Exercise Calories for fitbit in sedentary vs lightly active

AnnaBellQ14

So I couldn't leave well enough alone. I changed MFP to sedentary to see if the exercise calories it gives me is any different. The other day I walked 10,720 steps with activity set to lightly active. I got 350 exercise calories. My calories at lightly active is 1850 For sedentary it is 1630. That's a difference of 220 calories. So I figured if I reach 10,720 steps today, I should get 350 plus 220 for a total of 570 exercise calories. However, I only got 497 calories. Tell me if my logic is wrong.

Setting my activity level back to lightly active it gives me 357 exercise calories. So technically I should have gotten 577 exercise calories. Am I thinking about this wrong? That's a 80 calorie difference for exercise calories between sedentary and lightly active, accounting for the difference in calorie goals.

Angierae75

Did you walk faster on the day you got more calories? Did you get those steps in longer bursts? All of those things can make a difference.

shadow2soul

AnnaBellQ14 wrote: »

So I couldn't leave well enough alone. I changed MFP to sedentary to see if the exercise calories it gives me is any different. The other day I walked 10,720 steps with activity set to lightly active. I got 350 exercise calories. My calories at lightly active is 1850 For sedentary it is 1630. That's a difference of 220 calories. So I figured if I reach 10,720 steps today, I should get 350 plus 220 for a total of 570 exercise calories. However, I only got 497 calories. Tell me if my logic is wrong.

Setting my activity level back to lightly active it gives me 357 exercise calories. So technically I should have gotten 577 exercise calories. Am I thinking about this wrong? That's a 80 calorie difference for exercise calories between sedentary and lightly active, accounting for the difference in calorie goals.

Fitbit adjustments aren't based on the number of steps you take. It's the comparison of your Fitbit Burn* and what MFP expects you to burn.

*Fitbit sends MFP your calorie burn based on your last sync. MFP takes this number and estimates how many more calories you will burn (based on activity level setting) by the end of the day. Setting your activity level to Sedentary lowers MFP's estimated burn for your day. So if you have 6 hours till midnight based on your last sync, MFP is going to estimate those 6 hours at a sedentary level.
Example:
1582 calories burned from Fitbit as of 2:34 pm

Lightly active MFP would give me 1899 to maintain. That breaks down to 79.125 calories per hour or 1.31875 calories per Minute.

For the adjustment, MFP is going to look at the fact that there is still 9 hrs 26 mins left for my day.
9*79.125= 712.125
26 * 1.31875 = 34.2875
estimated calorie burn based on activity level for the last 9 hrs 26 mins of my day : 746.4125

MFP estimates that at Midnight, Fitbit will send over a calorie burn of 2328. So that is the number it will use to calculate my adjustment up until the next sync.

Now lets change the calculations to Sedentary:

Sedentary MFP would give me 1696 to maintain. That breaks down to 70.6666 calories per hour or 1.1777 calories per minute.
9*70.6666 = 635.9994
26*1.1777 = 30.6202
estimated calorie burn based on activity level for the last 9 hrs 26 mins of my day : 666.6196

MFP estimates that at Midnight, Fitbit will send over a calorie burn of 2248.

MFP's estimate of what Fitbit will say at midnight is about 80 calories different between the 2 activity levels.

AnnaBellQ14

shadow2soul wrote: »

AnnaBellQ14 wrote: »

So I couldn't leave well enough alone. I changed MFP to sedentary to see if the exercise calories it gives me is any different. The other day I walked 10,720 steps with activity set to lightly active. I got 350 exercise calories. My calories at lightly active is 1850 For sedentary it is 1630. That's a difference of 220 calories. So I figured if I reach 10,720 steps today, I should get 350 plus 220 for a total of 570 exercise calories. However, I only got 497 calories. Tell me if my logic is wrong.

Setting my activity level back to lightly active it gives me 357 exercise calories. So technically I should have gotten 577 exercise calories. Am I thinking about this wrong? That's a 80 calorie difference for exercise calories between sedentary and lightly active, accounting for the difference in calorie goals.

Fitbit adjustments aren't based on the number of steps you take. It's the comparison of your Fitbit Burn* and what MFP expects you to burn.

*Fitbit sends MFP your calorie burn based on your last sync. MFP takes this number and estimates how many more calories you will burn (based on activity level setting) by the end of the day. Setting your activity level to Sedentary lowers MFP's estimated burn for your day. So if you have 6 hours till midnight based on your last sync, MFP is going to estimate those 6 hours at a sedentary level.
Example:
1582 calories burned from Fitbit as of 2:34 pm

Lightly active MFP would give me 1899 to maintain. That breaks down to 79.125 calories per hour or 1.31875 calories per Minute.

For the adjustment, MFP is going to look at the fact that there is still 9 hrs 26 mins left for my day.
9*79.125= 712.125
26 * 1.31875 = 34.2875
estimated calorie burn based on activity level for the last 9 hrs 26 mins of my day : 746.4125

MFP estimates that at Midnight, Fitbit will send over a calorie burn of 2328. So that is the number it will use to calculate my adjustment up until the next sync.

Now lets change the calculations to Sedentary:

Sedentary MFP would give me 1696 to maintain. That breaks down to 70.6666 calories per hour or 1.1777 calories per minute.
9*70.6666 = 635.9994
26*1.1777 = 30.6202
estimated calorie burn based on activity level for the last 9 hrs 26 mins of my day : 666.6196

MFP estimates that at Midnight, Fitbit will send over a calorie burn of 2248.

MFP's estimate of what Fitbit will say at midnight is about 80 calories different between the 2 activity levels.

I see. So at the end of the day at midnight, I should have the same exercise calories no matter what (accounting of course for the differences in goal calories between the two activity levels.

heybales

Well, no. - comparing mid-day won't work, unless you do the math above with remaining minutes.
But those are NOT exercise calories, but as stated, the difference between estimated daily burn and Fitbit supplied daily burn.

Your adjustment should be different between the levels. The end result eating goal will be the same though.

2nd half of FAQ spells it out too, and the caveat that means for when you go to bed, and meeting your goal, and which activity level to select.