Do you eat back calories earned from fit bit?
Molly_234
Posts: 89 Member
I am 5'2 136 pounds with a goal weight of 115. My daily calorie goal is 1400 but today it is adding 450 calories just from walking and doing my normal routine and it's only noon!. How is it possible to be in a deficient and eat over 1800 calories? It just doesn't not sound right to me.
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Replies
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I feel like my Fitbit overestimates calories burned so I don't eat them. My calorie goal is 1970 though so it's plenty. I don't usually feel the need to eat more than that.2
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what's your activity setting on MFP?0
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I eat back all my Fitbit calories. I did this when I was losing weight and I am still doing it now that I am maintaining. I know other people here have also had success with this method.
If your daily routine includes movement, it's very possible that 1,800 calories could be a deficit for you. The way to find out would be to eat back your adjustments and monitor the results. If you find you don't lose or even gain, then you know it's too much and you can adjust. Another thing you could try would be to eat back a portion of the results. If you find yourself losing too quickly, you can always eat back more.
Your real life results are always going to be your best guide.7 -
leooftheyear wrote: »what's your activity setting on MFP?
I put sedentary because I work a desk job and pretty much sit all day long. I do exercise 3 to 5 days a week. Nothing crazy just some cycling and a little strength training. I don't feel like I work out hard enough to log the exercise.
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Mine are extremely high, so I don't eat anywhere near all of them1
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I like to drink them.11
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Are you losing? If so then eat some of them back. I use them as a buffer, I eat up to 50% of mine, depends how the day is going though. I agree it feels odd eating them back. Try it and see how you go0
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Half way through my 60 lb loss I synced a fitbit, ate the extra calories it gave me and my loss completely stopped for a few months. I think the extra steps were covering for logging errors. Unhooked them and picked the loss back up.2
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1800 would put my sister in a deficit and she is smaller than you...
I eat them back when I need them otherwise eh as long as I hit 1600 gross I am good.2 -
I don't eat more just because it says I have extra calories after a workout. I try to stick to my meal plan and only snack if I'm hungry.1
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I don't eat them back. If I get super hungry and I worked out that day I may let myself have 100-200cal back but usually I stick to my calorie goal.2
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Depends on the day/my hunger levels. Like an above poster, I use them as a buffer. Try to not eat more than 50% of them though, if I can help it.1
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KANGOOJUMPS wrote: »I like to drink them.
Vouch.0 -
Totally off topic, but whenever I see this thread listed, I read it as "do you eat black calories....."
And I'm all confused thinking there is yet ANOTHER fitness/weight loss thing I have to learn about....black calories.0 -
Totally off topic, but whenever I see this thread listed, I read it as "do you eat black calories....."
And I'm all confused thinking there is yet ANOTHER fitness/weight loss thing I have to learn about....black calories.
Excuse me, they prefer to be called African American calories, thank you. ;P1 -
my bad.
I was thinking of it in terms of an account...red bad, black good!0 -
I only eat mine back if I'm hungry. I just make sure I eat enough to get my 1200 net. The only time I don't do that is on a saterday night. On saterday I like to go to the pub for a drink or two with some freinds. I make sure I walk there to get extra steps in and I have all my exercise callories.1
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Some, but not all - I too feel like it's too generous with calories burned.2
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I agree with @janejellyroll. My Fitbit is very accurate at calculating my TDEE. When I eat back my calories I still lose. I am set to sedentary so that on a weekend that is lazier than normal, I simply don't have as many extra calories to eat.2
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1800 would put my sister in a deficit and she is smaller than you...
I eat them back when I need them otherwise eh as long as I hit 1600 gross I am good.
And I'm 5'4 114lbs and I would be gaining mad weight on 1800cals. I bulked on 1750. Can't compare person to person.
At OP...I'm also set to sedentary and get similar Fitbit calories. Again...if I ate them all I would definitely be gaining. I tend to eat 1/4-1/2 of them depending on how much I feel I can get away with based on my day.
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1800 would put my sister in a deficit and she is smaller than you...
I eat them back when I need them otherwise eh as long as I hit 1600 gross I am good.
And I'm 5'4 114lbs and I would be gaining mad weight on 1800cals. I bulked on 1750. Can't compare person to person.
