How do I lose weight through calorie intake?

[Raklight]

I just want to make sure I'm going through the whole weight losing process correctly. 

I weigh myself on the fitbit scale every morning and from there it tells me how many calories I can eat for the day. I have on of the fitbit trackers to track my activity and with it I manage to stay under my daily allowance of calories. I haven't notice much of a change. If anything else, I'll gain a pound or two every now and then. I just want to make sure I'm on the right track. Should I be trying to burn off everything I ate that day? Also, How does that "In-The-Zone" on the calorie meter work and should I be shooting for that?

[PamelaHazelton · Accepted solution]

If you are trying to lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you take in. To lose a pound a week, you'd have to burn 500 calories more than you take in for each day that week. 

If you setup your goal (what you want to lose) then the Fitbit app will show you what you can eat, and the goal of what to burn.

[Raklight]

Thank you! I was trying to figure that out. I thought all I had to do was eat less calories than what I was allowed each day. Now I know I have to actually work at burning off calories lol.

[JoeRusz]

In order to loose weight Raklight you have to burn more calories than you take in! The "rule-of-tumb" says to loose a pound a week you need to burn calories or reduce your calorie intake by 3500.  Here is a great site I used to calculate my "daily allowance" of calories, and to track the exercise calories I burn for common activities.   http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc.  As an example I'll show you my calculation:  I'm "allowed" about 2850 calories a day if I want to maintain my present weight.  From the 2850 I reduce my daily intake to  2400 calories which "saves" me 3150 in 7 days.  SO to loose a pound I would then have to exercise off 350 calories in that same 7 days to loose a pound.  Since Jan 1 I have been under 2400 calories, around 2200 daily and exercised twice a week.  I've lost 12 pounds in that time!  I hope you can understan this method of calculating calories to the point that you can use it too!  Good luck!

[PaleoCrossfit]

Eat less, burn more.

[Heybales]

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@Raklight wrote:

Thank you! I was trying to figure that out. I thought all I had to do was eat less calories than what I was allowed each day. Now I know I have to actually work at burning off calories lol.

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I think you got some things confused.

When you set up your Fitbit profile - did you select a weight loss goal amount to lose weekly?

Then your eating goal ALREADY is set to less than you burn.

Meet your eating goal daily.

You don't have to work to burn off calories, I hope you aren't thinking that you must burn in exercise more than you eat.

That is so wrong.

You must burn in total daily more than you eat to lose weight.

Reasonable deficit it's fat loss.

Unreasonable include muscle mass loss too. And look forward to attempting it again next year but harder.

So just confirm you have your food plan set to reasonable weight loss, and meet your daily goal.

Only thing exercise does for that is make you burn more daily, so you can then eat more, but still lose weight.

So that may help you adhere to the eating level since it's higher.

But exercise is about transforming the body, and that side effect is usually weight gain, not loss.

[Bogdel]

@Raklight, I do everything you do - try to keep my in-take cal within the zone. However, if I do not walk, my scale tends to stay the same. I noticed that every time I walk fast for about 30 minutes, the scale goes down. I don't walk every day, but I try to walk at least three times a week. I lost 22 lbs. since Jan. 7, when I first got my Fit-bit and joined the community. I am so encouraged. I plan to lose another 10 lbs by May 12. 

Oh, BTW, be sure that the calories you take in are healthy ones. I stay away from sweets and starch, I increased my veggie intake (3/4 of my total meal is veggies - raw or cooked), and only about 1/4 is meat. Starchy foods turn into sugar right away, and then into fat. They have low nutritional value and high calories. If you need an extra boost of energy, try the sugarless electrolyte drinks. They have vitamin and are good for you.

I hope this helps. 

[Heybales]

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@Bogdel wrote:

Oh, BTW, be sure that the calories you take in are healthy ones. I stay away from sweets and starch, I increased my veggie intake (3/4 of my total meal is veggies - raw or cooked), and only about 1/4 is meat. Starchy foods turn into sugar right away, and then into fat. They have low nutritional value and high calories. If you need an extra boost of energy, try the sugarless electrolyte drinks. They have vitamin and are good for you.

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Just so you know, likely some of those veggies turn in to "sugar", I assume you mean blood sugar, just as fast as starchy foods - and it's not right away in either case.

And in a diet - they don't turn in to fat - they are stored as glycogen in your liver and muscles stores which are always a tad below potential fill-up when in a diet.

When at maintenance some meals could result in that, when overeating sure it'll happen.

Besides, why would veggies turning into glucose slower than starchy foods cause a difference as to what is turned into fat anyway, if that really happened?

I'm glad you found something that works for you, even if the reasons are not exactly fact.

Edited to add - didn't realize this was awakening an over 1 yr old post.

[SunsetRunner]

I have my weight loss set to -250 calories a day. My last week weekly report said I was -1059 calories to my set of -1750 . Will I loss any weight that's way. On my app it shows that I under my calories I needed to eat . Two day it was under by 450 calories and they only day I was over it was only 120 calories. When I look it up on line it show that I'm over everyday I'm in the red on the computer. So I don't knw if I'm doin it right. I want to loss weight. I start out my day at 1430 calories, then when I walk or whatever I burn more calories so should I eat more or just stick to the 1430 giving to me in the morning

[BWright1175]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:
I have my weight loss set to -250 calories a day. My last week weekly report said I was -1059 calories to my set of -1750 . Will I loss any weight that's way. On my app it shows that I under my calories I needed to eat . Two day it was under by 450 calories and they only day I was over it was only 120 calories. When I look it up on line it show that I'm over everyday I'm in the red on the computer. So I don't knw if I'm doin it right. I want to loss weight. I start out my day at 1430 calories, then when I walk or whatever I burn more calories so should I eat more or just stick to the 1430 giving to me in the morning

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I would recommend that you set your food plan to sedentary, rather than personal, if you haven't already.  Doing so, it will take your estimated BMR, subtract whatever deficit you have set, then that's the calories it gives you at the beginning of the day with the assumption that you will not move one inch all day 😄  Then throughout the day, as you exercise, move around, etc, it will add more calories, all while keeping your set deficit level.

For example... before I go to work in the morning, I input all of my food for the day except dinner.  So breakfast, lunch, morning snack and afternoon snack.  Those total up to 960 calories.  As of the time when I logged them this morning, it also showed my "calories out" at around 980, having already subtracted the 750 calorie deficit I have set in my food plan.

Since then, I did a quick mile and a half run before work... I've moved around a bit here at work, and gone for a couple brief walks.  At the moment, I'm showing around 7600 steps taken, and my "calories out" are now at 1735, though I've still only logged 960.  This leaves me around 800 calories or so for the rest of the day, assuming I take no more steps, do no more exercise, etc.

And even though the other "personalized" option allows you to set a specific amount of calories you want to eat each day, the sedentary option is more personalized, in my opinion, as it varies based on what you do each day.

[Skingola]

That is so helpful thank you - i've been trying to understand it this morning!