Losing Weight, Garmin Fitness Tracker, and Calories

jkleidon27
jkleidon27 Posts: 5 Member
edited November 20 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi,

I just started MyFitnessPal today and I have a question to anyone who is using the Garmin Fitness Tracker to track steps. Right now, I'm at 773 steps and the exercise calorie count that I have is over 500. In other words, the Garmin steps are creating a lot of calories pretty quickly.

My question is this. Out of all your experiences, is it better to eat your step calories or just try to stick to your daily calorie goal? Which method created the best weight loss?

Replies

  • RhiAndy11
    RhiAndy11 Posts: 72 Member
    hello,

    sorry im probably not going to be any help, im just curious. i don't really understand how this garmin fitness tracker works. do you start the day with a 0 calorie allowance and then as you do steps it gives you calories?! thats the only way your calorie allowance makes sense to me because...

    with mfp i start the day with 1200 cals (with my weight loss goal) and my garmin watch counts my steps. i did 10,000 steps yesterday and that only allowed me an extra 22 calories for the day?!
  • RhiAndy11
    RhiAndy11 Posts: 72 Member
    i stand corrected....so mfp allowed me an extra 22 calories taking into account my garmin step count (1222 for the day). however, when i open the garmin app it says over 1800 calories-im guessing its saying this is how many calories iv burnt that day? but obviously you want to be in a calorie deficit if you want to lose weight?
    This is all just guess work from me. hopefully someone who knows what they are talking about will give us the answer lol
  • TarahByte
    TarahByte Posts: 125 Member
    If it's like my Fitbit it counts calories, including your BMR. So even if you don't wear it, it says you've burned whatever your BMR is.
  • dudasd1973
    dudasd1973 Posts: 275 Member
    Mine never gives an inflated value. The only issue I have is the double dip between Garmin and Google Fit. I only wear my Garmin Forerunner when running and my Android Wear the rest of the day. I take my phone with me for music when running and Google Fit is still tracking so MFP double dips my calorie counts.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    jkleidon27 wrote: »
    Hi,

    I just started MyFitnessPal today and I have a question to anyone who is using the Garmin Fitness Tracker to track steps. Right now, I'm at 773 steps and the exercise calorie count that I have is over 500. In other words, the Garmin steps are creating a lot of calories pretty quickly.

    My question is this. Out of all your experiences, is it better to eat your step calories or just try to stick to your daily calorie goal? Which method created the best weight loss?

    I don't have a Garmin, but the way trackers work: you burn calories all day long (not just for exercise). So an added calorie count in the a.m. may even out by the evening. Give it a couple days to work out the timing. A new day (with a FitBit) starts at midnight.

    But TarahByte is coorect....your BMR will likely be included (calories you would burn while sleeping). So your tracker may be catching up from 12:01 a.m. to now.
  • KarenSmith2018
    KarenSmith2018 Posts: 302 Member
    The 500 calories will include everything you would have burnt just laying still as well as your active calories. The active calories and bmr build up as the day progresses. If you want to maintain eat the calories total you have burnt today if you want to loose take 250/500 off the total.
    My garmin app takes my calories from MyFitnessPal and food inputted and my active calories.
  • firef1y72
    firef1y72 Posts: 1,579 Member
    My garmin fr35 gives me 2 numbers for Calories, well 3 actually. There's rest (which is whatever base Calorie allowance I've set on here), active and a total. The total will often be 500 first thing in the morning, but that's just a percentage of the Calorie allowance for the day.
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