Really 949 exercise points for walking?

leahdp68 · March 2018

HI I am new here unless you count 10+ yrs ago when I did Atkins. I recently got a fit bit and have it sync'd with MFP. I have MFP to loose 2 lbs a week and a sedentary lifestyle. I have a high bmi as to why the 2lbs a week. Today I walked 2 sets of half an hour each. Plus I get up every hour from 8 to 5 to get my 250 steps in plus whenever else I get up from my desk. so 11375 steps today, which is a lot for me. Anyhow this had added 958 calories to my goal today. Doesn't that seem excessive? I have read you should eat your exercise points but that means I need an almost 1500 calorie dinner which isn't going to happen. I do Naturally Slim so I eat till I am full and that will be way before 1500. Any thoughts if this is an excessive amount of exercise calories for just walking?

thanks

Leah

Seffell · March 2018

Many people find their fitbit accurate. But for me it overestimates calories (I only walk) by 300 per day (for my 21 bmi). So my advice is to eat only 50-75% of them and if you start losing faster than expected - reevaluate.

ETA: allow for atleast 4 weeks before making any conclusions.

PAV8888 · March 2018

There are no exercise points, MFP and Fitbit are trying to come up with the amount of calories that you burned in order to give you the correct recommendation for the calories that you should eat.

You told MFP that you are sedentary and you were given an amount of calories to eat to lose weight at the rate you selected.

But you weren't really sedentary now, were you?

What you did instead of being sedentary is get up every hour and walk at least 250 steps. And then you added two half hour walking bouts for a total of another 6000 steps approximately.

So guess what 11K step a day people are called if they don't record their step producing exercises separetely? They are called something in between Active and Very Active.

So, basically, your Fitbit is correcting what you told MFP.

You told MFP you're sedentary, and now you've been found out: you were more than Active / probably somewhere in the lower Very Active range.

So what would have happened had you told MFP you were Active or Very Active? How many calories would you had been given to eat?

Do the 900 odd calories now look that impressive or improbable?

Yes, being more active means you get to eat more!

leahdp68 · March 2018

Thanks. I started in Jan and lost 20lbs fairly easy, plateued then lost 5 more and I am stalled again. I got the Fitbit in mid February. I am not supposed to count calories with Naturally Slim but track what you eat. I think I am analyzing everything because of the stall. I think because I am heavy my Fitbit thinks I am getting a really good workout when I am really just walking.

LivingtheLeanDream · March 2018

PAV8888 wrote: »

There are no exercise points, MFP and Fitbit are trying to come up with the amount of calories that you burned in order to give you the correct recommendation for the calories that you should eat.

You told MFP that you are sedentary and you were given an amount of calories to eat to lose weight at the rate you selected.

But you weren't really sedentary now, were you?

What you did instead of being sedentary is get up every hour and walk at least 250 steps. And then you added two half hour walking bouts for a total of another 6000 steps approximately.

So guess what 11K step a day people are called if they don't record their step producing exercises separetely? They are called something in between Active and Very Active.

So, basically, your Fitbit is correcting what you told MFP.

You told MFP you're sedentary, and now you've been found out: you were more than Active / probably somewhere in the lower Very Active range.

So what would have happened had you told MFP you were Active or Very Active? How many calories would you had been given to eat?

Do the 900 odd calories now look that impressive or improbable?

Yes, being more active means you get to eat more!

^^ sound advice here

missysippy930 · March 2018

I routinely get 15K -17K daily with my fitbit, but never get that kind of calorie burn.
Maybe it will get better with long term use. I have had a fitbit for 5 years.

PAV8888 · March 2018

If you have a heart rate monitoring fitbit and your heart rate is high, Fitbit might over-estimate.

You got your Fitbit mid February, so you just about have a full month of data.

