Calorie in vs. calorie out

[kmeden09]

I have been diligent in logging my food in the food log everyday.  I reach my goal for the day and I stop eating.  Although I still sometimes feel hungry, I'm very committed to not going over the goal that I've achieved each day.  At this point, my dashboard indicates that I'm over in my calorie in vs. calorie out.  But I realize that I will continue to burn calories in the evening. By the next morning, when I review my dashboard, my caloric intake is now in the under zone.  So I've met my goal and yet somehow I'm still under.  How do I resolve this?  Any suggestions?  I know that when I'm not getting enough calories, I lose absolutely no weight, which is so frustrating when I feel I'm following everything to a tee.  Help!

[teddybirchen]

Just got a fitbit and started it today.  A bit confused on how the calorie tracker is set up.  It is showing calories burned over a week ago.  Also for my weight loss goal is said im over budget and just started.  How can that be.  I have only had a small 1/2 cup of special k cereal with 1/2 milk and small coffe.  A bit confused here.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[kaelarenee7]

The calories burned from before having your Fitbit should just be what Fitbit has calculated to be your BMR since it can't account for any activity besides just living from before you had it. I'm not sure why they decided to have it show your BMR calories burned from before having the Fitbit, but it's not going to affect any of your data.

As far as the calories in versus calories out, it will tell you if you're over calories at that point in the day. I wake up early for work, usually about 4am and Fitbit has shown at that time that I've burned about 300-400 calories just for being alive. I input my breakfast, which is usually 2 cups of Special K cereal and some milk, and that brings me up to about 300 calories in. If Fitbit says that I've burned 300 calories at that point in the day and then I've eaten 300 calories, I don't have a deficit and Fitbit will say I'm over my calorie goal at that point. The more important part to look at is how many calories Fitbit says you have left to eat in the day because the portion that says if you're under, in the zone, or over goal will change throughout the day. I work an active job so even though I go into work with Fitbit saying that I'm over goal at that point in time, by the time that I've worked for a few hours, Fitbit will say that I'm under goal. It changes based on what you eat and how active you have been and just shows you where you are at at that exact point in time.

[Corona96]

How can we let fit bit know that their dashboard is not as easy or informative as others.  I had used the Body Bugg/Body Media for years - as a simple means to keep track of calories in versus calories out (the reason most of us buy these devices).  Their interface was great, but the technology was getting old.

I wish Fitbit would modify the dashboard to better represent and help those of us that use the device to keep track of a real weight loss plan.  I know there is more information in the dahsboard, but in no way does it seamlessly let me focus on "I want to burn calories and see how I am doing - vs - what am in eating throught the day (and what day was I bad).

I can't figure out how to contact them or start a new subject. 

Community - if you agree, please help.

[HelenWebster]

You should consult with your doctor about how many calories you should consume.  Many things I have read and several health care professionals have stated that I (69 yr old female)should never consume less that 1200 calories a day.  

[SunsetRunner]

That was very helpful and easy to comprehend.

[usagisisa]

I know that this is an old post, but when I saw

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@kmeden09 wrote:

I have been diligent in logging my food in the food log everyday.  I reach my goal for the day and I stop eating.  Although I still sometimes feel hungry, I'm very committed to not going over the goal that I've achieved each day.  At this point, my dashboard indicates that I'm over in my calorie in vs. calorie out.  

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That this user literally stops eating is a problem.  The way the fitbit shows its data encourages UNHEALTHY actions.  If this person plans to exercise later in the day, they shouldn't stop eating - they should continue to make health choices and consume enough fuel for their daily routine and to give them energy for the workout later in the day.  

If the fitbit showed a CURRENT CALORIE DEFICIT, which shows progression towards a goal, rather than CALORIES LEFT, which implies you have done something wrong, when all you have done is eating regular meals and in turn makes you feel badly, you are not motivating the right actions and feelings.  All you are doing is making people feel bad about themselves.

I'm trying to gather like-minded people who desperately want a CALORIE DEFICIT readout on the Feature suggestions page.  (see below)

I am making it my mission to get Fitbit to add a Current Calorie Deficit tile that we can select!  Having access to a real time Calorie Deficit seems like such a no brainer to anyone who is trying to lose weight - I think this is a huge opportunity for Fitbit, and have shared a post on the suggestions section of the forum.  After spending some time searching the forums, there are so many people who are confused with "calories in/out" and "Calories Left", being "in the zone" or "over".   It really seems to me that all this could be solved by just giving us a "Calorie Deficit" tile!  Then, we can all set out calorie deficit goal, see how we are doing at a glance without having to do any math (or get ticked off because our fitbits are telling us basically to stop eating) and make well-informed decisions to reach our deficit goal for the day. 

Have a a look and vote!  Maybe one day the app developers will help us out!

