Can I really lose weight eating 3500 calories?

[MartinWardPhoto]

I have a Charge HR and have my Fitbit linked into MyFitnessPal. I have had my Fitbit for a week and I'm so confused about everything now.

My stats; Male, 31, 220lbs and 5'9. I have my settings in MyFitnessPal as sedentry and to lose 1.5lbs per week. I've calculated my BMR to be circa 2300.

On Saturday, I have a 13 hour day at a wedding, I'm a photographer, and my fitbit calorie burn was 4,514, 196 active minutes and 9,427 steps. MyFitnessPal has allocated me 1800 calories at sedentry and 1.5lbs per week setting, given the fitbit info it added an adjustment of 2,096 calories meaning in total I was allowed to eat 3,896 calories and still maintain the necessary 750 calorie deficit. 

Today, I played golf, it's just after midnight in the UK, I've burned 4,220 calories, taken 15,606 steps and had 194 active minutes. Again the adjustment into MyFitnessPal is 1,863 meaning I could eat 3,663 calories. 

I'm so confused here, because there is no way I could ever actually eat that many?!?! Plus, as far as I'm aware, 1lb = 3500 calories......

I was losing eating 1800 calories allocated by MFP, I thought the fitbit would help to make this easier instead it seems to be adding a massive headache!!

[Lindaluvs2soak]

yeah that's not right, I never eat the amount my fitbit tells me anyway, I have a fitbit one so I don't think it tells me calories burned, you kinda have to go with that like a grain of salt, I mean just kinda figure out how many calories you want to eat a day and don't go over it, minimal carbs, more protein for sure, and exercise and drink plenty of water......good luck

[RivalDealer]

I had the same thing, I burned more calories than I ate and before I went to bed I had over 2000 calories left to eat to reach my target.

The way I look at it is that these are just gadgets, I probably could have eaten a pizza and made the 2000 calories that way but I wasn't hungry so I didn't bother. I try to stick to my 1,930 cals allocated by MFP no matter how much exercise I do, but if I feel really hungry and I know I'm hydrated then I will have something to eat.

'Calories in' vs 'calories out' isn't really the whole picture anyway, its just a simple way of becoming more mindful about how much food you are eating.

[Bobbinyc]

I think our own common sense works much better than these gadgets.  They are great for counting steps (when they work), but only a nutritionist or doctor would know exactly what you need to lose weight.  You know your own body.  3500 calories is just not healthy, unless you are in training for the Olympics.  Eat the 3 healthy meals daily and see what happens.  Be active, and wait a week and see.  Or maybe two weeks.  You don't want to lose too fast. 1-2 pounds is average, since some weeks it's also none.  I think we need to focus more on nutrition, not eating junk, and being active.

[Heybales]

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@MartinWardPhoto wrote:

I have a Charge HR and have my Fitbit linked into MyFitnessPal. I have had my Fitbit for a week and I'm so confused about everything now.

My stats; Male, 31, 220lbs and 5'9. I have my settings in MyFitnessPal as sedentry and to lose 1.5lbs per week. I've calculated my BMR to be circa 2300.

On Saturday, I have a 13 hour day at a wedding, I'm a photographer, and my fitbit calorie burn was 4,514, 196 active minutes and 9,427 steps. MyFitnessPal has allocated me 1800 calories at sedentry and 1.5lbs per week setting, given the fitbit info it added an adjustment of 2,096 calories meaning in total I was allowed to eat 3,896 calories and still maintain the necessary 750 calorie deficit. 

Today, I played golf, it's just after midnight in the UK, I've burned 4,220 calories, taken 15,606 steps and had 194 active minutes. Again the adjustment into MyFitnessPal is 1,863 meaning I could eat 3,663 calories. 

I'm so confused here, because there is no way I could ever actually eat that many?!?! Plus, as far as I'm aware, 1lb = 3500 calories......

I was losing eating 1800 calories allocated by MFP, I thought the fitbit would help to make this easier instead it seems to be adding a massive headache!!

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For that level of activity for a heavy guy carrying equipment - very realistic.

