Calories burned....

[wohlvo]

Last week (my first week with my Fitbit!) I burned 15,719 calories. What does this mean? is it good? bad? Help!  I have a 750 deficit I am going for. I am 46, 5'6 and want to lose 20 pounds. Female.

[Mukluk4]

You only have half the equation.

As an example, I burn roughly 25K calories a week and intake roughly the same amount.  

Scale number tends to fluctuate within 10 pounds from week to week, but I'm replacing fat with muscle and clothes sure don't fit the same (this summer alone, I've gone from a 3XLT to a 2XL)

[shipo]

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@wohlvo wrote:

Last week (my first week with my Fitbit!) I burned 15,719 calories. What does this mean? is it good? bad? Help!  I have a 750 deficit I am going for. I am 46, 5'6 and want to lose 20 pounds. Female.

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As @Mukluk4 wrote, it pretty much depends upon what else you're doing and eating; keep in mind the calorie calculations, both from a consumption perspective as well as what Fitbit reports as burned is only an educated guess and may well be significantly off.

In my case my Fitbit reports I typically burn between 25,000 and 35,000 calories per week (last seven days was only 29,357), however, I typically consume well over that calorie count in food by several thousand calories per week.  That said, I'm currently losing one to two pounds per week.

[Dominique]

What you burn depends on the following factors: 1) age, 2) sex, 3) height, 4) weight, 5) exercise level. We know three out of five of these variables. You can use an online calculator such as this one. Let’s assume you’re 170 lbs and your activity level is "light": your TDEE would be 1963, which translates into 13741 at the weekly level. So if you’re 170 lbs and are burning 2000 calories more per week, it means your activity level is higher, maybe "moderate" (which would correspond more or less to the standard 10k steps goal). It doesn’t make sense to compare calories your burn to that of other people, unless they are similar to you (same age, same sex etc.).

Regarding your weight loss goal, you need to eat less than you burn. Following it at the weekly rather than daily level makes sense. It’s OK to overeat on one or two days of the week, as long as you have the deficit you need at the weekly level.

[Dominique]

I see in this other post of yours you’re 163 lbs and you’re walking 11-16k steps a day, which would put you somewhere between moderately and highly active. The calculated TDEEs would be at the weekly level 15,148 (moderate) and 16,856 (high), ie. in line with what your Fitbit tells you you burned.

For a 500 daily deficit, you would need to eat (assuming you’re burning 15,700 per week) 12,200 calories per week, ie. 1742 per day. I think it’s realistic for a woman your age and your size. If you want to eat more and are ready to take more time before you reach your goal, you can go for a smaller deficit. Generally speaking, the slower you go, the more likely you’re going to be able to maintain your lower weight. Since you don’t have hundreds of pounds to lose, you can afford to have a smaller deficit.