Calorie deficit confusion - over budget but calories left?

[Joolie567]

I am totally confused by the calorie deficit in FitBit. I want to try and loose 1 lb per week, and Fitbit shows I would need a decifit of 500 calories per day. So far today, I have burned 1,443 calories and I've eaten 953 calories. As of this moment, I thought I had a 490 calorie deficit, but FitBit is still showing me as having 400 calories left to eat (953 in vs. 1353 total) and being under budget. . . it shows 953 eaten vs. 1443 burned. Since that's only a 490 deficit, wouldn't I be over budget and need to burn another 10 calories to hit the 500 deficit? 

Is the 500 calories I need to avoid already incorporated somewhere or is there a setting to have FitBit include/show the deficit? Should I just pay attention to what I've burned and knock 500 off of that to get my calories in goal?

[jadedkisses · Accepted solution]

Hi Joolie567,

Fitbit tracker already includes the deficit of -500 in the amount of calories it estimates that you have left to consume.  It's not an exact science but it is using your movements and estimating how much you will burn through out the day.

Hope this clears that up for you. Best of luck!

[emili]

exactly as @jadedkisses said. it is basing your left over calories on your activity trend for the day. so if you move less, it will adjust- if you move more, it will adjust.

[Joolie567]

Awesome, thank you!

[tractorlegs]

Hi @Joolie567, in your example the 400 calories the tracker says you can still eat is for the rest of the day. Meaning, yes you've burned 1443 calories and yes you've eaten 953 calories, but the 400 the software is telling you that you can eat is for the rest of the day, not up to the minute. The figure on the app "calories left" is always an estimate of what is left for the entire day. Hope this helps - it looks like you were simply misinterpreting what the tracker was saying. [grin]

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@Joolie567 wrote:

I am totally confused by the calorie deficit in FitBit. I want to try and loose 1 lb per week, and Fitbit shows I would need a decifit of 500 calories per day. So far today, I have burned 1,443 calories and I've eaten 953 calories. As of this moment, I thought I had a 490 calorie deficit, but FitBit is still showing me as having 400 calories left to eat (953 in vs. 1353 total) and being under budget. . . it shows 953 eaten vs. 1443 burned. Since that's only a 490 deficit, wouldn't I be over budget and need to burn another 10 calories to hit the 500 deficit? 

Is the 500 calories I need to avoid already incorporated somewhere or is there a setting to have FitBit include/show the deficit? Should I just pay attention to what I've burned and knock 500 off of that to get my calories in goal?

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