MyFitnessPal / FitBit giving back too many calories...
7unnix
Posts: 4 Member
Hi,
I'm REALLY confused an am hoping someone can help me out here. I'm using MyFitnessPal alongside my FitBit Blaze, but am noticing that I am being awarded what seems to be far to many calories for my exercise throughout the day.
Based on my weight loss goals, my target is to eat 1,500 calories per day, for a loss of 2 lbs per week. However today (as an example) I have done 13,000 steps and have been awarded 1,365 additional calories... Surely this is not correct? I understand people are saying that this 1,365 includes calories I would burn 'just by being alive' but is that not already taken into consideration when setting my target of eating only 1,500 per day?
The accepted estimate seems to be approx. 100 calories burned per 1 mile ran. Today I have walked just under 7 miles (13,000 steps). Even if I were to have ran all 13,000 steps, I would only have burned around 700 calories, so why am I being awarded 1,365 additionals?
If I were to eat my 1,500 AND the 1,300 I have been awarded, I'd be eating nearly 3,000 calories in a day? Regardless of the exercise I've done, this seems absurd to think I'll lose 2lbs a week at this rate?
If anyone could help explain, I'd be really grateful! Smiley Happy
I'm REALLY confused an am hoping someone can help me out here. I'm using MyFitnessPal alongside my FitBit Blaze, but am noticing that I am being awarded what seems to be far to many calories for my exercise throughout the day.
Based on my weight loss goals, my target is to eat 1,500 calories per day, for a loss of 2 lbs per week. However today (as an example) I have done 13,000 steps and have been awarded 1,365 additional calories... Surely this is not correct? I understand people are saying that this 1,365 includes calories I would burn 'just by being alive' but is that not already taken into consideration when setting my target of eating only 1,500 per day?
The accepted estimate seems to be approx. 100 calories burned per 1 mile ran. Today I have walked just under 7 miles (13,000 steps). Even if I were to have ran all 13,000 steps, I would only have burned around 700 calories, so why am I being awarded 1,365 additionals?
If I were to eat my 1,500 AND the 1,300 I have been awarded, I'd be eating nearly 3,000 calories in a day? Regardless of the exercise I've done, this seems absurd to think I'll lose 2lbs a week at this rate?
If anyone could help explain, I'd be really grateful! Smiley Happy
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Replies
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did you set your goal to sedentary in MFP?
from what I've seen, MFP will adjust your calories from FITBIT at the end of the day - so while you might be showing high now, that will be corrected in the evening (since FITBIT does overall calories, not exercise specific)
BT - depending on current weight/goal weight - 2lbs a week might be too aggressive - 1500cal is the minimum for most men0 -
I would agree to wait until the end of the day to see what the final Fitbit Calorie Adjustment is, but that sounds like it is about right.
For comparison, I am 55, 5'8", 150 lbs, in maintenance, have a Fitbit Charge 2, and have MFP set at Sedentary. The last time I got 13,750 steps, I earned 1200 extra Calories as my Fitbit Calorie adjustment. Sedentary for me is about 2500 steps to get a zero Fitbit Calorie adjustment.
I always eat back 100% of my earned Calories. I ate back 90% of them when I was losing a few pounds and had no problem netting 1700 Cals per day to lose those pounds. I do use a food scale to weigh all solids, measuring cups and spoons to measure liquids, and verify all food items I log through outside web sources and Nutrition Facts labels. I trust that my Calorie Intake is pretty accurate, and I trust my Calorie Output is pretty accurate using the Fitbit.0 -
But doesn't it kind of defeat the object to wait until the end of the day? If at 5pm it's showing an extra 500 cals available, and I munch these down, and then at the end of the evening it adjusts - I could be over eating?
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After a few weeks you should be able to determine the average decrease each night.
