Frustrated!!!!!

[sguinn75]

How the crap does this thing work??? It's telling me I need to burn 3.166 calories a day and only take in 1290 calories. To burn that many calories a day, I CAN NEVER SIT DOWN AGAIN. And on top of that I'm starving. Been at this for 6 weeks and have only lost 6 pounds and my plan is situated for me to lose 2 pounds a week. What ami doing wrong????

[Komick]

I believe that the algorithm fitbit uses is based on the "average person".  Everyone metabolises food at a different rate.  Your body is unique.  Some people process different foods in different ways.  You have done a wonderful job at journaling your journey to weightloss.  Don't give up hope.  You just need to fine tune it so that it works for you. So scale back a wee bit more and you'll find your sweet spot.  The BMI system fitbit uses isn't the greatest either.  It has put me as overweight.  If having a six pack is overweight, then yes, I guess I am over weight.  If I were you, I'd see a professional to do an old school pinch test, or if you have the money, get a physician to hook you up to the electrodes.

Another thing to be mindful of is that Fitbit's never underestimate; they usually over estimate.  So when you're driving your car, you may accumulate some steps; thus, you will get more steps.

[Komick]

I believe that the algorithm fitbit uses is based on the "average person".  Everyone metabolises food at a different rate.  Your body is unique.  Some people process different foods in different ways.  You have done a wonderful job at journaling your journey to weightloss.  Don't give up hope.  You just need to fine tune it so that it works for you. So scale back a wee bit more and you'll find your sweet spot.  The BMI system fitbit uses isn't the greatest either.  It has put me as overweight.  If having a six pack is overweight, then yes, I guess I am over weight.  If I were you, I'd see a professional to do an old school pinch test, or if you have the money, get a physician to hook you up to the electrodes.

Another thing to be mindful of is that Fitbit's never underestimate; they usually over estimate.  So when you're driving your car, you may accumulate some steps; thus, you will get more steps.

[Bjorn]

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@sguinn75 wrote:
How the crap does this thing work??? It's telling me I need to burn 3.166 calories a day and only take in 1290 calories. To burn that many calories a day, I CAN NEVER SIT DOWN AGAIN. And on top of that I'm starving. Been at this for 6 weeks and have only lost 6 pounds and my plan is situated for me to lose 2 pounds a week. What ami doing wrong????

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I'm very confused about what you wrote here. Where are you being told that you need to burn 3166 calories and only take in 1290? that's an 1800+ calorie deficit. The highest deficit that is offered when choosing a deficit plan is 1000 (2 lbs a week projected weight loss for -7000 calories per week)

From other posts I've read here, a 1000 calorie deficit is reasonable if you have upwards of 60 lbs to lose. The less weight you have to lose, the lower your deficit should (ideally) be to allow for easier transition into eating at maintenance when you get to your goal weight.

Are you sure you're not reading something wrong? The dashboard tells you how many calories you've burned for the day, not how many you have to work on burning.

If you're seeing 3166 calories listed on the dashboard, it means you've already burned 3166.

[Trooper]

Check your Intensity Level. When I started with Fit-bit, I had it set at HARD. I was hungry all of the time. I reset to Kinda Hard and now I am losing weight. To keep it simple, stay in the blue or green levels and avoid the red zone. That is what I do. I notice that if I can just keep it that simple, I can lose weight. I never eat more than I burn. I also make sure that I always have extra calories left over that I did not use. All of this ensures that I lose weight. Today I dropped another pound. I know weigh 203 down from 270 last year.

[MRose]

It's highly possible that because of your entered height/weight/activity levels, it's saying your BMR is higher (i.e. if you lied in bed all day you would burn more calories).

[josephz2va]

First you need to find out what you're eating. Read over your food log for the week. Find all the bad stuff to remove.

• Bad foods are considered high carbohydrates, high sugar, high fat, high sodium (ie: Donuts, chocolates, candy, bread, popcorn, overdosing on nuts, "health bars", and a few others) and stuff you really shouldn't buy on a diet like McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell, Wendy's, etc.
• Good foods are considered what your dietitian recommends and a few extras are allowed when you're starving. My two recommendations are egg whites and isolated whey protein. They're non carbohydrate and low in all the numbers, but high in protein.

Lastly is control. Control is key to losing weight and fat. On average when I'm controlled, I lose up to 5 pounds a week and body fat is reguarly maintained around 13%. But I had to remove all the bad treats to get there. Including popcorn when it comes to movie night. Worst days when I ate popcorn and relaxed I went up to 20% fat from all the fattening popcorn has.

[GinaBee]

Went to the movies this week and brought in a spinach salad w/berries, feta and a raspberry vingeratte - yum! 

Be prepared!! That's the best motto!! Know what you're eating and when - don't wait till your hungry to plan on eating!! 

Be honest w/your food tracking!! Earlier I did a huge miscalcuation on my snack - almost 400 calories for an apple w/pb because I opted to add sunflower seeds. LOL 180 calories per peanut butter and sunflowers. Ouch! That's going to hurt. 

Keep good, heathy, food on hand at all times - carry it w/it - what can you keep in your vehicle? at work? at home? Concentrate on your food first and then add movement - find something you enjoy doing so it's not a chore. If you look forward to it, you're more likely to do it on a regular basis.

Good luck!!

[Heybales]

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@sguinn75 wrote:
How the crap does this thing work??? It's telling me I need to burn 3.166 calories a day and only take in 1290 calories. To burn that many calories a day, I CAN NEVER SIT DOWN AGAIN. And on top of that I'm starving. Been at this for 6 weeks and have only lost 6 pounds and my plan is situated for me to lose 2 pounds a week. What ami doing wrong????

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Curious if you came back to share more details.

So eating goal was 1290 - but you caused that by selecting a 1000 cal deficit.

You don't mention how much you have to lose - but that is reasonable if you have well over 60 lbs left to lose.

And only burning 2290 - I'm doubting that is the case.

As to why Fitbit selected 3166 as your burn goal - unknown. Probably to protect you from selecting a 1000 cal deficit without much to lose. Which is smart to do.

But better for you to set it manually - figure out how much you like to eat and can eat and can adhere to on average daily.

Maybe that is 1800 calories on average.

And maybe 1 lb weekly is reasonable weight loss goal now, because you have 30lbs or less to lose.

Then you set your daily burn goal to 2300 calories.

When you reach it or exceed it - you know you get to eat your 1800 or more calories.

If you don't - you know it's a day for eating less to keep that 500 deficit.

But don't make yourself miserable or your long term success will fail, possibly short term also in even reaching goal.