Why are calories reset every day?

[SunsetRunner]

Hi. I hope you're all winning in your endeavours. I've been using Fitbit for about 15 days. I've managed to come down by almost 2 kg (85.4kg to 83.6kg). Walking has been taking up too much time (I went up to 15000 steps but am back down to 10000) so I bought a heart rate monitor and started running on the spot and doing jumping jacks for a half hour daily. Works like a treat and I continue to burn calories for about 30 minutes after as my heart rate returns to normal. This evening I was invited to stay for dinner at my neighbours. I was served a huge dolop of macaroni and mince dressed with grated cheese, followed by a big bowl of instant pudding. It was great. I've been very good at watching my calorie intake and have always been under. But after entering the meals in MyFitnessPal, I found I am, like, 1600(!) calories over. I weighed myself later and I was 84.3kg. Sorry for me, it looks like I'll be doing double sessions of exercise for the next few days. But here's my question: it appears that every midnight, my Fitbit resets the calories back to 0 and starts from scratch. Unfortunately, my body doesn't work like that. Come tomorrow morning, those extra calories will be hanging on to my gut for dear life. Is there a way to keep track of calories carried over from the previous day or is it all factored into the algorithm? How do you handle this?

[Mrthekla]

I use the calorie counts in fitbit more for watching trends in my eating patterns than for minute by minute details on my biological patterns. Personally I don't think the information on calories burned  (or even my accuracy logging calories consumed) to be completely accurate. But I can say that the data is consistent. So, if I make a change, I can see that my choices have a relative impact. 

I target a 500 to 750 calorie per deficit as I'm working on losing weight. I don't fret about any specific day. If I run a 1,000 calorie deficit one day, I may splurge a bit the next. I've even gone over here an there (family parties or date night). I like that I can see that on my logs, it helps keep me mindful that I did and I try not to let it happen more than once a week. 

Most importantly I pay attention to my body. If I've eaten well, and feel full. I won't eat additional just because according to my logs I can. The reverse is also true, if I'm hungry, or just want something, I won't deny myself more for the sake of my food log. I will however look at my activity that day, and what I ate earlier to determine what changes I can make to help me feel satisfied and not develop a craving.

You can always look back on your food log, or download your data to a spreadsheet to compare calories eaten to burned over a time period. Or take the easy way and pay for premium. 😉

[SunsetRunner]

Thanks for your reponse, Mrthekla. It would be nice to have the system keep track of my carry-over for me but, yeah, maybe it's a premium feature. I've actually found the eating side pretty easy. Once I realised that that big bag of chips (crisps) is jam-packed with calories, as is biscuits, and fatty meats, cheese, etc. it was pretty simple to look out for low-calorie foods. I find I eat quite a bit these days - probably more than I used to - but it's all low-cal choices. The difference is that I don't feel so terribly tired after a meal.

[Mrthekla]

Even without premium you can see what you've eaten online (if you sync your account) or on the app. I'm using the iOS app, and you just click on the eaten tab and it pulls up a graph of calorie consumed the past 7 days. 

[SunsetRunner]

Sure, I get that. Regardless, when I look at the dashboard - the figures I exercise and eat against - it's not true. It's past midnight now and the online Food Plan says "In the zone. Great job! You're on target to lose 0.5kg per week." Um, no, I'm not, cause I'm still lugging around those extra 1200 calories from yesterday. Anyway, it looks like I'll just have to keep it in mind. I'm hoping that, as I enter my weight, the algorithm adjusts itself to that figure.

[Mrthekla]

Okay, I get what you are saying. Could always look at it as each day is a new day, and when it starts you are on track (until you are not). 

But I do like my weekly look at my progress. The picture below what I get from the food report in premium. It also tells me on average how many more (or less) calories I burn than I've consumed and the projected weekly weight loss (or gain) based on that amount. 

Here is the text I get "You burn 717 calories more per day than you eat. To lose 1lb of fat a week, you would have to burn 500 calories more per day than you eat. Your current intake should reduce your fat weight by about 1.4 lb per week."

If you didn't want to pay for premium you could download your data and create your own reports in whatever spreadsheet program you are skilled in. 

[emili]

all your stats reset at midnight and mentally that's probably a good thing. I also think you will not carry that with you for as long as you think. If you were at your down weight for a good bit of time, you will go back down to it pretty quick. you just need to get rid of the extra sodium and digestion that comes from such a heavy meal. wishing you success!

[SunsetRunner · Accepted solution]

In case anyone is interested, I figured out a simple (and probably obvious) solution. Take calories over-consumed from the previous day and "eat" them for breakfast using the Quick Add feature. That might be demotivating for some people but I don't like loose ends. I'll try to stay within the daily essentials and exercise a bit more. But I'll eat sensibly so as not to get weak, hungry or mentally fatigued. If it takes a few days and a bit of extra effort to work it off, so be it. As long as I can get back on track.

It would be nice to hear from someone at Fitbit to see if this is necessary or it's computed automatically into the plan.

[Mrthekla]

I think what you are looking for is a 'running total' of your calories burned vs consumed. But I'm not sure that's the healthiest way to manage your diet. 

Let's say for example you went 3 days in a row eating 500 calories more than you burned. You would have a calorie 'overage' of 1,500 calories. It would be demotivating (and potentionally unhealthy) to try to reduce your intake for that day by 1,500 calories. 

In the opposite, let's say you eat 500 calories less than you burned for 3 days.You would have a 1,500 calorie deficit. You wouldn't want to lose valuable ground by thinking you could 'splurge' and eat an extra 1,500 calories that day.

Besides, the fat is either stored or burned by then. I think it's best to look at your history to see how you are doing, and treat each day as a new day. Let's look at mine as an example, here is a capture from my dashboard...

I've had a small breakfast, and quite a few calories left to eat today. If I click on the 'left to eat' tile, this comes up...

The top of the chart shows I didn't quite eat my food plan yesterday (My target is set at -250 cal, so if I'm -500 or so I just smile).  The 'average' of calories burned / eaten of 1904/1453 is based on this week (So, just Monday and 8 hours into Tuesday). Then below is a chart which includes last week. 

As you can see last week I went 'over' my plan on eating Friday (Wine and Pizza for dinner, so worth it!). But I was under the other days, and under the calories burned in total. I'd say last week was a good week, even the day I 'overate' I had hit the gym hard and burned those calories, so my deficit was -200, which is close enough to my target that I won't try to compensate. 

Now, if I start stringing together multiple days like Friday, I know I need to make some changes. But directionally this gives me the info I need to make improvements to my eating / activity levels. If the deficit i'm running works, and I'm losing weight all is good. If I used a 'running total' I'd see that I've consumed 3,200 calories less than my plan last week. I think my Friday night splurge was enough, I'm feeling good and nourished. No reason for me to think I can eat an additional 3,200 calories this week. (Although it's an easy enough number to compute based on the history). 

If you were to do as you suggested and 'add' yesterday's overage to today's breakfast, the history would count that as 'new' consumption and it would look like you were eating even more calories in a week than you are. Keep in mind the only thing that 'resets' at midnight is the daily count. The data still exists on your account for you see anytime.