Just frustrated and confused

[Iasia]

Hi

Maybe this has been asked and I apologize if it has.  But if any clarity can be provided, I am truly grateful.  I am totally baffled with the fitbit calories in vs out.  To my knowledge, at 43 years old, female and 200 lbs, to lose weight my daily intake should be 1200.  However, it seems fit bit recommends I intake much more.  For example I exercised today for 1hr.  I’m positive I did not burn a thousand calories.  But it is suggesting I eat about 2200.  This seems outrageous.  So I figured maybe I am not understanding it correctly.  Can anyone clairfy for me?

Thanks much

[Dominique]

---

@Iasiawrote:

To my knowledge, at 43 years old, female and 200 lbs, to lose weight my daily intake should be 1200.

---

To lose weight, your intake shouldn’t be some arbitrary absolute number: it should be lower than your energy expenditure (total amount of calories burned throughout the day). You have to understand that the number your Fitbit gives you for calories burned is an (educated) estimate. It may suggest you eat 2200 because it estimates your energy expenditure to be 2700 and you’ve told it you want to lose 1 pound a week (= daily deficit of 500 calories). Your actual energy expenditure may well be 2300, so if you eat 2200 you will be losing weight so slowly it will be hard to detect. Besides, your intake is also an estimate: what you calculate to be 2200 may well be 2400. Start with a given (calculated) deficit, give it some time (a few weeks) and see how things go (what the scale tells you). Make adjustments if needed. For instance, you may find you need to maintain a 900 calories calculated deficit in order to achieve a 500 calories actual deficit. 

[Esya]

1200 calories only applies to a few women (and men). Typically you have to eat more. If I only ate 1200 I would lose weight so fast and my body would crash hard on me, so that is not a sustainable way to lose weight for me. 1200 might be what you find in (crash) diets, but try to not view this as a diet with an end date, but as a life style change. People typically start to gain weight again when the diet is over as they don't have a plan for when it ends.

If your FitBit suggests 2200 calories then I think that is a good starting point. See if you lost any weight after a few weeks and if not eat a bit less. Check again after a few weeks and adjust if needed until you start losing weight.

[SebWotan]

For most people eating 1200 calories will put their body in Starvation mode, which will basically shut down some functions to reduce the ernergy bill so it can survive. 

When losing weight what matters the most is the difference between (Calories burned - calories eaten). You want to burn more calories than you eat. If your Fitbit says you need 2200 calories, and you setup of losing 1 lb a week, which is equivalent to 500 calories deficit per day, then you burned 2700 calories. You can check all those values in the Activity tile as well as the Food plan tile. 

@Esya plan works if you burn calories consistently. If you alternate very active days vs. inactive days this will not work so well. 

[Dominique]

---

---

@Esyaplan works if you burn calories consistently. If you alternate very active days vs. inactive days this will not work so well. 

You don’t have to maintain a constant deficit every day, if this is what you mean. Let’s say someone alternates three inactive days (1500 calories burned) and four active days (2500 calories). That’s 2071 calories in average. If the goal is a deficit of 500 calories, there’s no need to eat 1000 calories on inactive days and 2000 calories on active days. You would get the same results by eating 1571 calories every single day.  

[WavyDavey]

---

@Dominiquewrote:

---

---

@Esyaplan works if you burn calories consistently. If you alternate very active days vs. inactive days this will not work so well. 

You don’t have to maintain a constant deficit every day, if this is what you mean. Let’s say someone alternates three inactive days (1500 calories burned) and four active days (2500 calories). That’s 2071 calories in average. If the goal is a deficit of 500 calories, there’s no need to eat 1000 calories on inactive days and 2000 calories on active days. You would get the same results by eating 1571 calories every single day.  

---

@Dominique, I'm having trouble seeing that as the same thing.  Because of the way you averaged, there will be about a 1000 calorie deficit on active days. That's a pretty severe deficit for a day that includes exercise? I understand in the week it all averages out, but wouldn't that method be denying the largest portion of calories on the very days you need them most?

[Dominique]

@WavyDavey: I think for most people, the importance of workout nutrition is overstated. It’s very hard to completely deplete your glycogen stores in a single workout session. Even if you workout early in the morning on an empty stomach, you still have nutrients in your system from the food you ate on the previous day. And a lot of your activity can be fueled by fat stored in your body (most of us have no shortage of it!). If you are performing high-intensity activities (e.g. HIIT cardio, lifting heavy weights) that consume a higher share of carbs, you can have a preworkout shake with fast-digesting carbs.