alories between here and lose it

[highlandersgirl]

I set up both to lose 2 pounds a week and starting this morning before doing anything lose it says i can eat 1281 calories and fitbit says i can eat 963 shouldnt they be the same at the start?

[awood08]

Fitbit is tricky at times with food logging, if you start out with no activity and you have a large deficit (2 pounds per week) it will say you are either over budget or give you an unhealthy number that you are allowed for calories to start. I don't follow what my fitbit tells me in terms of calorie intake. Find your BMR, figure out what you burn on an average day and create your deficit based off those numbers. Good luck!

[too_spicy]

Yeah, what ^she said.

The fitbit calorie counter is going to assume that you aren't going to do anything throughout the day, for the sake of covering its butt so that you don't "overeat." Once you actually do get up and do something, it'll start adding to your calorie intake for the day.

Lose it! is a little bit more flexible, and is going to tell you to eat closer to your basal metabolic rate if you're sedentary, and add calories as you move. Its calorie calculator is a bit safer to follow because its algorithm takes your calorie needs into your account in addition to your caloric expenditure, whereas fitbit focuses solely on the estimated expenditure.

[Blackdevil]

I'm doing the weight loss thing as well to lose 13 lbs, I don't care if I lose the weight I'm really just doing it as an experiment. I will say that its made me better aware of the things I eat, but being in the military I run through around 4000-5500 calories burned a day. That seems really high to me as an intake if I'm trying to lose 13 pounds. I usually consume 3000-4000, so I'm always at a deficit. And once a week I will not care and sometime even go over. I'm new to Fitbit, and because I'm so active my wife bought it for me on Christmas and I love it. Is the way I'm doing food ok or should I change what I'm doing?

[highlandersgirl]

Thank you everyone for input . I think I  do okay when Im working and walking but when off work and weather is bad 😞

[too_spicy]

@Blackdevil: Seems about right. It's definitely hard to eat that much without eating a bunch of junk. 

If you want to change up your intake because you're not seeing results, which you may or may not... try doing a body recomp instead of straight up weight loss. That just means that your weight might stay the same due to increased muscle mass, but your body fat percentage will go down.

On that kind of "diet," you're eating at approximately maintenance (which is what you're doing now) but focusing on trying to eat more carbs and protein on your more active days, as well as more calories. On your less active days, your calorie intake should be a bit lower, and you should be eating the same amount of protein and fewer carbs. If you want specifics on what your diet might look like, I recommend this article.

Of course, I know the military has a bunch of stuff about weight limitations (my boyfriend is in the process of losing 60 lbs so that he can enlist). So if you really are just trying to lose weight, ignore everything I just said. Also if you're not that serious about it, just enjoy your life and don't sweat your food intake down to the last calorie. As long as you're continuing to exercise and you're paying some attention to your nutritional intake you should be fine. 

[emili]

yes to all. I do not pay attention to what fit bit says I should eat, I eat what I know works for me. I count and log. I am in maintance, I don't have anything more to lose, but I need the stats to keep me on a good path. I would recommend the BMR route minus whatever caloric deficit you choose based on how much you work out, want to lose, etc.