calories over budget explanation

[jojomontyjohn]

newbie to this and not getting why it consistently tells me im over my calorie budget at the same time as it says i have a couple of hundred calories left?my output is way over my input too.any thoughts?

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[Ek777]

MyFitnessPal is much better but is disappointing to have to use two different apps. 

[hueys]

Thanks for the responses.  Add to the list of things I don't know how to navigate these posts... Hopefully this will go out.

So I read all of the posts and I still have questions:

re the cal in vs cal out tile:  Obviously cal in is the food I've eaten that day.  Likewise cal out is .....:

please tell me if I've gotten this correct:  this is the sum of my basal metabolic rate + my activity level + the number of cals I need to expend to lose weight.  Is this correct?

[ragdoll39]

Hi Hueys

I believe that Cals out is the BMR up to that particular point in the day plus your activity level.  Cals in is self-explanatory.  The calories left in your budget is the cals out at any given point less the calorie deficit according to your plan give or take approx 50 calories.  They still consider you to be in the zone if you are within 50 calories of your target.  Example:  I'm on a 500 calorie deficit plan hoping to lose 1 pound a week.

Currently I have 619 cals in and 1207 cals out.  If I take the 1207 cals out and minus the 500 calorie deficit of my plan I should have 707 calories left in my budget.  Currently my app tells me I have 751 calories left in my budget.  I am under budget.  I hope you're with me so far.

If, for example, I had 819 cals in instead of 619 then I would still be considered in the zone because I am within 50 calories of the 500 cal deficit.  I would have 507 left in my budget.  If I had already consumed 1019 calories then I would be considered over my budget because I would have 307 calories left in my budget but it should show at least 500.  So that's how you can be over budget yet still have calories in your budget.  You just don't have enough in your budget because it should 500 not less.

Having said all that please keep in mind that the cals out is always updating according to BMR + activity.  This will also affect the calories left in your budget.

Clear as mud?  Anyway, I hope that helps.

[raevont]

I agree...if you shouldn't eat anymore calories that day in order to meet your weight lost goals (deficit) then say that....don't say we have 600 more calories to consume if we really don't. 

[finallygotone]

I just want to say, I got a fitbit a few weeks ago, and I agree, this is confusing as all get out. I got the Flex2, which also doesn't collect any useful data from spinning or yoga or barre so this is basically a $100 step counter, whose calorie counts are totally confusing. 

When I first set it up I didn't have a food/nutrition plan and then the calorie counts made a lot more sense. When I set up a plan to help me track the deficit I need, it just became way too confusing to bother with.

[LoveG]

I'm assuming over budget means you are working out more than you are eating. To maintain a healthy balance you would need to consume more food. Under budget means you're eating more than you're working out which means you're just not going to maintain or lose weight you will gain. if you feel like you are eating enough you're not hungry just change your deficit settings

[LoveG]

That would be true if you were only documenting what we ate...but if you're working out you're burning calories therefore your total consumption of food will go back down..for instance if you are 1200 calories and burned off 900 of them then your total good intake would only be 300 

[Liana_abuhejleh]

I dont get it 😞  simplify please :(((((  has been suffering with this problem foreverrrrrr 

[krisangel10]

I'm new to the forum, but this still doesn't make sense to me.  I did put losing 2lbs. a week, and I guessed that the reason it was saying I was over budget (when I had lots of calories out, but had eaten much less in) was that I needed to exercise more.  So I did, and without eating anything else, the calories over budget went "higher".  Are my calories out "over budget"???

[kah22]

I've been reading over this Forum and the one constant is: Fitbit's Dashboard is very confusing, very difficult to understand.

