Calories in vs calories out?

[lindsaybethhh]

I just have a question, mainly because my daily calorie allowances seem to be a little odd. I don't know if this is normal, but I always have less than 1000 calories "allowed" per day. Like, today my daily "allowance" was around 600. Some days, my daily allowance is around 850 or so, but that's not really a healthy amount to eat per day... I've always been told that you need to have at least 1200 per day or else your body will go into "starvation mode"...? I know that exercising is supposed to give you more of an allowance, but my number of "calories left" typically decreases when I exercise. Today, before I went walking, I was allowed 560 for the rest of the day, and afterward, I was allowed 380.

Is this normal...? Is something not right with my fitbit? I just don't know if I'm doing this right, I mean, I'm logging food and exercise through myfitnesspal, which says I'm doing fine, but Fitbit seems to think I'm way over my calorie goals, while MFP seems to think I'm under.

[Heybales]

You realize your calorie eating level is based on a deficit to how much you burn.

You yourself selected the amount of deficit.

If that sounds too low, and it sure does - then change your deficit amount. Of course, using MFP the Fitbit side really doesn't matter, unless you want to look at the same eating goals on it too.

Yes, exercising will increase your daily burn, subtract the same deficit, and you would eat more compared to not exercising.

Except - studies have shown an interesting body response to eating too little - it causes slowdown of other spontaneous daily activity, the stuff Fitbit is trying to keep you doing.

So you could burn 300 more in a workout, but your body makes you lazy to compensate for too low eating, and you don't burn 300 you would have otherwise.

No net gain from the execrise at all.

You seem to be including MFP in the equation - are you sure things are synced up correctly?

I mean, when you look at Exercise log and your positive/negative adjustments, and you click the "i" icon for more info, it shows a recent time and matching daily burn that Fitbit also shows?

So first, the Fitbit goal doesn't apply if using MFP for calorie levels - your selection there applies.

If over 50 lbs to lose - 2 lbs weekly reasonable.

25 - 50 - 1.5 lbs.

10-15 - 1 lb.

less than 10 - 0.5 lbs.

Don't try to use 2 roads to the same goal, you'll just confuse yourself to no end. MFP for food and final eating goal, Fitbit for the burn side of the equation and fitness goals, and logging non-step activity that is underestimated.

You also need to disable Calorie Estimation in your Preferences. That's the problem with the changes you are seeing, Fitbit is estimating what your burn is up to that point based on history, not actual burn. That's reported to MFP which adjusts accordingly. And as you've observed, it goes all over the place.

And there is a starvation mode of continual undereating by a big deficit - but likely the effects you've heard go along with it are myths.

What it causes is your body to adapt and burn less than it might otherwise, metabolically efficient, upwards of 20-25% less.

Which means if you cause that to yourself, you'll have to eat even less and less to cause same amount of weight loss. It won't stop you, but it'll be so low it probably won't be adhered to.

And then any binges you have are surplus and add fat back on between the dieting parts of life.

This stage also means you are burning off muscle mass, another bad side effect, along with that decrease in daily activity.

And it's not about the amount you eat, it's about the amount of deficit. Morbidly obese people do it all the time, still eating a lot, but not enough to stop the effect. In their case though, with still plenty to eat available, it's acceptable. And before they get anywhere near low eating levels or goal weight, they'll have a chance to correct it.

Hence the need to keep a reasonable deficit, enough protein, and lift weights to retain muscle mass.

What exercise types are you logging on MFP, and how are you getting the calorie estimate for it?