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/Can-we-get-a-quot-Calorie-Deficit-quot-Tracking-...

[usagisisa]

I'm trying to gather like-minded people who desperately want a CALORIE DEFICIT readout on the Feature suggestions page.  (see below)

I am making it my mission to get Fitbit to add a Current Calorie Deficit tile that we can select!  Having access to a real time Calorie Deficit seems like such a no brainer to anyone who is trying to lose weight - I think this is a huge opportunity for Fitbit, and have shared a post on the suggestions section of the forum.  After spending some time searching the forums, there are so many people who are confused with "calories in/out" and "Calories Left", being "in the zone" or "over".   It really seems to me that all this could be solved by just giving us a "Calorie Deficit" tile!  Then, we can all set out calorie deficit goal, see how we are doing at a glance without having to do any math (or get ticked off because our fitbits are telling us basically to stop eating) and make well-informed decisions to reach our deficit goal for the day. 

Have a a look and vote!  Maybe one day the app developers will help us out!

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/Can-we-get-a-quot-Calorie-Deficit-quot-Tracking-...

[GershonSurge]

@usagisisa,

You can get the current deficit by subtracting calories burned from calories eaten. If you set your preferences to sedentary, you get the deficit at the end of the day if you don't eat more and don't exercise more. Other settings will base your expected deficit based on previous day's activity. All the information you need is there.

I don't see anything at all unhealthy about knowing I plan to eat 2,000 calories a day and burn 3,000 calories in a day and not eating more after I eat my 2,000 calories. When I was losing weight, I generally burned the calories before I ate them.

[usagisisa]

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Thanks @GershonSurge

The issue for me is that I don't want to do the math - it may seem like a small thing, but I want an "at-a-glance" view of where I am versus my calorie deficit goal.  I don't want to "hack" my fitbit and tell it I am sedentary when I am not - that seems to defeat the purpose.  And I don't want the deficit at the end of the day - I want it in real time to inform real time decisions in a positive manner.  I captured a very thorough example in the link to the "Features" page above - you can check it out if you are interested.

About the "unhealthy" comment - this is in reference to the idea that the "Calories Left" tile can cause people to stop eating in the middle of the day, when it is more advisable to eat small, frequent meals throughout the day.  Again, this is explained in my example, but there are often instances when your fitbit may be telling you that you are "bad" (i.e. you have minimal/low calories left), so you might feel guilty eating a very reasonable 250 calorie lunch.  The healthy choice would be to eat that lunch and let the Calories Left number go even lower.  However, if you wanted to abide by your fitbit, you may not eat, and that is by comparison and unhealthy decision, especially if you plan on working out later in the day.

I may be splitting hairs, but it is all about using data, at the right time, in the right way to motivate the right decisions.  And currently, fitbit doesn't do that for me.  😞


@GershonSurge wrote:

@usagisisa,

You can get the current deficit by subtracting calories burned from calories eaten. If you set your preferences to sedentary, you get the deficit at the end of the day if you don't eat more and don't exercise more. Other settings will base your expected deficit based on previous day's activity. All the information you need is there.

I don't see anything at all unhealthy about knowing I plan to eat 2,000 calories a day and burn 3,000 calories in a day and not eating more after I eat my 2,000 calories. When I was losing weight, I generally burned the calories before I ate them.

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[Mukluk4]

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@usagisisa wrote:

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Thanks @GershonSurge

The issue for me is that I don't want to do the math - it may seem like a small thing,

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It is a small thing and takes little effort.  Therefore on your journey to fit, why would you be so against the one thing that's the easiest to do to get there?

[EmjayH]

If you use myfitnesspal to log ur food it calculates ur deficient with and without exercise. I have a 2k calorie allowance a day but my base calorie expenditure is just over 1500. So if I literally do nothing for the day then it lowers my calorie allowance. 

Makes it it easier and reminds me to get out and do something so ican eat more of what I want 🤗

[HBanks223]

I had this same frame of mind and it can be very frustrating as a woman. Working your butt off and being mindful about what you eat but not seeing a change on the scale. I went to my local gym and had my body fat professionally tested. My first test was free. It broke down my weight between fat and muscle. I was then able to set a fat loss goal and go back in a few months to have it retested and see my results. I can tell you that I didn't lose a single pound but I did lose 2.5% body fat. It was just now showing as lean muscle. YAY! I highly recommend caring less about the scale and more about having a healthy body fat %. Good luck 🙂

[usagisisa]

@EmjayH I don't think we are talking about the same thing.  I want the total calorie deficit that includes what is eaten versus what is burned based on all activity, including the BMR.  There is no "with or without exercise."  My fitness pal doesn't reconcile the calorie burn from my fitbit with the calories eaten using their tracker  (i.e. subtract one from the other).  Thanks though!

