Far too many cals

[EdinburghLass]

Fitbit is giving me 1990 cals a day. I do about 12500 steps. It used to give me about 1600 but it has shot up. Not sure how I could ever lose eating that amount? Anyone else with same problem?

[BurdsNest]

Hey Edinburghtlass, I guess FItbit gives you calories based on the info you provided.  i.e. weight, height, gender, etc.  You can change that to whatever you want.  I used the Benedict formula and accordingly to that   in order for me to maintain my weight, I need 1943 calories.  I am 5'3", female, 130pds.    Fitbit I believe was giving me around 1600.  As long as you set a deficit (depending on how much you want to lose) from what you are ACTUALLY burning, you should lose weight.  In other words, burn 250 - 500 more calories than you eat.  calories in vs calories out.  Hope this helps!

Sincerely,

Burn, Baby, Burn

[Heybales]

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@EdinburghLass wrote:
Fitbit is giving me 1990 cals a day. I do about 12500 steps. It used to give me about 1600 but it has shot up. Not sure how I could ever lose eating that amount? Anyone else with same problem?

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First - what is your experience with calorie levels?

Ever log what you used to eat that got you to the point of needing to lose?

And perhaps not doing as much exercise then?

What was that eating level, which was likely up around your burning level if you weren't gaining weight fast?

Or is only experience with 1200 calorie diets, and the 1600 you used to see?

Most people have no idea unless you are reading studies and see how much even people locked in a study facility with only a set amount of exercise can burn in a day.

Second - one thing to confirm with that increase, have you actually looked at your step counts before and after and seen an increase?

Are you moving more, have you looked at your graphs of 5 min blocks of time for steps and seen any great amounts where you weren't moving, perhaps false steps.

[josephz2va]

I generally focus on what's best to consume for that 1600 calories. Even though I burn 4,000 calories and eat 1,500 maximum amount of calories a day, I lose weight while concentrating on the quality of the extras eaten. All low numbers in the nutritional value, only two high numbers which are protein and fiber.

Eating too many carbs or calories or any other numbers can lead you to gain weight. Eating the incorrect foods like KFC, DD, McDonalds, etc. is bad for you to losing weight. Finding the correct foods is best.

Nutrition 101: Eat To Build Lean Muscle is one

[Curran]

How can I change the calorie tdotal on my fitbit, I have tried and am frustrated.  It is way over what it should

be or do I go back to the beginning when I signed up but how do I do that

[Heybales]

Need a better description of what you are attempting than that sadly.
You could be attempting something not possible, you may be attempting
something you don't directly change, or may be possible.

Do you literally mean the daily calorie burn as displayed on your Fitbit?

Can't change that.

If you mean something else, use the exact words that are used with whatever
you are looking at, not translated to other words that we must guess at.

[Raviv]

Yeah, definitely need more information.

Are you actually weighing the food you are eating and recording everything?  If you go by volume instead of weight, it can make a big difference.  And if you eyeball it, the amounts are going to be WAY off.

How many calories did it give you per day?

How much weight do you have to lose?

How active are you?

What kind of food are you eating?

How accurately are you logging food?

When did you start tracking?