Negative calories on mfp
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I don't see a way to add a screenshot to this thread.0
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Tacklewasher wrote: »stanmann571 wrote: »Perhaps if you shared a screenshot of what you're seeing it would help
This because what you seem to be saying doesn't make sense given how my Garmin works with MFP.
Maybe try disconnecting them and reconnecting them?
It doesn't make sense to me either
I guess that's how it's suppossed to work though.0 -
SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish wrote: »I have a Garmin too. What MFP and Garmin do is they give you a calorie goal to eat, and as you eat or "use up" those calories, the number goes down. It goes negative when you ate MORE than your allowance for the day, it is positive when you do not eat some of the calories it figures you should for the day or your "allowance". Now, if you have a goal set for your calculations for exercise already included into this set amount of calories, and you did not meet this goal for the day, since the number of calories that you should have eaten takes this exercise into account, it would give you a negative number for exercise if you did not meet that level. So its sounding like you have things set up way too high level of exercise for you, you really shouldn't have a negative level that high for the day in any case. The other way you could get a negative number is if you have logged that many calories more than your "allowance for the day", or somehow the baseline calories for the day you set is very low...what do you see when you log in before you log anything in the morning? Also, what are you calling the "exercise section on MFP" exactly?
The "exercise" section is underneath snacks on mfp.0 -
When I wake up I have 1780 calories available for the day.0
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My understanding is that it works like this -
- You setup your MFP profile with all your info, your weight loss goal per week, and your activity level.
- MFP takes all that info and calculates a daily calorie goal.
- When you sync an activity tracker to MFP, 2 things can happen
- when your device syncs an activity/workout, those calories are added to your calorie goal. This is correct and intentional, though often times a source of confusion.
- when your device syncs steps, MFP will try to balance those steps (actual activity) with the activity level you set in your profile. If your steps for the day are different from what MFP has calculate (again, based on your activity level), MFP will adjust accordingly, either giving you additional cals if you've been more active, or taking cals away if you've been less active (and have negative calorie adjustments enabled.
Full disclosure - I haven't had my trackers linked to my MFP account for a loooong time now, so things could have changed, or I could simply be mistaken base on memory/old person problems.0 -
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When I wake up I have 1780 calories available for the day.
Awesome!
1.Now go into MFP and make sure you're at sedentary.
2. Go into the Garmin app, make sure you're sedentary.
3. Make sure that both have the same weight loss pounds/week goal.
4. Make sure that they both give you roughly the same calorie allotment.
5. Log all your food but maybe don't log exercise.
6. Open your diary so that we can see the numbers too.
Here are the instructions on how to do number 6:
https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/201687-how-do-i-make-my-diary-visible-to-other-users-
Let's see what the day gives you. Something isn't set up right, but we'll work through it!0 -
I once had a negative calorie reading when I ate breakfast and then worked out, it gave me a negative number because I had burned more calories then I had eaten, the negative number went away as I ate more, I don't use any other device. Isn't it just that she burned more calories then she consumed?1
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Log your specific exercise routines into your Garmin account, not MFP. Use MFP for your calorie counting only.
From what I am reading you are having a portion of your steps counted as part of your logged exercise in an attempt to negate double dipping.
Enter the times you exercise as well as duration otherwise the steps may be counted as part of your exercise.
Also the having 10000 steps as your goal in MFP or Garmin is just an incentive. Sedentary on MFP is equal to around 3500 steps, anything more than that gets calorie credit. IE: you do 10000 steps, MFP will add calories for 7500 of those steps.
(NB: there is no actual MFP step per activity level equivalent and some say it is 5000 steps so you would then get credited 5000 step calories for the 10000 taken)
@Tacklewasher could you maybe chime in and say how you log your exercise. I'm pretty sure you are Garmin.
