So I got a fitbit..
mugenmbx5t33
Posts: 2 Member
Before I got it my calorie goal was 1,800 a day, everything was fine and dandy, a little hungry now and then but totally doable. Well I synced my fitbit up walked ~20,000 steps today at work and now this thing's telling me I have over 4,000 calories I can eat today and still be good, seems a bit much lol So should I just keep doing the 1,800 or what? I've tried looking for this problem on the forums and couldn't get an answer to a problem Similar to mine, so any help is appreciated.
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It'll be several weeks before your fitbit is most accurate. It takes a while before it "learns" you.4
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So.... how much weight have you lost, over what time period, and what was your average caloric intake during the time period in question?
How does your weekly loss over a period of 4-6 weeks compare to the deficit you set for yourself on MFP if you assume that 1lb = 3500 Cal?
Do you always walk 20K steps at work or was the new Fitbit a bit of an inducement to move a little bit more and rack up some points?9 -
It'll be several weeks before your fitbit is most accurate. It takes a while before it "learns" you.
This is true.
But we also need to know what the OPs stats are (height, weight, gender, age) before we can know if it's reasonable. If my husband got that many steps, he genuinely would burn that many calories. Me? Not so much.0 -
Back when I purchased a Garmin Vivosmart HR+ (competitor to FitBit), it did similar. I was seeing numbers that were so far out of whack that, if I followed them, I'd have been packing on the weight. After a few weeks, it settled in and became pretty close to reality.
For now, if you've been comfortable with your progress, ignore the calories on the fitbit, stick with your 1800, and work with that. Check in again in a few weeks, and see if things have gotten closer to your expectations. Once they seem realistic enough that you're not questioning it, work with what it provides.
Even then, though, don't eat back everything it says you can. You want to maintain a deficit to continue to lose weight, and the fitbit will be showing you your maintenance calories.0 -
I find my fitbit pretty accurate now, but it took about 2 weeks to get that way. Stats will make a difference though..
No way I could burn that many calories with 20k steps...maybe 3000 and that would be a stretch for me at my height and weight.0 -
mugenmbx5t33 wrote: »Before I got it my calorie goal was 1,800 a day, everything was fine and dandy, a little hungry now and then but totally doable. Well I synced my fitbit up walked ~20,000 steps today at work and now this thing's telling me I have over 4,000 calories I can eat today and still be good, seems a bit much lol So should I just keep doing the 1,800 or what? I've tried looking for this problem on the forums and couldn't get an answer to a problem Similar to mine, so any help is appreciated.
it also adds in your BMR(what you burn by being alive) so that is probably why you have over 4000 calories. Im at 16000 steps and for my weight burned only 242 calories.(im 166lbs) I have burned a total of 2,453 calories,that includes my BMR. so the 4000 is not exercise calories alone. but yeah it does take awhile for it to get in sync with your body.3 -
pedermj2002 wrote: »Back when I purchased a Garmin Vivosmart HR+ (competitor to FitBit), it did similar. I was seeing numbers that were so far out of whack that, if I followed them, I'd have been packing on the weight. After a few weeks, it settled in and became pretty close to reality.
For now, if you've been comfortable with your progress, ignore the calories on the fitbit, stick with your 1800, and work with that. Check in again in a few weeks, and see if things have gotten closer to your expectations. Once they seem realistic enough that you're not questioning it, work with what it provides.
Even then, though, don't eat back everything it says you can. You want to maintain a deficit to continue to lose weight, and the fitbit will be showing you your maintenance calories.
if they have it synced to mfp you are supposed to eat back some calories.with the fitbit some can eat back all their calories while others can only eat 25-50% so its all trial and error as its all an estimate anyway.MFP has your deficit built in without exercise. so you wouldnt have to go by fitbit,just by what mfp tells you you have left,or they can go by fitbit and not mfp. but I agree it all comes down to a deficit.0 -
CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »mugenmbx5t33 wrote: »Before I got it my calorie goal was 1,800 a day, everything was fine and dandy, a little hungry now and then but totally doable. Well I synced my fitbit up walked ~20,000 steps today at work and now this thing's telling me I have over 4,000 calories I can eat today and still be good, seems a bit much lol So should I just keep doing the 1,800 or what? I've tried looking for this problem on the forums and couldn't get an answer to a problem Similar to mine, so any help is appreciated.
it also adds in your BMR(what you burn by being alive) so that is probably why you have over 4000 calories. Im at 16000 steps and for my weight burned only 242 calories.(im 166lbs) I have burned a total of 2,453 calories,that includes my BMR. so the 4000 is not exercise calories alone. but yeah it does take awhile for it to get in sync with your body.
