Calories to eat calculations

[audrey427]

Hi there,  new to fitbit and finding myself confused about the "calories allowance."  My goal that I entered is to lose 1 pound per week, so my fitbit should keep me at a 500 calorie deficit each day.  However I'm finding that it's telling me I can eat more than that.  For example yesterday I burned approx 1920 calories and it said I could eat up to 1810 calories (or somewhere in that neighbourhood, I can't remember now).  Then when I look on the dashboard where I have the widget showing "over/under" for calories in vs out, it says I've eaten over my calorie allowance. Typically on the food log page it's keeping me within about 250 calories of my burn for that day. Why is it telling me on the food log page I can eat that many calories?  Is there some way for me to set this in a different way so it doesn't over estimate what I can eat?

Thank you,

Audrey

[karichelle]

The calorie amount at the beginning of the day is based on an estimate, which comes from your past activity patterns. I believe it becomes more accurate over time as long as you wear your FitBit consistently. So if you are new to it, it could be overestimating earlier in the day, and should become more accurate as the day goes on. I would advise leaving some "cushion" (i.e. shooting for around 1500 calories a day based on what you've stated here) until you get a better handle on how much you should eat for the weight loss you want, and until your FitBit learns your activity patterns.

[audrey427]

Thanks for the feedback... however, it's actually at the end of the day when I'm seeing this issue...last night before dinner I checked it, around 7pm and it was saying I could still eat 700-ish calories for dinner when I was already up to 1150... that would bring me to 1850 and I had burned around that much up to that point... 

[JenniLacey]

You could try setting your meal plan option to "sedentary". You may like that way better. It allows you to earn calories based on how active you are that day.

[karichelle]

You do continue burning on that day as far as the Fitbit is concerned, until midnight. So even though that brought your consumption and burn up to even, you continue to burn after dinner until midnight, even if you are just sitting or sleeping.

[audrey427]

Thanks everyone for trying to help... maybe I'm not explaining it well... I believe the calorie burn already took the calories for sleeping into account, as they would have been in there from midnight the night before... ultimately at the end of the day, it told me to eat 1800-ish calories out of 1900-ish burned.  This is not correct.  I tried changing it to sedentary and that does lower my intake allowance, but since I don't have my fitbit dongle thingie with me at work, it can't update until I get home... 

Something tells me this should not be so complicated and I'm either misunderstanding something or I just need to do the math myself and refer to how many calories I've burned (or am estimated to burn) and manage how much I eat by keeping a deficit of 500 calories per day.  I would just like to be able to know that it's working for me the way it should... Because even if I use the calorie burn that is reported on teh fitbit thing itself that I wear on me, it would not take into account my morning workout activity... so none of these places is really giving me an accurate guage, which isn't that the whole purpose of having it?  

Is there a number we can call for support from FitBit staff?

Audrey

[skrodde]

I noticed this a while back and realized that yes, on sedentary, it will still sort of estimate your burn for the rest of the night.  I will have 1900 burned at 7pm and it shows I should have eaten 1765 calories for the day.  So I eat it 1765 and sure enough, by midnight my total calories for the day are 2265 wich is a deduction of 500 calories.  Every once in a while I will have burned more than they thought if I am a little more active that night.  So, start writing down what it says at 7pm and then check at midnight or the next morning to see if it was correct.  That way you can start trusting it or maybe you need a new fit bit.

[audrey427]

Thanks for that idea Skrodde, I get what you're saying... The other trick I think I've figured out in teh last couple of days by adding the "over/under" widget to my dashboard, if I pay attention to that it shows me more 'up to the minute" status of calories in vs out... (assuming you are near your "dongle" all day long), whereas the food & activity logs are doing estimates.  Since I'm more active in teh earlier parts of the day on most days, it might overestimate for me, so putting it on sedentary does help with that.  I guess this just takes time to get used to your own patterns and you can't just blindly follow the dashboard view.  

Thanks!

[GarryM]

The calorie intake to output is based off the desired weight loss you plug in.  1lb of body fat = 3500 calories, so if your goal is 1lb a week, it's going to try to prod you to maintain a calculated deficit of 500 calories a day.  If your goal is 2lbs a week, it will try to get you with a 1000 calorie deficit.  It will work if all of your entries and consumptions are true.  That's why doctors warn agains crash diets and say they will never work long-term.  Try cutting 1500 calories a day for a 3lb a week weight loss and you will lose.  1-2lbs a week is sustainable.