Why are calories being taken away
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OhMsDiva
Posts: 1,074 Member
I have a question. Just out of curiosity. From what I understand, the amount of calories that I am allotted is meant for me to lose weight even if I do not move an inch. I noticed one day, early in the day that I started out with a deficit of about 170 calories. Why does MFP take calories away if I am lazy and don't do much moving on any particular day?
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Replies
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It shouldn't. If you lose enough weight, your total daily calories might change to meet your new needs, but it shouldn't just take calories away halfway through the day. I don't think so, anyway.0
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Presumably you have a step or fitness tracker linked to your account and you have negative adjustments enabled. You will have calories removed when you move less than your activity level (that you chose) would indicate for the day. This prevents you from canceling out your deficit.-1
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Do you have MPF synced to an activity tracker? If you aren't on target with your normal activity level, and have the setting to allow negative calories, then yes, MFP will show negative calories in that circumstance.0
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I do have mfp synced with my fitbit, but I will have to look and see what the settings are. All of this is foreign to me. I just know what my calorie allotment is for a day and I just go with that.0
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Sounds like you have negative calorie adjustments on.0
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You can change that setting - Go into Settings --> Diary Settings --> Scroll down to Calorie Adjustments and uncheck the box that says "Enable Negative Adjustments." This way it will still give you extra calories if your FitBit logs more activity for the day but won't take away calories.0
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I had negative calorie adjustments on for my FitBit for months and it randomly disabled itself the other day, maybe yours could have randomly enabled if you didn't have it on before?0
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janejellyroll wrote: »Presumably you have a step or fitness tracker linked to your account and you have negative adjustments enabled. You will have calories removed when you move less than your activity level (that you chose) would indicate for the day. This prevents you from canceling out your deficit.
This^
I wear a FitBit (well sometimes) - I sync it to MFP where I have set my activity level to sedentary.
If I fail to "achieve" a sedentary status on any given day, then calories should be taken away. By the same token, I will get awarded calories for more activity.
Set your activity level in MFP that most closely matches your actual activity level. That way adjustments will be much smaller.0 -
MsMarvel27 wrote: »You can change that setting - Go into Settings --> Diary Settings --> Scroll down to Calorie Adjustments and uncheck the box that says "Enable Negative Adjustments." This way it will still give you extra calories if your FitBit logs more activity for the day but won't take away calories.
It's actually better for weight loss to keep negative adjustments enabled. Say MFP calculates your maintenance calories to be 2000, and to lose a pound a week you need to eat 1500 calories. If you have a day where you're sick or lazy and don't get many steps in, MFP will read that you've only burned 1850 calories for the day. In order to keep that deficit constant and not overeat, it has to adjust your calories downward, therefore you only need 1350 calories that day in order to stay on track.0 -
Without an activity tracker, MFP assumes what you say about your activity level is true. If you say you're lightly active, then MFP considers a lightly active lifestyle and the calories you'll burn. But if you're using a tracker, and you say you're lightly active but you don't move very much: MFP gets an adjustment from Fitbit *if you have negative calories enabled.
The answer is to choose a lower activity level OR move more.I do have mfp synced with my fitbit, but I will have to look and see what the settings are. All of this is foreign to me. I just know what my calorie allotment is for a day and I just go with that.
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Also note that the "sedentary" setting does not mean being a couch potato all day. It still implies at least SOME movement. I keep myself on sedentary and it tends to even out. On the days I work from home, I tend to get ~150cal taken away from me unless I do a workout or at least go for a walk. But on the days I seriously leave the house, not only does it not take away but I might even get calories added.0
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Also note that the "sedentary" setting does not mean being a couch potato all day. It still implies at least SOME movement. I keep myself on sedentary and it tends to even out. On the days I work from home, I tend to get ~150cal taken away from me unless I do a workout or at least go for a walk. But on the days I seriously leave the house, not only does it not take away but I might even get calories added.
This^
Sundays can be my "sloth" days. Seeing calories taken away reminds me...."hey, get off your butt."0 -
I use a FitBit and I enabled negative calories. I set activity level on sedentary and yesterday, because I sat at home all day, MFP took about 150 calories away.
I have a question. What do you guys do on the days MFP gives you many more calories to eat? Do you eat them all? Half? None? Is FitBit (more or less) accurate?0 -
I use a FitBit and I enabled negative calories. I set activity level on sedentary and yesterday, because I sat at home all day, MFP took about 150 calories away.
I have a question. What do you guys do on the days MFP gives you many more calories to eat? Do you eat them all? Half? None? Is FitBit (more or less) accurate?
I have a Charge HR and have been eating back my calorie adjustments since July. It seems to be pretty accurate -- I lose when I expect to lose and I maintain when I expect to maintain.0 -
I realize that, but I was just curious. As I stated before, I do not pay attention to the calories that I get or lose from exercise. I have a set amount of calories that I eat daily (1800)0 -
I use a FitBit and I enabled negative calories. I set activity level on sedentary and yesterday, because I sat at home all day, MFP took about 150 calories away.
I have a question. What do you guys do on the days MFP gives you many more calories to eat? Do you eat them all? Half? None? Is FitBit (more or less) accurate?
It's rare that MFP gives me "many" extra calories. Depending on how much of a surplus I have and whether I'm actually hungry, I might eat at least some of them back. I'll check my nutrition levels and see if I'm particularly low in something (like protein) and maybe grab a slice of lean turkey or handful of nuts to nosh on. If my surplus is small or if I'm seriously not hungry I don't bother eating any extra.
If MFP is adding on lots of calories more often than not, you might consider bumping up your activity level so that your base amount is higher to start with. Just remember it will then take that much more away on your less active days!0 -
I realize that, but I was just curious. As I stated before, I do not pay attention to the calories that I get or lose from exercise. I have a set amount of calories that I eat daily (1800)
I'm sorry, I guess I misunderstood your what your concern is.0 -
This is why I set the thing to "sedentary" and just leave it there. Don't want the numbers lying to me.0
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Or at least I'd rather they lie to me in the opposite direction ha ha!0
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