As a fitness tracker it probably does all it says on the package but with all the stats it provides does it do what the customer wants, a clear and concise and easily understandable explanation as to where the owner is at a given point in time.  I think not

Because I find the Fitbit Dashboard  difficult to understand I've opted to view understandable stats in MyFitnessPal: Goal 1500: less Food 411 plus Exercise 434 equals Remaining 1523. From what I've read the Remaining figure is the amount of calories I can eat before the day is out; but additional advice would seem to suggest only eat a percentage of the Remainder just to allow for descripency in the hardware/software. Start at 50% and Work your way up to a higher percentage. I try to use 75% and that gives me certain wriggle room

In addition I've linked my Fitbit .in a way that lets MFP do the calorie thing, the linking actually knocks out the calories in v calories out tyle. See THIS POST

Moderators regularly say that if you have any suggestions post them on a suggestion forum but there has been so much confusion raised, and so many calls for help to simplify the Dashboard that I doubt if the programmers really listen.  I've just got a Charge 2 as a replacement for the Charge HR but if I were buying again I think I'd look carefully at other trackers 

[bruinsgirl33]

I know Sparks' reply is over a year old, but wow it just made a LOT of sense to me in late 2017 lol. Long story short, I've been eating 1400 calories and burning roughly 2200 a day, with a goal of losing 1.5 lbs a week, yet have been "over budget." For today I've consumed 1483 calories and have burned close to 2800. I did what Sparks suggested- added 750 to my 1483 and got 2233 and then subtracted that from my calories burned (2788) and got a deficit of 555 calories- not even CLOSE to the 750 I was shooting for.

Now, I could either adjust the amount of weight I want to lose a week OR adjust my calorie budget. I think since I'm working out harder than I used to and tend to get hungry not long afterwards I'll adjust the amount of weight I want to lose a week and see where that takes me. Sparks, you just cleared up my confusion by a thousand! Thank you!

[xmetaldisasterx]

Mine does this exact same thing. It says I'm over budget well I have only eaten one thing that is most certainly nowhere near over my limit. If I look at the tile it will say I have not reached my limit but if I click on it it will say I'm over.

[lonely182]

This is truly confusing, but as Sparks explained it simply: Just add the calorie deficit you have chosen from your food plan to the calories in you have. If that number is higher than what you've got out, you are over budget. But as long as it's within 50 calories, Fitbit will ignore and say you are in "The Zone".

It took me a whole night, but I finally got it! 😛

[Kdelco99]

This is the best explanation.

[Rupertbear]

It says over budget because it is estimating how many calories you will expend before midnight. Your'e not actually over budget.

[Jaelynn]

Same issue here.. I find this very confusing.

Based on my Fitness pal and Fitbit, i am allowed to consume 1200 calories a day to lose about 2 lbs a week.

Before i have reached that amount Fitbit tells me i am over budget. 

If my calorie intake has already been adjusted to facilitate a 2 lb per week loss, how can i be over budget at 1100 cals? Confusing!

P.S. if i stay within my Fitbit 'budget', Fitness pal notifies me that i'm not eating enough.

[Momsbugs98]

I posted this quite a while back now. Honestly, I eventually gave up on
counting calories within fitbit. I've seen dozens of alleged answers to
this question, and none of them are satisfactory. I've heard it's an
alloted budget for the day and if you're ahead for that hour, it would be
correct later. Nope. I've heard some really stupid supposed reasons that
made absolutely no sense. I didn't even have mine at for weight loss, and I
would come up over budget right at midnight, still well under the budgeted
calories. I think it's a lame excuse for "the app doesn't do this part very
well so we'll find excuses that make no sense instead of fixing it." Good
luck with it and your weight loss! If you ever figure it out, do tell! 😊

[Melisss]

Thanks for your reply, I do agree!x

Sent from my iPhone

[Imaredhead946]

I just got my fitbit yesterday and linked it with MyFitnessPal. The calorie summary for meals seems to be transferring over to my fitbit just fine; however, I am feeling really dense right now because I don't understand your answer as to why calories are showing "Over Budget".  Mine shows I had "1,878 calories IN" and "2,132 calories OUT".  So why does it say I'm 746 calories "OVER BUDGET" when simple math tells me I BURNED 254 MORE Calories than I consumed? 746 doesn't reconcile to the in/out figures in any way I can see.  Please help me... I'm soooo confused!  😕  Thanks! 

PS- the All Caps are for emphasis, not yelling.  ☺

[Imaredhead946]

I'm new to this and seeing your screenshot caused more confusion for me.  In your scenario, you are Over Budget but you have calories left over.  In my scenario, I'm Over Budget and shows no calories left over even though I burned more calories than I consumed.  Any ideas? Thanks!