Fitbit or MFP calories?

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jackiedavis87
jackiedavis87 Posts: 10 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Do you go by the calories that Fitbit gives you or by the calories that MFP gives you? Fr. me it's almost a 500 calorie difference

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  • DizzyMissIzzy
    DizzyMissIzzy Posts: 168 Member
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    I tend to go by the Fitbit calories, assuming you have one with a HR monitor. It's much less than the MFP calories, but I'd rather underestimate than overestimate. Plus, if it tracks your heart rate, the fitbit will be more accurate at assuming your exertion levels doing the exercises.
  • jackiedavis87
    jackiedavis87 Posts: 10 Member
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    See MFP gives me 1200 calories and my Fitbit gives me 1500 most days?! It does have the heart rate
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    jackiedavis87 wrote: »
    See MFP gives me 1200 calories and my Fitbit gives me 1500 most days?! It does have the heart rate

    MFP gives you 1200 PLUS exercise calories. The 1500 Fitbit gives you would include the activity you're doing. They're likely much closer numbers than you think. Personally I always went by MFP calories and ignored FitBit
  • French_Peasant
    French_Peasant Posts: 1,639 Member
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    Does your fitbit have the weight loss deficit built in that your MFP numbers provide you? (Assuming you are aiming for weight loss and not maintenance). The number my fitbit give me is the actual calories I expend in a day; to lose weight I need to eat less than that fitbit number.

    My MFP (with exercise calories added in) and fitbit (HR charge) data tracks pretty darn closely, with the sole exception being a 500 calorie deficit reflected the in MFP numbers. The inflated exercise calories provided by MFP are counterbalanced by the fitbit counting every singe step, so the data evens out most days.

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    I synced my accounts so I wouldn't have to worry about it.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    jackiedavis87 wrote: »
    See MFP gives me 1200 calories and my Fitbit gives me 1500 most days?! It does have the heart rate

    1200 calories is a default minimum BEFORE exercise.

    When you sync your FitBit to MFP it compares your stated activity level vs. your actual activity level & determines if you EARNED additional calories. People who move more use additional calories.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

    Ideally syncing your FitBit & eating earned calories gets you back to the deficit you signed up for. Eat back a portion & see if weight loss progresses as expected. Eat more if you are losing faster, less if you are losing slower.
  • DizzyMissIzzy
    DizzyMissIzzy Posts: 168 Member
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    Ah, I misunderstood. As for how many calories I should be eating I go by MFP, I'm sorry for the confusion. As for how many calories I've burned, I trust Fitbit. I have my accounts synced so that they talk to each other and give me back the appropriate exercise calories back into my diet.
  • Michael190lbs
    Michael190lbs Posts: 1,510 Member
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    I use both neither is perfect and adjust with the scale and mirror
  • khearron26
    khearron26 Posts: 171 Member
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    I altered my MFP base calorie amount to mach my BMR. That put MFP calories pretty close to my FitBit calories. But Fitbit calculates exercise calories just a little differently than MFP............so when it comes to eating a certain amount difference between burned and consumed calories, I stick with what Fitbit tells me.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    I have my fitbit synced with mfp, so i follow mfp and slash my exercise calories in half, aka I only eat back 50% of my exercise calories, or at least i try to :wink:

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