Why is MFP giving me such a high calorie allotment!
Replies
-
Don't fast to make up for overeating. Just don't. Unless you are on a specific fasting plan, like intermittent fasting, don't just fast to punish yourself for overeating. Often that can create a fast/binge cycle, and it's just plain not a healthy or sustainable way to lose weight.
You're concerned that you're not losing weight but you just said you're over eating so you've answered your own question. I have similar stats/goals, and eat the same amount as you and have been losing weight slowly but surely for about 2.5 months. But it really took about a month to see the scale move. It all takes patience and attention to what you are logging. It will take much longer if you try to rush the process.
There's only one way to do it, calories in, calories out. It's science. Seems over simplified, but it works. Just focus on that and not going off the plan and using crash diet punishment. There's no need to make yourself miserable over it.
Yes I have over ate all week and that's why I changed my goal from 1lb to .5lb and now it's telling me 1600 calories and I'm still getting an adjustment of 200 to 300 calories plus.0 -
My FitBit is telling me I need 1300 calories and MFP is telling me 1800.0
-
My FitBit is telling me I need 1300 calories and MFP is telling me 1800.
You have the two synced? Are your stats accurate in both systems? Don't look at FitBit cals for how much to eat. Log your food in MFP. Log any non step based exercise in FitBit. If you are concerned, only eat back half the calories from the adjustments. Keep at it for several weeks. If you are losing as planned, stick with it. If not, go through FAQs on FitBit User group here and/or eat back a different percentage of those calories.
1 -
My FitBit is telling me I need 1300 calories and MFP is telling me 1800.
Do not pay attention to the calories fitbit says you have left. MFP gives you an all day projection, whereas fitbit gives you real time up to this minute data, they should both roughly match up by midnight.
For example: It's 7am here and MFP says I have 10 calories left to eat, and Fitbit says i am 538 calories OVER. Fit bit is giving me this number because i haven't moved yet up to this moment. It will take hours for me to start getting positive adjustments in fitbit, it's an earn as you go system.
The easiest path is to follow is use mfp for calories in (food), and fitbit for calories out(exercise).6 -
EbonyDahlia wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »EbonyDahlia wrote: »You'll have to find your level. I wouldn't eat back all of those exercise calories. I'm 5'10" and 198lbs and I would gain weight on 1900 cals no matter how active I was.
I'm 4" shorter than you, about your weight, and can easily lose weight on 1900 calories when I'm active.
Yep, and I gain. So MFP calorie target is not all that reliable and you need to find your own level. For me, I'm down to 1400 cals a day, and I just barely lose anything. I burn an extra 300 cals a day (900 on the weekends) from exercise, and I don't eat any of them back.
How do you measure your Calories In?1 -
kshama2001 wrote: »EbonyDahlia wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »EbonyDahlia wrote: »You'll have to find your level. I wouldn't eat back all of those exercise calories. I'm 5'10" and 198lbs and I would gain weight on 1900 cals no matter how active I was.
I'm 4" shorter than you, about your weight, and can easily lose weight on 1900 calories when I'm active.
Yep, and I gain. So MFP calorie target is not all that reliable and you need to find your own level. For me, I'm down to 1400 cals a day, and I just barely lose anything. I burn an extra 300 cals a day (900 on the weekends) from exercise, and I don't eat any of them back.
How do you measure your Calories In?
I've tried all of this before with Ebony before. Apparently everything gets weighed down to the gram, and she has no medical conditions...0 -
I'm not complaining, the more I can eat the better but I just want to make sure I'm not over eating. I am 5'2 and 135 pounds with a GW 115. I set my goal to lose .5 pounds a week and that allows me 1400 hundred calories. Today my fit bit earned me 500 calories!! So I have eaten 1600 calories and still have 300 hundred left and it just does not seem like I could possibly eat this much food and still lose weight! When I eat 1200 to 1400 I feel starving and always lead to a binge but at least I was losing. These past two weeks I have not lost any weight I just fluctuated a between .5 and 1lb. I have been over eating but I am really trying to get back on track here but I just find my self obsessing over the numbers and I feel like I am failing. I was even going to fast today to try to make up for the past week of over eating but I couldnt because I feel sick if I dont eat. I just don't understand why it's giving me 1900 calories when I'm so short and work in an office all day long.
