Adjust MFP calories to Apple Watch Activity data

Suusik

Hello.
Since I started to use Apple Watch and Activity application I noticed that Steps counted by AW and MFP practically identically ( I use AW as Steps counter ) BUT MFP calories adjustment that I see in Diary-Exercise section is different. The different is not big ... around 200 cal
Usually calories adjustment in MFP is higher that were burned based by Activity ( I sum Move and Workouts calories )
I believe that data of burned calories from AW is accurate and want to adjust MFP i.e. lower that number in MFP.
I'm going to play with 'Activity Level' in Settings-Profile-Goals and change it from current Active to 'Very Active' or 'Not Very Active' ( not sure which direction should I go )
What do you think? Does it make sense?
My goal is to rely on data from AW ( note: I use HealthKit in iPhone for sync between MFP and AW)
Thanks

noosha90

Mine does not show correct calorie burned by steps! I used to have Fitbit and for each 10000 steps I could burn 300 calories, but AW only shows 50 calories for 10000 steps!

noosha90

Don;t know how to fix this!

Suusik

Well ... I've changed my 'Activity level' in MFP to 'Lightly Active' and it counts i.e. adjust calories less than before. In average I do around 30000 steps per day and MFP adjust it somewhere around 600 cal. I don't think it's correct ... but I'm following it ..

Slumbreon

I too find the Apple Watch's overall calorie tracking to be superior and I've been utterly frustrated with MFP's reluctance to give its (paying!) users the option to pull the calorie data from the watch. I've resorted to turning off step tracking all together in MFP and manually entering a generic "Daily Activity" exercise in MFP at the end of the day to reflect the calories burned per my Apple Watch.

Naruya

I actually find that the link between MFP and Apple Watch great! I get a calorie adjustment in the exercise section that correspondes with the calories burned on the Apple Watch. So I either get a negative adjustment if I've been sitting on my *kitten* all day or I'll get extra if I've been active.

You do have to remember that the calories burned on the Apple Watch goes on top of your BMR. MFP uses your TDEE which is slightly higher than your BMR (or maybe even a lot, if you choose anything above "lightly active").

So for example: my BMR is 1550 and my TDEE as per MFP is 1885 due to my desk job. Yesterday was my day off and I was pretty active going for lots of walks with my dog and a kickboxing session: 764 active calories burned. At the end of the day, this translated to a total calorie burn of 2314. MFP was set to 1885 so I got an adjustment of 429.

So you gotta remember that the total calories burned on your watch are not to be added to your MFP because MFP already has some of your daily activity included in it. If you let the sync take care of it, it works out just as it's supposed to.

I hope this makes sense

Suusik

Well ... another finding.
I used Steps for counting before but recently started to do Outdoor Walk.
Before in 'Adjustment' section I saw how many calories were adjusted because of Steps.
Now I see how many calories were adjusted because of Workout but for Steps it is zero.
Likely this could be correct ... just a little bit strange if it uses my Steps when I'm not doing Workout?
Any clue?

Naruya

It still adjusts the calories from both the workout and the steps (or more like total calories burned).

It's probably cause you don't have negative adjustments turned on. It'll show as 0 when you have have less calories burned than MFP's calculated burn. As I said in my previous post, anything you do will be added to your BMR on the Apple Watch. If the workout is synced to MFP, it gets added to your TDEE which is a lot higher already. So naturally, the Apple Watch adjustment will be 0 or lower (if you have negative adjustments turned on). My Apple Watch adjustment only gets above 0 when I walked quite a bit without adding it as an activity.

Suusik

Your explanation makes sense but still not completely

Suusik

I did not find a place in MFP to set negative adjustment.
E.g. in my case yesterday I did 40 K Steps and get zero adjustment for it but got around 800 for doing Outdoor Walk.
I am very active and never would have negative number but any seeing zero is a little bit weird

Naruya

I can't say for sure if it's correct or not, since I don't know your stats, but it is very possible that is is. Try turning negative adjustments on and see what happens, you can find it under My Home > Settings > Diary Settings > Calorie Adjustments. Moreover, have you click the little "i" icon next to the calorie adjustments to see what it says? You should see a total calorie count for your Apple Watch and one for MFP right below it.

duncan04

Love my AW for everything but the fitness and the difference in pairing with the Fitbit and MFP. Still trying to figure this out. I would love to share data and get motivation. PM me for my email... I have no idea what my name will appear as.

Suusik

- Naruya
I did exactly as you suggested and set negative adjustment. Now I see 'Steps calorie adjustment' with negative value.
E.g. yesterday: goal=1500; food=2223;exercise=723;remaining=0
From AW for yesterday: move=1320;workouts=1155
Well ... here is my math: I burned 1320+1155=2475, correct?
From those 2475 burned calories MFP adjusted me to 723, correct? I.e. 3 times less? Does it make sense?
Overall yesterday AW states that I did 32967 steps and it gave me only 723 calories? Does it sound right for you?
Another prospective: yesterday exercising I spent 304 minutes i.e. 5 hours and earned only 723 calories.
Maybe it's OK and it's just my expectation to get more for 5 hours of activity ...
Anyway ... continuing to do what MFP calculates for me. Just wanted to have your opinion ..
Thanks

Suusik

- Naruya, I forgot to mention in my math above that I had for steps negative value adjustment equals to -433.
What that -433 represents?
Thanks

Naruya

Hi Suusik, sorry for the late reply

Your move number (1320) is the total number of calories burned in a day on top of your BMR. Workout calories (1155) are included in the move number, so you did 1155 with exercise and an additional 165 calories from normal activity (moving around during the day). So in this case, only your move number is important, as it includes everything.

This number gets sent to MFP. MFP already has a number set for you depending on your stats and activity level. This is not BMR but TDEE without exercise. Since the move number your AW gives you is what goes on top of your BMR, you won't get the complete 1320 calories on MFP because part of those calories are already included in MFP's estimate.

I'm not able to tell if the amount of calories you're getting are accurate, as I don't know your stats and what you set MFP to (sedentary, lightly active, etc). Easiest way to figure out what MFP thinks you burn without exercise is putting your calories to maintenance. This number reflects what MFP thinks is your TDEE without exercise. You can then use a calculator to see what your BMR is and run the numbers.

The negative adjustments that are added sometimes are to make sure calories aren't counted double. As I said above MFP has set a TDEE while the AW uses BMR. If all your move time is spent exercising and those exercises are synced to MFP, all those calories will be added to MFP. This would mean that you might get too many calories added. All the negative adjustment does is make sure your number on MFP is whatever number the Apple Watch gives. If you click on the i icon next to it you can see the numbers (these numbers are total calories burned for that that day, including BMR).

Suusik

Thanks so much. I hope that I understood the most part of it

Naruya

Haha, sorry if you didn't understand all of it, I might not be that good at explaining and I might not be completely right either. But I've used the Watch linked with MFP since launch and I've found that my results reflect whatever MFP is giving me based on the Apple Watch link, so in my eyes it's correct or at least close to.

I'm pretty sure that if you stick to whatever MFP tells you to eat when the adjustment from the AW is made you're on the right path. If you notice that the weight loss isn't happening despite the deficit you should be in, it might be a good idea to look into it again. But you'll have to try it for at least a month if not more before you can come to that conclusion.

Suusik

Well ... I agree with you that the best criteria is to rely on result. In my case I lost 112 pounds for the last 1.5 years using Fitbit and last half
year using AW and MFP. Hence it works right. Currently I'm in equlibrium i.e. platou but this is 'normal' in my opinion.
Here's my stat: BMR-1557, BMI-25.1. TDEE every morning is 1500, usually I'm burning around 1000 cal per day, then MFP adjusts it and I have more than 2K
per day which is OK in my opinion.
Just looking back at my math and recalculating I see that for that day I burned 1320 cal and MVP i.e. TDEE adjusted it to 723. Well it looks like almost twice
less ... but likely it's supposed to be that way ...
Anyway ... it works and that's my goal.
Another question/brainstorming came to my mind: I assume that turning on Exercise feature on AW is needed only for record sake or further analysis and MFP
will count/adjust calories the same way either one uses 'Exercise' or not. It should use simply all calories burned and reported by AW. Is it correct?
In case it's correct one could use 'Exercise' or not e.g. forgot to turn it on/of, lazy or etc but MFP will count same way.
In my case ... sometime I forget to turn Exercise on or forgot to stop it and affraid that MFP will not count properly ... but I assume that I am wrong.
What do you think? Would you agree?
My BMI is 25.1. When I started (around 1.5 year ago) it was around 35. Last month I hit equlibrium i.e. platou because my goal is 25. It's not easy ... I'm fighting
and then I'll go into maintanance mode.
What do you think about my thoughts?
Thanks