Cheers, h.2 -
livenfree45 wrote: »I once had a negative calorie reading when I ate breakfast and then worked out, it gave me a negative number because I had burned more calories then I had eaten, the negative number went away as I ate more, I don't use any other device. Isn't it just that she burned more calories then she consumed?
Should be the other way. Should be a HIGHER positive number.0 -
Catawampous wrote: »Hmmmm ... now I am a little confused too. Maybe this will help OR I am about to throw a wrench into this without realizing it! I am new to this aspect of MFP myself so if I am wrong someone please correct me!
My Garmin is 2 weeks old. When I got it and set it up I enabled negative calorie adjustments and set MFP from lightly active to sedentary. I synced up my Garmin to MFP and let it do its thing. I have *yet* to get a negative calorie adjustment. My daily steps average around 16k and my running/cycling are logged seperate from that. Strength is not added in unless I manually do it which I don't. I am not eating up to what the Garmin tells me just yet because I am understanding it may take a few weeks to settle into what is normal for me and I am seeing a downward trend in calories overall ATM.
Does this help? Or am I actually doing it wrong?
No what you are doing is fine, and probably what everyone should be doing by default so that you dont get those negative adjustments. AFAIK, it wont show you any negatives (outside of just eating a lot more than you have the goal set) unless what activity level you achieve is UNDER your baseline setting, so by setting your level to sedentary, you'd probably have to sit and lay around all day to get a negative adjustment. Which is why I said he must have set himself at a very high activity level originally to get a negative still after exercising.
As I understand Garmin to be working with MFP, it really doesn't make much sense to set your activity level high, since Garmin does that adjustment for you anyways. If it sees you exercised more it will do a positive adjustment to your calories, giving you more to eat. I think it may be discouraging to have negatives and make it hard to plan your meals, unless maybe you like getting negative adjustments for an extra push to exercise more...?0 -
SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish wrote: »Catawampous wrote: »Hmmmm ... now I am a little confused too. Maybe this will help OR I am about to throw a wrench into this without realizing it! I am new to this aspect of MFP myself so if I am wrong someone please correct me!
My Garmin is 2 weeks old. When I got it and set it up I enabled negative calorie adjustments and set MFP from lightly active to sedentary. I synced up my Garmin to MFP and let it do its thing. I have *yet* to get a negative calorie adjustment. My daily steps average around 16k and my running/cycling are logged seperate from that. Strength is not added in unless I manually do it which I don't. I am not eating up to what the Garmin tells me just yet because I am understanding it may take a few weeks to settle into what is normal for me and I am seeing a downward trend in calories overall ATM.
Does this help? Or am I actually doing it wrong?
No what you are doing is fine, and probably what everyone should be doing by default so that you dont get those negative adjustments. AFAIK, it wont show you any negatives (outside of just eating a lot more than you have the goal set) unless what activity level you achieve is UNDER your baseline setting, so by setting your level to sedentary, you'd probably have to sit and lay around all day to get a negative adjustment. Which is why I said he must have set himself at a very high activity level originally to get a negative still after exercising.
As I understand Garmin to be working with MFP, it really doesn't make much sense to set your activity level high, since Garmin does that adjustment for you anyways. If it sees you exercised more it will do a positive adjustment to your calories, giving you more to eat. I think it may be discouraging to have negatives and make it hard to plan your meals, unless maybe you like getting negative adjustments for an extra push to exercise more...?
OP said that he's set on SEDENTARY.0 -
You could also just make your diary public temporarily so people could see it if you can't post a screenshot.0
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SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish wrote: »Catawampous wrote: »Hmmmm ... now I am a little confused too. Maybe this will help OR I am about to throw a wrench into this without realizing it! I am new to this aspect of MFP myself so if I am wrong someone please correct me!