At sedentary on MFP, I see little to no decrease from Fitbit. I do eat all calories I get and always lose/gain/maintain as expected based on my Fitbit burn.1 -
Forget tracking exercise calories. Use the following TDEE spreadsheet to track your weight loss and energy expenditure. You enter your weight each morning and your calories each night. The spreadsheet will continuously update how much you should be eating in order to attain your weight loss goal in the time you want to lose it. You need to enter values for about two weeks before it becomes accurate. If you follow this religiously you will acheive your goal.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8EbfzFB0mBrMGJ6V2N5QWNfeTg/view
Input the requested fields at the top to begin and go.0 -
DevilsFan1 wrote: »Forget tracking exercise calories. Use the following TDEE spreadsheet to track your weight loss and energy expenditure. You enter your weight each morning and your calories each night. The spreadsheet will continuously update how much you should be eating in order to attain your weight loss goal in the time you want to lose it. You need to enter values for about two weeks before it becomes accurate. If you follow this religiously you will acheive your goal.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8EbfzFB0mBrMGJ6V2N5QWNfeTg/view
Input the requested fields at the top to begin and go.
A separate, complicated spreadsheet is not needed if someone uses both MFP for Calorie Intake, and a synced all-day activity tracker such as Fitbit for Calorie Output. All of the calculations are done upon syncing.
I personally would not waste my time doing the data entry required for the suggested spreadsheet, since I already input my food intake in MFP, and the Fitbit records and provides the information to MFP automatically.4 -
But doesn't it kind of defeat the object to wait until the end of the day? If at 5pm it's showing an extra 500 cals available, and I munch these down, and then at the end of the evening it adjusts - I could be over eating?
I would recommend reading through the first three posts in this thread on the MFP Fitbit Users group...
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10098937/faq-syncing-logging-food-exercise-calorie-adjustments-activity-levels-accuracy
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users0 -
DevilsFan1 wrote: »Forget tracking exercise calories. Use the following TDEE spreadsheet to track your weight loss and energy expenditure. You enter your weight each morning and your calories each night. The spreadsheet will continuously update how much you should be eating in order to attain your weight loss goal in the time you want to lose it. You need to enter values for about two weeks before it becomes accurate. If you follow this religiously you will acheive your goal.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8EbfzFB0mBrMGJ6V2N5QWNfeTg/view
Input the requested fields at the top to begin and go.
A separate, complicated spreadsheet is not needed if someone uses both MFP for Calorie Intake, and a synced all-day activity tracker such as Fitbit for Calorie Output. All of the calculations are done upon syncing.
I personally would not waste my time doing the data entry required for the suggested spreadsheet, since I already input my food intake in MFP, and the Fitbit records and provides the information to MFP automatically.
Fair enough. The original poster was complaining about the accuracy of his Fitbit. I'm of the opinion that tracking exercise calories is fairly pointless and a recipe for people to cheat their diet. The spreadsheet I linked is foolproof because it eliminates the need to track exercise calories. But to each his own.0 -
DevilsFan1 wrote: »DevilsFan1 wrote: »Forget tracking exercise calories. Use the following TDEE spreadsheet to track your weight loss and energy expenditure. You enter your weight each morning and your calories each night. The spreadsheet will continuously update how much you should be eating in order to attain your weight loss goal in the time you want to lose it. You need to enter values for about two weeks before it becomes accurate. If you follow this religiously you will acheive your goal.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8EbfzFB0mBrMGJ6V2N5QWNfeTg/view
Input the requested fields at the top to begin and go.
A separate, complicated spreadsheet is not needed if someone uses both MFP for Calorie Intake, and a synced all-day activity tracker such as Fitbit for Calorie Output. All of the calculations are done upon syncing.
I personally would not waste my time doing the data entry required for the suggested spreadsheet, since I already input my food intake in MFP, and the Fitbit records and provides the information to MFP automatically.
Fair enough. The original poster was complaining about the accuracy of his Fitbit. I'm of the opinion that tracking exercise calories is fairly pointless and a recipe for people to cheat their diet. The spreadsheet I linked is foolproof because it eliminates the need to track exercise calories. But to each his own.
