Fit bit calories different than MFP calories please help!
Molly_234
Posts: 89 Member
I am set to lightly active with .5lb goal loss. That gives me 1600 calories but I have my fit bit synced and it's adding 300 calories from my steps. I checked my fit bit calories and it's telling me only 1300 calories to eat. I am so confused. I have it set so MFP can adjust calories by how many steps I get every day so I don't understand why the apps have different calories.
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Replies
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Your food plan in Fitbit for your target weight loss might be different than the one you have MFP set to.1
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My advice: ignore Fitbit's calorie goal and stick with MFP's. I frequently see different numbers on mine. As long as the adjustments are coming over, you should be fine as long as you're not switching back and forth between calorie goals.1
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I disabled my food plan in fitbit and put it on the setting as set my own and then I put it to sedentary on both fitbit and MFP and it seems to be working really well I have lost 30lbs I don't eat back all my exercise calories but use them as a buffer if I need an extra snack or we go out to eat0
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Unsync it. I had the Fitbit flex and haven't worn it in about 6 months, I don't care about steps. I have a desk job but I go to the gym 5-6 days a week and do a mix of lifting and cardio. I never could get the 10,000 steps even on days where I took walks and went home and jogged! The only thing I think would be helpful to me would be a quality heart rate monitor.2
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Fitbit & MFP use different methods to tell you what calories to eat.
MFP uses your stated activity level, and tells you to eat 1600. (Based on your post.) It uses your stats, activity level, and weight loss goal to arrive at this. MFP assumes you will burn 1850 total in a day.
MFP does not know when in the day you're active, when you're sleeping, etc. When it syncs w/ Fitbit, it gets an actual calorie burn - so far for the day - and compares to what it expected. If at noon MFP expects you to be at 925 (1/2 of 1850) and Fitbit says you are at 1225 so far, then MFP says you've earned an extra 300 because you are 300 ahead. MFP still assumes you will burn the other 925 between noon and midnight. The sync result will change each time you sync, sometimes going up and sometimes going down. If you are very active in the morning and not active at night, the Fitbit allowance will decrease. If you're more active at night, you may go thru the day without a Fitbit adjustment and then earn it later.
Fitbit, on the other hand, gives you calorie burn goal based on the movement you have done so far and assumes only BMR for the rest of the day. So if your BMR is 1200 per day (example purposes only, I don't know your BMR) and at noon you've only burned 950, Fitbit is assuming you will only burn another 600 (1/2 of 1200) meaning you'd end at 1550 and so for .5 pound loss Fitbit would be saying to eat 1300. But as you move more thru the day, you earn additional calories. So the Fitbit 'calories to eat' will always increase each time you check the app.
In short, MFP assumes you are 'lightly active' ALL DAY for each of the remaining hours. Fitbit only gives you credit for what you've earned. So if you're not happy with the 1300, keep moving.
If Fitbit and MFP are set to the same goal, then the prior days should be pretty much the same. Its only the current day, during the day: that they differ. Right now MFP is saying I have 234 left (I've logged dinner but so far have only had a very small lunch) and Fitbit says I'm 11 calories over. It seems like a discrepancy but its just a difference in what they predict for the time from now til midnight.I am set to lightly active with .5lb goal loss. That gives me 1600 calories but I have my fit bit synced and it's adding 300 calories from my steps. I checked my fit bit calories and it's telling me only 1300 calories to eat. I am so confused. I have it set so MFP can adjust calories by how many steps I get every day so I don't understand why the apps have different calories.
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Ps-make sure your MFP and Fitbit are set to the same weight loss goals.0
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Just follow one or the other, I'd recommend MFP's.0
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I am set to lightly active with .5lb goal loss. That gives me 1600 calories but I have my fit bit synced and it's adding 300 calories from my steps. I checked my fit bit calories and it's telling me only 1300 calories to eat. I am so confused. I have it set so MFP can adjust calories by how many steps I get every day so I don't understand why the apps have different calories.
MFP assumes you will live until midnight and FitBit does not.
I also assume you will live until midnight - use calories from MFP.6 -
I would ignore fitbit. It told my brother hes burnt 2400 calories a day sitting on his bum. Hes not tall and hes not overweight ... he definitly has not burnt 2400 calories1
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josephinemay92 wrote: »I would ignore fitbit. It told my brother hes burnt 2400 calories a day sitting on his bum. Hes not tall and hes not overweight ... he definitly has not burnt 2400 calories
You might be surprised. Guys have higher bmr than gals. A 25 year old, 5'10" 175 pounds (healthy weight for the height) would have a BMR in the area of 1800/day. Then even regular, day to day activity for an inactive person would burn an additional 400-600.3 -
MFP assumes that you're going to stay active during the day - they always give me 100-150 extra calories back that disappear overnight.
