That bugger of a dial

[praze101]

Hello all!  Just have a question for anyone who knows!  lol

On the dashboard there is a tracker with a needle that moves when you are over or under in your estimated calorie burn vs intake.  Anyone know how, if you go into the bad 'red' area how to get that back within the target zone?  Do I just do more exercise?  Just wanting to know how that dial is really supposed to be helpful and how to use it. 🙂

Thanks

[bitsy]

I haven't been on the fitbit site for long, so I could be wrong, but here's how I think it works.

The dial shows the difference between the number of calories you have taken in (tracked food) and the number of calories you have expended (BMR + exercise).  The strange thing about this clock is that it is updated continuously (well, when you refresh the web page).  So the calculation is basically:  [calories eaten] - [(calories/minute)*(minutes past midnight)+(exercise calories)].  The calories/minute is your BMR and differs with weight, gender, etc.  

In order to make it change, you can just sit and do nothing.  Minutes will pass, and you will burn more calories.  Or, you can exercise and make it move alot more and alot faster.   

I don't find this dial to be all that useful.  Instead, I use the meal plan.  The meal plan calculation lets you know how many calories you can eat and stay within the calorie deficit you want to have each day.  It figures in your (BMR*24 hours) at the outset, rather than updating the value continuously.  So, the meal plan value shows: BMR*24 hours + exercise calories - planned calorie deficit - calories eaten.  

[whome · Accepted solution]

@bitsy - That is a very good explanation of the function of those tiles - I agree that it is much more useful to pay attention to the meal plan tile with the number of calories left to eat for the day

[whome]

@praze101 - Thanks for the vote but I think you ought to mark that on the reply from @bitsy  - that is the one that really has the info, all I did was agree.

Good luck and keep at it -