Is it desirable to be "In the Zone"?

[MarekZyskowski]

I have been cycling to work every day since May. I am using the Fitbit Flex 2  since August and I like it very much. Should I be trying to be "In the Zone" with the food I eat every day. I find that I only reach that point near the end of the day in the evening.

[Dominique · Accepted solution]

I’m not very familiar with the Fitbit Food Plan (see Food Plan Demystified for more info), but generally speaking, how you time your dietary intake in relation to your energy expenditure (or the other way round) during the course of the day doesn’t matter much for losing, maintaining or gaining weight (I assume you have one of these three as your goal). What matters most is the energy balance at the end of the day: do you end up with a deficit, a surplus or even. 

[HoosierDaddy73]

good question. i'm not sure of the answer but i'm definitely in the same boat. I rarely eat as many calories as it allows me to by the formulas; yet usually don't lose as much weight as the app predicts. 

[Dominique]

@HoosierDaddy73: the "formulas" assume: 1) your metabolism matches that predicted by the standard equation used by Fitbit, based on your gender, age, weight and height (metabolism can vary from one person to the next based on a number of other factors), 2) you are accurately logging your intake (there’s a margin of error), 3) your tracker estimates your energy expenditure accurately (again, a margin of error). With time and experience, you should be able to make the appropriate adjustments (to your eating and activity) in order to reach your goal. Quite often, an imperfect tool is better than no tool at all.

[MarekZyskowski]

I am trying to loose weight. I feel much healthier since I started cycling to work but I haven't lost much weight. I would like to loose weight to be able to jog. I am at 88 kg and I think I need to be more around 77 kg in order to be able to jog without hurting my knees too much. The Fitbit Food Plan is quite a document but I think it will be helpful to me.

Thank you.