Manually set BMR calories?

[spatula]

Is there any way to manually set BMR calories for a Surge?

The estimate for me is 1932, and based on my own experience, this is much too high; additionally this seems to affect the estimate for calories burned in the day, which also seems much too high (I'm averaging an estimate of around 2750 calories, which, if true, would surely make me an underwear model based on the amount of food I eat.

I'd like to tune down the estimate to something more like 1500, which is probably more realistic based on my hibernation-prone scandinavian body.  Is there any way to do that aside from fudging the inputs to the BMR calculation?

[awood08]

I don't believe you can alter the BMR calorie burn since it's based off of your steps, activity, & heart rate. I use My Fitness Pal & sync with Fitbit and allow for negative adjustments so I have a more accurate calorie burn instead of higher numbers with each.

[awood08]

http://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/How-does-Fitbit-know-how-many-calories-I-ve-burne...

This may help? Good luck!

[spatula]

Yeah, it looks like the answer is "you can't."

"Your BMR usually accounts for at least half of the calories you burn in a day and is estimated based on the physical data you entered when you set up your account: gender, age, height, and weight."

But no way to *correct* the estimate if it's way too high, aside from fudging the numbers.  I could get the right BMR out of it if I told it I'm 110 years old, so maybe I'll just do that.

[spatula]

Looks like this has been suggested as a feature:

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Requests/Customizable-BMR-or-resting-calorie-burn/idc-p/9448...

[awood08]

Hopefully that will be a feature they add, my BMR is off usually by 300 calories. I just ignore it and base it off what I did for the day & average BMR.

[spatula]

Yeah, I think 1932 calories for doing absolutely nothing is pretty unrealistic for me.  I don't really start losing fat unless I drop my net calories down to 1500 or less, so I suspect around 1600 is more realistic for me, which is off by about the same as it is for you then.

[momoffourboys]

I agree it would be nice to be able to customize that BMR!  I've also been tested and mine is about 20% below what Fitbit says so I make mental adjustments but the whole Fitbit concept is so great it's a shame to have to make mental adjustments.  It seems strange that all of this is based on an "average" which by its very definition says there are people all along the bell curve.  Based on my Fitbit and my accuracy i should "technically" lose two pounds a week....I lose between 3/4 and one pound per week without fail on average since I started using my fitbit "religiously" and I knew that would happen when I look at the eating, burning weekly charts with the "two" pound deficit factored into the formula.  Come on programmers!  You have alot of cheerleaders who want that feature.

[birdiefu]

Yes, this also annoys me about fitbit (also would love to input VO2 max but that's another thread...). In order to correct my BMR as I carry more lbm than average (the calculator used by fitbit only looks at height/weight/age/sex, not bodyfat%), I have adjusted my height in fitbit. That way I can still at least use fitbit to track my weight changes, but my BMI will be off (which I generally don't care about anyhow).

[Calitrano]

I agree fitbit has me doing 2400 calories, thats way too high... i won't lose weight with it going that high...

i probably should be at like 1500 calories a day,,, but i don't know how to set that...

[kimiko.mori]

For the apple app,

go to Account> GOALS> Activity>Calories Burned

This Calories Burned is your Basal /resting Metabolic rate

It's greyed out and pre-populated with Fitbit's estimate, but you can actually click on it and edit the field.

[skiptamylu]

I think that's just a goal of what you want to burn -- not your BMR. 

[hansolo415]

It is counter intuitive, but the best way to verify this is true is simply change the number and see if the calorie count actually drops.  If it doesn't then it doesn't work.

[hansolo415]

You may be right.

The best way to verify is to try it and see if the calorie count goes down.

However, I think it important to realize that if your BMR drops while dieting (which it almost always does), that this is NOT your ideal BMR and your body has gone into starvation mode.  You may feel weak and tired and cold.  This is NOT a good thing.  

The wiser course of action is to up your calories in a healthy fashion until the rate is back to normal and then drop again in a continual up and down cycle.  If that doesn't work, you need to fast.  True fasting causes the BMR to go up not down, starvation causes the BMR to go down.

[Dominique]

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@hansolo415 wrote:

True fasting causes the BMR to go up not down, starvation causes the BMR to go down. 

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I’m not sure what "true fasting" is, and why it would cause BMR to go up. Metabolism adapts both ways: if you keep over-eating, your energy expenditure will increase in order to match the higher intake; if you keep under-eating, it will decrease, again to match the lower intake. It’s homeostasis – the equivalent of a thermostat for your body – a mechanism to keep your body weight the same. It’s quite powerful, but if you really try hard, you can "win", as proven by the large number of overweight people and (to a much smaller extent, in rich countries) by very underweight people. "starvation" is quite extreme. The term should be restricted to those unfortunate people who are truly starving, not that many in rich countries. Rather than talking about "starvation mode" or "metabolic damage" (in the context of dieting for weight loss), it’s better to say that metabolism is (temporarily) suppressed. It’s a reversible process: start eating more food again and it will eventually pick up.