How do I use the calorie tracking in Fitbit properly?

[whiterainbow]

I got my new Fitbit last week, I'm having a great time with the exercise-related features but really struggling with the calories. Here's an example

Based on the information at http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/, my BMR is almost exactly 1900 calories. I used the same information I put into FitBit to get this. 

Today I didn't do any workouts, but I walked about 12km (which was also tracked on my phone by MyFitnessPal). According to MyFitnessPal, that's about 400 calories, which adds up to around 2300. I want to maintain a deficit of around 500 calories, so I should be eating 1800 calories today. I ended up missing this by a bit and eating 2000 calories. 

Fitbit is telling me I burned over 3000 calories today, and that I'm 700 calories below my goal (i.e. I should be eating 2700 calories of food). I am pretty sure based on how much I ate today and how much I normally eat that this is completely off. I would actually find it physically difficult to eat the amount of food it's telling me to eat every day based on my activity (Friday Saturday and Sunday I was between 400 and 700 calories below what it suggested I eat, but my weight didn't change at all). 

My question is, can I set my own calorie target that will be adjusted for exercise (since I know my BMR and I know what calorie deficit I want to maintain)? Or can I adjust my BMR in the FitBit app somehow? MyFitnessPal only tracks steps, and only tracks me when I have my phone with me, which is the whole reason I got a Fitbit in the first place (I wanted to track daily activities around the house as well as things like swimming). Will changing these things even help? I'm not sure if the amount burned is way too high, or the base calories it's setting me is too high (or both). What have other people done to counter this problem? 

thanks in advance!

[Dominique]

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@whiterainbow wrote:

Today I didn't do any workouts, but I walked about 12km (which was also tracked on my phone by MyFitnessPal). According to MyFitnessPal, that's about 400 calories,

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I’m not familiar with MFP: I thought it was primarily used for logging food, does it also work as an "software activity tracker" (competing with your Fitbit), using your phone to track steps and distances?

400 calories for 12 km of walking sounds low for someone with a BMR of 1900. I did the math using the standardized METs found in the 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities:

 I used walking at 3.0 mph (4.8 km/h). It would take you about 2.5 hours (150 minutes) to complete 12 km at that speed. Your BMR per minute is 1900/1440 = 1.32 (there are 60 x 24 = 1440 minutes in a day). METs for the activity is 3.5, so total expenditure is: 3.5 x 150 x 1.32 = 693 calories, which is significantly more than what MFP reported. My guess is your Fitbit would be closer to the calculated amount.

At any rate, bear in mind energy expenditure estimated by activity trackers have a margin of error.

[vineviz]

Listen to @Dominique: while any activity tracker is likely to be a little off on the estimation of calories burned, FitBit tends to be much more accurate than apps like MFP.

The system that works best for me is to use one app (e.g. FitBit) exclusively to track calorie expenditure and a second app (I use LoseIt! but MFP is good too) to track ONLY calorie consumption. I actually track my overall calorie goals in LoseIt, which gives me a "bonus" when FitBit says I've burned more than average for the day.  This system never fails to give me the weight loss it projects, which tells me that FitBit is pretty accurate on its calorie expenditure count.

[whiterainbow]

This is very helpful, thanks (the infographic too). MyFitnessPal can link with Apple Health to track steps and distance. It also picks up workout data. I've been using this as a very basic activity guide for a while now, I got a FitBit because I wanted holistic reporting on my entire day's activity. The way MyFitnessPal reports the activity is 

Base activity + exercise - food

So in this case, the activity is only reported above my BMR. Unless I'm misunderstanding, I'd have to deduct my base activity at 1 MET to figure out the reported activity the way they do it. If I deduct 1.32 * 150 (198) from the 693 below, I get 495, which seems more like the amount of activity that should be reported. Even that is probably a bit low, but there's still a pretty huge discrepancy between the 2000 calories and 2700 calories each app is telling me I should be eating. 

I guess my original question remains though. Let's say FitBit has my BMR way too high, is there any way for me to see and change that? If it's reporting my activity too high, there probably isn't too much I can do about that (other than completely ignore the calories section of the app, which is what I'm doing now).

As another thought, is it possible to export activity, or sync activity from Fitbit back to Apple Health? If I could do  either of those, I could probably figure out where the discrepancy is coming from and maybe adjust the Fitbit data accordingly.  

[Dominique]

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@whiterainbow wrote:

Let's say FitBit has my BMR way too high, is there any way for me to see and change that?  

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First off, I believe it’s quite unlikely Fitbit has your BMR "way too high". Secondly, BMR is not explicitely displayed anywhere in the interface. However, you can get a rough estimate by looking at this activity graph in your Dashboard:

Have a look at calories burned during your sleep, during which your energy expenditure should be very close to your BMR (unless you are very restless). Calories are displayed for periods of five minutes each. In my case, it’s 5 calories per 5 minutes for the entire night, which would translate in a BMR of 1440. My calculated BMR as per the Mifflin St. Jeor equation is 1463, which is close enough. Of course, Fitbit only displays round amounts for the 5-minute periods, so for me it would be either 5 or 6 calories, not 5.4, for instance. This means it’s not a perfect way to make BMR "visible". Thirdly, the only way to change your BMR would be to lie about yourself, for instance to pretend you’re 10 years older, 5 inches shorter etc. In this age of "alternative facts", this may become acceptable . Frankly, I wouldn’t bother, unless you’ve spent some time in a metabolic lab and have been able to establish your metabolism is in fact a lot lower than what Fitbit claims it is.