Grab your numbers from MFP. It is a pain to do manually. I don't know if premium gives you better reporting. I use the web version and http://www.myfitnesspal.com/reports/printable_diary

While doing that also plug your daily weigh in numbers (or whatever weigh in numbers you have) into Fitbit.
Connect Fitbit.com to trendweight.com. and look at your trending weight as your "weight".

Also grab your calories out from Fitbit using: https://www.fitbit.com/export/user/data

Now look at your recorded calories in, recorded calories out, and expected deficits and compare to your trending weight changes using 3500 Cal as one lb.

Now, the reality is that you probably need to tweek your logging and food a bit. I can't see your food log so I can't offer you any input. If you're missing days, not logging absolutely everything you eat or drink including condiments and coffee, and if you're not weighing your food... these are all areas I would look into.

leahdp68 · March 2018

Well I guess I choose sedentary because I have an office desk job and that was the description for sedentary. I imagine in the beginning I was sedentary and on the weekends I may still be but during the week with the help of my fitbit I have been pushing myself. My husband got double the steps what I did today and that would be what I call very active. I am worried about bumping my activity level up because on the weekends sometimes I am lucky to hit 5000 steps. I will try the next step up and see what it does then. Thanks for your help

PAV8888 · March 2018

missysippy930 wrote: »

I routinely get 15K -17K daily with my fitbit, but never get that kind of calorie burn.
Maybe it will get better with long term use. I have had a fitbit for 5 years.

What is your weight and height and age?
Are they comparable to the OP's?
What is your activity level setting on MFP?

The first 23 days of Feburary I got an average adjustment of 348 extra calories a day
Would it sound more improbable if I told you I got an adjustment of 1178 calories a day?

Because both of the above statements are true.
My adjustment was 348. Starting from VERY ACTIVE. Which is already 830 Cal more than SEDENTARY. Because my average steps a day were 20828

And I am within the normal weight range. Which means that if I were overweight or obese the adjustment would have been larger.

AnnPT77 · March 2018

leahdp68 wrote: »

Thanks. I started in Jan and lost 20lbs fairly easy, plateued then lost 5 more and I am stalled again. I got the Fitbit in mid February. I am not supposed to count calories with Naturally Slim but track what you eat. I think I am analyzing everything because of the stall. I think because I am heavy my Fitbit thinks I am getting a really good workout when I am really just walking.

You do burn more calories when walking if your body weight is higher. Moving a heavier body through space is more work (in the scientific sense of 'work') than moving a smaller body through space, and work is what burns calories.

When I was obese, I burned more calories per mile (or per minute for walking at equal speed) than I do now at a much lower healthy body weight. If I carried a 50 pound backpack on a walk at my current body weight, I'd burn about the same number of calories I did when I was fat, because I'd be moving the same weight through space (I lost about 50 pounds a couple of years back).

Not gonna do the backpack thing to burn more calories, though, because it'd also be just as hard on my knees as my bodyweight used to be.

I don't know whether the 900+ calorie figure is right for you or not, but body weight is definitely one of the determining factors of walking calorie burn.

PAV8888 · March 2018

You can enable negative adjustments. That will take Calories away when you're less active.
There is nothing wrong with leaving things at sedentary and eating (a good part of your) of your adjustment.

The approximation goes somewhere along the lines of:

positive adjustments from sedentary starting at 3500/4000 steps
positive adjustment from lightly active starting at 7500/8000 steps
positive adjustment from active starting at 11500/12500 steps
positive adjustments from very active starting at 15000/16000 steps (I've seen positive adjustments start as early as 12500 and as late as 16500 depending on how the steps are getting generated)

I do feel a bit like a hamster with a big negative adjustment to start the day. On the other hand I do get "pushed" to get going if I am slacking off and the negative adjustment is staring at me and saying there's no calories left for dinner ;-)

PAV8888 · March 2018

However, if you're stalled... do review your log.

A very high percentage of stalled people tend to miss days, or part days, or not record drinks, or give up half way through the day, or just pick something from the database that sounds appropriate, and/or are making enough small errors that taken together add up to a good degree of under-estimation.