I'm 5'7", and there is no way I could maintain, much less lose, on 1900 calories a day.1 -
I'm 5'2.5" and 127 lbs. I've been maintaining at 1700 calories a day. That's with about 4 days a week of moderate exercise (combination strength training and cardio). I work 3 days a week and I'm sedentary there but active at home with 4 young kids. I use the TDEE method and it took me a while to find the number that works for me. I used to use a garmin and I found the calorie estimates it gave me to be way off so I quit using it for that purpose. I'm attempting to lose a few pounds and I'm down to 1450 to lose a half pound per week.1
-
Christine_72 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »EbonyDahlia wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »EbonyDahlia wrote: »You'll have to find your level. I wouldn't eat back all of those exercise calories. I'm 5'10" and 198lbs and I would gain weight on 1900 cals no matter how active I was.
I'm 4" shorter than you, about your weight, and can easily lose weight on 1900 calories when I'm active.
Yep, and I gain. So MFP calorie target is not all that reliable and you need to find your own level. For me, I'm down to 1400 cals a day, and I just barely lose anything. I burn an extra 300 cals a day (900 on the weekends) from exercise, and I don't eat any of them back.
How do you measure your Calories In?
I've tried all of this before with Ebony before. Apparently everything gets weighed down to the gram, and she has no medical conditions...
This has to suck for ebony. I am 4' 11 and not much lighter, I would lose on 1900.5 -
KWlosingit wrote: »Remember if you change your goal in mfp to .5 per week you need to change Fitbit too otherwise the linking of calories will not work correctly.
Wow I never knew that, that could definitely be a problem!
As has been mentioned - but just to emphasis - that statement was not true.
Not how it works.
Reread @pav8888 's advice.3 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »I'm not complaining, the more I can eat the better but I just want to make sure I'm not over eating. I am 5'2 and 135 pounds with a GW 115. I set my goal to lose .5 pounds a week and that allows me 1400 hundred calories. Today my fit bit earned me 500 calories!! So I have eaten 1600 calories and still have 300 hundred left and it just does not seem like I could possibly eat this much food and still lose weight! When I eat 1200 to 1400 I feel starving and always lead to a binge but at least I was losing. These past two weeks I have not lost any weight I just fluctuated a between .5 and 1lb. I have been over eating but I am really trying to get back on track here but I just find my self obsessing over the numbers and I feel like I am failing. I was even going to fast today to try to make up for the past week of over eating but I couldnt because I feel sick if I dont eat. I just don't understand why it's giving me 1900 calories when I'm so short and work in an office all day long.
OP, what does this mean? That you fluctuate between a loss of .5 lb and a loss of 1 lb? If so, what is the problem? You set it to lose .5 lbs a week, and you're fluctuating up to 1 lb down in 2 weeks? It sounds like you're right on schedule.
Also if you're binging and overeating, it sounds like you're eating more than the 1400 lbs you say is your goal for losing .5 lb a week, so why would you expect more than a 1 lb loss in 2 weeks?
And MFP isn't giving you 1900 calories; your FitBit is. Do you have it synched with MFP, with negative calorie adjustments enabled?
Yes I recently change my activity level from sedentary to lightly active with negative adjustments. It gave me 1600 calories and I already have a positive calorie adjustment of 200 calories!! I am so confused!
It just means that for this day, or perhaps because of extra exercise - you are more active than the Lightly-Active you selected in MFP.
Those MFP activity levels are based on NO exercise being done - purely daily life - that's why without activity tracker you would need to add your workouts when actually done.
You do more, you eat more - same deficit.
