[Inspire 2] calorie estimates causing me to gain weight

[Gigglestomp]

I lost 46 lbs using Google Fit and Myfitnesspal to track my calorie intake vs a 1,500 calorie goal predicted by myfitnesspal for 1.5 lbs/week. The exercise calories I earned from walking were added to myfitnesspal with an adjustment, and that seems to work really well for me. Some weeks I usually lost in the 1.5-2 lb range each week and it was pretty consistent.

When covid hit and I lost access to my treadmill, I was more or less sedentary again. I was forced to stick pretty strictly to the 1,500 without the bonus exercise calories but I managed to maintain my weight instead of lose or gain weight (171-175 for months and couldnt bust throuh the 170 wall to get to my 160 goal).

Now that the weather is a lot better, I picked up an [Inspire 2] and began walking again, this time unlinking google fit from myfitnesspal and only linking the new FitBit. I have been getting 8,000-12,000 steps a day and walking 4-6 miles a day. In that time, I have not managed to lose or maintain weight, I have gained. It feels like more than water weight, since I was consistently in the 171-175 area for months and now i'm pushing 178. It feels like the FitBit is awarding too many calories. Some days I feel like i'm forced to eat them because I exercised a lot and I didn't want to lose too fast and get saggy skin. I don't know why it's giving me almost 4,000 calories some days as "Out". With a 1,500 plan in MyFitnessPal and a 750 deficit expected, beging recommended to eat 2,000-2,500 calories a day just feels very wrong. I just checked against my last 3 walks and google fit gives me 100-300 less calories than FitBit for the same walks. 

This morning:
Fitbit: 43min walk, 110 bpm, 365 cals, 6 zone minutes, 86% below zones
Google Fit: 45 min walk, 42 heart points, 2.58 miles, 17:15/mi average pace, 231 calories

Google fit, myfitnesspal, fitbit all have the same weight and goals

google fit is not linked to anything

fitbit is linked to myfitnesspal

Today (so far) in fitbit:
Dashboard - 870 calories in (1,273 left)
    Click into that item brings me to the details. 870 calories in - 1613 cals out. 303 remain in your budget

My FitnessPal:
1500(Goal)-870(Food)+286(Exercise)=916 Remaining Calories

Google Fit (Not connected to anything)
42 Heart Points, 5,590 steps, 1,204  cal, 2.67 mi, 48 move minutes


My figures:
Starting Weight: 221
Current Weight: 177.6 (Up a lot from my normal 171-175 in the week since trying fitbit)
Goal Weight: 160 lbs
Weekly Goal: lose 1.5 lbs per week
Activity Level: Sedentary / Not Very Active

[Heybales]

Whatever is using HR-based calculations for walking is giving inflated calorie burn. Just the way that formula works.

Fitbit likely is, especially if you started a workout.

GoogleFit may use distance based calorie burn which would be most accurate. May not be, 130 cal lower could just be difference in formula used with HR stats.

For very accurate calculation - How does your walk compare to this, use the Gross option since that is what everything else is using:

https://exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs

As to daily burn amount, at end of day Fitbit and MFP will match, because MFP is using Fitbit figures to adjust itself.

But before the end of day, don't expected trying to follow 2 roads to the same destination to be easy. They estimate rest of the daily burn differently.

To be clear also regarding MFP - it's not your exercise calories that are added from Fitbit, in fact no exercise is synced over (except as part of a daily calorie burn that is), and you should NOT manually log the exercise there.

The MFP created Fitbit adjustment is merely to correct MFP estimate of your daily burn to what Fitbit has reported is your daily burn.

That difference is added to your eating goal which had a deficit from your estimated daily burn, so same deficit is there.

Difference to Fitbit is fact MFP stops eating goal at 1200 women, 1500 men.

If MFP estimated you'd burn 2000 on sedentary setting, and you selected 2 lb weekly weight loss (which might be foolish), then you cannot reach a 1000 cal deficit, it stops at 500 with 1500 eating goal.

So even if you are never sedentary and you always burn more than 2000 say, the adjustment will always be added to 1500 for a max 500 cal deficit.

Fitbit on the other hand just subtracts 1000 off your daily burn.

Have a sick day where the body needs to repair and you stay in bed all day burning 1600 calories - yep, Fitbit is going to make your eating goal 600 calories - pretty bad idea.

I will suggest, 17 lbs to lose is NOT reasonable for 1.5 lbs weekly - you can easily be causing stress water weight to be added, to cause the body to be losing muscle mass (you'll regret that now and later), and just cause body to fight and adapt to that stress. You may have caused some of that already.

1 lb weekly for 7 more lbs, than 1/2 lb weekly for last 10 would be reasonable for an otherwise healthy body. If yours is already stressed - even that might be foolish.

Great job keeping to a reasonable goal during sedentary time, probably did help a lot.

So those differences to the daily totals and eating goal during the day are all due to differences in how they calculate what's left to the day, and how they add on increased activity or deal with it.

But you can deal with what you are given for the walking exercise, and get best estimate.

That day of the 45 min walk you used the link above to compare to, do the following just to see:

Go into Fitbit to manually log a Workout Activity - use the same start and duration time as the existing activity, it'll overwrite the calorie burn in the daily total, so long as you get the time correct, don't worry about doubling calorie burn. Fitbit is replace-only, the last is only used.

Use the correct distance and time, get the calorie burn estimate that Fitbit is going to use. I'll bet it's close to the link calculation.

And that may be best effort.

So Fitbit's Activity will be there to show HR and distance it thinks you went.

Your record will be there to replace the calorie burn with something more accurate.

Now your daily burn changes, that eventually syncs to MFP (after it goes up by 200 from last sync), and your eating goal is better.

And you can likely hit a reasonable 500 cal deficit now. But not be using inflated walking calories causing a problem.