First week advice

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MelNZ2017
MelNZ2017 Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi there. I have tried MFP several times before but am now seriously/honestly tracking everything I eat. I have a Fitbit and what I'm wondering is do others eat the extra calories gained through exercise and still lose weight?

Replies

  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
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    Yes I always eat back my exercise calories, or save them up for the weekends so I can have a drink or a meal out.

    Have you set your walking and running stride length in fit bit so that it is more accurate?

    If not just stick to 80% of them.
  • MelNZ2017
    MelNZ2017 Posts: 2 Member
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    Thanks heaps, first weigh day is Wednesday, fingers crossed I lose. And yes I have set my stride length for running and walking so hopefully it works out ok.
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
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    MFP is designed for you to eat back extra calories burned in exercise.

    I used a fitbit one for several years and was happy with the way it synced with MFP and found it to be pretty accurate for me as long as I tracked as accurately as possible on MFP. Make sure your weight loss settings in both your MFP and fitbit accounts are set to the same loss rate, and the sync between the two should work fine.

    That said, the fitbit one is a simple step based model. I recently upgraded my gadget because I wanted a gps running watch and daily activity tracker all in one. While figuring that out I tried a couple different models and read alot of reviews. I found pretty consistently that the models that track heart rate all day long give significantly more calories burned than those that based the daily burns solely on steps. Luckily, I had several years of knowing what works for me under my belt when I ran into this problem, so I knew right away the estimates were way to high for me. If you are using a HR monitor model, and don't have any historical data to compare it to, then that would be the first place I would suggest looking if you don't see the results you are expecting from your plan.
  • CMNVA
    CMNVA Posts: 733 Member
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    I am one who never ate back my calories unless I was doing a really heavy workout. Just a walk? Nope. First week or two of Couch to 5K? Nope. But anything that was very strenuous or vigorous, I would eat back 50% of my calories. I do believe that many gadgets overestimate calorie burn so 50% is safe. Also, I am in my 50s and calorie burn and weight loss is not what it once was, so I used my exercise to help my deficit. As long as I wasn't ravenously hungy (HANGRY), I didn't eat them back.
  • Agent_Freckles
    Agent_Freckles Posts: 79 Member
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    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »
    Yes I always eat back my exercise calories, or save them up for the weekends so I can have a drink or a meal out.

    Have you set your walking and running stride length in fit bit so that it is more accurate?

    If not just stick to 80% of them.

    Do all fit bit models have an option to figure out your stride? I just use S Health on my phone
  • DebLaBounty
    DebLaBounty Posts: 1,172 Member
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    I'd recommend getting a digital scale so you can weigh your foods for a more accurate calorie count. I eat back most of my exercise calories, and I've still managed to lose weight.

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