Confirm that high step count times really match up with high activity.

Otherwise, it obvious the MFP estimate of calorie burn when sedentary has absolutely no bearing on a big active 13 hr day.

You burn more, you eat more, simple as that.

If you eat less than you burn every day by the same amount, you lose weight.

Now, your big burn day was probably more fat burn since walking, not like some ultra-endurance event burning tons of carbs up.

So eating them all back not as needed.

But doing that constantly, making an extreme deficit - your body will fight against that adapt, and sooner or later depending on genetics, you won't have that big deficit and the Fitbit estimate of calorie burn for a healthy body will no longer apply to yours.

The Fitbit does make it easier - instead of you logging your exercise as you are supposed to do in MFP to obtain that do more/eat more formula, the Fitbit is doing that and increased daily activity you may have totally guess wrong about when selecting your MFP non-exercise activity level.

MFP is taking a much better estimate of daily burn than your guess of 4 activity levels, and taking off the deficit that may or may not even be reasonable, and giving an eating goal that changes as your daily activity changes.

So many think bigger deficit is better and faster, and discover otherwise during a 6-9 month plateau of no weight loss and stressed out over it.

If bigger is better - why not just stop eating then, get it over with really fast?

Whatever reasons come to mind - there are more that will eventually happen anyway.

[josephz2va]

You would have to be an athlete to consume that many calories. I wouldn't recommend eating that much. My diet is a 1200 calorie meal plan and I have to eat minimum calories and carbs for extras. So far succeeding at 4 doses of no carb protein shake and specialized supplements from my sports nutritionist, 2 hard boiled eggs, celery, carrots, and green beans as extras. First day is usually a burndown of 5 pounds max, then a pound a day.

2,209 in 4,767 cals out

[Scott_Lyons]

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@MartinWardPhoto wrote:

196 active minutes and 9,427 steps. MyFitnessPal has allocated me 1800 calories at sedentry and 1.5lbs per week setting, given the fitbit info it added an adjustment of 2,096 calories meaning in total I was allowed to eat 3,896 calories and still maintain the necessary 750 calorie deficit. 

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This could be me being very confused (I'm new to fitbit but a heavy MyFitnessPal user) but usually 10,000 steps equates to roughly 400 calories (given the usual age/height/weight allowances). So unless the active minutes bumped the figure up how did it reach 2,096 calories for 9,427 steps?

[DominicJ]

Yep,

My "Goal" is 1500 calories, in order to lose 2lbs per week.

Most days I get at least another calories just because I walk a few miles a day.

If I go for a run, thats another 500.

Eating 4000 calories isnt hard

Its really really really easy

Oil contains 8-10cal per gram

A "splash" of oil in a salad can add 250calories easy.

100g of pasta is 371cals

I can eat 250g as a meal...

Add some bacon (fried in oil), cheese, maybe a bt of pesto and a 2000 calorie meal isnt out of the question.

[Heybales]

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@Scott_Lyons wrote:

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@MartinWardPhoto wrote:

196 active minutes and 9,427 steps. MyFitnessPal has allocated me 1800 calories at sedentry and 1.5lbs per week setting, given the fitbit info it added an adjustment of 2,096 calories meaning in total I was allowed to eat 3,896 calories and still maintain the necessary 750 calorie deficit. 

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This could be me being very confused (I'm new to fitbit but a heavy MyFitnessPal user) but usually 10,000 steps equates to roughly 400 calories (given the usual age/height/weight allowances). So unless the active minutes bumped the figure up how did it reach 2,096 calories for 9,427 steps?

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Extra weight being carried would cause the step impacts to look like greater distance and therefore greater calorie burn.

Which is actually true if carrying extra weight around all day.

And yes, weight of person is big factor in differences, there really is no good step to calorie correlation.

And that's way low too, 10k steps only 400 calories. Are you thinking 400 in addition to the BMR level calorie burn that was happening anyway?

[Scott_Lyons]

Yes 400 in addition to the BMR. So for myself I work to 2000 calories a day and did 8000 steps yesterday so my calorie intake was 2300 (fitbit added the 300 from walking).

