MFP Calories upon waking

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lorrpb
lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I've noticed that MFP does not give me my full calorie allottment first thing in the morning, which is usually between 7-9 am when I first look at it. I understand how the app adjusts calories all day long based on your activity level, but why don't I start the day with a full bank?

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  • FatWithFatness
    FatWithFatness Posts: 315 Member
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    What's your timezone set to in settings?
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    Are you using a fitness tracker like FitBit synced with MFP? That clock starts ticking at midnight, so if you are asleep in the first 5-8 hours of the day, then yes, it will give you a negative calorie adjustment (if you have those enabled) which will then normalize as the day goes on and your activity level increases.

    Conversely, on the rare late night where I'm up past midnight, especially if I'm moving around, then my morning calories are much higher than normal since it thinks I'm going to keep that up for 24 hours. Once when my youngest was little and I was up pacing with him in my arms when he was sick I ended up with a huge positive adjustment which almost made up for the long sleepless night...
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    Yes I sync with Fitbit. Thanks.
  • ladyhusker39
    ladyhusker39 Posts: 1,406 Member
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    I disabled negative adjustments because of this.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    ladyhusker39 wrote: »
    I disabled negative adjustments because of this.

    If it gets corrected fairly quickly as soon as you're moving around, I'm not sure why this is a deterrent. They are quite useful to make sure that if a person does have a truly sedentary day - when I am on a road trip, stuck in long meetings, or not feeling well - then my baseline calories are adjusted downward.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
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    ladyhusker39 wrote: »
    I disabled negative adjustments because of this.

    I do the same as @WinoGelato above, I leave negatives on for days when I'm truly lazy (yesterday was a recovery day for example) but I ignore the numbers early on.

    For me, breakfast and lunch are fairly routine, it's dinner that changes every day and that I need to make decisions about. That's when I want to know how many calories I have left, and buy that point I know what kind of day it is.

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