Fitbit allowing me TOO MANY calories???

[Clemily]

So I have the Fitbit set to adjust my calories throughout the day, based on my activity levels. I'm on a maintience diet, just trying to avoid gaining weight. Even so, the amount of calories I'm allowed seems INSANE. I'm allowed almost 2,500 calories when I meet my step goals/activity goals. That seems crazy for a 5 foot 7 woman. 

I never seem to be able to eat 2,500 calories in a day. And I feel like if I did, I'd start gaining weight! Fitbit seems to record this calorie deficit as unhealthy, but obviously I'm not hungry. Is there a way to adjust this? I feel like it's overestimating what I really need to consume. 

[Heybales]

---

@12er wrote:

oh, you think i havent been doing this for a while and dont know what im doing. Weight training was logged throught myfitnesspal at 340 calories and also i put in the same numbers in fitbit and got close the the same numbers of calories from both. So either fitbit or myfitness report about the same calorie numbers and i use my fitnesspal's numbers. 

I have not checked steps counted and actual movement as i sit at a desk and move my arm all day. So i im pretty confident the steps fitbit records isnt what ive actually taken.

Once again you are correct fitbit inflates steps taken by movement and not by actual steps taken. We both know this so what is your point? Ive had the flex and now im wearing the Charge HR. 

Yes, i know the distance to the supermarket as ive used stava to show me that and also my car as i drive there.

One last thing. I just did a 16.9 Mountaing bike ride tonight in which i used my polar chest heart rate monitor and the fitbit charge HR. The reading were at times off by 40 heart beats per minute. To check which was right or wrong i did the manual 15 second X4 on my jugular. Polar was right, Charge HR WAY off. Charge HR has no clue as to accurately read heart rate to determane calories as it cannot properly read heart rate when i cycling without moving my are back and forth or moving my arm while brushing my teath rather than actually doing some sort of activity. Dont be naive.

---

And I should know for sure that you know what you are doing based on ........

What exactly?

Mind reading?

So good for you, you do have a clue. Read around, perhaps you'll discover that majority don't. So wasn't a bad assumption to ask for confirmation, huh?

I didn't claim you didn't know, I asked the questions that needed answers.

So it sounds like you know exactly why the distance was too high, steps are inaccurate. So obviously you know why calorie burn is so high.

Dare I ask if you've tried the suggestions made regarding dominate arm settings - or would that insult you to merely suggest it because of course you've tried it.

Yes, MFP and Fitbit use the same METS exercise database, and should be about the same calories, and that's a valid number. You almost scared me there in saying you logged it in both places as a workout.

Why don't you take a breather and a stiff drink, sounds like you need one.

[Natalimac]

My question is:  Does the suggested calorie intake allow for weight loss or to maintain current weight.  I would like to be able to set the calories to a specific amount and not have it fluctuate.

[Clif_astronomer]

That was it.  Thanks.  I had the highest setting on agressiveness of the diet.  I decreased it and it gave a more reasonable goal.  I am close to my goal and don't plan any major changes in diet or activities.  When I get there (looks like sometime in the spring) I'll just add another pork chop and see if it stabilizes.

[Heybales]

---

@Natalimac wrote:

My question is:  Does the suggested calorie intake allow for weight loss or to maintain current weight.  I would like to be able to set the calories to a specific amount and not have it fluctuate.

---

The suggested calorie intake can allow for weight loss or weight maintain - it totally depends on what YOU selected during your profile setup - it has 4 levels of weight loss, with no suggestion of reasonable to your weight loss amount. And of course it has maintain too.

Go check out what you selected.

And while there, yes, you can bypass the whole eating less than you burn idea by a set amount daily, and set your own static eating goal amount.

[Natalimac]

Thank you for the reply, but I have searched high and low of where to change my preferences and cannot.  Can you tell me where to go to do that?

[HelenaFitbit]

Hey there @Natalimac ! Welcome to the Forums 

To edit your Food Plan you can do the following: 

1. Log into your dashboard.
2. Hover your mouse over either the Food Plan or Calories In vs. Out tile and click the gear icon in the lower left corner.
3. Click the pencil icon next to Plan Intensity.
4. Select your plan intensity from the pop-up window and click the arrows in the lower right corner until your Food Plan has been adjusted to your preferred amount. Your food plan will now be set accordingly.

