Can anyone help me? Calorie question...

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justjenny
justjenny Posts: 529 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My Fitbit says I burned 1706 calories so far today. MFP gives me a goal of 1430 plus 577 from exercise. Do I strive for the 1706? Less than that? More than that? I feel like the two are confusing. MFP always says I am under, where Fitbit always says I am over. The scale is creeping up...what am I doing wrong?

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  • Terytha
    Terytha Posts: 2,097 Member
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    Fitbits are known to over estimate exercise calories by like 20%. Or more.

    If the scale is going up, try eating the amount MFP gives you plus only half your exercise calories.
  • justjenny
    justjenny Posts: 529 Member
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    Yikes! I didn’t know that! I heard they were pretty accurate. Thanks for the info. I will try that! Fingers crossed!
  • autumnblade75
    autumnblade75 Posts: 1,660 Member
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    Is MFP synced with Fitbit or are you adding workouts manually?
    I'd recommend that you sync them, and not add workouts to MFP manually. Then use MFP's numbers. I suspect you are overestimating your exercise calories.
  • justjenny
    justjenny Posts: 529 Member
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    Synced
  • autumnblade75
    autumnblade75 Posts: 1,660 Member
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    So the 577 calories from exercise is an adjustment sent from Fitbit?

    If that's the case, yeah, I support the suggestion to only eat half of the adjustment.
  • justjenny
    justjenny Posts: 529 Member
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    Yes. I don’t manually enter any exercise. It just syncs to my phone during the day. Ok. Thanks I will aim for MFP plus 50% of exercise calories.
  • autumnblade75
    autumnblade75 Posts: 1,660 Member
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    Another consideration: I know my Fitbit works very well for me, so I'm not quick to dismiss it's adjustment as inaccurate - are you weighing your food and selecting entries from the database that match the labels on your foods?
  • justjenny
    justjenny Posts: 529 Member
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    autumnblade75 wrote: »
    Another consideration: I know my Fitbit works very well for me, so I'm not quick to dismiss it's adjustment as inaccurate - are you weighing your food and selecting entries from the database that match the labels on your foods?


    Yes. I measure and scan barcodes I try to log everything before I even eat it, so I don’t forget. I lost about 7 pounds, and for some reason they are creeping back on. I think once I realized I was over on the Fitbit app, I started eating less calories, and that may be messing me up? Is that possible?
  • autumnblade75
    autumnblade75 Posts: 1,660 Member
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    justjenny wrote: »
    autumnblade75 wrote: »
    Another consideration: I know my Fitbit works very well for me, so I'm not quick to dismiss it's adjustment as inaccurate - are you weighing your food and selecting entries from the database that match the labels on your foods?


    Yes. I measure and scan barcodes I try to log everything before I even eat it, so I don’t forget. I lost about 7 pounds, and for some reason they are creeping back on. I think once I realized I was over on the Fitbit app, I started eating less calories, and that may be messing me up? Is that possible?

    Eating fewer calories does not cause weight gain. That is not possible. If you are eating a great deal fewer calories in general and the deprivation causes you to binge, which maybe doesn't get recorded, but that can result in a surplus of calories which would cause weight gain. Sometimes people incorrectly credit eating too little to result in a weight gain for that reason.

    How long have you been eating in a deficit? At what point did you notice that you had regained? How long has that been a factor, and did you change anything else about your lifestyle? A new fitness routine? New and active job? Less active job? Sleep quality change?

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