Matching activities to meals: calories in vs calories out

[RonE]

I've started recording the calorie data off my fitbit as a means to compare my daily numbers to see how consistent I am over time.  However I'm a bit confused as to what number I should use to calculate or record what my actual calorie deficit is for the day when tracking this data.  For example,when I look at my fitbit data for a day that I recently completed a long bike ride:

- On my Dashboard, my Calories In vs Calories Out history for that day shows 4697 cals out (burned), 2227 cals in; a difference of -2470 cals (deficit).

- My Dashboard Food Plan history shows the same numbers.

- However when I go into Log and look at my Food Plan history, it shows I ate 2227 calories out of 3946 calories; a difference of -1719 calories (again, a deficit).

So which is the correct deficit, -2470 calories or -1719 calories?

[Esya]

2470 - 1720 = 750 calories difference. Did you somewhere set up a weight plan with a 750 calories deficit?

[RonE]

I did set up a weight plan with a 750 calorie difference; but even taking that into consideration, which calorie deficit number do I use?

[UVcat]

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@RonE wrote:

I did set up a weight plan with a 750 calorie difference; but even taking that into consideration, which calorie deficit number do I use?

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I think the food plan has your 750 deficit included (it is telling you how many calories you can eat while still burning 750 calories more than you take in).

If you want to know Fitbit's estimate of how many calories you burned total for a particular day, I would use the Calories burned section of the dashboard, or in the "Activties" section, where it will give you a total calories burned for each day of an entire month (if you click on the "Month" tab on the top). Of course, you should not expect these to be "final" until it's you've synced your tracker the next day.

Hope that helps!

-UVc

[Getfit20]

higher number because its easy to lose calories

[RonE]

I went in and changed my settings to see how that affected my daily calorie count as of noon.

-250 cal daily deficit

I can still eat 1651 out of 2371 cals; I've already eaten 720 of 2369 cals (deficit of 1651 cals)

I've eaten 720 cals, burned 892 cals (deficit of 172 cals)

-500 cal daily deficit

I can still eat 1398 out of 2118 cals; I've already eaten 720 of 2118 cals (deficit of 1398 cals)

I've eaten 720 cals, burned 892 cals (deficit of 172 cals)

-750 cal daily deficit

I can still eat 1145 of 1865 cals; I've already eaten 720 of 1865 cals (deficit 1145 cals)

I've eaten 720 cals, burned 892 cals (deficit 172 cals)

-1000 cals daily deficit

I can still eat 894 of 1614 cals; I've already eaten 720 of 1614 cals (deficit 894 cals)

I've eaten 720 cals, burned 892 cals (deficit 172 cals)

So based on the different daily deficit for calories, as of noon today when I did the reset, I'm showing a deficit of calories but which of these numbers is more accurate?

- 172 calorie deficit based on what I've eaten and calories burned?

- 1649 calorie deficit based on a 250 daily calorie deficit?

- 1398 calorie deficit based on a 500 daily calorie deficit?

- 1145 calorie deficit based on a 750 daily calorie deficit?

- 894 calorie deficit based on a 1000 daily calorie deficit?

[UVcat · Accepted solution]

Again, your food tile is *projecting* how many calories you have left *to eat*, for the whole day, given the deficit that you said you wanted to hit (-250, -500, etc.) and some estimate it makes of how many calories it thinks you will burn that day.

I don't think it makes any sense to calculate your deficit for the day until the day is over. Yes, you have a 172 calorie deficit as of right this minute. If you eat nothing for the next hour, you will have a larger deficit. If you eat a big meal, you may very well wipe out your deficit for a few hours. Who cares? Fat loss is about creating a deficit between calories in and calories out over long periods of time. The minute-by-minute deficit seems meaningless (at least to me).

-UVc

[RonE]

Once I looked at the results of the different settings, I was beginning to think the same thing.  For the data logging that I'm doing to ensure I'm being consistent, I do look at my calorie count for the day early the following morning.  This morning I looked at my total calorie information from yesterday:

- According to my Food Plan for yesterday, I ate 2009 calories out of my "budget" of 2565 calories, a deficit of 556 calories.

- According to my Calories In vs Out for yesterday, I ate 2009 calories and burned 3316 calories, a deficit of 1307 calories.

So although I was 556 calories shy of meeting my daily requirement of 2565 calories, because I had a fitness activity that resulted in me burning more calories than what was "budgeted" for, I actually was short 1307 calories for the day, not 556.

Looks like I'll have to back and relook at the numbers I was keeping track of.  Thank you everyone for your replies and help; much appreciated.