Does FitBit automatically adjust your calorie goals?

[FossilGirl]

FitBit gave me an initial calorie burn goal when I set it up but three weeks later I've lost 7lbs and I'm wondering if FitBit will appropriately adjust my calorie burn goal (i.e. as I lose weight my BMR should drop and thus my daily calorie burn) or do I need to do that manually?

[Chase_Vaseleou]

I'd like to know this as well.

[Heybales]

Do you want to eat about the same amount daily despite their being a deficit for weight loss in there?

Then the daily burn goal should not go down, unless you plan on not increasing the intensity to make up for the loss of calorie burn moving more mass around.

Then by all means lower your daily burn goal, knowing that when you reach it, your eating goal will now be less too.

Can you still adhere to that lower eating level, that's the question, and why it doesn't auto lower?

Now, after you reach certain points, you should lower the deficit anyway, that allows eating more too, even though you are burning less.

Which is correct.

Like trying to maintain a 2 lb weekly loss goal all the way to goal weight will likely fail, and body will slow you down anyway in that weekly loss if you don't wisely do it first.

[FossilGirl]

I'm happy to eat less as I don't eat all my allowance as it is. I was hoping that as I lost weight it would adjust my calories automatically but looks like it doesn't. 

[Knowledge]

It will automatically adjust your calorie burning but not your goal (which is the deficit you told it). For example, if you set the deficit as 1000 calories a day (hardest plan setting), it will not change this as you lose weight. But the amount of calories you burn in a day will change as your weight decreases and as long as you log this in Fitbit it will do everything automatically for you.

You don't want your calorie deficit to change until your reach your goal weight, unless you want to slow down how fast you're losing weight.

[FossilGirl]

I get that the deficit needs to stay the same and that it will adjust my BMR. It's the calories burned goal I was unsure about as I'm not sure if that adjusts automatically as my BMR lowers or do I need to readjust the goal manually.

[Knowledge]

Oh I see what you mean! That's a very good question. To be honest I've lost a bit of weight lately and it did not adjust my calories burned goal. So I am not sure if that is adjusted automatically and it may have to be manually changed.

[Heybales]

You most assuredly DO want your deficit to change as you have less weight to lose.

Your body doesn't like being in a diet anyway, it will adjust to you eating less, the bigger the deficit, the bigger the adaptation.

Sometimes the effect of that is you end up with not nearly as big adjustment as it could be, or was.

So foolishly taking a 2 lb weekly ends up actually producing only 1/2 lb weekly or worse, and it's a bigger chunk muscle mass instead of just fat, and workouts don't have nearly the body transformation they could have, because body recovers so much worse in a diet.

And nothing like stressing the body out on the final 5-10 lbs than taking a 2 lb a week deficit.

If you only had 5-10 to lose in the first place and were eating at maintenance for years - likely wouldn't be a problem for 2-4 weeks.

But if you lost your way down to the final 5-10 lbs - that is going to create fight and drag out how long it takes attempting to be aggressive.

The reasonable amount to lose weekly is from 0.5 to 1% of your body weight weekly, smaller % the less you have to lose.

So weigh 200 lbs with 60 to go, 1% is 2 lbs weekly, or 1000 cal deficit.

Weigh 150 lbs with 10 to go, 0.5% is 0.75 lbs weekly, or between 375 cal deficit. Rounding down would be better.

[Heybales]

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@FossilGirl wrote:
I get that the deficit needs to stay the same and that it will adjust my BMR. It's the calories burned goal I was unsure about as I'm not sure if that adjusts automatically as my BMR lowers or do I need to readjust the goal manually.

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As I answered above - no it doesn't.

Mine stayed at 2500 the whole last 15 lbs. And now with bulk season it's still stayed there despite weight going up.

Explanation as to why that is the smart way of doing it is expressed in my prior post.

[Rubbishman]

It would be nice if the calorie goal could automatically adjust.  For example, I lost 20 pounds since January, and now I am in maintain mode so I have no deficit.  However, if I gain a few pounds back, it would be nice if the Fitbit App would recognize I am off-goal and apply the deficit again automatically to bring me back to goal.  Same if I go under weight, I should get some extra calories to burn.  This would fully automate the system so that all we would need to do is enter our food and weight, and Fitbit would adjust the calories accordingly to maintain.

[Heybales]

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@Rubbishman wrote:

It would be nice if the calorie goal could automatically adjust.  For example, I lost 20 pounds since January, and now I am in maintain mode so I have no deficit.  However, if I gain a few pounds back, it would be nice if the Fitbit App would recognize I am off-goal and apply the deficit again automatically to bring me back to goal.  Same if I go under weight, I should get some extra calories to burn.  This would fully automate the system so that all we would need to do is enter our food and weight, and Fitbit would adjust the calories accordingly to maintain.

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The problem would be very difficult - because there are many reasons for up to a 5 lb water weight fluctuation that can hold on for 2-4 days.

Deficit eating isn't going to take care of water weight fluctuations, except cause more, usually a loss. But then you eat normal again and back that water comes.

They could setup without too much difficulty a setting that if you go 5 lb over or under your goal weight (impossible to have a single number because of those fluctuations, but a range is good) - then warn you and ask if you would like to use the 250 cal deficit for a bit.

[Jillll]

So don't we need to change the "starting weight" under "nutrition and body" each time our weight goes down, to get the adjusted calorie allowance for each day ? 

[Jillll]

I just did that. I lost .5 lbs and changed it on my app, thus my remaining calories for the day were reduced.  If we don't update the "starting weight" we will keep eating too many calories, based on the initial weight we entered when setting the goal. 🙁

[Heybales]

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@Jillll wrote:

So don't we need to change the "starting weight" under "nutrition and body" each time our weight goes down, to get the adjusted calorie allowance for each day ? 

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No.

You log your current weight with the function .... Log weight.

That adjusts the calories - Starting weight is only used to create the first Logged weight field and Current weight field - once updated Starting weight's purpose is merely for the math of Starting minus Current equals weight lost.

[Heybales]

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@Jillll wrote:

I just did that. I lost .5 lbs and changed it on my app, thus my remaining calories for the day were reduced.  If we don't update the "starting weight" we will keep eating too many calories, based on the initial weight we entered when setting the goal. 🙁

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Sure - you can use the tool incorrectly and still manage to get what you want.

Because you've never correctly Logged current weight, so the starting weight is going to have to be used to fill in the current weight field that the math is based on for calorie burn and eating goals.

But get out of those settings that are buried for a purpose, and find the much easier to access Log weight.

[Jillll]

Oh wow crazy! How do I get to that function for Log Weight?  Thanks 😀

[Heybales]

On the website account you have Dashboard.

I'm guessing you are hitting the tile for weight and clicking settings to get to starting weight so easily.

Click See More instead and it takes you to the Log tab - Weight tab.

Down at the bottom - Log Weight.

I stopped using the app because it interferes with decent MFP syncing.

But it's similar place - not under settings for weight tile, but where you could log Food, Activities, and Weight.