Fitbit not letting me eat more than 750 cals a day

[Lileis]

Ok so I need some help, I’ve been looking in the mirror for a long time and hating my body so I decided to make a change. I am around 5 foot, so every ounce of fat shows and I have a lot of stubborn fat that’s is ruining my physique (I have always been athletic until the past year when I prioritized school) 😂 anyways, I calculated my body fat percentage/target body fat percentage and reasoned I wanted to lose about 8-10 pounds. I wanted to do so relatively quickly so I chose the 750 cal deficit. My BMR is really low, around 1250, and I work out daily, Fitbit says i burn about 1600 calories a day, and has me eating around 850 daily, and this seems low. Does calories burned measurement include BMR? I don’t want to starve  myself and wreck my metabolism further. Thanks!

[Dominique]

Looks like, given your (petite) size, you are not nearly active enough in order to be able to lose the 8-10 pounds in the time you want and in a sustainable way (i.e. being able to eat a decent amount of food).

I’ll try to illustrate this making a few assumptions about yourself and using this online calculator. Let’s assume you are 20-yo, currently 123 lbs and lightly active (2nd lowest activity level out of five). This would result in a calculated BMR of 1249 (almost exactly what you reported) and in total calories burned (TDEE) of 1718. This is slightly higher than the 1600 calories you reportedly burn, but your actual activity level may be closer to sedentary, based on the step count that appears in your profile:

The low step count may of course be cause by recent confinement policies, if you happen to live in an affected area. Yes, you did say you work out daily, but working out often and overall activity are two different things.

Using the above assumptions, if you increased your overall activity level to "high" (second highest), your TDEE would be 2155. With a 750 deficit, this would leave you 1405 calories to eat. This would also be higher than your BMR (many people – me included – believe you should always eat at least your BMR).

You may also want to consider whether it’s a good idea to want to lose the 8-10 lbs so fast: why not use a smaller deficit and give it a bit more time?

If I got it all wrong (age, weight, activity), provide the actual numbers, so we don’t have to make guesses.

The Fitbit eating plan doesn’t have any "safety guardrails", other than the deficit being capped at 1000 calories. I believe MyFitnessPal won’t let you create a plan that has you eat less than 1200 calories.

Weight loss really is a numbers game, especially for young and healthy individuals (which is what I believe you are), who don’t have to cope with medical conditions, hormonal issues etc. You have to pick up numbers that result in something realistic and sustainable.

[Lileis]

Thanks so much; yes I usually get more steps but confinement policies lately have been killing my activity so mostly I’m just trying to get up and do a 10-15 minute moderate to high intensity workout 2-4 times a day. I’m younger, 16, and so my hormones are all over the place too lately. I know I’m supposed to eat my BMR, which is why it seemed low, though I’m not usually very affected by it or rly hungry, so that’s why I asked around here. I have a decent amount of muscle on me too, but some stubborn fat to lose with it, and since abt a quarter of weight I lose will be muscle I’m just going to go into surplus to work it all back. I think the real issue is is that my body fat scale is out of whack, so I’m probably not needing to lose as much as it indicated. (Your weight was slightly high too) I’m thin and small, but the pudge just shows more because of that 🙄 either way I think I’ll try to get a new scale to get a more accurate interpretation of my bf% and see if that’s the root of the problem, thx!

Sent from my iPhone

[LionLady]

@Lileis Your BMR is the number of calories it takes for your body to just exist. Pump blood, work the lungs, digest food, etc. It will seem somewhat low in the grand scheme of things. Look at the settings you've saved in the app. You can set how much of a calorie deficit you want to reach your goal: Easy, moderate, etc. 

Since your body isn't fully mature, be careful with trying to cut too many calories, you may be depriving your system of the nutrition it needs to finish strong. At the very least consider taking a multivitamin to ensure you're body has what it needs.