Also review your deficit. I would not aim for more than a 25% deficit if obese and a more than 20% deficit if overweight or normal weight. This means that if your Fitbit says that your TDEE is 3000 Cal a day and you have, for arguments sake, sufficient energy reserves to be correctly classified as obese, then your daily deficit should top out at 750 Cal a day, accurately counted.

A smaller deficit correctly and consistently applied will often give better results over time due to increased compliance...

leahdp68 · March 2018

The only drink I tend to not put in is my cup 2 cups of oj that I add to my water thru out the day. That is 1 to 2 cups a day total. It is part of the Naturally Slim program. I usually scan my food in or make a recipe so I think it is fairly accurate. I increased my activity level to slightly active. I am obese and with the exercise factored in for my food today which was more than I typically eat I am still 858 below my calorie level and that is with MFP figuring a 2lb a week deficit already. I don't feel deprived because I eat when I am hungry and stop when I am satisfied and on the program i can eat the foods I want but try to make healthy choices. lower sugar etc. What deficit is 2lbs a week?

leahdp68 · March 2018

and I did add my oj today and will from now on

anewell28 · March 2018

Today I got almost 17,000 steps and MFP/Fitbit adjustment was +950 calories to give you an idea

leahdp68 · March 2018

ok thanks anewell28

Chunkahlunkah · March 2018

@leahdp68 You've inspired me to walk more!

Chunkahlunkah · March 2018

leahdp68 wrote: »

What deficit is 2lbs a week?

2 pounds a week = a deficit of 7,000 calories for that week

lynn_glenmont · March 2018

leahdp68 wrote: »

Thanks. I started in Jan and lost 20lbs fairly easy, plateued then lost 5 more and I am stalled again. I got the Fitbit in mid February. I am not supposed to count calories with Naturally Slim but track what you eat. I think I am analyzing everything because of the stall. I think because I am heavy my Fitbit thinks I am getting a really good workout when I am really just walking.

If you're not supposed to be counting calories ... what's the point of tracking how many calories MFP and/or your FitBit think you should eat? And if you're not counting calories ... how do you know you would need to eat another 1500 calories to meet adjusted goal that MFP and your FitBit are telling you? And how would you know that your dinner isn't 1500 calories?

I guess I don't understand what you're doing on a calorie-counting website if your approach is not to count calories. And even if you're only here to "track what you eat," why are you paying attention to the calories and worrying about the calories your FitBit and MFP are saying you should eat?

Francl27 · March 2018

How much do you weigh and how tall are you? That makes a big difference.

Angierae75 · March 2018

I am set to sedentary just because there are those kind of days and I'd rather know my baseline number every day and add to it, rather than eat less on slower days. My 11k steps today have given me about 350 extra calories, but I'm 5'1" and 179. At 225 it gave me more like 400-450 for that amount of steps. (It also takes into account how fast you're walking - in your fitbit app you can see the bar chart and how it changes color the more steps you get in a 15 minute period.)

That said, I have lost 46 pounds relying on my fitbit and eating most (sometimes all) of the extra calories back. It is, hands down. the ONLY reason I've been able to lose weight. Before, I'd go "Okay, I'm sedentary" and then MFP would give me 1200 calories and then I would fail because it isn't enough food. When I'm at a 1# per week goal, it gives me closer to 1400 and I can earn another 300-400 if I get my walks in. That is a sustainable amount of food for me.

(Right now I'm pushing toward a goal so I'm doing 1.5# a week, which I can't even do by food alone. MFP tells me 1200 calories a day will let me lose 1.1# per week, so I have to make up that 4/10 of a pound in uneaten exercise calories. Hopefully this will only be a month because I already miss food so much. :P)

But, basically, what everyone has said. If your logging is accurate, eat half your fitbit calories back for a month and see if your weight loss is generally in line with what it should be. Adjust up or down from there.

Really 949 exercise points for walking?

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