Fitbit's Food Plan Demystified

[SebringDon]

Fitbit provides all the tools necessary for a successful diet. I say this as someone who's been obese for over 4 decades, tried a number of solutions, and has now lost over 20 pounds for the first time, at an average rate of 1.4 pounds per week for over 4 months. On top of that, by eating the right foods, I'm never hungry and have more energy than I've ever had. Learn to use the Fitbit tools effectively, and it will work for you too.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Fitbit Food Plan Basics

Part 2: Fitbit's Food Plan In-Depth

Part 3: Fitbit's Food Plan Tracking Tools

Part 4: Tips for Fitbit Weight Loss Success

[loridelloiacono]

Thank you for this informaiton.  I just received my Charge 2, however I do not see the "Personalized" or "Sedentary" settings. 

My goal is to use the program to lose 1 - 1.5 pounds a week, but I want to incorporate my calories in with my calories out.

Thanks!

[Traynor]

Good job! Keep up the good work!  You have a lot of life to be lived.

[jesanto]

@SebringDon, Congratulations on your weight loss and success with FitBit!  I glanced through your article and it seems to be full of a lot of great information.

However, it seems to me that FitBit should work harder to make the food plan less confusing so that it doesn't need "demystifying" at all.  Maybe the target audience was once fitness buffs who knew all about BMR and want to track the burn rate throughout the day or a bunch of startup tech employees who love really cool functionality.  My experience is that no one I know uses this functionality for FitBit because it's too confusing and no one wants to put in the time to read all about how it works.  I know many people who use MyFitnessPal because the static nature of the logging is much easier to understand.  X calories - Y eaten calories + Z earned calories should equal or be greater than 0.  And the final tally is color-coded so I know negative (red) is bad and positive (green) is good.  Easy!  

I apologize for ranting as this is more directed towards FitBit.  If it takes that long to explain to users, the feature should probably be revamped.  The onus should be on FitBit to make the feature easier to use, not users to have to write (or read) a long document.  

Again, I commend you on your achievements and your patience on learning (and writing about) the FitBit food plan.  I think I'm going to stick to MyFitnessPal until FitBit makes this feature better. 

[Shannon730]

Thanks, I'm going to have to look at these links and see if it answers my issue. I've just started trying to track my eating  with FitBit instead of in a journal as I've been doing for over a year. I've lost 100lbs using the Fitbit for exercise snd water tracking but not for food because I've been part of a diabetes study that required me to turn in food journals and double tracking was pointless. 

Anyway point is, my diet plan has been extremely successful and I don't want or plan to change it but since I'm not teaching the class not a student in it I was hoping to switch my tracking to paperless. Unfortunately I've been doing so for the past four days and just found the fat grams it's listing for me are wildly off like the banana I ate today listed total fat grams as 1016. Since my diet plan gives me very specific fat allowances that won't work. 

[Traynor]

Hi Shannon, I just got my Fitbit in February. I've only used it for steps
and sleep, so far. I haven't lost any weight, but I feel I'm gaining
muscle. I hope the food plan helps...please update after you've done it a
while. Congratulations on 100 pounds...that's awesome!!!!!

[Shannon730]

Thanks, Traynor, 

ive sent a message to the Fitbit because I read all the links in this original post and while they explained some stuff about using the food plan (some of which I don't like such as it wanting me to have a 600 calorie diet which is extremely unhealthy) it has no answers for what appears to be misinformation in nutritional information. 

I'm diabetic and part of a CDC program for controlling diabetes with diet and exercise. For that to work I need to be able to count on accurate information about the total fat and carbs I take in each day, so far I've gotten wildly inaccurate information on bagels that I scanned the label as well on potatoes and bananas. If I use their fat info I can't even eat fruit and veggies. 

I love my fitbit (I'm currently using a flex so that my mom can try my blaze and see if she would like to upgrade to one herself) and it does a lot for helping me track my water, exercise snd steps but it may not work for tracking food the way I need it to. 

[Penygraig]

There must be a way to delete incorrect calorie burn or intake data from before I purchased the Fitbit.  If not can we request this asap otherwise this will be going on Ebay.

[marzekiel]

In 2011, I realized Fitbit food plan didn't work with my brain, so I added LoseIt.com to my fitness websites. I've found it works best for me. Different websites/apps work better for different people.

[Pickle25]

On the app, go to the LOG screen. Find the Food Plan box and then you should see a little COG in the top right corner. (I'm not using the phone app, but I'm sure the layout must be similar). 

[IrishCedar]

---

@SebringDon wrote:

Fitbit provides all the tools necessary for a successful diet. I say this as someone who's been obese for over 4 decades, tried a number of solutions, and has now lost over 20 pounds for the first time, at an average rate of 1.4 pounds per week for over 4 months. On top of that, by eating the right foods, I'm never hungry and have more energy than I've ever had. Learn to use the Fitbit tools effectively, and it will work for you too.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Fitbit Food Plan Basics

Part 2: Fitbit's Food Plan In-Depth

Part 3: Fitbit's Food Plan Tracking Tools

Part 4: Tips for Fitbit Weight Loss Success

---

Thank you for your story, information and inspiration. 

[IrishCedar]

I do agree that the goal focus should be far greater on body Fat % loss and not weight loss. Hopefully Fitbit improves this. 

[Stylib38]

Thank you so much for helping me understand the fitbit food plan! I was confused and this has helped so much!

[JennaWheat]

Do all fitbit models, especially the waterproof flex 2, have this feature?  The ability to log food and calculate calories burned? 

[DrMichael]

hello dear

[Dingledogle]

How fantastic that you have taken the time (and have the knowledge) to pull all of this together, You have made my day - thank you

[SunsetRunner]

Hi SebringDon 

Im new to Fitbit and this post gives me a fantastic start/very easy to understand!

My question is excess calories.

Ive Burnt 1000 calories today & I have another 10 minutes to do (100 press ups) by close of today.

As its stands @ 19:30 tonight i have 825 calories left to use - I will have a bit chocolate as a treat for all my handwork today with a cup of Tea but that will still leave me with loads!? 

Ive read previously that your body will hold weight if you don't eat enough?

Would appreciate any feedback.