Should I believe my Calories Left section on my Dashboard?

[jhunt]

I'm a male. 6'0, 195 pounds, and I've selected that I'd like to lose 10 pounds in about a month and a half/two months. Initially it stated I'd need to be in a calorie deficit of about 1500 calories per day. I work out pretty consistently, and after tracking a few days of food I can easily see that I have been way over the amount of calories I have been needing to consume. 

So today, it's about 10:30 AM. I've consumed 430 calories, and burned 638 calories due to exercise (Orangetheory Fitness). In all, my Dashboard states I've burned 1686 calories. It states I have 2,119 calories left. Can that be right?

I'm not sure if my settings are incorrect, or if the workout calories affect the total as much as this. I get the math I guess, but I also don't want to consume 2,500 calories today if I should be consuming less than this to lose weight. 

[SunsetRunner]

I think u need to adjust your settings.
U may want to start with modifying your Hr zone.
I have mine set to 105 for fat burn and my peak is 150.

That seems to help me

[jhunt]

I don't have a heart rate monitor on my charge, so I assume that I can't change that setting?

[smhermione]

Hi @jhunt ! I think there a couple of things going on here. First, your fitbit is not only calculating your exercise, but also your basal metabolic rate calories which are most of the calories that your body will burn. Second, I was surprised to read that you are at a calorie deficit of 1500 calories as the fitbit food plans only allow for a maximum deficit of 1000 calories. If you have a deficit of 1000 calories per day, you should lose an average of 2 lbs per week, which is the maximum of what is recommended for healthy weight loss. I would double check your settings in your food plan to make sure they are correct and then eat what the plan tells you you can eat. Just leave a couple hundred calories until the end of the day so that if you don't burn as many calories as fitbit thinks you will you have a little bit on insurance at the end of the day. I've lost about 65 lbs following the fitbit food plans that's how I know they work.

Also, if you don't have the heart rate function don't worry about it. Fitbit just released the Charge HR so others may be using that function on their tracker. If you don't have it there is nothing to adjust.

Welcome to the fitbit community!

[jhunt]

Thanks! 

To clarify, I'm to consume 1,500 calories, which is equal to a 750 calorie deficit. I think I worded it incorrectly. In terms of HR, I could still return my Charge and get the Charge HR or even the Surge with a HR monitor. Would those help me track myself more closely? 

I use a HR monitor when I work out so I get a pretty good feel for my calorie burn. 

[smhermione]

I haven't had the opportunity to try the Charge HR or the Surge yet so I can't speak personally to their accuracy, though what I've read from others looks good so far. If you're already using a heart rate monitor I might try logging your activity manually I'd you find that your fitbit is not giving you enough calories for your workout. Specifically if you are doing more strength training I would log that as fitbits are better at tracking walking and running based activities. Good luck, I hope that helps!