In my opinion, that spreadsheet is not "foolproof." The spreadsheet uses an estimate of a person's TDEE, probably the Katch-McArdle equation which is the same equation for men and women. That single equation provides a TDEE estimate based on generic populations for someone of similar weight. The estimate it gives you is in lieu of tracking exercise calories, but it is just that, a one-size-fits-all generic estimate.
Activity trackers take into account not only gender, weight, and height; they usually have altimeters, accelerometers, GPS, and other sensing equipment to refine an individual's total daily energy expenditure in real time. The trackers collect hourly and sometimes minute-by-minute data and use that information to calculate running averages, which are used to refine a person's individual algorithms. Basically, the more you use a tracker, the more accurate it gets on a daily basis, because in effect it "learns" from an individual's past movement patterns.
I doubt there is any way a single spreadsheet could be more accurate than an activity tracker.0 -
What is your info? Height, weight, target weight? A 1000 calorie deficit is really aggressive and 1500 cals per day is the floor for men.0
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The point of tracking exercise calories is not pointless for some people esp if exercise is inconsistent. Me for example first I would have to have an idea of my base activity level to work out if I am sedentary etc then how often do I exercise. Well some weeks its 4-5 days some weeks 1-2. While I am generally pretty consist all it takes a week where my husband is away (no one to watch the kids while I got to runners club) and I get no catalogue delivery (which I have no control over) and my 3-4hours a week quickly becomes 1 at the most.
I dont see your stats but at 90kg I burnt 2984 cal for the day I had 12,037 steps so your adjustment doesnt seem way off to me either ( I am 5'4 35yo female). If your a big guy and not sedentary its not that hard to get 4k calorie burns for the day.
I have my setting on sedentary, I am busy in the mornings getting 3 kids ready for school and a few mornings I do 40-50min of walking but then I sit at a desk all day. Evenings really depend on whats on. So for me a normal day is around 5-7k steps no exercise. My actual 28 day average is about 11k steps per day with exercise.
I dont have dramas with adjustments being lower at the end of the day as fitbit looks at what you've done only its not projecting what you'll do for the rest of the day. The only time I've ended up with lower adjustments at the end of the day is when MFP is set to something other than sedentary because then its mixes what you've done with the MFP assumption that activity is evenly spread through the day. So if your a morning runner then sit most of the day it would mean your exercise adjustment will just get lower as the day goes on.
That being said if you track your food carefully for a few weeks and then compare actual loss to projected loss you can see how accurate fitbit is for you. I've seen many people post that they have taken an inch off their stated height to get a more accurate burn, then they dont have to worry about only eating a % of the exercise calories other shave been able to eat 100% of exercise calories to lose or maintain as desired.0 -
DevilsFan1 wrote: »DevilsFan1 wrote: »Forget tracking exercise calories. Use the following TDEE spreadsheet to track your weight loss and energy expenditure. You enter your weight each morning and your calories each night. The spreadsheet will continuously update how much you should be eating in order to attain your weight loss goal in the time you want to lose it. You need to enter values for about two weeks before it becomes accurate. If you follow this religiously you will acheive your goal.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8EbfzFB0mBrMGJ6V2N5QWNfeTg/view
Input the requested fields at the top to begin and go.
A separate, complicated spreadsheet is not needed if someone uses both MFP for Calorie Intake, and a synced all-day activity tracker such as Fitbit for Calorie Output. All of the calculations are done upon syncing.
I personally would not waste my time doing the data entry required for the suggested spreadsheet, since I already input my food intake in MFP, and the Fitbit records and provides the information to MFP automatically.
Fair enough. The original poster was complaining about the accuracy of his Fitbit. I'm of the opinion that tracking exercise calories is fairly pointless and a recipe for people to cheat their diet. The spreadsheet I linked is foolproof because it eliminates the need to track exercise calories. But to each his own.
