calories adjusting or not tracking properly

chuggy214
chuggy214 Posts: 4 Member
in Getting Started
I've had an issue lately (my friend as well), where I log all my food and complete my entry for the day, all within or under my calorie goal. Then the next day, I look at the results, and there has been an adjustment that shows I'm OVER my goal - that I have eaten too much.
I believe it might be connected to my Fitbit, and I've read a little about negative calorie adjustment, but why would MFP tell me I have the calories to eat, allow me to complete my day and then the next day surprise me with the fact that I was actually over?! I actually finished logging my day last night (under goal), but then realized I hadn't synched my FB. I then synched it which only added another 2000 steps (so I should have ended up having even more calories to eat). Can anyone shed light on this? I'm worried this is going to hinder my weight loss. I don't want to disconnect my FB from this because I love the additional calories from steps (1200 is just too little!) Thanks in advance for any help

Replies

  • arv51862
    arv51862 Posts: 115 Member
    Only thing I can think of is that your FB may have suggested to MFP that you were less active than what you had originally reported when MFP came up with your calorie goal #. (53M Here, also in the 1200-1220 range). I assume that you are set up to loose 2 pounds per week... If so, The way to determine if 1200 is too few for you would be to track your weight loss progress. if 1200 is too few, you will be loosing more than 2 pounds per week.
  • Kimberly_Harper
    Kimberly_Harper Posts: 409 Member
    I have negative calorie adjustment on, and use my Fitbit, and I see the same thing sometimes. My thought is that once we go to bed, we aren't getting any activity so what we eat v. what we burn slows down and MFP adjusts the calories down. My suggestion would be to turn off negative calorie adjustment on MFP if it bothers you.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    For activity trackers negative adjustments are there typically first thing in the morning when you sync.

    And as your day goes by and you move more and more it goes away and you get the positive adjustment.

    This is dependent on your activity level, if you log exercise on MFP and if you have enabled negative adjustments.

    The thing with the activity trackers is it does depend on when you sync...

    I noticed some days if my last sync is at 10pm it does adjust my "calories" lower the following day.

    That being said I don't eat back all my calories I am given either...so I have a cushion.

    What is your activity level on MFP set at? and what time was your last sync for yesterday?

    Here is what my adjustment looks like today
    m5bpyrjukorf.png

    notice the part in the box...how it reads "full day projection based on..."
  • SkinnyGirlCarrie
    SkinnyGirlCarrie Posts: 259 Member
    Maybe trying turning the negative calorie adjustment off? See if it works better for you that way.

    Perhaps, if most of your activity is early on in the day, MFP is giving you a higher calorie allowance and throughout the day it is adjusting downwards? Since I tend to workout in the later afternoon/evening MFP usually subtracts calories from my allowance during the day and then I get a bounce later on post-workout sync.
  • weird_me2
    weird_me2 Posts: 716 Member
    The Fitbit calculates your TDEE based on your activity level and then it assumes that level of activity for the entire day. For me, I'm set at lightly active and it seems to base my TDEE on me getting approx. 265 steps per hour, or around 6300 steps per day. When I wake up in the morning, I'll see a negative adjustment because I am under the expected goal. As the day goes on and I get more steps it goes from a negative adjustment to a positive one. Say I have my 6300 steps by 5 pm. I will see a positive adjustment because I've been more active than their formula would predict - I've walked 6300 vs. the approx. 4500 (17 hours x 265 steps) Fitbit expects for that time of day. Now, say I don't move again the rest of the day. As I sync, my positive adjustment will go down throughout the evening because my activity level is getting closer to the expected level for the day. By midnight, I will see that I have no positive or negative adjustment because I've just met my steps goal for the day.

    This same thing is why taking a 4 mile walk first thing in the morning nets me a much smaller adjustment than if I do it in the evening. Getting 8000 steps at 8 am, I first have to make up for the 2400 I was in the "hole" from sleeping. When I go walking in the evening, I'm usually past my step goal for that time, so I get credit for the full 8000 steps. It all averages out at the end of the day and the more you use the Fitbit, the better you will get at estimating where your day will end. I figured out the 6300 number because I had a -7 calorie adjustment one day when I had 6200 steps, so I know that if I get at least 6300 steps, I won't see a negative adjustment.
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  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    shell1005 wrote: »
    If your FitBit informs MFP that you aren't as active as MFP assumed you would be throughout the day then you can get a negative adjustment. That is how you go from in the positive to in the negative.

    You can turn off negative adjustments however that is only going to get you to eat calories based on the MFP calculation and not on the actual activity you did day to day. I'd prefer to go on the real data, not the imagined one.

    not so much the bolded.

    I had my activity level set at lightly active based on my actual activity and no negative adjustments...and I got my adjustment from my jawbone as long as I did over 8500 steps...

    I prefer the negative adjustment and sedentary cause I like seeing the number earlier in the day...silly but it works for me.

  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    chuggy214 wrote: »
    I've had an issue lately (my friend as well), where I log all my food and complete my entry for the day, all within or under my calorie goal. Then the next day, I look at the results, and there has been an adjustment that shows I'm OVER my goal - that I have eaten too much.

    I believe it might be connected to my Fitbit, and I've read a little about negative calorie adjustment, but why would MFP tell me I have the calories to eat, allow me to complete my day and then the next day surprise me with the fact that I was actually over?! I actually finished logging my day last night (under goal), but then realized I hadn't synched my FB. I then synched it which only added another 2000 steps (so I should have ended up having even more calories to eat). Can anyone shed light on this? I'm worried this is going to hinder my weight loss. I don't want to disconnect my FB from this because I love the additional calories from steps (1200 is just too little!) Thanks in advance for any help

    It sounds like you have MFP and Fitbit set to two different time zones:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/timezone
    https://www.fitbit.com/user/profile/edit

    Your Fitbit burn is TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), the number of calories to maintain your current weight. Your default MFP calorie goal is activity level minus deficit. Adjustments are the difference between your Fitbit burn and your MFP activity level. Click on any adjustment to see the math MFP used to calculate it—and the time that MFP & Fitbit last synced.

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

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