calorie burn higher with same steps with no excercise!

kanerz14

Hi guys,

I have a fitbit used to log steps and upload data to mfp. I also log excercise on mfp. I have noticed however on days that I dont do excercise my calorie burn is higher for steps alone. For example today I done no excercise but covered about 7500 steps. It shows i burned 300 odd calories, where as yesterday I walked around 6000 steps but done some logged excercise and got only 75 calories from these steps.

It's not the first time Ive noticed this and was wondering if anyone has a similar expereince and knows whats going on.

Thanks for reading:)

editorgrrl

Your Fitbit burn is TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), the number of calories necessary to maintain your current weight. It's based on way more than just steps.

I log my exercise in Fitbit (never MFP), lost the weight, and have maintained for a year. So my Fitbit burn is 100% accurate. Trust your Fitbit!

You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

shadowfax_c11

Fitbit looks not just at numbers of steps but intensity levels. More intensity burns more calories. You may have had more periods of moderate to intense walking activity yesterday than today.

Anyway as editorgirl said it pays to listen to whatever it is that Fitbit is telling you.

kanerz14

Apologies if that was not clear. Im viewing the fitbit calorie burn on MFP. I just dont understand why, when I've done a similar amount of steps on the days I excercise, the calorie burns from steps alone are much lower.

Its like steps+ no excercise= higher calorie burn for steps vs...
Steps+excercise=lower calorie burn for steps.

I use fitbit only for steps and i log excercise through MFP.

shadow2soul

kanerz14 wrote: »

Apologies if that was not clear. Im viewing the fitbit calorie burn on MFP. I just dont understand why, when I've done a similar amount of steps on the days I excercise, the calorie burns from steps alone are much lower.

Its like steps+ no excercise= higher calorie burn for steps vs...
Steps+excercise=lower calorie burn for steps.

I use fitbit only for steps and i log excercise through MFP.

Your fitbit adjustment is a comparison of calorie burns. It doesn't have anything to do with the number of steps you took.

When you log exercise on MFP, you increase MFP's expected calorie burn. The exercise log also gets sent to Fitbit and to replace what ever your fitbit thought you burned for the time period.

Fitbit calorie burn: BMR + daily activity steps + exercise
MFP calorie burn: BMR + activity level setting calories + exercise

So for example:
Yesterday my Fitbit burn was 2360.
MFP estimates based on my activity settings that I burn 1900.
Adjustment is: 2360 - 1900 = 460

If I had logged my one workout on MFP, this is what would have happened:
Fitbit burn: 2360
MFP estimate based on my activity settings plus exercise: 1900 + 146 = 2046
Adjustment is: 2360 - 2046 = 314

SueInAz

kanerz14 wrote: »

Apologies if that was not clear. Im viewing the fitbit calorie burn on MFP. I just dont understand why, when I've done a similar amount of steps on the days I excercise, the calorie burns from steps alone are much lower.

Its like steps+ no excercise= higher calorie burn for steps vs...
Steps+excercise=lower calorie burn for steps.

I use fitbit only for steps and i log excercise through MFP.

Log your exercise through the Fitbit and that should change. Fitbit looks at your energy expenditure and if it thinks you've burned, say 300 extra calories today from your walking, it'll subtract what you enter as exercise into MFP from that extra 300 calories so that you're only getting those 300 calories total. If you enter your exercise into MFP instead it should give you the whole calorie credit.

kanerz14

SueInAz wrote: »

kanerz14 wrote: »

Apologies if that was not clear. Im viewing the fitbit calorie burn on MFP. I just dont understand why, when I've done a similar amount of steps on the days I excercise, the calorie burns from steps alone are much lower.

Its like steps+ no excercise= higher calorie burn for steps vs...
Steps+excercise=lower calorie burn for steps.

I use fitbit only for steps and i log excercise through MFP.

"Log your exercise through the Fitbit and that should change. Fitbit looks at your energy expenditure and if it thinks you've burned, say 300 extra calories today from your walking, it'll subtract what you enter as exercise into MFP from that extra 300 calories so that you're only getting those 300 calories total. If you enter your exercise into MFP instead it should give you the whole calorie credit.

This is what I'm not understanding... why would it subtract it?? If ive earned 300 extra from walking then on top of that I do excercise, I should get more calories and not a subtraction surely??

yarwell

The fitbit adjustment is between what it thinks you burned and what MFP thinks. Assuming you logged the times of your exercise it shouldn't double account.

Perhaps the entered exercise calories are higher than Fitbit measured and you didn'tenter the times ? See what fitbit.com says too.

Qskim

I think it has to do with constant activity throughout the day.

So if you exercise and then crash on the couch (this is me lol) the rest of the day, the calculations go backwards. You've stepped and exercised but you've stopped and are sitting closer to BMR for longer than your normal TDEE. I know this is an assumption! I find I can be really active in morning and less so after lunch and I can still just meet my TDEE. Or I can be slack in morning, move more at night and be lucky to hit TDEE. Or I can be constant throughout day and go over TDEE (no exercise).

If you are constantly moving throughout the day but not necessarily exercise (so your NEAT is higher than normal) then you will get credit for that if it's over and above the average it gave you for TDEE with the data you first gave it.

kanerz14

mrsbaldee wrote: »

I think it has to do with constant activity throughout the day.

So if you exercise and then crash on the couch (this is me lol) the rest of the day, the calculations go backwards. You've stepped and exercised but you've stopped and are sitting closer to BMR for longer than your normal TDEE. I know this is an assumption! I find I can be really active in morning and less so after lunch and I can still just meet my TDEE. Or I can be slack in morning, move more at night and be lucky to hit TDEE. Or I can be constant throughout day and go over TDEE (no exercise).

If you are constantly moving throughout the day but not necessarily exercise (so your NEAT is higher than normal) then you will get credit for that if it's over and above the average it gave you for TDEE with the data you first gave it.

This may explain it then, as when I'm working I'm moving fairly often, though when off work I'll exercise in the morning and have little/less walking/moving activity through the day. It's still fairly confusing though. I just don't wanna be inaccurate and eat back calories that aren't really available to me. Do you think I should trust the information I'm getting as is?

Many thanks for all the replies so far:)

editorgrrl

kanerz14 wrote: »

This may explain it then, as when I'm working I'm moving fairly often, though when off work I'll exercise in the morning and have little/less walking/moving activity through the day.

It's still fairly confusing though. I just don't wanna be inaccurate and eat back calories that aren't really available to me. Do you think I should trust the information I'm getting as is?

The only way to gauge the accuracy is to trust your Fitbit for several weeks, then reevaluate your progress. I log exercise in Fitbit (never MFP), lost the weight, and have maintained for a year.