What's your choice? Personalize vs Sedentary

[Skyerules]

Which do you choose and why?  

I fluctuate between both, some weeks I feel personalize works and other sedentary. I just switched back to sedentary because I was feeling I wasn't able to eat all the calories I gave myself (1800).   I'm old school w.w's though, so keeping count of my food intake is important, so sometimes I feel that the sedentary option isn't giving me much in the way of calorie consumption because I can't always get up and get in activity.   

[Mukluk4]

The only problem I have with Sedentary is that most of my workout activity occurs in the evening.  So I tend to have to catch up on calorie intake later in the day.  Using Personalize helps me balance eating throughout the day.

[candistyx]

Sedentary, I don't want to have calories taken away from me, only added.

[ltwt]

I'm intrigued by this, but confused.  Admittedly, I'm new to all this   .   .   .   but can you elaborate on your question a little bit, please?  Are these two different ways to characterize your activity level?  If so, does this mean there's some place I can tell Fitbit that I'm basically sedentary, and that will adjust my goals to something more within reach for someone just starting?

It sounds like one approach is to tell you how many calories you can afford to eat based on how much activity you have engaged in.  If you are sedentary, then the answer would be "no calories, because you didn't earn them,"  and that seems drachonian.

As well, this all assumes the everybody is trying to LOSE WEIGHT, but fitness is not the same thing as thinness.  Some peole actually need to gain weight in order to be "fit," but I guess there is no place for them with fitbit.

Sorry to editorializ.  I would, however, like to understand where the featrues you are comparing are loacted and what they mean.  Thanks

[Skyerules]

@ltwt, in the food log section where the calories hang out you have two options to choose from, Personalize, which allows you to choose what your daily calories will be, I choose 1800, any calories you've earned from exercise will be separate from the 1800.  The other option is Sedentary, which when you fill out the questions about your weight, your daily activity, etc it somehow calculates what your daily calorie every morning will be for the day, with your exercise calories being added to your daily calories as you get in activity throughout the day.  

I hope this makes sense.  Please other chime in if I've gotten something wrong.  🙂  

[TandemWalker]

@Skyerules - Your response is spot on. Here's is the screen that you're looking for @ltwt.

TW

[ltwt]

o.  thanks.

[ltwt]

thank you

[SunsetRunner]

Sedentary for me.  Most of my activity occurs in the morning through early afternoon and usually do my EOD sync prior to suppertime (like knowing how many cals left to eat).  When set to personalized I always had calories taken away (for prior day) when synced the following morning -- made me crazy and some days I ate more than I should have.

[TandemWalker]

Hi @Skyerules.

I prefer sedentary; and the reason is that my exercise regimen varies a lot day-to-day, such that the looking forward projection that I would otherwise get with the Personalized scheme would be misleading. I think that the latter works great for those of us who have a pretty steady exercise regimen (e.g., a jog in the morning, a quick visit to the gym at mid-day, a 30-min jog in late afternoon ...) 

TW

[Tave]

I prefer sedentary for consistency.  I already know my BMR, so I know the base amount of calories I need for the day.  And since my activity level varies each day, I can treat that as a bonus if I wish for that day without worrying about my calorie numbers changing the next day.

[BobTheCat]

@candistyx I'm just working at figuring this out and I think what you wrote is really simple and might help me wrap my mind around it.  Are you saying that because I had it set at personalized, the estimate midday might have been too high and so if I was less active at night then the app would actually reduce the number of calories it had previously estimated for me?  By sendentary it's basing on my BMR and then adding in any activities.  Does that seem right?

[SunsetRunner]

I know your question wasn't directed at me but........you are correct.  

If set to personalized your mid-day or evenig estimate might be high (especially if you workout in the morning, stay busy at work, and then couch it at night - thats what I do).  From what I read when set to personalized, it assumes your activity level is constant during your awake hours.  When set to sedentary, it assumes you are sedentary during your awake hours UNTIL you are active (so you don't earn your calories until you burn them).  

[BobTheCat]

THANK YOU @SunsetRunner!  I finally understand it and think I need to set it to Sedentary to make the most sense to me.

I do have one more question if you can help me... Do I start the day in Sedentary with an estimate of my BMR-500 (my deficit) and then only activity is added in OR do I start the day with an estimate of my BMR-500 for that time of day?

I'm so happy this is actually starting to make sense!

[SunsetRunner]

Your calorie burn (flame icon) will show the calories you burned as of your last sync.  The plate icon (slightly different ones depending on if using pc, apple app, or android app) will show your expected burn for the day minus your deficit (so calories you can eat).  At the beginning of the day (before you've done any activity) that number will be low (basically only showing BMR minus your deficit) but you'll "earn" more calories as you become active during the day.  

Hope I didn't confuse you!

[SebringDon]

Sedentary, without a doubt.

I know I'm going to get to eat at least 2,000 calories a day on a typical day, so a beginning Daily Calorie Allowance of around 1250 calories doesn't worry me at all. I know on a normal day I'm going to earn another 750 or more during the day, so I can eat toward that 2,000 calorie budget even if I haven't earned it all yet. OTOH, if I have a really bad day, I can eat sparingly and I don't have to worry about my Daily Calorie Allowance dropping late in the day and having accidently eaten over my allowance.

[gwhite]

Hi, 

I'm new to fitbit. I had it set to personalized as a default when I bought the fitbit. I didn't know to change it, or how to. Now that I'm online I am bombarded with different opinions as to what to set it at : sedentary or personalized. I don't know if one over the other has any bearing on the weight loss journey. So my question I guess is "what would be the best option for me?". I try to get my walks in daily. And find on the personalized setting, I am sometimes having to walk twice in the evening to burn calories for a 400cal supper Ive eaten. I walk 10km a day, but some days, I don't even have the energy to get out of bed (I have MS). Im just wondering which setting would be most beneficial to me. 

Thanks so much. 

[JenniferinFL]

I've used both. After trying both, I prefer personalized. The reason I prefer personalized is that I find it motivating to have to hustle at the end of the day to earn back the calories I already spent. If I have a lazier day, I'm suddenly over on calories and make myself go walk. 

On sedentary I found myself less motivated to move more because I had already budgeted my calories for moving less. 

In other words, try both and see what works for you. Some people would find it discouraging to suddenly be over on calories when they thought they were doing fine. So, if that's more you, switch it to sedentary. 

[jschro15]

Personalized. I don't like the idea of having to "earn my  calories" feels like  reward/punishment. " Oh you walked so and so, you may eat". For me I am really consistent with my training/workout regiment so unless it is my rest days, my average burned calories is really close every time

I also haven't been follow the Fitbit calorie in /out to the strictest either. I am trying a zig zag with a focus in macros. Trying this method to help get over this plateau I have hit for my last few pounds. My average intake is 1780( with the deficit), but there are days where I eat more and others where I eat less, but at the end of the week it is my average and my macros match

[JoJoRose1984]

There is a section in activity and wellness>food>edit food plan where you can enter whether you aim to lose, maintain, or gain weight. And from there you can select your intensity/activity level that best suits your lifestyle.

PS: I'm no pro, but I don't feel that being sedentary as a means to gain weight is going to improve anyone's fitness. You can stay fit and active and still gain/maintain your weight in a healthy way. Check out the food plans, they're really helpful!👍