help me fitness maths wizards.

[popsy]

hey fitness maths wizards!
stats: f/29/58kg(128lbs)162cm(5'3")
fitbit says im burning average of 2500cals and eating an average of 1500 cals daily. am i eating too few cals? i've lost 2kg/5lbs in 4 weeks which i think is quite reasonable. im not looking to go HAM, i just want to get in shape and eat well. i used to eat treats ALL DAY LONG so i cut that out but i still eat treats and eat decent portions of good, whole food. i exercise usually once but sometimes twice every day walking/yoga/pilates/weights/cardio and take around 13k steps. fibit is driving me a bit mental because one day it says i am undereatin' and the next it says i am over eatin' and im eating the same calories pretty much every day? help a girl out!  i dont want to ruin my body for treat eating in the future.
please and thank you!
 

[Heybales]

Remove the Calories In and Out tile from your Dashboard so that stops.

It's a per exact moment view, and rather stupid in my opinion. I skip breakfast so I can eat more at dinner, so up until dinner that tiles says I'm UNDER! Well, no duh, I know when I'm going to eat, and at that point I'll see how the day has gone to decide how much eat exactly.

Just look at your tile for Calories Left to eat.

If you have 10 lbs or less to lose, wiser to make your goal loss amount 250 deficit daily.

You seem to know about how much you burn in a day, you can plan well enough, and leave some snacks at night in or out depending on how it goes. If you workout, have a snack prior or after to balance that extra burn. No workout, no snack then.

[SteveH]

As a rough guide, if you eat 3500 calories less than you burn then you should lose around 1 pound. That equates to eating 500 calories less than you burn each day to lose a pound per week.

A typical, healthy, weight loss target is to lose between 1 and 2 pounds per week so that means eating 500 to 1000 calories less than you burn each day. 

[popsy]

but Calories Left to Eat sometimes says crazy high amounts. like today its saying i've got 1,100 left and ive had lunch and afternoon tea- just dinner left! i could go crazy at dinner and get a froyo after  on 1.100 cals but thats what made me eventually a bit of a tubguts. 😧

[Heybales]

Then you are burning more than you think, and a bigger deficit isn't better at all.

Your body will adapt to that and soon you won't be eating less than you burn, because you'll be burning less.

Yes, it happens.

Anyway, try the 80/20 method of eating, 80% good and "healthy" whatever that means to you, 20% stuff you enjoy that may not be "healthy".

Fat is not bad, needed actually for hormone control, so don't do low fat stuff.

And confirm the exercise is actually being counted right. Most exercise is going to be underestimated by Fitbit, especially if not step-based.

But your daily activity should be good.

And eating more than you burned each day is what made you a "tubgut" - if you are eating less than you burn within reason, you will lose the tubgut.

[Jeroen]

Skipping breakfast to eat more during dinner? That sounds not like a healthy advise. Yours meals should be evenly split over the day, topping at dinner makes it out of balance.

[popsy]

i would never knowingly eat a low fat food product!

fitbit really annoys me how its like

under

under

under

still under

yep still under..

WOAH OVER YOUR CALORIE GOAL NOW!

ta for the feedback heybales

[Jeroen]

Seems like your activities and calories do not sync together. If you eat more than you burn it will tell you that you are over you calorie budget, so start to move more 😉

[popsy]

mate im moving all the bloody time. 

[popsy]

another question: is fitbit allowing for my fat loss goals in its Calories Left To Eat ? ive entered my fat loss goals in settings? 

[Dominique]

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@Jeroen wrote:

Skipping breakfast to eat more during dinner? That sounds not like a healthy advise.

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Not necessarily. See:

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/nutrient-timing

[Dominique]

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@Jeroen wrote:

Your meals should be evenly split over the day, topping at dinner makes it out of balance.

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Who said they should, and on what ground?

[Jeroen]

Here are the top reasons why you should definitely eat breakfast, every day:

1. Break the fast. Ever think of what "breakfast" means? Your body responds to not eating for hours and hours by slowing down it's metabolic rate. By eating breakfast, you wake up your metabolism and get your engine humming, burning those calories you need to burn to lose weight.

1. Eat more, weigh less. Researchers have repeatedly shown that people who eat breakfast have a better chance of losing weight, and keeping it off. When you skip meals, you’re so hungry by lunchtime you'd eat an entire cow! Research carried out at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh has shown that eating breakfast cereal in the morning helps aid weight loss.

1. Are you interested in doing better at work and school? Don’t be a bed head... breakfast helps wake you up. Studies show that people who eat breakfast are more alert and do better on tests than people who skip breakfast. Conversely, a hungry child can be apathetic, disinterested, and irritable when confronted with difficult tasks. Breakfast is the key." No doubt adults need breakfast as much as kids do.
2. Breakfast is your chance to eat the foods you may not eat the rest of the day. You can have whole-grain cereal and berries with non-fat milk - here is your fibre, folic acid and calcium in one easy-to-grab bowl. Low-carbers need to go very easy on grains, so opt for the highest-fibre brand you can find. However, why not indulge instead in the typical eggs and lean bacon breakfast most other eating plans frown upon?

1. Skipping breakfast makes you grouchy. Studies show that people who eat breakfast tend to be in better moods (when I’m hungry - watch out!). Breakfast gets you started on the right track for the day. If you start out with a healthy breakfast, then you set the mood for lunch. You're more likely to choose something reasonable for lunch if you’ve paid some attention to your breakfast choices.

