FitBit Calorie Intake Goals

[RebeccaLyn]

Hello, I’m not sure if this is the right forum to ask but I’m having trouble finding an answer, so here it goes. 

I am a 5’4 female, 26 years old, weigh 128lbs and 22% body fat. 

My FitBit claims my daily calorie goal is less than 1100 calories.

Of course when I’m working, I work on my feet, it changes this goal to 1400 calories after I’ve taken my work day 10-12,000 steps. 

I also do intense workouts 5-7 days a week, where I burn an additional 800-1,000 calories, which opens up my calorie goal to a more “normal” amount at 1,900-2,100 calories.

What should my base calorie intake be? Especially for rest days.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as I don’t want to be under eating 

[TayJay13]

Well, it all depends. What are your goals? Weight loss? Fat loss/muscle gain? If your goal is weight or fat loss, you should be eating roughly 500 calories less than what you're burning. For example, I've lost my initial weight and am now working on burning fat and building lean muscle. My fitbit says I burn around 2300-2500 calories per day, so I try to eat around 1800. On a rest day I would usually burn 2000 or 2100 so tone it down to around 1600. Hope this helps?

[RebeccaLyn]

Thank you for your response, my goal is also to lose body fat and gain lean muscle. On average 6 days a week (for the past 4 weeks) I have burned 2400-2900 calories.
Your explanation seems to fit my goals as well, so thank you!

Sent from my iPad

[john-is-my-name]

Hello Rebecca; I find the FitBit algorithm to be really useful in determining caloric intake.  I'm male, 54 years old, 6'1" 205# 9% bodyfat.  FitBit calculated my daily caloric intake at around 3700 calories and I burn a lot of calories.  I do free-weights 6 times a week and walk 3 - 5 miles a day. If you are not gaining muscle mass, select the FitBit weight gain option and set it to gain 5  pounds.  Muscle gain takes calories.I don't concern myself with bodyfat, lotsa exercise  burns fat for fuel and a healthy diet is fuel for the system.