Total calories changed while I was sleeping

[theKaryonite]

Hi peeps,

I know this subject has been touched up on a lot, so thank you for bearing with me.
I have already read this article about "calories left", but I can't find the answer to my question, so here it comes:

Just after midnight I checked my Fitbit dashboard.

It said I have 2410 kcalories left for the day. Good, that's what I expected.

Since then I've slept and logged a meal, but lo and behold!
Suddenly I only have 2164 kcalories.

What are the facts?

• I slept for 8 hours
• I gained 0.1kg since yesterday's weigh (let's not debate accuracy)
• My total kcalories dropped 246 for no apparent reason

I can understand my kcal left changing based on logged activity and whatnot, but can someone give a simple explanation of what happened with my total kcalories while I was sleeping?

Moderator edit: Clarified subject

[theKaryonite]

This morning it's happening while I watch. After refreshing the page a couple of times my burned calories go up by two (expected). My left to eat go down by two. Why? What did I eat that made my calorie allowance go down? Nothing..

[LanuzaFitbit]

Hello @theKaryonite! 

Thanks for bringing this up.

Please keep in mind that even if you are not moving, and are only sleeping, your Dashboard will continue to add calories burned to your account, because of your BMR.  So that would probably explain why the amount of calories you can still consume by the time you woke up were lower than when the Dashboard had just reset.

Keep in mind that this would change if you do any sort of activity, the more steps and calories burnt you log, the more 'allowance' you will get. 

I hope this clarifies the situation. Let me know if there are any further questions.

[theKaryonite]

Hi LanuzaFitbit,

Thanks for taking the time to reply.
I understand how my allowance can change based on my activity.
What I don't understand is how my allowance starts at a certain height in
the morning and then drops without any registration, neither food eaten nor
exercises done.

I am under the impression that my allowance should drop if I eat and my
allowance should rise if I exercise.
Is anything else taken into consideration?

Kind regards,
Tibor

[LanuzaFitbit]

Hello @theKaryonite.

Regarding to your last questions, you are pretty much on point.

It could be that the allowance itself went down because the Dashboard is updating your information live, so maybe some changes in your current calorie burnt number could change the calculations done by the Dashboard and thus it goes down. I say this because, in this case, it went down by the two calories that were gained in he burnt calories gauge. 

I also have to say that using the allowance, if you have not set a specific goal, is better as a guide that as a be-all end-all as to how much you can consume. 

Let me know if there is anything else I can do for you.

[theKaryonite]

Hi Lanuza,

What you say sounds plausible, but at the end of this day my allowance went
down for about 300kcal.
I actually have a goal set, so trying to stay within the margin is
important for me, in which case 300 more or less is a lot.
Anyway thank you for replying again, I think we have covered the
possibilities as much as we can without insight from a developer. We can
leave it at this, unless you think it's a bug that should be reported 🙂

Kind regards,
Tibor

[LanuzaFitbit]

Hey @theKaryonite.

Thanks for your reply. 

I appreciate your understanding of the situation. I will be sharing this with the team. If something comes up from that, I'll be sure to let you know about it.

Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.