At OP...I'm also set to sedentary and get similar Fitbit calories. Again...if I ate them all I would definitely be gaining. I tend to eat 1/4-1/2 of them depending on how much I feel I can get away with based on my day.
TDEE is based on activity...
"How is it possible to be in a deficient and eat over 1800 calories? It just doesn't not sound right to me." and the OP stated the this...and I was just letting her know that yes it could be valid...
So in this instance not comparing just alleviating fear...
PS bulking on 1750 seems a bit low for someone your size...you either don't use a food scale and aren't totally accurate with your log or you aren't very active...3 -
The exercise calories from the MFP database are more generous than what I get from my FitBit One. I can safely eat 100% of them back.0
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kshama2001 wrote: »The exercise calories from the MFP database are more generous than what I get from my FitBit One. I can safely eat 100% of them back.
Good to know...I am fairly new to fitbit...my other tracker I found wasn't the best for it...1 -
Do Fitbits have an accuracy spec?0
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OP - here is my story, and I'm similar stats to you.
5'2, 42, Desk Job. SW - 153. CW - maintaining at 120 (range of 4 lbs).
I started MFP about 4 years ago and chose sedentary for my activity level (at the time I certainly was). I chose 1 lb/week weight loss with a goal to get down to 125 lbs. I got a 1200 cal goal. I knew I was supposed to eat exercise cals back, but I still found 1200 NET too hard to adhere to, so I was almost always over. I raised my goal to 1400 net, still eating back exercise calories, still losing 1 lb/week. In 6 months I lost about 18 lbs - pretty much right at 1 lb/week and eating 1600 or so calories. I was walking, and starting to get more active.
After 6 months I got a FitBit and realized that I was averaging about 8-10K steps/day regularly. My exercise adjustments were pretty high: 300-500 cals, certainly more than I was logging when I was manually entering exercise on MFP. I got good advice on these boards that step counts of that level are really not considered sedentary, and so I changed my activity level to lightly active, and it increased my baseline calorie target (plus at that point I switched to 0.5 lb/week). Once I did that, the exercise adjustments were smaller, and more representative of my actual exercise. Over the next 6 months I lost about another 10 lbs, and ultimately ended up losing a total of 30 or more lbs before considering myself officially in maintenance.
Now I average 15K steps/day, do some light circuit training, and my TDEE according to my FitBit is ~2200. So yeah, I lost most of my weight eating between 1600-1900 calories, trusting the FitBit, and even though I'm petite and have a desk job, I definitely lose weight eating 1800 calories.
You may be similar - how many steps do you regularly take and what does FitBit say your Total Calories Burned are?
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I've had a fitbit for about 5 months now. I have both the fitbit and mfp set to lightly active and a loss of 0.5lb a week. I sync cals burned for steps. I usually try to leave a couple hundred cals behind for some wiggle room, because some days I'm hungrier than others and I like to know I can eat them if I want. I have lost about 6.5 pounds since that time. That said, I only had about 10 pounds to lose.
I think it's pretty accurate for me. It could be that because you aren't actually sedentary, you're getting more calorie credit because you've said that you are. If you bumped to lightly active, your daily calories would increase, and your daily adjustment would decrease - but in the end, the amount of calories to remain at a deficit should even out.
I agree with the other posters who say... log your food, eat back a portion of the cals. If you stop losing, then eat back less. If you lose too fast, eat back more. Each person's body will respond at a different pace. You need to pay attention to what's happening in your body and adjust accordingly.3 -
I have my fitbit and mfp synced I have been losing at a pretty good rate about 1lb a week I don't eat all of my fitbit calories somedays I don't eat any but most days I use it as a buffer incase we go out to eat and right now with 5,000 steps it gave me 280 calories so far0
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I eat based on TDEE and use my ChargeHR to help determine this.0
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I have a fitbit one and eat all my exercise calories (which are just walking) as I have my level set to sedentary. I am losing as expected. I as guessing that maybe some of the fancier heart rate fitbits might have a problem if your heart rate is unusual, or a wrist fitbit might have a problem if you move your arms alot. Mine is clipped to my bra so no extra movements.0
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I was just noticing Molly what are you set at to have a calorie goal of 1700 at your size. I am way taller and way heavier than you and I get only 1370 for 1 1/2 lbs per week.1
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