MFP is merely correctly itself with potentially better info from Fitbit - but same life principle applies.
You do more, you eat more. You do less, you eat less.
Now, the farther you are away from the average person/life/workout Fitbit built the device for - the more inaccurate it can become.
Like if you set your walking stride-length to perfectly match your exercise level pace walking - but 90% of your daily walking is way below that - then you just inflated your daily calories for the 90% of the day.
Little things like that.
But as others have shared - you sound about right.5 -
One stat youre missing in comparisons is age. The younger you are the higher your metabolism therefore the higher your calorie allowance.
As long as you entered all the data that MFP asks for correctly, then your calorie allowance should be fairly accurate, you can make minor adjustments as needed, but it works for thousands upon thousands every day, and it will work for you too
When you eat so little it triggers a binge, thats a good sign that youre not eating anywhere near enough, unless of course youre just prone to binges if you even think you are being deprived.
It helps to not consider any food "bad", just eat what you enjoy, in moderation, and up to your calorie goal, and you wont ever have to feel deprived of the foods you enjoy most. 0 -
Thank you everyone !0
-
I had to tweak the settings on fitbit as it was overestimating. I added 5 years onto my age, and reduced my stride length and height by a couple inches.
Fitbit now thinks I'm a 50 year old shortass, but the numbers are now pretty accurate.5 -
Christine_72 wrote: »I had to tweak the settings on fitbit as it was overestimating. I added 5 years onto my age, and reduced my stride length and height by a couple inches.
Fitbit now thinks I'm a 50 year old shortass, but the numbers are now pretty accurate.
I never even knew that there was a stride length. How do you find out what you stride length is?0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »I had to tweak the settings on fitbit as it was overestimating. I added 5 years onto my age, and reduced my stride length and height by a couple inches.
Fitbit now thinks I'm a 50 year old shortass, but the numbers are now pretty accurate.
I never even knew that there was a stride length. How do you find out what you stride length is?
I'll let someone more concise answer that. I end up writing a novel when i try and explain this stuff in detail!
1 -
hellobaconplease wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »EbonyDahlia wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »EbonyDahlia wrote: »You'll have to find your level. I wouldn't eat back all of those exercise calories. I'm 5'10" and 198lbs and I would gain weight on 1900 cals no matter how active I was.
I'm 4" shorter than you, about your weight, and can easily lose weight on 1900 calories when I'm active.
Yep, and I gain. So MFP calorie target is not all that reliable and you need to find your own level. For me, I'm down to 1400 cals a day, and I just barely lose anything. I burn an extra 300 cals a day (900 on the weekends) from exercise, and I don't eat any of them back.
How do you measure your Calories In?
I've tried all of this before with Ebony before. Apparently everything gets weighed down to the gram, and she has no medical conditions...
This has to suck for ebony. I am 4' 11 and not much lighter, I would lose on 1900.
Are we talking about net calories here? How are all you teeny tiny people losing on 1900 calories? Seems so unfair. I'm 5'7.5 and bounce around in maintenance between 135 and 140, and I would gain on that many net calories. I frequently eat well into the 2000's because I run a lot. But my net to maintain is 1650. Losing is more like 1400 calories.
ETA: Thinking about it a bit. I'm a sedentary slug when I'm not exercising, so maybe that's it. Other people are just busier than me...I'm cool with that.
2 -
hellobaconplease wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »EbonyDahlia wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »EbonyDahlia wrote: »You'll have to find your level. I wouldn't eat back all of those exercise calories. I'm 5'10" and 198lbs and I would gain weight on 1900 cals no matter how active I was.
I'm 4" shorter than you, about your weight, and can easily lose weight on 1900 calories when I'm active.
Yep, and I gain. So MFP calorie target is not all that reliable and you need to find your own level. For me, I'm down to 1400 cals a day, and I just barely lose anything. I burn an extra 300 cals a day (900 on the weekends) from exercise, and I don't eat any of them back.