Good point. The 4,000 calories would be total burn for the day. And if FitBit doesn't think you're trying to lose weight, it'll be your total burn not your calorie goal. For me, 20,000 steps is about 3,000 calories but I'm 5'4 and 150 pounds. My husband is 6'1 and over 200 pounds. For him, it'd be over 4,000 calories. So, stats matter a lot.2 -
Wow...I'm really jealous of everyone's step count....sitting here between 10-15k daily
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spiffychick85 wrote: »Wow...I'm really jealous of everyone's step count....sitting here between 10-15k daily
for me today was a good day. most days I get 13,000 or less. most ever was 20,000+1 -
I posted about this a few weeks ago. I get around 20,000 steps about 4 times a week (other days I'm around 12,000 or so).
Today, for example I am at 18,758 and my Fitbit says I've burned 3,031 cals. That sounds a little high to me! ( for info I am 39, female, 186 lbs and 5'9").
So generally I try not to trust the Fitbit, but when I am particularly hungry or struggling w/ eating well I admit that I do tend to trust it a little more2 -
bytheplanets wrote: »I posted about this a few weeks ago. I get around 20,000 steps about 4 times a week (other days I'm around 12,000 or so).
Today, for example I am at 18,758 and my Fitbit says I've burned 3,031 cals. That sounds a little high to me! ( for info I am 39, female, 186 lbs and 5'9").
So generally I try not to trust the Fitbit, but when I am particularly hungry or struggling w/ eating well I admit that I do tend to trust it a little more
That doesn't sound too high to me. I'm 5'3", 113 pounds, and I get 2200 to 2500 to maintain by walking 15 to 20K steps per day and exercising for around 45 minutes to an hour. I've been using a Fitbit for over two years and have yet to gain weight back following it.5 -
Yea, I just recently started the whole "Let's not be fat anymore." thing about a week ago, I'm a 24 year old guy,5'11 269lb, but the 1,800 is working fairly well so far, so I thinking that I'm just gana stick with that until this fitbit figures out what's going on lol0
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I ignore my FitBit's calorie burn estimation (and most online exercise calculators) and calculate my calorie burn from my body-weight (161lbs) X by 0.3 (48.3) X by distance walked in miles.
Example: (7 miles) 161 X 0.3 = 48.3 X 7 = 338.1.
So the burn in the above example would be 338 calories.0 -
SarahFromWalthamForest wrote: »I ignore my FitBit's calorie burn estimation (and most online exercise calculators) and calculate my calorie burn from my body-weight (161lbs) X by 0.3 (48.3) X by distance walked in miles.
Example: (7 miles) 161 X 0.3 = 48.3 X 7 = 338.1.
So the burn in the above example would be 338 calories.
so you ignore your height, age, speed and incline of walking and you're more accurate than your Fitbit which has access to some of this information and proxy access to the rest of it via your heart rate...5 -
mugenmbx5t33 wrote: »Yea, I just recently started the whole "Let's not be fat anymore." thing about a week ago, I'm a 24 year old guy,5'11 269lb, but the 1,800 is working fairly well so far, so I thinking that I'm just gana stick with that until this fitbit figures out what's going on lol
Based on your stats and at 20K steps a 4K caloric expenditure is beyond likely. In fact, based on your 20K steps scooby has your TDEE in the 4200 range.
As such and even with the 25% "extreme" deficit which is reserved for people 'in the red' like you currently are (http://www.smartbmicalculator.com/result.html?unit=1&hf=5&hi=11&wl=269&us=0&ua=24&gl=), you should be eating in the over 3K calorie range to lose ~8.5lbs a month.
In other words you're currently over-doing things... which is not uncommon among people starting out.
So don't be shy to try and bring things in balance.
You do want to have a deficit. One that is manageable and produces good results over time. Not one that is so large that it saps your energy and makes you unable to function. Or makes weight loss so miserable that you give up in h(a)nger the first time something doesn't go according to plan.
