Activity tracker

jaquelinededwards

hi everybody ! Does anyone who use activity trackers ? If so do you add your calorie burn to the exercise section of mfp? I use one and not sure if I should or not? Mine tracks steps cal etc but I can add steps because it is not one of the apps then have listed!
Thank you !

shadow2soul

Mine syncs with MFP and adjusts my calories up if I burn more than MFP predicted or down if I burn less.

You would only want to add the calories that are above what MFP estimates you burn. It used to be easy to see this number, since it was on the "Goals" page on the website. After a few months ago, when they updated for premium, the only way I can see it is by clicking to examine my adjustment from my tracker.

You could get an estimate figure, by adding whatever your deficit is (250, 500, 750, or 1000) to your daily goal. However, if your at 1200 this could be wrong and give you a higher estimated burn then what MFP actually thinks (since MFP bottoms out at 1200). By this I mean if I select 1.5 lbs per week loss, I get 1200 calories, but MFP thinks I burn 1870 so the deficit is only 6xx instead of 750.

edit: Just dawned on me you could switch to maintain to get your MFP estimated burn before exercise. See...I need my coffee in the morning....:laugh: Anyway once you know that number, take your tracker burn - MFP burn = extra calories earned. You might not see anything until the end of the day though and you will have to create a custom activity for it.

StaciMarie1974

Mine syncs...

Does yours give an estimate for daily total calories burned? If so you could do the math.

What is your daily calorie goal to eat? What do you have MFP set for, in terms of weight loss? If 1 pound a week, add 500 calories to your daily calories to eat. Or 1000 for 2 pounds, 250 for .5, 750 for 1.5. Then compare that # to your tracker calorie burn.

Such as if you aim to eat 1500 and have a 500 calorie deficit: MFP thinks you are burning 2000/day. If your tracker says you're burning 2600, you can err on the side of caution and eat back 1/2 the overage or +300 calories.

StaciMarie1974

Shadow2soul already covered that I see, and better than me. Didn't read the reply before posting.

jaquelinededwards

Thanks

editorgrrl

jaquelinededwards wrote: »

Does anyone who use activity trackers ? If so do you add your calorie burn to the exercise section of mfp? I use one and not sure if I should or not? Mine tracks steps cal etc but I can add steps because it is not one of the apps then have listed!

Are you saying you have an activity tracker or pedometer, but it's not one of those in the Apps tab that syncs with MFP? http://www.myfitnesspal.com/apps?app_category=activity_trackers

If so, you could use the information to help you choose the proper activity level. Or MFP has a few more suggestions in the Help section: http://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/300784-can-i-convert-my-pedometer-steps-into-calories-

jaquelinededwards

Thank you!

jaquelinededwards

I have a sport line activity tracker

jaquelinededwards

So just so I am sure I got it so at the end of day I look at my tracker and get my cal and create an exercise right? But won't I be adding some cal that the mfp already is taking in account because of the way I set up my profile and goals? Thanks

shadow2soul

jaquelinededwards wrote: »

So just so I am sure I got it so at the end of day I look at my tracker and get my cal and create an exercise right? But won't I be adding some cal that the mfp already is taking in account because of the way I set up my profile and goals? Thanks

That's why you want to do a temporary switch to maintain. When you do this your calorie goal will be whatever MFP thinks you would burn for the day (you will need to check this number every 5-10 lbs lost).

For example:

To maintain @ Lightly Active setting MFP gives me 1870 calories.

Yesterday my Fitbit says I burned 2818.

2818 - 1870 (the calories MFP already accounts for) = 948

It would be safe for me to log 948 calories, because that is what I burned above what MFP already accounted for. There is no double counting if you do it this way.

(^Activity trackers that sync with MFP do this automatically, but since yours doesn't you will have to do it manually)

jaquelinededwards

Seems like a big number though? Then what do you do in terms of eating since the norm is you need to eat some of your exercise cal in order to lose! I get 1320 and would probably add 500 not sure I would loose by eating close to 2000 cal? Am I crazy? And just so you know English is my second language so sometimes it's a little difficult to understand math stuff( not sure why) anyway thanks for all the info!

shadow2soul

I eat all of the calories I get. If you don't trust it, eat maybe half and see what your loss is like 4 weeks from now.
Lost more than expected = you can eat more
Lost less than expected = eat less
Lost what was expected = no change

jaquelinededwards

Thank you!