How do you measure your Calories In?
I've tried all of this before with Ebony before. Apparently everything gets weighed down to the gram, and she has no medical conditions...
This has to suck for ebony. I am 4' 11 and not much lighter, I would lose on 1900.
Are we talking about net calories here? How are all you teeny tiny people losing on 1900 calories? Seems so unfair. I'm 5'7.5 and bounce around in maintenance between 135 and 140, and I would gain on that many net calories. I frequently eat well into the 2000's because I run a lot. But my net to maintain is 1650. Losing is more like 1400 calories.
When I was loosing steadily for a month I was at 1400 calories but since I started using my FitBit and having the calorie adjustments it's given me a lot more calories since I'm not as sedentary as I thought. It's been a couple weeks so I have no idea if I am actually losing eating this much. I hope so though!1 -
Christine_72 wrote: »I had to tweak the settings on fitbit as it was overestimating. I added 5 years onto my age, and reduced my stride length and height by a couple inches.
Fitbit now thinks I'm a 50 year old shortass, but the numbers are now pretty accurate.
I never even knew that there was a stride length. How do you find out what you stride length is?
Find a known distance track you can use, like high school. Be aware many are marked for metric now with the big markings, may have to ask someone in the know to find which markings are for 1/4 mile for a lap.
Start an activity record on the device (didn't see which Fitbit you have, many models, different abilities, ect) right then.
Maintain that average daily pace - not grocery store shuffle, not exercise pace, but average purposeful walk - which can be hard to go that slow.
Walk the 1/4 mile, stop the activity.
There's your steps, distance Fitbit thought you did, and calories. If Fitbit says 0.23 to 0.27, it's close.
But since you got the figures, might as well make it better.
1440 / steps = decimal feet, like 2.4.
2 feet.
0.4 x 12 = 4.8 inches.
Fitbit settings - personal settings - is walking and running stride length. Change the walking to that figure.
0 is default, meaning it's currently a value based on height & gender.
Also what time at night do you plop on couch and then to bed, basically done with higher activity levels?
Regular time almost always done?0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »I had to tweak the settings on fitbit as it was overestimating. I added 5 years onto my age, and reduced my stride length and height by a couple inches.
Fitbit now thinks I'm a 50 year old shortass, but the numbers are now pretty accurate.
I never even knew that there was a stride length. How do you find out what you stride length is?
Find a known distance track you can use, like high school. Be aware many are marked for metric now with the big markings, may have to ask someone in the know to find which markings are for 1/4 mile for a lap.
Start an activity record on the device (didn't see which Fitbit you have, many models, different abilities, ect) right then.
Maintain that average daily pace - not grocery store shuffle, not exercise pace, but average purposeful walk - which can be hard to go that slow.
Walk the 1/4 mile, stop the activity.
There's your steps, distance Fitbit thought you did, and calories. If Fitbit says 0.23 to 0.27, it's close.
But since you got the figures, might as well make it better.
1440 / steps = decimal feet, like 2.4.
2 feet.
0.4 x 12 = 4.8 inches.
Fitbit settings - personal settings - is walking and running stride length. Change the walking to that figure.
0 is default, meaning it's currently a value based on height & gender.
Also what time at night do you plop on couch and then to bed, basically done with higher activity levels?
Regular time almost always done?
I have the flex 2. I'm recovering from a foot surgery from a few months ago and just started walking on the treadmill but the gym I go to has a track inside that is 10 laps for a mile, so I might be able to make that work. I would say 9pm is when my activity stops for the day.0 -
During worry about people watching you walk what appears to be slow - you will be inspired to go faster I'm sure. ;-)
So MFP is going to estimate the final 3 hrs of the day at BMR / 24 x 3hrs x 1.4 Lightly Active = calorie burn estimate.
The next day Fitbit is going to correct MFP that you actually burned BMR / 24 x 3.
Estimate - BMR = what you should leave in the green if you try to hit your eating goal at 9 pm.
