Stupid Fitbit- too many calories. I've read so many posts and I'm still struggling.

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brittanydavisrdh
brittanydavisrdh Posts: 1 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I am 5'8'' and weigh 150. My goal is to lose 11 pounds.
I have mfp and my fitbit linked.
today I only got 6900 steps thus far. I did not exercise but I did have an elevated heart rate when chasing after the kids and picking weeds but no exercise was actually logged.
MFP wants to give me an additional 541 calories to eat for my usual daily activities.

I have read so many posts, adjusted settings on both mfp and fitbit and nothing changes.
This seems like far too many additional calories to be eating. How many is it going to allow when I do strength training and/or run 3 miles?

Help!

Replies

  • 23rochelle23
    23rochelle23 Posts: 269 Member
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    That’s crazy - I weigh more than you and spent 45min working my tail off at the gym and work an active job... and received 197 or somewhere thereabouts... I think there is a setting where it counts your activity and then plans out as though you were maintaining that level of activity all day... no idea how to turn off though sorry :|
  • 23rochelle23
    23rochelle23 Posts: 269 Member
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    Ok so 45 min in gym and roughly the same steps... 172cal added - definitely something weird going on!
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    What do you have your MFP activity level set to?
  • JaiNicole7
    JaiNicole7 Posts: 88 Member
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    When I first got my Fitbit Versa my calories back would be pretty low (under 200). But lately I also have been getting a ton back. I have a 15,000 daily steps goal, and when I reach that I get anywhere from 500-800 calories back. This seems like way too much, so I'd also appreciate any light that anyone can shed on this.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    Yeah, I had to switch off heart rate to get anywhere near reasonable. Some people just have atypical heart rate patterns, or heart rates that are affected too much by coffee or stress. Try switching it off for a couple of days to see if that gives you a better estimate. If it's still too high, you could make yourself shorter or older on the Fitbit app.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    JaiNicole7 wrote: »
    When I first got my Fitbit Versa my calories back would be pretty low (under 200). But lately I also have been getting a ton back. I have a 15,000 daily steps goal, and when I reach that I get anywhere from 500-800 calories back. This seems like way too much, so I'd also appreciate any light that anyone can shed on this.

    Depending on your weight, that's not unreasonable for 15k steps.
  • niknak8800
    niknak8800 Posts: 8 Member
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    You have the same stats as me. I feel that fitbit is giving me too many calories back.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,387 Member
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    Are you actually eating based on what the fitbit says, and not achieving your goals? Or are you just feeling like it's the wrong number?

    I ask because there really a lot of people (especially women) who are convinced they need to eat tiny amounts of calories in order to lose weight. It ain't necessarily so. (I lost most of 50+ pounds at 1400-1600 plus exercise calories, at age 59-60, 180s to 130s, 5'5" tall . . . while hypothyroid.)

    Also: You can't compare yourself to others, especially without comparing in detail on activity settings and daily habits . . . they may fidget more or less, or have a more/less active job or home chores, or anything**. Your own results are the gold standard: If you gain/lose/maintain weight as expected on average after 4-6 weeks, then the numbers are right. If you don't gain/lose/maintain weight as expected, you adjust your intake accordingly.

    ** Yes, that means that my loss rate experience reported above is also completely irrelevant as an individual guide to your expectations. I mention it merely to illustrate that the need to eat 1200 calories is not as universal as sometimes believed.
  • lisaepell
    lisaepell Posts: 103 Member
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    I unsynced my FitBit from MFP and only add back calories for intentional exercise. I felt like I was gaining when they were syncing because I was eating back calories that I shouldn't have been.
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
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    IMO, disconnect the accounts. Set your activity level in MFP as reasonably/appropriately as you can. Use your FitBit to sanity check that setting. Then just do what MFP tells you.
  • Ntoriousydc
    Ntoriousydc Posts: 31 Member
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    @lisaepell have you noticed a change in results since doing so?
  • lisaepell
    lisaepell Posts: 103 Member
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    @Ntoriousydc - for sure.
  • Ntoriousydc
    Ntoriousydc Posts: 31 Member
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    Maybe i need to do the same. Thanks for the tip.

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