Eating more with the Fitbit?

[JenniferinFL]

So, I've been on a diet off and on for pretty much for the last 20+ years starting at around age 8 when I first started getting fatter than my siblings. In my teens, I was finally successful following a very low calorie diet where I ate around 800 calories per day and it still took me around 2 years to lose the 100 lbs I had to lose. I managed to keep it off for about ten years by weighing in everyday, not eating for days at times and so on. I lost my job in 2008 and gained all of the weight back in about 2.5 months. My scale was in a box, we had recently moved nearer my family and we were eating meals with my skinny mother again. I didn't binge, I just ate meals with my family in the same quantities as the rest of my normal weight family. 

So, fast forward to now, my spouse and family are frustrated with my weight. Obviously, I am too, but, I'm beginning to realize that there is more going on. I've tried a couple doctors, but, one only tested my T3 levels (borderline) and another would only test T4 (borderline) I was told I was borderline but not worth treating. So, that's where I'm at with that. I will probably work up the motivation to track down a doctor who cares enough to follow the very basic testing protocols they are supposed to follow when testing thyroid, like testing TSH, T4 and T3 at the same time. But, I digress. 

Calories in are pretty easy to calculate, just weigh, measure and keep track. Calories out are the tricky part. According to my fitbit, I had enough of a deficit this past week to lose 2.5 lbs. I lost 1.2. However, I would say that I ate more this week than I've eaten in typical weeks. It was actually pleasant not to feel like I was hungry all the time. So, I definitely do not mind eating the calories that the fitbit tells me to eat. I've maybe added a couple thousand steps to what I would usually do in a day. But, for that I get to eat something besides boneless skinless chicken breast.. lol  Yesterday, I ate at a 1000 calories deficit and actually got to have pizza. Pizza! It's been like 6 months since I had pizza. So, yeah, I'm moving maybe marginally more and getting to eat regular food again. I will add that I lost NO weight the last 6 months. I just didn't get to eat anything remotely fun. 

I'm just curious how the results add up for everyone else. Do you find the fitbit is pretty good at estimating your calories out? 

This was my first week using the fitbit, so I'm curious to see what next week will bring. 

[Esya]

If you have a HR enabled FitBit it tends to overestimate your calories out and other types seem to underestimate. Best is to keep doing what you are doing for 4 weeks and see how your weight changes. Then you can adjust accordingly. I would like to suggest trendweight.com so the fluctuations don't throw you off.

Losing 1.2 lbs in a week after 6 months of not losing at all is great. You best find a level at which you feel you can maintain the weight loss. It is better to lose at 1.2 lbs a week when you can maintain that than to lose at 2.5 lbs and not being able to keep it up as you might feel hungry. But you will find that taking those extra steps and being more active is going to make a great change in how much you can eat.

For me the FitBit seems to be pretty close to estimating my calories burned (I have a Charge 2). And like you I am eating more since I got more active. At times I can really struggle getting all the calories in.

[GershonSurge]

I have measured this carefully with the Zip and the Surge. The Zip consistently under estimates calories burned by 10-15% and the Surge consistently overestimates the calories burned by about the same amount. The error is a little less when activity is lower.

Now, I'm using the Charge 2. So far today, I burned 1849 calories according to the Charge 2 and 1804 calories according to the Zip.

Most people here recommend not eating fewer then your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). This is a good place to start a diet. If it works, stick with it. If it doesn't, increase your exercise if you are able. The thing about using this method is you don't need a Fitbit.

Many of us use the Aria scale. I don't know if it's accurate, but if it's wrong, it's consistently wrong. 

[A_Lurker · Accepted solution]

@JenniferinFL - here's a question for you.  If you could eat a reasonable amount of food for the next 2 years and reach your goal weight, is this acceptable?  Or you could do super low calories and lose the same weight faster, but you need to be super vigilant for a long period of time to avoid gaining it back.

