Previous day calories are over budget even though deficit is larger

[Joebe2]

I am having trouble understanding my "calories In vs Out" graph for a previous day. It is currently Sunday. Saturday around 11:55pm, the dashboard told me I was "In the Zone", and I calculated I had a ~600 calorie deficit. My goal right now is a ~500 calorie deficit.

So my confusion is, it is now Sunday, and my graph for yesterday is red, and shows as "Over Budget", but clearly I have a ~611 calorie deficit. Why is this? Clearly I should be "under" or "goal met", as this is clearly meeting or exceeding my goal.

Please help! I understand the whole pro-rated deficit and how it calculates the calories you are allowed to eat in the day, and how it calculates the calories in vs out and the difference between "under", "goal met", and "over budget". Just not sure why I am over-budget for a previous day with a large deficit.

[HelenaFitbit]

Welcome to the forums @Joebe2! May I ask, have you synced after checking those stats? 

Usually when we notice a caloric difference like this is because you may be under a different food plan or you have just logged food but haven't synced your tracker. Please sync your tracker and let me know if the problem persists. 

Let me know if you have any questions, good luck!

[Joebe2]

HI @HelenaFitbit, thank you for your response.

Yes my tracker should have been sync'd at that time. Even right now, 12 hours into the Sunday, Saturday is still showing as "over budget" with a -611 deficit. I have not changed the plan type, it is still on medium -500.

Also, two things to note about the graph. Friday has a -860 deficit, and Thursday has a -721 deficit. It is weird that Thursday was "under budget" while Friday is "over budget" but with a larger deficit.

The only thing I could think of is that I am surpassing some set limit on how much i'm  suppose to eat, but that doesn't make sense as i worked harder on Friday and Saturday than I did on thursday, which is why i could eat more calories. It is suppose to dynamically add more the harder i work.

[HelenaFitbit]

Aha! We've found the problem @Joebe2. Allow me to explain. 

If your account is set to "Sedentary" mode; this means that your caloric budget for the day will start low but grants calories throughout the day depending on the food items logged. It is not dependant of your workouts for past days. 

To prevent this from happening, you can leave your Calorie Estimation under "Personalized"; what this will do is use your past history to grant calories for the following day. You may see a low caloric burn number today, but you'll get a higher caloric budget the day after. Go to your Food Log page and click on the blue gear where the calories are granted, click on "Personalized". 

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions

[Joebe2]

I still don't understand why my "Calories in vs out" would be "over budget" when it surpasses my deficit. I understand how throughout the day it might be overbudget or underbudget due to pro-rated deficit. But I don't understand now that the day is over, it doesn't tell me im underbudget. I played around with my food values for yesterday, and kind of understand it more.

The green horizontal line is at 3000 calories. When I added less food so it met at 3000 calories, i finally got "in the zone". My daily calorie goal is 3000. SO, why is it that my daily calorie goal is based on what i set. and it doesn't matter if i burn 8000 calories in a day and only eat 4000, im still "over budget" of my 3000.

I really want this graph to be based on my deficit. It is the only useful number. I want to see at a glance "did i meet my deficit yesterday, have a larger deficit, or a smaller one". That would let me know im working hard enough, or need to work more.

[HelenaFitbit · Accepted solution]

Thank you for your response @Joebe2! As you've posted screenshots on this thread we can see that the green line is your caloric "In the Zone" for the day; unfortunately the line does not change if you've worked out more or ate more; since it will remain fixed on the Goal number. 

Your caloric deficit for the day will show in your In vs Out tile on the dashboard; and that tile changes in accordance to your food intake and calories burned; however, your weekly view will show the overall goal number. 

Let me know if you have any questions! 

[Joebe2]

I guess that was the answer I was looking for. I will modify my daily caloric goal to be more closer to what i average eating in a day, and can modify how hard i am working based on that. So if one day i am eating less than my new goal, i can work less (or just as hard) and be good. Or if i eat more, I know i will have to work extra hard that day.

Thank you

[HelenaFitbit]

Epic news @Joebe2! I'm glad this has been sorted out. 

Do not hesitate in reaching out whenever you have a question. 

PS: Have you checked our Discussion boards? They are full of fellow fitbitters like you