New and few questions!

pinkytoes33

Hi all! Any help would be greatly appreciated - I'm finding different results online. I have a few questions:

1. When you use the stopwatch feature to log a workout, how do it determine your intensity? Is it automatically set to easy or is it by how many steps you take? I did a interval training workout and I have no idea how to book it. I think if my UP thinks it's just cardio it's underselling me because a lot of the work out was standing in place doing squats or planks, etc... Just not sure how to book this one. Any ideas? What category of workout should I use? What intensity?

2. I finally got my steps tracked with MFP (the steps are shown on my main screen), but I don't see the adjustments to my diary to account for exercise. Meaning, I don't see the calorie adjustment. When I tried manually booking my exercise, the steps disappeared. Am I missing something?

3. Silly question -- but if I'm sitting down but moving my arms a lot (ie. picking things up, putting on makeup, typing, etc.) is UP going to erroneously track steps?

thanks everyone!!

editorgrrl

3. I get "steps" in the shower every morning, but I don't sweat the accuracy of my step count. The only thing that matters is the accuracy of your UP total burn, which is your TDEE. Trust your UP for several weeks, then reevaluate your progress.

2. No need to log any step-based activity, as your UP is already tracking it for you. Non-step exercise (like swimming or biking) can be logged either in UP or in MFP—never both. Exercise logged in MFP overwrites your UP burn during that time, so I log exercise in UP.

Exercise logged in UP does not appear in your newsfeed, and the only thing you'll see in your diary is your adjustment. If you burn fewer calories than your MFP activity level, you won't get an adjustment at all. To ensure you're actually eating at a deficit, you must enable negative calorie adjustments: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

1. It's human nature to underestimate your food & overestimate your exertion (aka burn). Choose a realistic intensity level. I never use the stopwatch—I just tap the orange exercise tab, then the + at top right.

pinkytoes33

Thanks!! I friended you earlier because I saw how helpful your posts were!

I'm not sure why I'm not seeing an adjustment in my diary for my UP. Here's my stats at the moment:

Per UP:
1,642 actual burned calories so far
1,961 estimated total calorie burn for the day
1,262 calories consumed (info from MFP)

Per MFP:
1,420 set as "goal"
1,263 calories consumed.


I would think I'd get an adjustment?

editorgrrl

Sometimes MFP's servers get overwhelmed and adjustments get backlogged.

Here's how adjustments work: MFP looks at your UP total burn, then projects what your burn will be at 11:59 p.m. Your adjustment = that projected 11:59 burn minus your activity level (which is you calorie goal + your deficit).

So using the numbers above, if you've set your weight-loss goal to 1 lb. per week you won't get an adjustment until MFP projects that you'll burn 1,920 calories by 11:59.

My adjustments were wonky at first but they got better, as if MFP was "learning" my routine.

pinkytoes33

Thanks. That makes more sense. How do I know what my "deficit" is? I did set MFP to 1lb/week so that may be the difference. So if my MFP activity level is at 1,920 and UP predicts 1,960... Then I would just get a tiny adjustment of 40, right?

What's kind of bumming me out is that I did a little workout today to burn 200 extra calories. So normally on MFP, I would add the 200 cal exercise to my diary and I'd have an extra 200 calories to eat. But it sounds like MFP was overestimating my activity level. It thinks I get a daily burn of 1,920 without my little exercise? On days that I don't have time to exercise my activity level will probably only be around 1,720. So it sounds like everything on MFP has been a little off for me..

editorgrrl

Your deficit is 250 calories per day for every .5 lb. per week. A good rule of thumb is to set your goal to lose .5 lb. per week for every 25 lbs. you're overweight: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided

Your MFP calorie goal is your activity level minus your deficit, and it sounds like you're less active than your activity level. This is why everyone should enable negative calorie adjustments: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

pinkytoes33

Thanks so much for all the help!! My calorie adjustment finally did pop up last night. Glad I got the Jawbone so I can get a true measurement on my activity level. Thanks again.

GrannyCrayCray

pinkytoes33 wrote: »

Thanks!! I friended you earlier because I saw how helpful your posts were!

I second the commendation for editorgrrl. I appreciate your insightful posts regarding MFP and UP relationship. I learn something new about healthy fitness and my own health everyday using these tools.