Which sounds like it suits you better?  I should add that it is my belief that I dieted myself over the years up to over 400 pounds.  I would pick some quick fix diet that promised fast loss without any effort.  I would lose some weight, couldn't stick the way I was supposed to be eating so I'd go back to my old way of eating and gain it back faster than I lost it (and then some).

Myself, I'm actually eating more calories now (107 lbs less than last year).  Now, I'm also moving around a lot more.  But think about that.  I started losing weight taking in maybe 2000 calories a day, sometimes less.  My weight loss was erratic and so I finally decided to trust the calories burned and started eating a little more.  Now, I didn't go insane.  I kept up the 1000 calorie deficit but stopped eating at 2500 calories (I was burning 4000).  If I had a super boring day when I didn't do anything I would stop at -1000 calories.  This kept me losing weight from 360 to where I am now (252.6).  I actually only mentally count calories at the moment.

I think of it as learning to eat how I want to eat for the rest of my life.  I eat mostly healthy food, but I leave some calories for the end of the day where I indulge in a small amount of junk food.  If I said that I'm never going to have chips again all I would think about is chips.  What I do is buy a box of smaller bags of chips (Costco) that are <160 calories and I work them into my diet.

[JenniferinFL]

I have the Blaze, so not overly sure where that falls in the over-under estimations. 

Today I only maintained a 500 calorie deficit because of an annual family thing.. But, at least it was hopefully still a deficit. I guess depending on how far over or under the Blaze typically is. 

[JenniferinFL]

I may end up picking up a different scale. Mine is just a basic digital that I've had for a few years. 

I've probably been eating mostly around my BMR for years. The problem is that my activity levels vary widely. What I think I was doing was severely undereating on some days and then frantically overeating the subsequent day. One of my first days with my fitbit, I hit the themepark for a few hours and got up to 17,000 steps. When we go for a full day, my sister was getting around 30,000 steps on her fitbit. So, I was still trying to eat around 1800 on those days and then just couldn't hold onto it the following day. 

Additionally, how are you showing your 10,000 step streak in your signature? I can't see anywhere to do that. 🙂 

[JenniferinFL]

A_Lurker: You've pretty much hit the nail on the head. I'm just absolutely tired of counting calories. I've been doing it for years. I always try to go too extreme and I can lose weight for several months and then I fold like a cheap lawn chair. I was using a pedometer for awhile to try to estimate what I was burning to try to do closer margins. I lose 40 lbs or so and then just cannot do it another day longer. It usually takes me about 6 months to gain it back. 

I'm hoping the fitbit is close enough where I can do 500-1000 calories deficits, lose weight, but not have it be this all-consuming monster. 

My long term problem has been my utter inability to roll with the punches. I try to eat the same amount of calories spending 15 hours walking in a theme park as I ate the day before when I worked my library job. It's just not sustainable. 

[Dominique]

---

@JenniferinFL wrote:

I may end up picking up a different scale. Mine is just a basic digital that I've had for a few years. 

---

A new scale will not make weight loss any easier, but if you do get one, you may want to pick up one that can automatically sync to your Fitbit account, so you don’t have to manually enter the weigh-ins there. "Smart" scales that meet the requirements are the Fitbit Aria, as well as scales from Withings and Weight Gurus. A word of warning with the Aria: it can be difficult to set up and it uses outdated wifi technology to sync with your router (the other scales can also sync via Bluetooth).

I also second the recommendation made by all previous posters to use TrendWeight. It works best if you weigh daily (which will provide it with a sufficient set of data to chew). I understand this goes against the common suggestion of weighing weekly rather than daily (presumably so as not to become "slave to the scale", or traumatized by it), but with a smart scale, you can simply close your eyes during the weigh-in until it no longer display anything. Then it’s up to you if you only want to have a look at your TrendWeight curve once a week.

[GershonSurge]

@JenniferinFL,

Enter your signature in your profile. Select the show signature block in your profile's settings.