BTW, since you have a Fitbit account, connect www.trendweight.com via integration and use that to determine your weight level over time.4 -
SarahFromWalthamForest wrote: »I ignore my FitBit's calorie burn estimation (and most online exercise calculators) and calculate my calorie burn from my body-weight (161lbs) X by 0.3 (48.3) X by distance walked in miles.
Example: (7 miles) 161 X 0.3 = 48.3 X 7 = 338.1.
So the burn in the above example would be 338 calories.
so you ignore your height, age, speed and incline of walking and you're more accurate than your Fitbit which has access to some of this information and proxy access to the rest of it via your heart rate...
It has said 5000 calories on a day I walked 16 miles, and about 3000-4000 on the other days that week, I lost 1lb that week, and I don't eat back exercise calories.
If I had eaten some of those exercise calories, I would have gained weight.
The calculation that I use, I found found online and it matches up more accurately (than other calorie burn calculators) with how I lose weight.
Most if not all calorie burn calculators greatly overestimate calories burned, which is why a lot of people here on MFP advise only to eat back 25-50% of exercise calories...0 -
SarahFromWalthamForest wrote: »SarahFromWalthamForest wrote: »I ignore my FitBit's calorie burn estimation (and most online exercise calculators) and calculate my calorie burn from my body-weight (161lbs) X by 0.3 (48.3) X by distance walked in miles.
Example: (7 miles) 161 X 0.3 = 48.3 X 7 = 338.1.
So the burn in the above example would be 338 calories.
so you ignore your height, age, speed and incline of walking and you're more accurate than your Fitbit which has access to some of this information and proxy access to the rest of it via your heart rate...
It has said 5000 calories on a day I walked 16 miles, and about 3000-4000 on the other days that week, I lost 1lb that week, and I don't eat back exercise calories.
The calculation that I use, I found found online and it matches up more accurately (than other calorie burn calculators) with how I lose weight.
And you took into account your water weight variations that week? And your food intake logging was spot on too?
So, by guessing on an activity level for yourself and adding your walking based on an equation of distance x weight you are consistently achieving a more correct calculation than a gadget that starts with the same base equation as MFP (both use the same BMR formula), then assigns 1x BMR to any 5 minute interval in which there was no movement sensed, and goes on to calculate your daily caloric expenditure based on your movement averaged in 5 minute increments.
And you're aware, of course, that Fitbit's total is a TDEE total, not an exercise total. And that the "exercise adjustment" is not really the value of any particular exercise, but is an accounting reconciliation between what MFP estimated your TDEE to be based on your inputs and what Fitbit (or other gadget) measured your TDEE to be over the course of the day.
OK. Glad it works for you.
My Fitbit's TDEE is predictably off by 5.5% over the course of the past 2 years. This has allowed me to aim for and achieve a 150 Cal deficit when i wanted to...SarahFromWalthamForest wrote: »Most if not all calorie burn calculators greatly overestimate calories burned, which is why a lot of people here on MFP advise only to eat back 25-50% of exercise calories...
I would advise the 25% people to log their caloric intake more accurately or to stop imagining their exercise.
Most exercise calculations use the MET tables published in the compendium of physical activities. Most do not account for the base level of activity you've already told MFP you're performing, so they are "off" by 1.25x to 1.8x BMR depending on the level of activity you're setup on on MFP.
This means that for a moderate 3.4MET activity, you should only be adding BMR x 2 calories for someone who is setup as lightly active (which on MFP is BMR x 1.4). But it doesn't mean that eat 50% of your calories makes sense for someone who was engaged in a 10 MET activity! Of course someone who was engaged in a 10 MET activity for an hour... but only performed at that level for 35 minutes... see, that's where the gadgets come in and measure for you!4 -
SarahFromWalthamForest wrote: »SarahFromWalthamForest wrote: »I ignore my FitBit's calorie burn estimation (and most online exercise calculators) and calculate my calorie burn from my body-weight (161lbs) X by 0.3 (48.3) X by distance walked in miles.
Example: (7 miles) 161 X 0.3 = 48.3 X 7 = 338.1.
So the burn in the above example would be 338 calories.
so you ignore your height, age, speed and incline of walking and you're more accurate than your Fitbit which has access to some of this information and proxy access to the rest of it via your heart rate...
It has said 5000 calories on a day I walked 16 miles, and about 3000-4000 on the other days that week, I lost 1lb that week, and I don't eat back exercise calories.
If I had eaten some of those exercise calories, I would have gained weight.