I took it to mean when MartinWarnPhoto said fitbit added an adjustment of 2,096 calories that was in addition to the BMR. So based on my own results yesterday (300 additional calories for 8000 steps) I would have to do ~55000 steps to get fitbit to add that many calories on top of my BMR. (I'm 31, 15st and 5'9" for comparison on that side)

Just seemed like an overly high figure. 

[josephz2va]

Make sure you check the quality of the food as well. Too much in sodium, sugar, carbs, cals, fats ain't good for development. Especially if you have to multiply it times 4. Eat To Build Lean Muscle. Foods that are less bad quality compared to processed food or restaurant foods. Check the nutritional facts before even going out. Like Applebee's has too much of all the bad things and only 3 good things.

[Lindaluvs2soak]

applebee's has salads, also grilled chicken, potatoes and veggie, there is a lot of eat there that is good for you....

[josephz2va]

True but before you go Applebee's way, it's always best to read the info:

https://www.applebees.com/~/media/docs/Applebees_Nutritional_Info.pdf

Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad - Half-Size
400 cals
260 cal fat
28 fat
6 sat fat
0
80 cholesterol
820 sodium
13 carbs
3 fiber
3 sugar
25 protein

[Lindaluvs2soak]

you wouldn't eat a grilled chicken caesar salad, you would have a garden salad and some grilled chicken on the side

[josephz2va]

and your kids average favorite meal:

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese
310 cals
80 cal fat
9 fat
2.5 sat fat
0 trans fat
15 cholesterol
550 sodum
45 carbs
2 fiber
8 sugar
11 protein

[Lindaluvs2soak]

I personally wouldn't allow my child to have mac and cheese for dinner, but that is just me

[Heybales]

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@Scott_Lyons wrote:

Yes 400 in addition to the BMR. So for myself I work to 2000 calories a day and did 8000 steps yesterday so my calorie intake was 2300 (fitbit added the 300 from walking).

I took it to mean when MartinWarnPhoto said fitbit added an adjustment of 2,096 calories that was in addition to the BMR. So based on my own results yesterday (300 additional calories for 8000 steps) I would have to do ~55000 steps to get fitbit to add that many calories on top of my BMR. (I'm 31, 15st and 5'9" for comparison on that side)

Just seemed like an overly high figure. 

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The adjustment is to what MFP thought he'd burn with no exercise and his selected non-exercise activity level.

No math to BMR is used between MFP and Fitbit, they both just include it in their daily calorie burn.

So that 2000 cal adjustment was Fitbit total daily burn minus MFP estimated daily burn no exercise.

And if he used sedentary, but was moving around 13 hrs, 2000 at that weight wouldn't be hard to reach.

If you look at your daily graph per 5 min blocks, you can probably pick out areas of walking that gave bigger calorie counts. So while an average burn per step may exist for you, even that average has a range.

And that calorie burn is based on your resting calorie burn during the non-moving times.

Like 2 mph is 2.5 x resting calorie burn. And different height/weight/age give different resting calorie burn - BMR.

[Scott_Lyons]

Thanks for the clarification. Makes a lot more sense now.

[SunsetRunner]

Something isnt right there ! I use Myfitnesspal and Fitbit too. My stats 37, Male, 254 pounds, 6ft. I have it set to the hardest setting admittedly, but yesterday for example, I did 15,350 steps, 113 active mins, and I was allowed around 2500 cals, no more than that or I'd be over budget. It sounds WAY off needing to consume nearly 4000 cals. It may be worth taking a look at all the settings, on your dashboard, under your profile. You're certainly right Martin, it's not correct for some reason, it can be a headache when first setting it up, but once you have it working properly it really is useful, I've lost 20lbs in the past 6 weeks thanks to this gadget, so it does work ! Best of luck

[RivalDealer]

I think the charge HR uses heart rate to determine activity level. If the OPs heart was beating pretty fast during the day his activity level will have been pretty high and cause a high number of calories burned.

I noticed the same when I first got mine. As my resting heart rate has decreased it has seem to become more believable.