Counting Steps as exercise

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yurtgirl2000
yurtgirl2000 Posts: 3 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
hi, I'm a nurse and just got home from a 12 hr shift, on and off my feet all day. My Fitbit says >12000 steps but MFP says I only earned 119 calories for it. Really? I bust my toosh all day for 119 calories? I even walked 3 flights of stairs today for the first time in years. I was hoping a tough job like nursing with all the lifting, tugging, and walking I could earn a few extra calories for it.

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  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    That sounds really low for 12,000 steps.

    What do you have your activity level set at? Do you have negative adjustments enabled?
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    Also what are your stats?

    I'm 43, 5"8 and 143lbs. I get around 500 calories for 12,000 steps.
    I'm set at sedentary on mfp
  • Kattzmeow2014
    Kattzmeow2014 Posts: 3 Member
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    Bump to follow.
  • ScubaSteve1962
    ScubaSteve1962 Posts: 609 Member
    edited July 2015
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    If you have negative adjustment checked, it will go by your total calorie burn from your fit bit and your MFP projected total and deduct the difference. I've had days where I would work out burn 600+ calories according to my activity monitor, and be stationary during the rest of the day, Instead of having a surplus, it would deduct calories.
  • blossomingbutterfly
    blossomingbutterfly Posts: 743 Member
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    What is your activity level set as on MFP? That would make a difference.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    edited July 2015
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    ScubaSteve1962 wrote: »
    If you have negative adjustment checked, it will go by your total calorie burn from your fit bit and your MFP projected total and deduct the difference. I've had days where I would work out burn 600+ calories according to my activity monitor, and be stationary during the rest of the day, Instead of having a surplus, it would deduct calories.

    That happens even if you don't have negative calorie adjustments set. The only difference is: with them set, you have calories subtracted on MFP until you reach the minimum number of calories burned for your stated activity level, then they get added. Without them set, your MFP calories stay the same until you reach the minimum, then they get added. At the end of the day, the numbers will be the same no matter if you have or don't have negative calorie adjustment set.

    Only 100 calories seems a bit low. How much of your day was given as "active minutes"? If there weren't many of those, that could explain it. Once in a while my Fitbit just gives a wonky number too so it could just be a glitch in the day. How does that 100 compare to other days when you have hit a similar step count?

    ETA: double check what both say as your weight. I once got a wonky number and it turned out that Fitbit had my weight as less than it was. I made a mistake when logging a new weight in MFP. I corrected it a few minutes later when I saw the mistake but somehow the change did not get picked up by Fitbit

  • iLoveMyPitbull1225
    iLoveMyPitbull1225 Posts: 1,690 Member
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    Set your activity level as active.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    yurtgirl2000 wrote: »
    My Fitbit says >12000 steps but MFP says I only earned 119 calories for it.

    Adjustments are the difference between your Fitbit burn (which is TDEE) and your MFP activity level. Click on the adjustment in your exercise diary to see the math MFP used to calculate it, but a 119-calorie adjustment means you've burned 119 calories more than your activity level.

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

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