That's not true. Weight loss isn't linear. What you lose in a week doesn't reflect how much of a deficit you have... you need weeks of data for that. Or you're eating more than you think and that's why you're not losing as fast. Either way, not eating calories back if you walk 16 miles (or walk a lot daily) is completely unhealthy in the first place (unless obviously you're eating them back by not weighing your food or not logging properly).
OP, 1800 seems way too low for you. I'm a 39yo female, 5'5", 140 lbs, and I often burn 2500 a day just walking 22000 steps. My fit/tall friend regularly burns 4000 calories with 15k steps, just by being active all day (and he eats a lot of high calorie foods, so it doesn't even sound insane to me). We both have fitbits, I've had mine since Christmas and it seems pretty accurate.
You don't have to eat ALL the food, but using scooby and eating at a 20% deficit sounds healthier than just eating 1800 (assuming of course that you're logging accurately in the first place).4 -
bytheplanets wrote: »I posted about this a few weeks ago. I get around 20,000 steps about 4 times a week (other days I'm around 12,000 or so).
Today, for example I am at 18,758 and my Fitbit says I've burned 3,031 cals. That sounds a little high to me! ( for info I am 39, female, 186 lbs and 5'9").
So generally I try not to trust the Fitbit, but when I am particularly hungry or struggling w/ eating well I admit that I do tend to trust it a little more
That doesn't sound too high to me for that activity level and your stats. I'm 5'2 and 118 and my total cals burned from FitBit are between 2200-2400, I average 15-18k steps/day.
I trusted it while losing the last 20 lbs and trust it now in maintenance, eating back all my cals over the course of a week. Have never had any challenges with losing or maintaining with this approach.1 -
SarahFromWalthamForest wrote: »SarahFromWalthamForest wrote: »I ignore my FitBit's calorie burn estimation (and most online exercise calculators) and calculate my calorie burn from my body-weight (161lbs) X by 0.3 (48.3) X by distance walked in miles.
Example: (7 miles) 161 X 0.3 = 48.3 X 7 = 338.1.
So the burn in the above example would be 338 calories.
so you ignore your height, age, speed and incline of walking and you're more accurate than your Fitbit which has access to some of this information and proxy access to the rest of it via your heart rate...
It has said 5000 calories on a day I walked 16 miles, and about 3000-4000 on the other days that week, I lost 1lb that week, and I don't eat back exercise calories.
If I had eaten some of those exercise calories, I would have gained weight.
The calculation that I use, I found found online and it matches up more accurately (than other calorie burn calculators) with how I lose weight.
Most if not all calorie burn calculators greatly overestimate calories burned, which is why a lot of people here on MFP advise only to eat back 25-50% of exercise calories...
So you'd rather trust a calculator that is purely based on algorithms and averages and not a device that you wear on your body that at least has the benefit of being with you while you are moving, knowing the pace, distance and altitude changes of your movement, measuring your heart rate, etc? Why even have a FitBit if you don't trust it?
People advise eating back a portion of calories estimated from calorie burn calculators which is what you're using, until you know your actual results and the accuracy of your logging. Most people who have FitBits and understand how they work and who have become good at logging accurately themselves eat back all of those calories with great success. There are a handful of people who find FitBit overestimated their burns but most find it to be completely reliable if used properly.5 -
bytheplanets wrote: »I posted about this a few weeks ago. I get around 20,000 steps about 4 times a week (other days I'm around 12,000 or so).
Today, for example I am at 18,758 and my Fitbit says I've burned 3,031 cals. That sounds a little high to me! ( for info I am 39, female, 186 lbs and 5'9").
So generally I try not to trust the Fitbit, but when I am particularly hungry or struggling w/ eating well I admit that I do tend to trust it a little more
That sounds about right to me. I am the same age and height as you. As an example, my highest step day this week was 12,500 and my estimated calorie burn was about 2,500. Fitbit gave me 2,000 calories to eat for that day. But I usually only eat back 100-150.0 -
bytheplanets wrote: »I posted about this a few weeks ago. I get around 20,000 steps about 4 times a week (other days I'm around 12,000 or so).
Today, for example I am at 18,758 and my Fitbit says I've burned 3,031 cals. That sounds a little high to me! ( for info I am 39, female, 186 lbs and 5'9").