If you wish to know more about the Food Plan feature and calorie tracking; you can visit this page. 

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions. 

[him718]

ETA on "Gaining Weight" setting for the food plan? I am trying to do a lean bulk and the calories my fitbit is estimating I need is way too high. 

[josephz2va]

---

@Heybales wrote:

---

@josephz2va wrote:

I ignore the deficit and trying to get back to following my dietitian's plan of 1200 cals. My calorie deficit hits as high as 4,000 calories which is a ridiculous amount of calories to consume as I'm not athletically exercising. Not only that but I slip off the wagon unless I lock up my credit cards immediately after picking up my diet food for the whole week.

My BMR says 1,875 kcal per day but to get to where I need to get which is 45 pounds less than I am now, 1,200 cals a day.

---

Egads, maintenance is going to suck big time for you.

---

Yep. Maintenance is a pain right now for me. I feel hunger strikes happening a few times. But I need to exercise control of my eating habits. Like I had 1590 calories extra over my 1200 cals and gained a pound today. All of them healthy foods except a mini bag of dark chocolate acai berries.

[him718]

I am trying to monitor my caloric burn and calories required for a lean bulk. I have the charge HR set at my current weight and my goal to be 20 lbs heavier. The fitbit still thinks I want to maintain my weight. The calories it says I need to "maintain" is 3200-3700, which seems extremely high.

Is a proper caloric adjustment/feature setting going to be implemented soon? I bought this device strictly to give me a good guess of my TDEE and it seems way too high. 

[Heybales]

---

@josephz2va wrote:

---

@Heybales wrote:

---

@josephz2va wrote:

I ignore the deficit and trying to get back to following my dietitian's plan of 1200 cals. My calorie deficit hits as high as 4,000 calories which is a ridiculous amount of calories to consume as I'm not athletically exercising. Not only that but I slip off the wagon unless I lock up my credit cards immediately after picking up my diet food for the whole week.

My BMR says 1,875 kcal per day but to get to where I need to get which is 45 pounds less than I am now, 1,200 cals a day.

---

Egads, maintenance is going to suck big time for you.

---

Yep. Maintenance is a pain right now for me. I feel hunger strikes happening a few times. But I need to exercise control of my eating habits. Like I had 1590 calories extra over my 1200 cals and gained a pound today. All of them healthy foods except a mini bag of dark chocolate acai berries.

---

Almost 1600 over goal eating level.

But 1600 over maintenance that it would matter?

How much did the food weigh without water included? Can't gain more than what the food weighs at a minimum. And considering digestion isn't a 100%, and processing uses up about 10% of the calories, even the food weight isn't what ends up in your body.

But water weight, I can drink 0 calories and gain 2 lbs.

[Heybales]

---

@him718 wrote:

I am trying to monitor my caloric burn and calories required for a lean bulk. I have the charge HR set at my current weight and my goal to be 20 lbs heavier. The fitbit still thinks I want to maintain my weight. The calories it says I need to "maintain" is 3200-3700, which seems extremely high.

Is a proper caloric adjustment/feature setting going to be implemented soon? I bought this device strictly to give me a good guess of my TDEE and it seems way too high. 

---

Set to maintain weight loss plan.

Eat 250-500 calories extra daily. That's 1 lb added every 1-2 weeks.

Done.

You telling it your goal is higher than current weight still doesn't say how fast you want to do it - which is required to know how much to add daily.

And as I think you are commenting, there is no diet plan for how much extra to gain.

Why do you think 3200 is high?

What experience do you have with what the body burns daily and with exercise included?

[him718]

---

@Heybales wrote:

---

@him718 wrote:

I am trying to monitor my caloric burn and calories required for a lean bulk. I have the charge HR set at my current weight and my goal to be 20 lbs heavier. The fitbit still thinks I want to maintain my weight. The calories it says I need to "maintain" is 3200-3700, which seems extremely high.

Is a proper caloric adjustment/feature setting going to be implemented soon? I bought this device strictly to give me a good guess of my TDEE and it seems way too high. 