If weekend is different, that's the math.1 -
kshama2001 wrote: »I'm not complaining, the more I can eat the better but I just want to make sure I'm not over eating. I am 5'2 and 135 pounds with a GW 115. I set my goal to lose .5 pounds a week and that allows me 1400 hundred calories. Today my fit bit earned me 500 calories!! So I have eaten 1600 calories and still have 300 hundred left and it just does not seem like I could possibly eat this much food and still lose weight! When I eat 1200 to 1400 I feel starving and always lead to a binge but at least I was losing. These past two weeks I have not lost any weight I just fluctuated a between .5 and 1lb. I have been over eating but I am really trying to get back on track here but I just find my self obsessing over the numbers and I feel like I am failing. I was even going to fast today to try to make up for the past week of over eating but I couldnt because I feel sick if I dont eat. I just don't understand why it's giving me 1900 calories when I'm so short and work in an office all day long.
The exercise calories in the MFP database are about 25% inflated for me, but I can safely eat back 100% of the exercise calories my Fitbit One gives me.
Please provide details about what your 500 calories were from: Number of steps? Exercise? Duration?
If I exceed my calorie budget one day I don't punish myself the next day; I just consider the next morning a reset and move on.
This is from 7500 steps from my fit bit. I have mfp set to sedentary because my steps vary alot. Then I logged 30 minutes on stationary bike but didn't log any strength training I did.
Early in the day? Or end of day?
I'd expect FitBit to credit you with about 100 calorie for every 2,000 steps beyond the first 3,000 steps. So, that'd be about 200 extra calories. I'm assuming the extra 300 came from logging the cycling? But that seems too high for half an hour of cycling.
The other possibility is that it was early and FitBit was assuming that you'd remain at that activity level and get many more steps - and that your calorie target would have dropped later if you didn't continue to get steps. This can be an issue for those who get up early and go to bed early. I'm a night owl - rarely in bed before 11pm (usually after midnight) and sleep as late as possible so I start the day with 7 or 8 hours of nothingness worked into my daily average; that means I don't get calories "taken away" after I go to bed. But someone who gets up at 4am and goes to bed at 8pm would have to be aware of that effect.0 -
SusanMFindlay wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »I'm not complaining, the more I can eat the better but I just want to make sure I'm not over eating. I am 5'2 and 135 pounds with a GW 115. I set my goal to lose .5 pounds a week and that allows me 1400 hundred calories. Today my fit bit earned me 500 calories!! So I have eaten 1600 calories and still have 300 hundred left and it just does not seem like I could possibly eat this much food and still lose weight! When I eat 1200 to 1400 I feel starving and always lead to a binge but at least I was losing. These past two weeks I have not lost any weight I just fluctuated a between .5 and 1lb. I have been over eating but I am really trying to get back on track here but I just find my self obsessing over the numbers and I feel like I am failing. I was even going to fast today to try to make up for the past week of over eating but I couldnt because I feel sick if I dont eat. I just don't understand why it's giving me 1900 calories when I'm so short and work in an office all day long.
The exercise calories in the MFP database are about 25% inflated for me, but I can safely eat back 100% of the exercise calories my Fitbit One gives me.
Please provide details about what your 500 calories were from: Number of steps? Exercise? Duration?
If I exceed my calorie budget one day I don't punish myself the next day; I just consider the next morning a reset and move on.
This is from 7500 steps from my fit bit. I have mfp set to sedentary because my steps vary alot. Then I logged 30 minutes on stationary bike but didn't log any strength training I did.
Early in the day? Or end of day?
I'd expect FitBit to credit you with about 100 calorie for every 2,000 steps beyond the first 3,000 steps. So, that'd be about 200 extra calories. I'm assuming the extra 300 came from logging the cycling? But that seems too high for half an hour of cycling.