[usagisisa]

@Mukluk4 You miss my point.  Of course the journey to fitness is work.  There is no denying that.  The problem is, my Fitbit is not giving me the information that I want to make informed decisions.  Moreover, the information it is providing is at best, demotivational (e.g. Calories Left saying that you can't eat lunch when it is clearly lunchtime) and at worst can influence or even encourage incorrect/unadvisable decisions (e.g. skipping meals).

 They have all the information; they even encourage you to set your goal as a daily calorie deficit.  It seems like a logical request to ask to track progress on that daily calorie deficit in real time.

The whole point of quantifying your activity/food intake is to make good choices.  I don't think the developers realize that their data can in fact encourage bad choices by the way they have chosen to present the data.  That is the broader point that I am trying to make.

[Heybales]

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@usagisisa wrote:

@Mukluk4 You miss my point.  Of course the journey to fitness is work.  There is no denying that.  The problem is, my Fitbit is not giving me the information that I want to make informed decisions.  Moreover, the information it is providing is at best, demotivational (e.g. Calories Left saying that you can't eat lunch when it is clearly lunchtime) and at worst can influence or even encourage incorrect/unadvisable decisions (e.g. skipping meals).

 They have all the information; they even encourage you to set your goal as a daily calorie deficit.  It seems like a logical request to ask to track progress on that daily calorie deficit in real time.

The whole point of quantifying your activity/food intake is to make good choices.  I don't think the developers realize that their data can in fact encourage bad choices by the way they have chosen to present the data.  That is the broader point that I am trying to make.

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And that's exactly why it's recommended by most with experience - hide that gauge - it's about worthless.

Use the info if you are only going to use Fitbit to show estimated calorie burn and food eaten.

There is a nice plain tile that says Left to Eat.

That is your day's estimated calorie burn minus eaten so far.

If you have your profile set to sedentary - it'll be wrong until the time you plop on the couch and don't move much, otherwise it'll be increasing as the day goes on.

If set to Historic - it won't be as bad.

[Heybales]

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@usagisisa wrote:

@EmjayH I don't think we are talking about the same thing.  I want the total calorie deficit that includes what is eaten versus what is burned based on all activity, including the BMR.  There is no "with or without exercise."  My fitness pal doesn't reconcile the calorie burn from my fitbit with the calories eaten using their tracker  (i.e. subtract one from the other).  Thanks though!

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You are reading MFP wrong if you think they don't reconcile with Fitbit.

Unless you mean the syncing is broken, which is different than saying they don't do it.

They correct your estimated daily burn with the Fitbit synced daily burn figure, and then base the eating level on that corrected amount - so you always have the same deficit.

And then their simple 1 liner math most certainly does exactly what you desire.

Goal - eaten + exercise (which contains the Fitbit data in form of correction) = net and then they show you Left to eat.

[usagisisa]

I don't believe you are following my comment either. My problem is with the Calories Left calculation that is dependent on a set calorie goal.

I don't want to track against a static set calorie goal that then calculates how much it thinks I should eat. I want to track against the difference between calories in and calories out (I.e. Calories eaten that I log into the app MINUS calories burned as tracked by my Fitbit) in real time. That is all.



Sent from my iPhone

[Heybales]

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@usagisisa wrote:
I don't believe you are following my comment either. My problem is with the Calories Left calculation that is dependent on a set calorie goal.

I don't want to track against a static set calorie goal that then calculates how much it thinks I should eat. I want to track against the difference between calories in and calories out (I.e. Calories eaten that I log into the app MINUS calories burned as tracked by my Fitbit) in real time. That is all.



Sent from my iPhone

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Oh, then you do actually want to use what most consider a useless gauge, because while it doesn't show you exact numbers, it shows you Calories In vs Out, at that point you are looking at it.

Because you aren't going to get what you want - mainly because all the confusion shows how little interest there would be in it for the masses.

But you should also set MFP to Maintain, and just use it synced with Fitbit.

Then the math will be CO - CI = calories in red (you have a surplus) or calories in green (you have a deficit).

This will still be the estimate for the day as a whole though - so people can plan properly.

But you want like the gauge, that moment in time where are you in difference between the two.

Trying to imagine how this helps beyond what is available, but to each their own.

You'll have to get your own solution - look at your MFP food diary for how much you have eaten up to that point.

Look at your Fitbit device as to how much burned to that point.

Instant math.

Done.

[EmjayH]

I don't get it. Set ur calorie goal and eat that. If you have a very active day then you get to eat more or leave it if you want extra weight loss. It's simple math. My BMI says I can eat just over 1500 calories a day. I eat 1900 cause I'm heaps active. If ur not active then eat at ur bmr. Simple