---

Set to maintain weight loss plan.

Eat 250-500 calories extra daily. That's 1 lb added every 1-2 weeks.

Done.

You telling it your goal is higher than current weight still doesn't say how fast you want to do it - which is required to know how much to add daily.

And as I think you are commenting, there is no diet plan for how much extra to gain.

Why do you think 3200 is high?

What experience do you have with what the body burns daily and with exercise included?

---

I've been tracking my calories for the past 274 days. Based on my original weight loss of 50 lbs this year, my TDEE should be around 2500 calories. I doubt its an extra 1100 calories that the fitbit is reporting I am burning to maintain. If I followed my fitbit recommendations I would have to eat another 1500 calories over what I consider my TDEE.

[Heybales]

---

@him718 wrote:

---

@Heybales wrote:

---

@him718 wrote:

I am trying to monitor my caloric burn and calories required for a lean bulk. I have the charge HR set at my current weight and my goal to be 20 lbs heavier. The fitbit still thinks I want to maintain my weight. The calories it says I need to "maintain" is 3200-3700, which seems extremely high.

Is a proper caloric adjustment/feature setting going to be implemented soon? I bought this device strictly to give me a good guess of my TDEE and it seems way too high. 

---

Set to maintain weight loss plan.

Eat 250-500 calories extra daily. That's 1 lb added every 1-2 weeks.

Done.

You telling it your goal is higher than current weight still doesn't say how fast you want to do it - which is required to know how much to add daily.

And as I think you are commenting, there is no diet plan for how much extra to gain.

Why do you think 3200 is high?

What experience do you have with what the body burns daily and with exercise included?

---

I've been tracking my calories for the past 274 days. Based on my original weight loss of 50 lbs this year, my TDEE should be around 2500 calories. I doubt its an extra 1100 calories that the fitbit is reporting I am burning to maintain. If I followed my fitbit recommendations I would have to eat another 1500 calories over what I consider my TDEE.

---

Ah, but that was during a diet, and depending on how much deficit you had, you can slow your body down and burn less. One of the ways it adapts.

You may discover as many do that start eating more, that steps go up, they become more active when eating more - almost balancing out the eating more.

Also, with eating more than maintenance, your lifting (if that's what is done) should become so much better than what you could accomplish in a diet, the body making full repairs will burn even more.

Most that go to bulk discover they must eat even more than they thought. I'd start with 250-500 over your estimated TDEE then, and recalc based on results.

For your excellent stats you tracked - did you have accurate logging of eating by weight?

[him718]

---

@Heybales wrote:

---

@him718 wrote:

---

@Heybales wrote:

---

@him718 wrote:

I am trying to monitor my caloric burn and calories required for a lean bulk. I have the charge HR set at my current weight and my goal to be 20 lbs heavier. The fitbit still thinks I want to maintain my weight. The calories it says I need to "maintain" is 3200-3700, which seems extremely high.

Is a proper caloric adjustment/feature setting going to be implemented soon? I bought this device strictly to give me a good guess of my TDEE and it seems way too high. 

---

Set to maintain weight loss plan.

Eat 250-500 calories extra daily. That's 1 lb added every 1-2 weeks.

Done.

You telling it your goal is higher than current weight still doesn't say how fast you want to do it - which is required to know how much to add daily.

And as I think you are commenting, there is no diet plan for how much extra to gain.

Why do you think 3200 is high?

What experience do you have with what the body burns daily and with exercise included?

---

I've been tracking my calories for the past 274 days. Based on my original weight loss of 50 lbs this year, my TDEE should be around 2500 calories. I doubt its an extra 1100 calories that the fitbit is reporting I am burning to maintain. If I followed my fitbit recommendations I would have to eat another 1500 calories over what I consider my TDEE.

---

Ah, but that was during a diet, and depending on how much deficit you had, you can slow your body down and burn less. One of the ways it adapts.

You may discover as many do that start eating more, that steps go up, they become more active when eating more - almost balancing out the eating more.

Also, with eating more than maintenance, your lifting (if that's what is done) should become so much better than what you could accomplish in a diet, the body making full repairs will burn even more.

Most that go to bulk discover they must eat even more than they thought. I'd start with 250-500 over your estimated TDEE then, and recalc based on results.

