Help for a seasoned MFP user

[joll]

Hi - I know there are plenty of messages about MFP already but I am struggling to find the help I need so apologies. I just got a HR Charge yesterday, it is 2nd hand from a friend who upgraded. I have been using MFP for years with success, manually logging all exercize and setting a calorie goal which has been successful in helping me to lose weight. But now I have synced the fitbit with MFP I am totally confused!

So, today is my first day using them together, I logged my food in MFP, which is showing up in the fitbit app but I can't work out how I am meant to use the calories in/out part. It was easy with MFP, calories in balanced with calories out to make sure I never went over my calories in goal eg. if my goal is 1500 and I eat 1600 but burn 150 doing eliptical trainer then I am still under my daily calorie goal and this has worked for me in losing weight. But now MFP just shows calories in and the calorie goal so I can't use MFP to see how many calories I have left after exercising. But in fitbit the calorie thing doesn't sync with MFP goals. First I tried setting a plan, -500 for 1lb a week weight loss but the amount of calories it is telling me I have left is much less than it would be were I using MFP, which sounds great, more weight loss, but I have to eat! Then I manulally set it to the same calorie goal as MFP but it doesn't seem to have made any difference.

Can someone explain this to me or should I just unsync the two things and carry on as before? Which then leads me to what is the point of a fitbit if I was successfully doing this using MFP alone before?

Thanks in advance

[RobertoME]

Hello @joll, its nice to see new faces around in our Community. In MFP the calories are different from Fitbit since in MFP does not count your BMR (rate at which you burn calories as a result of maintaining vital body functions). Usually your Calories In/Out from your Fitbit usually gives more calories due to the BMR.

So if your Fitbit account is giving you less calories from your MFP, I can think is possible you haven't create a Food plan on your Fitbit account. The Food Plan's tools update based on your foods logged and activities recorded by your tracker. So the more you exercise throughout the day, the greater your calorie allowance will be on your Fitbit account. 

If you wonder how to create a food plan on your Fitbit account perhaps the following post might give you additional help. Also as an additional note this other post will explain how the Calories In vs out works on your Fitbti account too.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have additional questions.