Should I be eating back the calories burned that I receive from the Fitbit?

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sundaylouwho
sundaylouwho Posts: 112 Member
edited March 2019 in Health and Weight Loss
I'm been tracking my food/eating around 1200-1400 kcal/day for the past 2 weeks. First using Noom and then switching to MFP. I'm starting to find that I am getting hungrier each day instead of adjusting to the food intake change. I am also experiencing headaches (I'm easily susceptible to them). I'm worried that maybe I'm not eating enough... I'm shooting for a 1 lb a week loss and I work an office job and I am fairly sedentary.

My fitbit flex 2 is synced with MFP. I am worried about how accurate the figures coming from my fitbit are. I did change the settings on the fitbit side to match a 1 lb loss a week. I'm walking 5 days a week for 30 mins (approx 1.8 miles) minimum. The past couple days for my calorie diary look like this:

Monday
Total Intake: 1409
Daily Goal: 1765 (535 extra from Fitbit)
Remaining: 356

Tuesday
Total Intake: 1362
Daily Goal: 1667 (437 extra from Fitbit)
Remaining: 305

Wednesday
Total Intake: 1312
Daily Goal: 1700 (470 extra from Fitbit)
Remaining: 388

Thursday (so far, meals are pre-planned and these are avg figures after my lunch walk)
Total Intake: 1294
Daily Goal: 1424 (194 extra from Fitbit)
Remaining: 130

Any help folks can give is greatly appreciated. I do drink tons of water (around 80-100 ounces a day). I have my annual health physical scheduled in a week and a half and I plan on discussing this with my doctor. Just looking for a little advice between now and then.

Thank you!

EDIT: I usually hit 7k - 11k steps a day including the 30 min power walk.

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    edited March 2019
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    You can find out how accurate the figures are by eating your adjustments and tracking your progress. This is the best way to find out how accurate it is because some people (like myself) find it to be very accurate while others find that it over- or underestimates how many calories they're burning.

    Whether you decide to eat back a portion of your Fitbit calories (some people start with 50% or 75% of them) or all of them, you need to account for your activity in some way. Your MFP calorie goal is given to you with the intention that you will eat back additional calories burnt through exercise and if your logging is accurate, it's likely that you're not eating enough.
  • sundaylouwho
    sundaylouwho Posts: 112 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Phirrgus wrote: »
    Those are extremely high burns for walking....

    If her device is synced, that's her additional calorie burn for the entire day. It includes the walk, but also all the other moving she is doing.

    Correct! Should have specified that. I usually hit 7k-11k in steps a day.
  • sundaylouwho
    sundaylouwho Posts: 112 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    You can find out how accurate the figures are by eating your adjustments and tracking your progress. This is the best way to find out how accurate it is because some people (like myself) find it to be very accurate while others find that it over- or underestimates how many calories they're burning.

    Whether you decide to eat back a portion of your Fitbit calories (some people start with 50% or 75% of them) or all of them, you need to account for your activity in some way. Your MFP calorie goal is given to you with the intention that you will eat back additional calories burnt through exercise and if your logging is accurate, it's likely that you're not eating enough.

    Okay. Thank you. That is what I thought. My logging is pretty accurate. I have a food scale and pre-plan most of my meals so I know what's coming out. And I do my best to account for things like olive oil in cooking dinner. I'll start increasing my caloric intake and see how it goes.
  • Dreamwa1ker
    Dreamwa1ker Posts: 196 Member
    edited March 2019
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    My personal experience with a Fitbit Charge 3 (with heartrate) is that I eat back at least half what I get from the fitbit most days, and I do usually eat at or above the entire total about one day a week. I've lost very consistently about 1 lb/week for 3 months now, and feel great, so it seems to be working. I would worry you aren't eating back enough right now.
  • Phirrgus
    Phirrgus Posts: 1,894 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Phirrgus wrote: »
    Those are extremely high burns for walking....

    If her device is synced, that's her additional calorie burn for the entire day. It includes the walk, but also all the other moving she is doing.

    Ah ok, thanks.
  • JaxxieKat
    JaxxieKat Posts: 427 Member
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    I usually eat back 100-400 calories that my Fitbit Alta HR says I burn above and beyond my BMR. Mine is based on steps + heart rate.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,624 Member
    edited March 2019
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    You compare your results to your trendweight.com weight trend change and calculate a tdee % error in terms of Fitbit's tdee calculation and your logging habits :)

    Then you "know" :wink:

    Chances are extremely high that your error will be less than 10% of your Fitbit estimated TDEE if your mfp logging is accurate and your activity and exercise correctly captured.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    Your Fitbit is giving you a calorie adjustment to reconcile your actual activity per Fitbit with whatever you selected in MFP...so your Fitbit adjustment is telling you that you're more active than what you claimed to be with MFP. Yes, you're supposed to eat those adjustments to reach your GOAL. The only way to know how accurate they are is to do it and then adjust accordingly. My Fitbit calories jive pretty well with my own data...YMMV
  • sundaylouwho
    sundaylouwho Posts: 112 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Your Fitbit is giving you a calorie adjustment to reconcile your actual activity per Fitbit with whatever you selected in MFP...so your Fitbit adjustment is telling you that you're more active than what you claimed to be with MFP. Yes, you're supposed to eat those adjustments to reach your GOAL. The only way to know how accurate they are is to do it and then adjust accordingly. My Fitbit calories jive pretty well with my own data...YMMV

    That is exactly what I thought and I appreciate you confirming it. Definitely going to rework my caloric intake and watch it closer. Thankfully, I've been tracking my trend weight the past two+ weeks so I should have a great history to help see how the change affects me. Thanks again!
  • emilysusana
    emilysusana Posts: 416 Member
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    sundaylouwho wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Phirrgus wrote: »
    Those are extremely high burns for walking....

    If her device is synced, that's her additional calorie burn for the entire day. It includes the walk, but also all the other moving she is doing.

    Correct! Should have specified that. I usually hit 7k-11k in steps a day.

    I have a flex2 as well. I thought the adjustment seemed so high in the beginning because I’ve always told MFP I was sedentary even though I’m clearly not. Seems like you aren’t either. It’s okay to leave it set that way, though. I prefer to see the calories as an addition. Anyway, I’ve tracked for 12 weeks and based on my intake and rate of loss, the Fitbit is spot on.

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