So generally I try not to trust the Fitbit, but when I am particularly hungry or struggling w/ eating well I admit that I do tend to trust it a little more
That sounds about right to me. I am the same age and height as you. As an example, my highest step day this week was 12,500 and my estimated calorie burn was about 2,500. Fitbit gave me 2,000 calories to eat for that day. But I usually only eat back 100-150.
If the numbers sound right, why do you only eat back 100-150 cals?1 -
I don't use my Fitbit anymore but mine was pretty accurate with taking into account my calorie needs. If you have it set up accurately you can probably trust it. Also, I didn't take the number until the end of the day because it adjusts throughout the day.0
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If you are a daily food and weight logger, this spreadsheet can be used to determine the accuracy of your fitbit.
With only one weeks info it reports my fitbit overestimates by 30%. It will take more time for the data to normalize but I plan to continue using it as I transition into maintenance.
Credit to PAV8888 for the spreadsheet.
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WinoGelato wrote: »bytheplanets wrote: »I posted about this a few weeks ago. I get around 20,000 steps about 4 times a week (other days I'm around 12,000 or so).
Today, for example I am at 18,758 and my Fitbit says I've burned 3,031 cals. That sounds a little high to me! ( for info I am 39, female, 186 lbs and 5'9").
So generally I try not to trust the Fitbit, but when I am particularly hungry or struggling w/ eating well I admit that I do tend to trust it a little more
That sounds about right to me. I am the same age and height as you. As an example, my highest step day this week was 12,500 and my estimated calorie burn was about 2,500. Fitbit gave me 2,000 calories to eat for that day. But I usually only eat back 100-150.
If the numbers sound right, why do you only eat back 100-150 cals?
I find it easier to be consistent with what I eat during the week rather than going up and down. It's been working for me so that's what I will continue to do until it stops working.0 -
If your syncing your Fitbit I think you have to set your activity level to Sedentary. When I had mine set moderately active, it was giving me some really odd numbers.0
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If your syncing your Fitbit I think you have to set your activity level to Sedentary. When I had mine set moderately active, it was giving me some really odd numbers.
no you dont have to set it to sedentary. what a lot of people dont understand is it takes into acct your BMR as well as exercise calories and it combines the two for the daily burn you get. so if you are getting say 4000 calories thats going to include your BMR(what your body burns being alive) and your calories burned from being active. the 4000 isnt just your calories from being active. if you are moderately active you set it to that,if you are setting it to moderately active but are actually sedentary then it probably will skew the numbers1 -
If your syncing your Fitbit I think you have to set your activity level to Sedentary. When I had mine set moderately active, it was giving me some really odd numbers.
Depends how active you are. I average 15k steps/day, much of that is from just daily activity or NEAT, and then a portion of it is also from purposeful exercise. Setting myself to sedentary would mean a lower starting calorie target and huge exercise adjustments because I'm not Sedentary. Setting myself to active, with negative calories enabled, ensures that the calories are built in to begin with, that MFP has a reasonable estimate of how many cals it expects me to burn, and that if I have a day where I'm not that active (illness, long road trip, all day work meetings) then the negative cal adjustment ensures I don't eat more than I should that day.2 -
If your syncing your Fitbit I think you have to set your activity level to Sedentary. When I had mine set moderately active, it was giving me some really odd numbers.
No, you don't have to. I have my activity level set to "active". I am actually more active than that so, while I have negative adjustments enabled, I never end the day with one. The reason I don't set to "sedentary" is that it would be bad for me psychologically to see a starting calorie goal of 1200 when I know that my end-of-day goal will be over 2000. Simply put, it would mess with my head and lead me to undereat.
To the OP: Knowing that you weigh 269, I can say that you FitBit is almost certainly in the right ballpark telling you your daily calorie burn (including BMR) was over 4000 calories for 20,000+ steps. Like I said, my husband would be over 4000 calories for that and he weighs less than you. While you may feel fine only eating 1800 calories/day right now (because you're just starting out), please understand that that won't be sustainable. To lose 1% of your bodyweight per week, you'd need a deficit of 1345 calories/day (right now; less as you lose weight). Subtracting that from 4000 calories burned, I calculate that you should be eating a minimum of 2700 calories/day (plus 200 if FitBit says 4200, for example). Even if FitBit is slightly overestimating, with that kind of deficit, you'll certainly lose weight - and you can adjust the numbers as you start to see what happens with your actual weight loss.3
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