Calorie estimate sedentary setting

[Krm1225]

I have a weird work schedule. I work from 4am to 1pm. I get up.at 2am and go to bed at 6pm.

I'm also trying to do intermittent fasting because I tend to graze, so that's helping me a lot. So I stop eating around 3pm.

Every day I'm eating according to the goal that Fitbit sets. I get into the zone and stop. But every morning I wake up and the app says I'm way over target. Like hundreds of calories off.

I think the app assumes I'm going to burn a lot more calories later in the day than I actually am, so throughout the day my goal goes lower and lower. I suppose I could just start eating 100-200 calories below the goal that Fitbit sets for me, but if I'm just going to go back to tracking my own activities and calories, then I don't really get the point of having a fitbit.

I've read that there's a "sedentary" setting that sets your daily calorie goal as if you were completely sedentary, then lets you earn more calories by being active throughout the day. I can't find that setting anywhere. That article is from 2017, even though my app still directs me to it. Is that setting still a thing, or is the article just not updated? (like everything else on this website.)

[Fitterfuzzy]

Is there any way to set a static calorie amount for the day?  I see an icon for adjusting the amounts but it doesn't allow for revision. I would like to set the amount at 1200. I'm a senior trying to eat healthily and be active, but 700 or 800 calories is unrealistic for me, even on more sedentary days. I do understand the premise that calorie amounts are set in balance with activity level.

[Glenda]

@Krm1225 You have good ideas.  I understand how you feel too.  I love having my Fitbit One even though I only use it for counting my steps on my treadmill and while shopping and doing yard work.  Intermittent fasting helped me to be better about not grazing all day.  It at least showed me I really don't have to munch one thing after another all day long.  I think it is counter productive for everyone to get all involved in the "calories used thing"  or exercise programs to lose weight because all the studies show that people starting an exercise program eat more and DON'T lose weight.    Maybe it would be helpful for you to look at the chart "estimated calories needed per day"  for all sizes and gender of people (health.gov) and they recommended supertracker.gov  I saw that, when I googled what causes gas.  All people who say they eat healthy may be full of gas.  LOL   Diary and FIBER cause gas along with drinking through a straw and carbonated drinks.  We should eat 14 grams of fiber for each 1000 calories we eat.  Also interesting was that it is ok to go on a 1000 calorie a day diet for a week but then you should switch to something more sustainable which would be 10 - 12 times your weight.  I weigh 115 X 10 = 1150 calories a day   (the last suggestion was for obese people with a BMI over 30 but it might apply to everyone ( except  I don't think I can lose weight eating that much).

          Hope something here will encourage you.  Best wishes.

[Krm1225]

Thanks for the ideas! I'm eating what I think is a good amount, but it's just annoying to find Fitbit's calorie tracker is so difficult to use and there are no options to make it more adaptable to lifestyles that don't fall into the 9-5 mold.

[WavyDavey]

Hi @Krm1225, Check on the web dashboard at fitbit.com, under Food Plan. There's a gear icon there that had the setting for sedentary. 

[kellyllek]

I'm surprised virtually no one seems to care or talk about this! I had a Fitbit many years go and found it very helpful to lose weight, and the number one thing I liked was checking "Calories Left".(Remaining). In fact, I've owned fancy Samsung and Garmin watches since and I just came back to Fitbit for this very reason; to see the Calories Left! 

I've had a Versa 3 for two days and imagine my surprise that I couldn't find this on the watch or find a single video talking about it (save your post).  To me it's the most important feature of any plan! 

I had it on "personalized" the first day and I went out on my bike with my daily commute and rode some extra hills. I wake up the next day thinking, OK, it's going to show me I have left for the day, about 700 calories when I wake up. So, if I do nothing, it'll slowly count up all day until midnight with my goal total of of 1500. If I ate nothing and did no extra exercise during the day it'd say I have 1500  caloires left.  And of course, as I eat  the number goes down, and if I workout it goes up!  

So when I woke up and at 8am it said I have like 1200 calories left that made no sense to me! How does it know if I'm going to workout? Some days I workout , some days I don't. On a Sunday I may go out for a 3 hour ride!  I don't understand how "personalized" can adjust ahead of time? 

Some days you work out and some days you don't, so I don't quite understand how the "personalized" plan could work for anyone? !! 

Fortunately I dug around until I found the gear icon setting on the dashboard and made the change to Sedentary. Then, on the watch, I was able to put the "Advanced Stats" in the shortcuts and put "Food" first, so all I do now is slide up to see Calories Remaining. 

It's just the more I do, the more I calories I'll have left, an that's the best motivation for me! I can't comprehend why this is not what everyone wants? Momma told me I was special! 🤣

[GBO323]

@kellyllek I agree 100%. I've used other food trackers and even one that is just like Sedentary Fitbit's style of tracking. Starting off with 'Personalized' was discouraging...as you said...it was frustrating to wake up next day just to see I was OVER for the prior day. With Sedentary, I earn as I go so I can eat as little or as much as needed to ensure I have my calorie deficit(in Loss mode) or maintenance in place at all times. Fitbit should promote this more.

I do like having the Food and Activity tracking in the same app vs syncing back/forth and hoping it works. Having it in the same app works great.

One thing I did was create a spreadsheet that I keep a shortcut on my home screen for. It's a 7-Day (Mon-Sun) list of each day and Calories Over/Under with a Net Calories for the week. It's my way of Banking calories, but that's another post.

[Kaila123]

Do you know if there's another way of doing this? Fitbit has since taken away the web dashboard entirely as of 2025 😞