In my opinion, that spreadsheet is not "foolproof." The spreadsheet uses an estimate of a person's TDEE, probably the Katch-McArdle equation which is the same equation for men and women. That single equation provides a TDEE estimate based on generic populations for someone of similar weight. The estimate it gives you is in lieu of tracking exercise calories, but it is just that, a one-size-fits-all generic estimate.
Activity trackers take into account not only gender, weight, and height; they usually have altimeters, accelerometers, GPS, and other sensing equipment to refine an individual's total daily energy expenditure in real time. The trackers collect hourly and sometimes minute-by-minute data and use that information to calculate running averages, which are used to refine a person's individual algorithms. Basically, the more you use a tracker, the more accurate it gets on a daily basis, because in effect it "learns" from an individual's past movement patterns.
I doubt there is any way a single spreadsheet could be more accurate than an activity tracker.
The initial estimate is exactly that, an estimate. The spreadsheet dynamically adjusts your TDEE based upon your daily weight (averaged to a single weight for the week) and the number of calories you input for your daily caloric intake. It is absolutely foolproof. You don't need to worry about calories burned during exercise because those are accounted for in your weight gain/loss. It takes about two weeks for the TDEE calculation to settle on a relatively accurate estimate due to fluctuations in water weight and activity but the longer you use it, the more accurate it becomes.
Of course it's more accurate than a tracker. A tracker uses a pre-programmed algorithm to determine calorie burn whose accuracy will vary from individual to individual. The spreadsheet, on the other hand, uses only caloric intake and weight to determine TDEE. It's as accurate as the numbers you enter into it for weight and calories.0 -
What is your info? Height, weight, target weight? A 1000 calorie deficit is really aggressive and 1500 cals per day is the floor for men.
Mmapags - I'm 5'9, 197lbs with a target weight of 165lbs. What I'm doing at the moment is eating back 50% of the 'exercise calories' MFP is awarding me:
So today for example, I've done 9,500 steps and been awarded 1,250 additional exercise calories.
I've eaten 2,150 in total, which is 1,500 as part of my goal and then 650 at 50% of the exercise calories awarded. This leaves me with 650 remaining, which I won't eat.
Does this sound okay / in line with what I should be doing?
Any comments are much appreciated...0 -
Check the stride length, make sure you have correctly identified dominant hand and which wrist you wear it on. I have a FitBit Charge 2, and it's never given me wacky exercise calories. Good luck!1
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What is your info? Height, weight, target weight? A 1000 calorie deficit is really aggressive and 1500 cals per day is the floor for men.
Mmapags - I'm 5'9, 197lbs with a target weight of 165lbs. What I'm doing at the moment is eating back 50% of the 'exercise calories' MFP is awarding me:
So today for example, I've done 9,500 steps and been awarded 1,250 additional exercise calories.
I've eaten 2,150 in total, which is 1,500 as part of my goal and then 650 at 50% of the exercise calories awarded. This leaves me with 650 remaining, which I won't eat.
Does this sound okay / in line with what I should be doing?
Any comments are much appreciated...
Where you are ending up is reasonably conservative. If we were looking at this with TDEE method, you are likely ending up at around a 500 to 700 calorie per day deficit give or take. I too have a FitBit, a Charge HR. I eat back 1/2 to 70% of the calories it gives me and am doing fine. Bottom line is you are correct that Fitbit is likely giving you too high burns. That is fairly typical.
From the sounds of things, you are set to "sedentary"? I ask because we are the same height and within 1 lb of weight, I'm 198lbs. I was set to sedentary but changed to lightly active. My MFP calories went up and I get fewer calorie added on to MFP from Fitbit. 6 of 1, 1/2 dozen of the other. My target is a little higher at about 180lbs. I may change my mind when I get there but I am fairly broad shouldered and looked too skinny the last time I was at 165lbs (many, many years ago
). Feel free to send me a friend request if you'd like to have someone similar with which to compare. In addition to walking and hiking I do weight training 2x to 3x per week. 0
This discussion has been closed.
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