How does the maintenance program work on fitbit?

[Knitknitfrog]

hello

ive been working on weight loss and reqched my goal - woohooo!

fitbit  - the app prompted me to set a new goal - the choices were loose, maintain and gain 

I opted for maintain - but i am unclear how that works - does it revert to a deficit when i am over and reduce the deficit if i am under or on track? Apologies if this is covered somewhere - but i cant see it when i search. Many thanks in advance for helping

[SunsetRunner]

Congratulations @Knitknitfrog

When chosen to eat on maintenance, when eating the calories for the day, it keeps your weight at around the same weight. Possible to keep weighing frequently and use the scale as a tool to catch minor changes over time, if weight gradually increases over time (body fat %), knowing needing to do something.. or if it goes to low (in case if sickness and having no appetite), knowing eating a bit more to get back.

Though the body should tell when needing more nourishment by turning on appetite, sending hunger signals, or giving a sudden intense desire to eat (when needing more)..

Possible to have a weight range in mind:

Current Weight - x pounds (if it drops below this, knowing needing to eat more until reaching 'current weight' again..

Current Weight + x pounds (if it goes over this, knowing needing to cut back a little until reaching 'current weight' again..

As there are natural fluctuations, having a healthy weight / body fat range in mind is better than focusing on staying at a fixed number.

[GershonSurge]

A month ago, I encountered the same "dilemma" of reaching my goal. The equation for losing weight was easy. Establish some deficit and the weight would come off. Maintaining weight is harder, probably because it is new to me.

I set a maintenance range of 170-172 pounds with the idea I could drift down a few pounds if it happened. 

The dials on Fitbit are confusing as they seem to change their function when a person is above that weight. What works for me is when I need to gain a little weight, I eat before burning the calories so I'm close at the end of the day. I add in the 75 calories an hour I'll burn between my last meal and midnight. When I need to lose a little weight, I aim for a 500-1000 calorie deficit. If I'm losing too much weight, I restrict my activities and eat more peanut butter.

One thing I won't do is give up weighing myself each day and counting calories. Many people can maintain their weight without counting calories, but I'm not one of them.

[JohnRi]

They only way you will know if you are eating too little or too much is the scale.  If your fitbit says you need to eat 2000 calories, it could be off by 10% by overestimating calories burned.  So you would need to only eat 1800 calories.

Only way to really know, is watch the scale.  If you see your weight continue to drop, add more calories to your diet.  If it climbs, cut out a little. 

Eventually you will find the amount you need to eat a day to maintain your weight.

It should be close to what your Fitbit suggests, but it probably won't be exactly right.

Keep weighting and go from there.

[Knitknitfrog]

thanks - good to know the range you are working with. 

[Knitknitfrog]

thanks - i understand the physics or chemsitry of maintanence - it was a question more about what fitbit did when you set a maintain goal as i cant find any info on that setting. 

[cousinVlad]

Yeah August of 2020 and still having the same issue. In fact my "goal" is stated as deficit even though I pick maintain. Is this just a non-working goal or does it work in some weird way where it switches between deficit and surplus? I can't even pick a range just a single number. I'm obviously OK with fluctuations but can't seem to tell Fitbit that...

[JimC_99]

@GershonSurge  - do you use the FitBit app to track calories?  I have also found the only way to lose and maintain weight is to track calories and weigh if not daily, at least every other day....