The other possibility is that it was early and FitBit was assuming that you'd remain at that activity level and get many more steps - and that your calorie target would have dropped later if you didn't continue to get steps. This can be an issue for those who get up early and go to bed early. I'm a night owl - rarely in bed before 11pm (usually after midnight) and sleep as late as possible so I start the day with 7 or 8 hours of nothingness worked into my daily average; that means I don't get calories "taken away" after I go to bed. But someone who gets up at 4am and goes to bed at 8pm would have to be aware of that effect.
It happens through out the day. I set my activity level to lightly active and I got 8000 steps today with a 300 calorie adjustments. It went from 1600 to 1900 which I'm still having a hard time believing. I log cycling only 30 minutes but really I am also doing a little strength training and walking on the treadmill with my hands holding the sides so I assume the fit bit doesn't count those steps but i dont want to log too much exercise since ive read on here it over calculates. I'll switch between that and cycling. (Recovering from foot surgery)0 -
Just for comparison. So far today (it's 3pm here), I've done 12,973 steps and i've had an extra 514 calories synced over to mfp.1
-
Just to add to the comparison. Yesterday, I logged 14,500 steps and was credited with 230 steps over "active". So, about 700-800 calories over "sedentary". I have a decent number of stairs/hills in there (equivalent of about 50 flights) and I carry toddlers around sometimes too; I think that boosts my numbers a little.1
-
Oh and I'm set at sedentary, hence the larger numbers.1
-
kshama2001 wrote: »I'm not complaining, the more I can eat the better but I just want to make sure I'm not over eating. I am 5'2 and 135 pounds with a GW 115. I set my goal to lose .5 pounds a week and that allows me 1400 hundred calories. Today my fit bit earned me 500 calories!! So I have eaten 1600 calories and still have 300 hundred left and it just does not seem like I could possibly eat this much food and still lose weight! When I eat 1200 to 1400 I feel starving and always lead to a binge but at least I was losing. These past two weeks I have not lost any weight I just fluctuated a between .5 and 1lb. I have been over eating but I am really trying to get back on track here but I just find my self obsessing over the numbers and I feel like I am failing. I was even going to fast today to try to make up for the past week of over eating but I couldnt because I feel sick if I dont eat. I just don't understand why it's giving me 1900 calories when I'm so short and work in an office all day long.
The exercise calories in the MFP database are about 25% inflated for me, but I can safely eat back 100% of the exercise calories my Fitbit One gives me.
Please provide details about what your 500 calories were from: Number of steps? Exercise? Duration?
If I exceed my calorie budget one day I don't punish myself the next day; I just consider the next morning a reset and move on.
This is from 7500 steps from my fit bit. I have mfp set to sedentary because my steps vary alot. Then I logged 30 minutes on stationary bike but didn't log any strength training I did.
How many calories did you add for the stationary bike? Asking because on a good day I'll get 100 calories in 30 minutes of that, so let's say I don't even bother anymore. I'm not too sure how people actually manage to get good calorie burns with those things (or maybe it's because my fitness is too high and I can pedal like a crazy person and barely reach 100 HR).0 -
OP what does FitBit say for your total calories burned ? Ultimately that's what the adjustments are derived from, the difference between what FitBit says you burned and what MFP predicts your NEAT to be. That's a more helpful data point, in my opinion, than trying to base it just on how many steps you took.2
-
Here's mine from yesterday, this was for about 15k steps. I'm set at Active. MFP thinks I bum ~1850 cals as my baseline. I got a 236 cal adjustment because FitBit says I burned that much more.
1 -
I do about 7500 steps a day and thats just shy of 150 cals for me (I'm set at sedentary too) so 350 cals for 30mins of stationary bike riding seems quite high unless you were going completely all out. I'd say (as others have) half those exercise cals if its crediting 500calories for those activities to be on the safe side. 1600-1700 cals for a day with that level of activity seems about right to still be able to lose half a pound a week assuming moderate aerobic effort on the bike.1
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.6K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.3K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.5K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 431 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.8K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions