Sedentary and counting steps - question!

KorvapuustiPossu

Hello everyone I've been around about 10 weeks and lost 10.5 lbs (yay!) with MFP set to lose 1 lbs/week. So that's pretty spot on. However, I've been very sedentary lately so finally yesterday I went and got myself a FitBit Zip thingy to motivate me to get of my butt! In the evening I plan to walk outside with husband but during the day I just put some music on and stomp around the house or in place (I think I'm a bit too enthusiastic because I tend to start sweating - doesn't happen at my usual walks). My question is about logging those steps... I read someone said something in the lines that 5000 steps is included in MFP sedentary setting...so for example if I do 10 000 steps... I should only log calories for that 5000 over? Also a question of estimating calorie burn...since mostly I'm going to be stomping around the house can't really count distance and time to estimate calories...I read something about 300 kcal for 10 000 steps. So if I would be logging only the 5000 over the basic 5000 (supposedly calculated in my sedentary setting) i'd add about 150 kcal? Does that sound even remotely accurate? I'm really on top of the diet part and I'm very comfortable with that, however fitness part is a gray zone for me - never tracked it. I don't even really plan to eat calories back unless I really walk A LOT, just trying to get a better understanding of my new gadget

More info if it makes any difference... I'm female, 27 years old, 5'2 and 139 lbs. Hope this entire post makes any sort of sense

Thanks in advance

Christine_72

I've got a zip too. I have it synced with MFP and let it do it's thing, I don't manually add any exercise.
I'm set at sedentary and I think I start getting positive adjustments from around 3500 steps

sharmrp

Hiya, Have you linked your fitbit and MFP accounts? You can link in the apps area, and then your steps will auto calculate from fitbit over so you don't really need to worry about doing it yourself.

katej37

Yep just sync fitbit with MFP and let it do its thing. I am set at lightly active on here as tend to do at least 10K steps a day, whether thats marching in the house, dancing or actually getting out for a walk!

KorvapuustiPossu

Well I just tried to sync it and it gave it wrote that I earned 600sth calories from exercise today... That is ridiculous considering I just woke up and made only about 1500 steps. What could be wrong? It's not counting yesterday either because I only counted about 3000 steps yesterday since I activated it around 8 pm.

KorvapuustiPossu

It seems that it's adding all the calories that my fitbit thing is showing - but instruction says that includes and counts my BMR too. How do I fix this?

lemonychild

You should let Fitbit n MFP talk in order to give u the cals earned

lemonychild

Make sure under steps u have Fitbit on

EddieP50

I have a Fitbit One and a Fitbit Charge HR. The values that shows up on MFP for the calorie adjustment is an estimate of what it thinks it will be at the end of day based on your current activity. That value changes throughout the day usually dropping. I am set at Sedentary also and MFP describes it as sitting most of the day (i.e. desk job, which I have). Another app I was testing gave me about a 2500 calorie burn per day for just sleep and rest which is about what Fitbit is calculating before taking any steps for the day. So I consider any steps taken as being above that base calorie burn. I don't eat those calories back though.

KorvapuustiPossu

It is very confusing at the moment showing over 600 kcal for exercise... It is only the first day so I will keep an eye on it. 600 should be for about 20 000 steps (I guess)...maybe it's an estimate since I did 1500 in half an hour the app thinks I will do 20 k+? So confusing...

KorvapuustiPossu

I'm on 1200 kcal diet so I might consider eating some of it back if I walk a lot. Being short and barely overweight (3 lbs to go wooohooo) there is not much wiggle room

Christine_72

The first day of syncing will always be off. Give it a couple of days.

Also check out the FAQ section in our fitbit group.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

katej37

Yep if you do a lot in a short period it will set that as your activity level for the day. It should drop down over the day and readjust.

sylkates

I used to have a fit bit before I lost it.
When you first wake up, you have around 600 calories used. That's not from exercise, that's from being alive. That's the amount of your TDEE that has passed so far, just from time passing.

It was a little confusing to me at first, too.

KorvapuustiPossu

I'm not talking about the number that my fitbit is showing (atm its showing 1151 kcal - know that includes the BMR and is growing throughout day).. I'm saying the calorie adjustment that is showing on MFP is ridiculously high. Before it was showing 680, and now it's over 800. I'm at 5640 steps and I did them in 15 min intervals of rather intense marching. Maybe it's still that it was done in shorter period of time so it's an approximation for the day... I will see, it's only my first day. It just looks weird. I don't believe it for a second..

SezxyStef

have you enabled negative adjustments?

I use an activity tracker and have my activity level set to sedentary and enable negative adjustments so when I get up in the morning and sync it shows -80 calories (appx) and grows to a positive through the day as long as I stay active.

abatonfan

It might be because you have MFP's calorie goal set to 1200. The positive adjustments (the "you have earned x amount of calories from exercise") would begin a lot sooner compared to if your calorie goal was higher. For instance, I have to walk about 3,000 steps before I see a positive adjustment added to my 1500 calorie goal (while if my calorie goal was set to 2,000 I would only see a positive adjustment after walking about 13,000 steps).

Have you enabled fitbit to predict your TDEE based off your activity for the day so far? If you're really active in the morning, it might give you a falsely high calorie burn as it assumes that your activity level will continue the rest of the day (I might be wrong on this -it could be fitbit predicting your TDEE based off previous day's activities).

KorvapuustiPossu

I just got my Fitbit yesterday evening and I just entered my age, height and weight..don't recall if it asked to enable predicting calorie loss. In morning it showed very low and gradually grew to almost 1200 now... and the adjustment showed +600 exercise calories after my quick morning 1500 steps...and steadily grew to +800 now that I'm close to 6000 steps. I have no ideas how to allow negative adjustment or what it really is. Have to look into the options more. Mostly I'm confused if it's in MFP options or on my FitBit thing...

SezxyStef

KorvapuustiPossu wrote: »

I just got my Fitbit yesterday evening and I just entered my age, height and weight..don't recall if it asked to enable predicting calorie loss. In morning it showed very low and gradually grew to almost 1200 now... and the adjustment showed +600 exercise calories after my quick morning 1500 steps...and steadily grew to +800 now that I'm close to 6000 steps. I have no ideas how to allow negative adjustment or what it really is. Have to look into the options more. Mostly I'm confused if it's in MFP options or on my FitBit thing...

Negative adjustments are on the MFP side.

As well what abatonfan says makes sense as well.

If your calorie goal in MFP is set too low your Fitbit may be making the adjustments for it.

If you are worried then only eat back half the calories given by fitbit until you are more comfortable.

KorvapuustiPossu

Ok I found this... So I guess the number of adjustment I'm seeing is that FitBit is projecting my TDEE today will be 2458, while MFP has my TDEE at 1654...that is why they are showing the 800 adjustment. Because it shows that I already today spent 1200 kcal all together... But ain't is too much?? Seems waaay too high! Either my MFP projected TDEE is too low-which I don't think it is because my weight loss was spot on according to the plan...or my fitbit is spewing ridiculous amount. Question is how ridiculous because I don't want to end up under eating by a horrible amount... I'm at -400 calories now

KorvapuustiPossu

Oh I just noticed that it says there 1123 at 4.37 am??? Is it the problem that MFP and FitZip think it's different time? because of course if I spent that much before 5 am I'd spent a lot during a full day. However it's 15:40 here

jessicarobinson00

I don't have a zip, but I have a fitbit and at first my calorie burns were way off: it will sync to you so keep wearing it and you'll notice more accurate burns over time. I think my first day I wore my fitbit it said I had earned 948 calories from exercise!! CRAZY!! It's right on the money now!

SezxyStef

KorvapuustiPossu wrote: »

Oh I just noticed that it says there 1123 at 4.37 am??? Is it the problem that MFP and FitZip think it's different time? because of course if I spent that much before 5 am I'd spent a lot during a full day. However it's 15:40 here

did a cat start playing with it?

I wear mine constantly on my wrist as it tracks my sleep but it doesn't record steps during my sleep even when I am moving around (unless I get up to go to the bathroom)....

KorvapuustiPossu

Ok I fixed it... Never payed any attention to what time zone was my MFP at...and it turns out it was on US/Canada time... I however live in Helsinki... Which led MFP to think I burned 1100 kcal before 5am Now that I changed it it shows 100sth calories gained from steps. That's more like it!!! Thank you all for your help