1. Cancel the Danish or sugared doughnut first thing in the morning - they cause a blood sugar dip a couple of hours later. You’ll be desperate for something to perk you up, and are more likely to grab another high-sugar refined carb, for a quick sugar rush.

1. Breakfast makes your machine run better. Get yourself on a schedule with a healthy breakfast, and you’re ready to take on the world.

1. If you’re a parent, set a good example. By skipping breakfast, your kids will think it’s not important. Breakfast doesn' have to be a big affair, but don’t wimp out... make it a habit, and your kids will be way ahead of the game too.

1. Don’t eat dessert for breakfast. If you think a cereal bar with 30 grams of sugar is a breakfast item, then think again. Some cereal bars contain nearly as much sugar and fat as a regular chocolate bar.
2. One more word about labels... if it says, "Nutritious," it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s healthy. Cereal manufacturers are experts in marketing, using words that send a message of health, but unless you read the labels, eat at your own risk. Kids’ cereals often have more sugar than sweets. Protect your kids from getting hooked on these cereals... they’ll get used to all the sugar, and will want only pre-sweetened cereals.

Whatever your diet you follow... breakfast is one meal you don’t want to miss.

[Jeroen]

Healthy eating is about more than the food on your plate—it is also about how you think about food. Healthy eating habits can be learned and it is important to slow down and think about food as nourishment rather than just something to gulp down in between meetings or on the way to pick up the kids.

• Eat with others whenever possible. Eating with other people has numerous social and emotional benefits—particularly for children—and allows you to model healthy eating habits. Eating in front of the TV or computer often leads to mindless overeating.
• Take time to chew your food and enjoy mealtimes. Chew your food slowly, savoring every bite. We tend to rush though our meals, forgetting to actually taste the flavors and feel the textures of our food. Reconnect with the joy of eating.
• Listen to your body. Ask yourself if you are really hungry, or have a glass of water to see if you are thirsty instead of hungry. During a meal, stop eating before you feel full. It actually takes a few minutes for your brain to tell your body that it has had enough food, so eat slowly.
• Eat breakfast, and eat smaller meals throughout the day. A healthy breakfast can jumpstart your metabolism, and eating small, healthy meals throughout the day (rather than the standard three large meals) keeps your energy up and your metabolism going.
• Avoid eating at night. Try to eat dinner earlier in the day and then fast for 14-16 hours until breakfast the next morning. Early studies suggest that this simple dietary adjustment—eating only when you’re most active and giving your digestive system a long break each day—may help to regulate weight. After-dinner snacks tend to be high in fat and calories so are best avoided, anyway.

[Heybales]

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@Jeroen wrote:

Skipping breakfast to eat more during dinner? That sounds not like a healthy advise. Yours meals should be evenly split over the day, topping at dinner makes it out of balance.

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That's bro-science, no studies have shown benefit to weight loss. Totally personal preference and YOU adhering to your diet.

I get up, go to work, and sit until lunch. I hardly need to replenish by liver carbs stores to keep blood sugar up to accomplish this minor activity for my brain.

Believe me, I know whan I get low blood sugar, I know how to tell the difference with the brain when it's happening too. Normal liver stores can keep the brain going for 24 hrs, unless used up with short intense sessions of activity that require them.

I eat a late dinner, and rarely workout or are that active afterwards, so my setup is perfect to allow that to happen without any issues.

As to the fallacy that it "gets your metabolism humming" - that doesn't even make sense and has been shown in studies to be false. Your "metabolism" (isn't really) increases after you eat to process the food - whenever that may be. You eat 6 meals if 300 calories each daily, you've burned about 10% in processing, you eat 2 meals of 900 each, same 10% processing.

The main difference there is after the many meals, your insulin is elevated each time, you are NOT in normal resting fat-burning mode until you burn off what you ate or store the carbs in liver and muscles. And that can take a while if sitting in office when you haven't been using them.

Some of what you pasted is good advice for people to look at themselves, are they grumpy, thinking slowly, ect. But if not, who cares, not needed.

Besides, it's smarter for me to get the mass of my calories in after a workout, to maximize muscle glycogen fill up, so I can be ready for tomorrow's hard workout. Plus the extra protein mainly in evening allows usage during the best repair time, sleeping.

[Heybales]

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@popsy wrote:

another question: is fitbit allowing for my fat loss goals in its Calories Left To Eat ? ive entered my fat loss goals in settings? 

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Well, there are no fat loss goals, there is weight loss goals.

Your hope is your deficit is reasonable enough to make it fat only, along with eating enough protein and resistance training to retain muscle mass.

So your eating goal does indeed have a deficit to what you burn to cause weight loss.

Now, to what you burn, there's the kicker for options.

You have an option in Settings for Calorie Estimation, and it'll use historical data to decide what your total daily burn (TDEE) might be, and this could be accurate, could be very off on rest days. Usually used if you forget your Fitbit for big chunks of the day. Same setting is on Food tab - Food Plan section - setting for Daily Calorie Estimate setting is either Personalized (Calorie Estimation) or Sedentary.

Sedentary means they start the math for the day with a minimum amount, and even that is adjusted down if you appear to be say sleeping all day.

And yes, the tile for Calories Left to eat is taking your current estimated daily burn at that point in time minus your current eating level, and giving the difference.

And that Left to Eat will keep adjusting as the day goes on. It's much easier I think to deal with than a guage that is I think only 50 calories difference, and only looks at that point of time for eating and burning.

Rarely do you keep that matched through the day. If you ate breakfast, you might get ahead, if you skip it you get way behind - it would appear.

You already know about how much you'll burn based on experience, keep a round figure in mind.