and see what happens:

    Go to the fitbit website (can't be done from the app)
    Go to " Log " from your Fitbit Dashboard
    Scroll down to where you see " Food Plan "
    In the top right hand corner of the box labeled " Food Plan " you should see a gear icon
    Hover your mouse over that gear
    Change the setting from " Personalized " to " Sedentary "

    Now see if your calories remaining is closer on both sites.
  • AlexBoBalex79
    AlexBoBalex79 Posts: 99 Member
    Got it. Should I also change the Manual Calorie Consumption Target to 1200 (which is what MFP is) ?
  • AlexBoBalex79
    AlexBoBalex79 Posts: 99 Member
    edited April 2016
    NM- I found the Sedentary setting on another screen. I changed it to that (ignored the Manual Calorie Consumption Target) and now my calories are much closer. MFP says 312 left and Fitbit says 283.

    Thank you Shadow2soul!
  • zeroone614
    zeroone614 Posts: 13 Member
    Oh my God, thank you so much! This has been annoying the heck out of me for weeks. I never understood why fitbit seemed to have me on 2400 calories...
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Suusik wrote: »
    Well in my case (and I use Fitbit for more than a year) it shows me around 400 kale more remaining on MFP than on Fitbit. Hence I followed MFP but now I see in Fitbit that I am always in "red" zone.
    Do you thin adjust as you suggested is right way?

    @Suuskik - Do you have MFP synced to your Fitbit? Also check to see if you have the same deficit selected on both sites.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Suusik wrote: »
    Regarding deficit my Fitbit has 1000 kale deficit but MFP shows 1500 as Remaining
    I did not setup 1500
    Is it the same as deficit?
    I am a little bit confused

    On the food plan tile on Fitbit did you select to have the same rate of loss (deficit off your maintenance calories) as you selected on MFP?

    If there is a 500 calorie difference between the 2, one might be set for 2 lbs per week and the other set for 1 lb per week. Or if Negative adjustments is disabled, Fitbit could be thinking you burned 500 calories less than MFP's prediction.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Suusik wrote: »
    I checked that in Fitbit I set deficit 1000 in order to lose 2 pounds.
    In MFP I found in Profile setting Goals. For Calories it was set to default 1500. I also selected 2 pounds per week
    Question: should I change in MFP Goal to 1000 as well? It sounds to me that 1000 is not enough and 1500 should be min
    Sorry but still confused :)

    1500 is the minimum for guys on MFP (based on information from the National Institute of Health). I'm not sure where you are at weight wise, but maybe 1000 calorie deficit is too large for you to have. Fitbit doesn't have a minimum setting (it would tell me to eat around 600-800 cals some days if I selected to lose 2 lbs per week).

    If you go into your exercise diary on MFP, click the little " i " next to where it says Fitbit Calorie Adjustment. The math that it pulls up should show you what MFP thinks you would maintain at.
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