So I suggest you trust fitbit, personally. At least the 'calories left' part of the dashboard is always accurate for me...1 -
Yes he probably has burned that and that's just his BMRjosephinemay92 wrote: »I would ignore fitbit. It told my brother hes burnt 2400 calories a day sitting on his bum. Hes not tall and hes not overweight ... he definitly has not burnt 2400 calories
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MFP assumes that you're going to stay active during the day - they always give me 100-150 extra calories back that disappear overnight.
So I suggest you trust fitbit, personally. At least the 'calories left' part of the dashboard is always accurate for me...
Ack! Now I'm confused. It's almost 7pm Fitbit says I'm 7 calories over Mfp says I ate 1292 - 407 = 885 net. I'm pretty much done for the night. I thought I was to rely on Mfp. But your saying I will lose calories in Fitbit because I'm going to bed soon and will be over even more than the 7 calories?0 -
My Fitbit won't adjust my calories up until the very end of the day. It's really weird. It will say "calorie adjustment -70" then give an accurate steps number, all afternoon. Then right before dinner, it will change from -70 to +100-200ish. By then the Fitbit app is saying that I've burned 1800-2000, the calorie adjustment to the MFP app doesn't reflect my Fitbit numbers until just before bed. I do my workouts in the morning, and I also walk my kids to and from school, and am up and about most of the morning and afternoon, so if I understand the way it works the MFP calorie numbers should appear higher in the morning, but disappear when I become inactive towards the evening. But it does the exact opposite!
I logged my desert around 8:30pm. MFP was only showing +200 for my 11,000 steps, plus 55 min tabatta workout from this morning. According to The Fitbit, I have burned 2,700 cal today, I only ate 1,400 based on my goals in MFP. According to MFP after logging all my food I had a cal surplus of 150ish calories. That was about two hours ago. Just now when I got in bed I checked again and the Fitbit calorie adjustment finally caught up and gave me nearly 700 exercise calories. I'm done for the day so my giant surplus will stay.
This happened yesterday too. Fitbit says I burned over 3000 calories yesterday, but MFP didn't give me the calorie adjustment till after 10pm.leanjogreen18 wrote: »Ack! Now I'm confused. It's almost 7pm Fitbit says I'm 7 calories over Mfp says I ate 1292 - 407 = 885 net. I'm pretty much done for the night. I thought I was to rely on Mfp. But your saying I will lose calories in Fitbit because I'm going to bed soon and will be over even more than the 7 calories?
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I think Fitbit grossly overestimates calories. At least for me. I would just go with MFP calories and don't worry about the Fitbit ones.0
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Bangs head. OP your question was addressed in your other thred about your calories. Beyond that read the FAQ of the Fitbit group here on MFP.
In this thread @staciemarie1976 has explained the mechanism correctly.
The counts between the two apps are equal at midnight and differ in between.
Eat what MFP says. Log exercise and burn via Fitbit is the easiest way to get it right without a full understanding of integration. (Or re read what I wrote in your other thread)
For a whole whack of people who log fairly accurately and engage in step based activities Fitbit's tdee estimation is accurate within 1% to 10% of reality.
You have no reason to assume apriory that your tools suck.
Use them as intended and if in 4-6 weeks they appear to be innacurate use your accurate logging to adjust.
Trending weight apps and web sites are a good thing and help you evaluate your true progress...
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I gave up with having it synced to MFP. It was just giving me too many extra calories. I wish it were differentI think Fitbit grossly overestimates calories. At least for me. I would just go with MFP calories and don't worry about the Fitbit ones.
I want to be able to eat an extra 800 calories a day, lol! 1 -
I use both apps. Track calories in MFP and track your steps in Fitbit. Just ignore the calories Fitbit.0
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Bangs head. OP your question was addressed in your other thred about your calories. Beyond that read the FAQ of the Fitbit group here on MFP.
In this thread @staciemarie1976 has explained the mechanism correctly.
The counts between the two apps are equal at midnight and differ in between.
Eat what MFP says. Log exercise and burn via Fitbit is the easiest way to get it right without a full understanding of integration. (Or re read what I wrote in your other thread)
For a whole whack of people who log fairly accurately and engage in step based activities Fitbit's tdee estimation is accurate within 1% to 10% of reality.
You have no reason to assume apriory that your tools suck.
Use them as intended and if in 4-6 weeks they appear to be innacurate use your accurate logging to adjust.
Trending weight apps and web sites are a good thing and help you evaluate your true progress...
This. All the people telling you to unsync it don't understand how the two work together.
It's appalling to me how this lack of knowledge keeps spreading as gospel.
In my experience, the people who find that Fitbit isn't "accurate" haven't taken time to calibrate it and don't understand how it works or interacts with MFP.2
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