My Garmin is 2 weeks old. When I got it and set it up I enabled negative calorie adjustments and set MFP from lightly active to sedentary. I synced up my Garmin to MFP and let it do its thing. I have *yet* to get a negative calorie adjustment. My daily steps average around 16k and my running/cycling are logged seperate from that. Strength is not added in unless I manually do it which I don't. I am not eating up to what the Garmin tells me just yet because I am understanding it may take a few weeks to settle into what is normal for me and I am seeing a downward trend in calories overall ATM.
Does this help? Or am I actually doing it wrong?
No what you are doing is fine, and probably what everyone should be doing by default so that you dont get those negative adjustments. AFAIK, it wont show you any negatives (outside of just eating a lot more than you have the goal set) unless what activity level you achieve is UNDER your baseline setting, so by setting your level to sedentary, you'd probably have to sit and lay around all day to get a negative adjustment. Which is why I said he must have set himself at a very high activity level originally to get a negative still after exercising.
As I understand Garmin to be working with MFP, it really doesn't make much sense to set your activity level high, since Garmin does that adjustment for you anyways. If it sees you exercised more it will do a positive adjustment to your calories, giving you more to eat. I think it may be discouraging to have negatives and make it hard to plan your meals, unless maybe you like getting negative adjustments for an extra push to exercise more...?
OP said that he's set on SEDENTARY.
That's true, but something is off and since there are few ways to get negative numbers, activity level is most likely for someone fasting, it should be double checked on BOTH Garmin and MFP and make sure they are not different. I know mine works, I've logged 1000++ calories in exercise fine some days. So something off in the settings for exercise/activity level seems most likely.
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When I wake up I have 1780 calories available for the day.
Awesome!
1.Now go into MFP and make sure you're at sedentary.
2. Go into the Garmin app, make sure you're sedentary.
3. Make sure that both have the same weight loss pounds/week goal.
4. Make sure that they both give you roughly the same calorie allotment.
5. Log all your food but maybe don't log exercise.
6. Open your diary so that we can see the numbers too.
Here are the instructions on how to do number 6:
https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/201687-how-do-i-make-my-diary-visible-to-other-users-
Let's see what the day gives you. Something isn't set up right, but we'll work through it!
Thank you. I made the diary public.0 -
I use the web page and not the app but you can turn off "negative adjustments". If you're set to sedentary you shouldn't even have this checked. Go to www.myfitnesspal.com (I couldn't find the check box on the app) go to settings and then to Diary Settings. You will see a checkbox under Calorie Adjustments. Uncheck it. You should be good to go after that.0
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eliciaobrien1 wrote: »I use the web page and not the app but you can turn off "negative adjustments". If you're set to sedentary you shouldn't even have this checked. Go to www.myfitnesspal.com (I couldn't find the check box on the app) go to settings and then to Diary Settings. You will see a checkbox under Calorie Adjustments. Uncheck it. You should be good to go after that.
This isn’t true. Even on sedentary, unless you’re at the minimum calories, you should still have negative adjustments enabled in case you have a day where you’re sick or lazy. Sedentary still accounts for a few thousand steps.1 -
When I wake up I have 1780 calories available for the day.
Awesome!
1.Now go into MFP and make sure you're at sedentary.
2. Go into the Garmin app, make sure you're sedentary.
3. Make sure that both have the same weight loss pounds/week goal.
4. Make sure that they both give you roughly the same calorie allotment.
5. Log all your food but maybe don't log exercise.
6. Open your diary so that we can see the numbers too.
Here are the instructions on how to do number 6:
https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/201687-how-do-i-make-my-diary-visible-to-other-users-
Let's see what the day gives you. Something isn't set up right, but we'll work through it!
Thank you. I made the diary public.
It's not showing up for me0 -
Are you talking about the negative net calories? Because you have days where your logged intake is less than your remaining number of calories. You are risking some serious harm, if you numbers are accurate.1
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What I've seen is time being important. If I log my exercise at a time my tracker says I'm walking, I don't get the right count. Same as if I log my exercises (multiple) all at once at the end, they cancel each other out unless you define the start times1
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