Fitbit weight loss manager

[Xperiment626]

Hi all! 

Looking to find out what fitbit expects weight loss to be for what time period. I understand the over/under calorie count after reading a few posts, but am confused about the time frame that Fitbit uses for this. Is it a pound a week or two pounds? Is it in fact weekly or monthly? I can see my weight over time, and I’m wondering if the calorie over/under is for expected weight loss in a given period, and what that period is. Because my 10 pound weight loss isn’t something I need to do in 5 weeks, it’s something I need to accomplish by the end of 5 months. 😂 I just wonder if I should just chuck the whole idea of keeping my food diary in the app. 

[Baltoscott · Accepted solution]

Hi @Xperiment626 -- the time period Fitbit uses is weekly.  

I think logging your food as you eat it can be a good weight loss strategy because it forces you to be mindful about what you are actually doing as you do it, as opposed to what you tell yourself you did when you think back about it at the end of the day. 

That said, lots of users report that fitbit seems to overestimate how many calories they burn, or underestimate how much they eat (even if they weigh everything), such that even though the hit their deficit every day, they don't lose the amount of weight expected.  My advice for losing 10 lbs over 5 months (which is a good rate!) is to go ahead and log, and shoot for a small daily deficit of about 250 calories based on fitbit's calculation.  Theoretically that works out to about 1/2 lbs loss/week, or around 2lbs/month.  Because you will be losing weight slowly, daily weigh-ins will mostly show changes in water retention (which can go up or down several lbs every day), making fat loss hard to measure.  But you should weigh in daily anyway and then look at your weekly averages in the fitbit app (the daily water weight flux cancels out over the week).  If the averages are going down about 1/2 lbs/week you are on the right track.  If they are not, make some adjustments (+ or - 100 calories/day) for the next week and see how that goes.  After a few weeks you will find the right balance for a few months.  As you get smaller, however, you will have to make additional adjustments, as smaller bodies burn less energy.  

[Xperiment626]

Thank you! I’m working on a few pounds I had before my pregnancy (already back to prepregnancy weight due to a postpartum hyperactive thyroid) and I don’t want to take so much out of my diet that I start craving the “bad stuff” or worse, not eating at all. I just have been feeling like my in zone/over has been such a low amount for wanting to achieve something as slowly as I am willing to go.