Eating back fitbit adjustment

Why do you have MFP set to 1200 calories? Did you set this manually or did MFP/Fitbit assign you this cap?

If you are going to be eating back what you exercise I would suggest that you set your MFP activity level to sedentary and enable negative calorie adjustments: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

I have a Fitbit Zip and it helped me lose quite a bit of weight. I set the MFP level to sedentary, enabled negative calorie adjustments from Fitbit, and set a goal to lose 1lb a week. I then ate back most of my exercise calories beyond the 500 a day deficit needed to lose the weight. By following this plan, I lost 30 pounds in six months.

BUT - and it's a big one - I also wore my Fitbit 24/7 and religiously weighed and logged all my meals. Also, most of my exercise came from walking or jogging very long distances. For walking and jogging related exercises, I've found the Fitbit calorie burn to be quite accurate. However, if you're engaged in other activities (weight-lifting, for example), the estimates provided by Fitbit may either overestimate or underestimate calorie burn.

Now that you've set the negative adjustment, be sure to periodically sync your Fitbit so it updates your remaining calories. I sync mine manually at least 3 or 4 times a day. It doesn't take long. Try eating exactly the number of calories (or under) that MFP allots you each day for the next month. If you haven't started losing weight by following that plan within the next 4-5 weeks, you'll know you need to make some adjustments. Good luck!

I do not sync my fitbit with MFP.

I use my Fitbit sync with MFP. I don't manually add any excersize to MFP unless it's water based and I take my Fitbit off. Majority of my excersize is walking and running.

I find the Fitbit very motivating to keep moving especially since I have a desk job.

I'm set to lose 2 lbs per week and I have been pretty close to that even when eating my entire Fitbit adjustment.

To be on the safe side I'd say to assume 10% error.

Keep in mind that if you have MFP set to sedentary and you're moving 15k-18k steps per day, you are burning much more than a sedentary person. To maintain that level of activity safely longterm without suffering a loss of energy, you'll need to eat more than the bare minimum even though your starting point is 1200 per day.

ssakcik wrote: »

Got my Fitbit the other day. Still trying to work out how to best use it in my weight loss journey. So today it says I've done 18200 steps (I went for a 5k run this morning). My MFP is set at 1200 caps but I eat back what I exercise... Today it says I have a exercise adjustment of 900+. I've still have around 300 cals left and have eaten 1666 so far... (I'm in the UK and have had dinner lol). I'm not planning on eating anymore lol but just want to know for further reference and because I don't want to mess up all that I've accomplished so far... How much can I eat back? How much can I rely on the adjustment? Is my best bet just not to go over 1500 caps no matter what and stick to 1200 when I havn't exercised that day? I want to lost another 3 kg before the summer holidays (6 weeks away). I bought my first bikini in over 10 years lol.

I have trust issues with the fitbit calorie adjustment, so what I personally would do is un-sync (is that a word?) fitbit and MFP and instead change my activity level in MFP to lightly active or active. That way you don't have to worry about eating exercise calories back. You just have to be careful with being consistent. If 10k+ steps isn't your usual or isn't something you could do 6 or 7 days a week, then the fitbit adjustment might be better.

I've found my Charge HR to be very accurate. Non-dominant hand while driving is a must. And the stair thing, I've found that if I'm outside on windy days, I get more floors (weird eh). I will also take off and put in my pocket if I'm shopping or pushing a cart/stroller.

As for everything else, I'm currently eating 90-100% of my adjustment back. And still losing slowly, about .5lb a week (which is what I'm set for). Some days I will eat up to fitbit's maintenance number but that's once every 2-3 weeks when we've got an event, like a family party or such.

Currently I have mfp set for lightly active and do not have negative adjustments enabled as I'm very rarely ever that inactive. Even on my lazy days, I get about 8000 steps and burn about 1800+ calories. MFP has me at 1560 to lose .5lb a week and says my maintenance is 1796. Those days, I may get an adjustment of 50-100 calories from fitbit.