Calorie intake vs burned

[AruG]

Hey 

I’m new to the Fitbit community and I’ve some question I hope somebody could give me answers to. 

I want to lose some weight, well actually a lot 20 kilos to be exact, my problem is how many calories should I burn? I’ve connected the Fitbit app to MyFitnessPal. MyFitnessPal says I should eat 1480 calories a day so how many calories should I burn a day to lose weight? I’ve no idea how to calculate this

Hope somebody comes to rescue❤️😊

[wmchapman · Accepted solution]

Easiest way to calculate is to set your goal in fitbit app intstead of myfitness pal.

On your mobile touch the gray'd index card to go to your account settings

Scroll up to the Goals section, touch Nutrition and Body

Touch "your goal"

"Let's do this!" dialog comes up.

Make choice of "Lose"

Dial in weight goal, save

BF goal, save

now under nutrition it shows your deficit goal, touch "Food", the "Help me set a goal"

"Next" in upper right corner

Choose a plan intensity (the estimated date for completion is listed)

follow through the screens to the chart, as you change your "ambitiousness" it lets you know the over calorie burn required each day and projected date for goal weight.

touch "done" in the upper right corner to save

back, back to tile page

Otherwise figure about 3100 calories per pound lost. You'll lose more the first couple of weeks and it will take longer as you get more fit. A pound a week is a deficit of 3100/7 days or burning an extra 450 calories a day - you can do it! For 20 kilos that's a lot of weeks. Keeping in mind everyone is different, it takes an extra 2 mile walk a day for me spend an extra 500 calories. The best goals are acheivable ones - why don't you get up an hour early each morning and walk 3 miles (about 1 hour at a normal speed, a little less if you walk briskly) for an extra 500 calories and 3 miles after dinner to top off that "Extra" 1000 calories, you'll be on pace for a pound every third or fourth day - quite healthy (and safe level to get started). Check with your doctor to see if you can be a bit more aggressive.

Congrats on the new fitbit, welcome aboard @AruG !

[Ashar]

You want to be in the negative balance. So, burn >1480. The 'barometer' or 'dial' on the dashboard helps you calculate that with colours - so be underspent. 

[Dominique]

What matters is the caloric deficit, i.e. the difference between energy expenditure ("calories burned", or calories out) and dietary intake (calories eaten, or calories in). Both Fitbit and MyFitnessPal rely on the idea a cumulative deficit of 3500 calories (daily deficit of 500 calories) should result in a weight loss of one pound. 1 kg = 2.2 lbs, so you need a deficit of 7700 calories to lose one kilogram. To lose 20 kg, you would need a total deficit of 7700 x 20 = 154,000 calories.

You would achieve that in 154 days with an average daily deficit of 1000 calories, in 205 days with a daily deficit of 750 calories or in 308 days with a daily deficit of 500 calories. Except that 1000 calories would most likely be too high to be sustainable, and I wouldn’t recommend spending almost an entire year in a deficit either. For good advice on how to structure your diet, I suggest you watch the Losing All Your Weight At Once video.

[AruG]

I had no idea I could do that! That’s just perfect, I already set it up so will see how it works! Thank you @wmchapman😊 

[wmchapman]

My pleasure, enjoy the days!

[David1707]

It works! I just hit my first goal of losing 10 Kg (95 to 85). Tracking your calories can be a real bear, especially at first. I set my deficit at 500 and dropped the weight earlier than what the app said I should. Don't be afraid to have a cheat day as you can make it up through the week. I started the last week of July and hit my first goal today, just set the second goal to 75. Also with a 500 calorie deficit you won't feel too hungry through the day so you are more likely to stick with it. BTW, I really haven't upped my exercise that much. Exercise to get in shape, watch what and how much you eat to lose weight. 

You can do it!!