Help me understand

coryh00
coryh00 Posts: 55 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
Why is MFP subtracting all my exercise calories?

My cal goal is 1600, I ate 1473, I burned 360 exercising and it gives me a Garmin Connect calorie adjustment of -390 for a grand total of 1600 goal -1473 food -30 exercise = 97 remaining. My garmin connect on the other hand shows 1600 goal + 610 active = 2210 adjusted goal - 1473 consumed = 737 remaining which makes sense. I'm not intending to eat anything back today (usually only do a small portion if any), just trying to understand why MFP is constantly giving me negative adjustments whether I exercise or not.

Replies

  • jacquifrench304
    jacquifrench304 Posts: 131 Member
    What level of activity do you have set for MFP ? If your Garmin tracks you all day try setting MFP activity level to sedentary .
  • coryh00
    coryh00 Posts: 55 Member
    My garmin tracks all day. I think I'm set for active/somewhat active (I think is what gave me a 1620 goal which I adjusted to 1600). If I drop to sedentary it sets my goal to 1200, which I feel is actually a bit to low for me. I am steadily losing weight right now, but can't seem to wrap my head around the fancy math MFP does.
  • ElizabethOakes2
    ElizabethOakes2 Posts: 1,038 Member
    You can set your settings to Sedentary and then go into your "Goals" and set your calories manually for 1600. (I just had to figure that one earlier this week. )
  • jacquifrench304
    jacquifrench304 Posts: 131 Member
    MFP is not bringing all of your exercise calories across because it has already accounted for them in your day to day activity , if you set MFP to sedentary it will then start adding your calories at a lower activity point.
    Basically Garmin is telling MFP how many calories you actually burnt.
    MFP is expecting a level of burn higher than Garmin is sending across , it then deducts calories to keep you losing at your chosen rate of loss.
    If you are a fairly small person with not a large amount to lose and you chose to try for 2lb a week it will give you a low number, try setting sedentary and back off on the goal loss amount maybe to 1lb a week .
  • coryh00
    coryh00 Posts: 55 Member
    Well, I'm not exactly a small person (Male, 5'5" @ 172lb trying to hit 160 at the moment), but I will try setting to sedentary and 1600 to see what happens.

    Thanks
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    if you are male its not going to give you 1200 as a calorie goal for sedentary(unless there's a bug in the software). 1500 is the lowest setting for males. so make sure you are selecting male when you are setting your calorie goals. I would set it to lose .5 lbs a week since you arent trying to lose that much.
  • coryh00
    coryh00 Posts: 55 Member
    Actually I just did it...and it gave me 1200 for calories which I changed to 1600 and left at 2lbs a week. I am set to male. I started back at 190ish, and have always just left it at 2/week.
  • jacquifrench304
    jacquifrench304 Posts: 131 Member
    If you change to 1/1.5 it will give you a higher starting point , I would just keep an eye on the Garmin too check how much you are burning each day , if you want to lose you are going to have to eat under that number (if it says your burn is 1609 you will need to drop your food cal on that day to keep losing)
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    coryh00 wrote: »
    Actually I just did it...and it gave me 1200 for calories which I changed to 1600 and left at 2lbs a week. I am set to male. I started back at 190ish, and have always just left it at 2/week.

    then there is a glitch if it gave you so little. contact MFP and let them know
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