For your excellent stats you tracked - did you have accurate logging of eating by weight?

---

Yes. All my food was weighed with a food scale. 

[Yelf]

Sure doesn't seem like this been fixed. . lol still don't see how I can eat 3k calories and lose weight. I've looked at BMR etc and many sites tell me I need to eat only 2500 Max to maintain my weight ... So this clearly hasent been fixed.

[Dominique]

---

@Yelf wrote:

Sure doesn't seem like this been fixed.

---

"this" apparently refers to the fact the energy expenditure (calories burned) reported by Fitbit is not 100% accurate. Well, it’s an estimate that comes with a margin of error. The clever algorithm used for the estimate can certainly be improved, but it will still be an estimate. The good news is even if the estimate is off (for you), it will likely be so consistently.

[Yelf]

Well no, I mean it's just frustrating because like today I burned 4245 Cal and ateb2270 and it's saying I can still eat 1000 more calories and still lose weight. Which seems way off in the first place... Like either my cal burn is too high or idk.. my BMR is 2200 plus ≈650 cal burned in a 10k, step day and any excercise is extra. So I'm not sure how I'm burning 4k+ math isn't adding up and then is says I can eat another 1k when other websites say I can only eat 2500-2800 to only maintain and not lose weight. 

[Dominique]

---

@Yelf wrote:

...today I burned 4245 Cal 

---

No, it should be: "my Fitbit says I burned 4245". As I tried to explain, calories burned as reported by Fitbit are an estimate. In your case, it’s likely off by a wide margin. Very few people actually burn 4k+, even large and very active young males.

The math does add up, if you take the 4k+ number for granted. If you ate 2270, you could eat another 1000 and still be in a deficit (if you assume your calories out are 4k+).

[Heybales]

---

@Yelf wrote:

Well no, I mean it's just frustrating because like today I burned 4245 Cal and ateb2270 and it's saying I can still eat 1000 more calories and still lose weight. Which seems way off in the first place... Like either my cal burn is too high or idk.. my BMR is 2200 plus ≈650 cal burned in a 10k, step day and any excercise is extra. So I'm not sure how I'm burning 4k+ math isn't adding up and then is says I can eat another 1k when other websites say I can only eat 2500-2800 to only maintain and not lose weight. 

---

If you BMR estimate is 2200 based on gender, age, weight, height - then sedentary would be about 2750. Throw an a decent active lifestyle above sedentary, and exercise - shoot, that's likely NOT a high estimate.

Unless your stride length is decently off and you do lots of miles a day (steps kinda) inflating the error even more. 10K is high, so if that could be source of burning more than reality.

Ever walked a known distance like track or treadmill at about 2 mph and confirmed the distance was correct? That's the middle pace, not grocery store shuffle, not exercise pace.

The estimate for your day may not be that far off though.

Your accuracy of logging what you eat could very easily be off though - that's been found many times, though there are obvious potential for inaccuracy on both the eating and burning side of the equation.

Do you log food eaten by grams?

Because calories is per gram - not cups or spoons or volume measurements (unless a liquid) given for convenience sake.

[Yelf]

Well i basically added my BMR plus step calories gives me about that 2800 range in burned Cal's. Unless if there exercise its more. but my Exercise typically burn 2-400 Cals. So lets say i burn 3-3.5K Calories TOPS!. based off of my BMR adding steps + exercise. Fitbit is telling me otherwise. 

I am really counting my calories and i literally weigh by grams (other than liquids) EVERYTHING and have pre-planned meals atm. so i only eat about 2-2.5K Cals a day. 

Somehow i get 4-4.5K total Calorie burn. And based off my " 1K Calorie" deficit its still telling me i can eat another 900 cals a day on average... which seems counter productive... I am losing weight based off my own plan atm but i was hoping to use fitbit for everything but it seems off on the "Weight Maintenance" side. I am using Samsung health and Samsung Galaxy Watch and their Weight Management features seems to have it correct. and i have lost 15LB so far.. but since fitbit is known better for its activity trackers and not just watch i wanted to switch  so i bought it but seems like Samsung health has it right and fitbit algorithm isnt correct...