I'm over goal but still have calories?! Confused.

[kaitfitzpatrick]

So, this is what my dashboard is saying. I have 329 Cals left to eat but apparently I am OVER my daily goal. Does anyone else ever see this? Am I missing something?

Thanks!

[kaitfitzpatrick]

So, this is what my dashboard is saying. I have 329 Cals left to eat but apparently I am OVER my daily goal. Does anyone else ever see this? Am I missing something?

Thanks!

[melly11]

Hi @kaitifitzpatrick 

I'm a fairly new user but think I can help.

When you first set up your tracker it would have asked if you want to loose weight - then dependant on the option you choose oin how many lbs per week you wanted to loose it should show you how many calories deficit per day you need to achieve.

 I am on the high intensity setting (hoping to achieve a loss of a 1lb per week) therefore I need to take in 750 calories less than I burn.

Today I have burned 2050 calories and eaten 1328 so my dashboard is saying that "im in the zone"

Your dashboard is saying you have burnt 1271 calories but eaten 947. So if you eat another 300 calories you will be eating as much as your burning which as I understand it, will not help with weight loss.

To check what setting your on

Go to your dashboard

Hover cursor under the calories eaten and then click on the icon that appears that looks like a screw/nut.

Then choose the plan that you want to try and it will tell you the deficit,is the number of calories under what you are burning that you should be eating.

I hope that helps, and I hope a moderator will confirm I'm understanding it correct myself ☺

I hope you enjoy the fitbit community

[SunsetRunner · Accepted solution]

@kaitfitzpatrick the bottom right tile is a "real time" tile.  Whereas the bottom left tile is not time dependent.  In other words, the bottom left tile is saying based on your BMR + activity you still have 329 calories you can eat and still be within the specified weight loss goal you set.  While the bottom right tile is saying as of the time you took the screen shot you are over the calories you should have eaten by that time in the day.  It's a weird concept so let me set some basic assumptions to hopefully clarify it:

BMR = 2,400

Plan = -500 calories

Food Intake = 1,000 calories

So let's say you looked at that bottom right tile at noon.  Based on the assumptions I listed above it will show 1,000 vs 1,200.  That's because based on the BMR I listed you would burn 100 calories/hr.  And since the plan selected is -500 it will show over since 1,200 - 500 = 800 whereas food in is 1,000.  However, if you don't eat anything more for another 3 hours it will show 1,000 vs 1,500 and "in the zone" since 1,500 - 500 = 1,000.

A lot of people run into this issue if they pre-log their food for the day or if you eat a large breakfast or lunch it will show over until later in the day.  

[kaitfitzpatrick]

Ahhh okay, I got it. Makes much more sense to me now! Thank you!

[Marrahjo]

So should I ignore the amount of calories it says I can eat and pay attention to making sure im staying in the zone? 

[Knowledge]

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@Marrahjo wrote:

So should I ignore the amount of calories it says I can eat and pay attention to making sure im staying in the zone? 

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No ignore the zone and pay attention to the amount of calories it says you can eat (the left tile).

The zone is of no benefit. All it says is basically based on what you've burned so far today, how much calories have you eaten. The idea is if you tend to overeat, the zone will tell you that maybe you should reserve some calories for dinner rather than have them so early, etc etc. But at the end of the day the calorie allowance (the left tile) is what you should follow. It tends to underestimate and will increase its allowance as the day goes on and you do more activity. As long as you follow that tile you will be good.

[bsoles24]

One is your daily burn (it shows your half way throught your day of your daily calorie burn by just living). Its saying your over because you taken in more than half of your allowable calories before your halfway through the day. It will even out to at goal if you dont eat more than your calories left by the end of the day.