Calorie Adjustment Confusion

Lillymoo01

I have just received a Fitbit and it is the first time I have tried to get my head around calorie adjustments and understanding the numbers.

This is my remaining kilojoules at sedentary


and this for very active


Why is there such a big difference with the remaining amount of calories for the day as I would have thought that the projection for the day would be around the same? It seems that the very active profile is just giving me more kilojoules overall.

shadow2soul

If you sync at say 5pm, Fitbit sends over a calorie burn that accounts for Midnight to 5pm. MFP has to estimate for the rest of the day until you sync Fitbit again and new information is sent over. At Sedentary the estimate for the remainder of the day will be as if you continue to be sedentary and with very active MFP will estimate that you will be “very active” for the remainder of the day.

The higher you set MFPS activity level, the more it estimates you burn per hour. It also means you are more likely to lose calories when you do finally settle down for the day (exercise adjustment will get smaller).

Lillymoo01

I am assuming that the 1719 kilojoules (441 calories) is the additional kilojoules needed above NEAT for very active which seems about right for 15000 steps.

Lillymoo01

shadow2soul wrote: »

If you sync at say 5pm, Fitbit sends over a calorie burn that accounts for Midnight to 5pm. MFP has to estimate for the rest of the day until you sync Fitbit again and new information is sent over. At Sedentary the estimate for the remainder of the day will be as if you continue to be sedentary and with very active MFP will estimate that you will be “very active” for the remainder of the day.

The higher you set MFPS activity level, the more it estimates you burn per hour. It also means you are more likely to lose calories when you do finally settle down for the day (exercise adjustment will get smaller).

Thanks for this. It does make sense as 95% of that calorie burn was before 10 am and for the rest of the day I will be lucky to get an additional 5,000 steps. It seems I might be better off setting it at sedentary to give me the most accurate measure of remaining kilojoules for the day rather than losing them as the day progresses.

salp2015

Hate the calorie adjustment. And now, it looks like we have to purchase their "Premium" version to get rid of it.

Phirrgus

I recently began using a Fitbit Versa and actually unlinked it from mfp due to "calorie adjustment confusion". The Versa just gave me 338 calories burned for a 31 minute weight lifting session. This was a relaxed, day off kind of playing around, so that's an incredibly high estimate. Mfp calculated 127 which sounds more reasonable, so I went with that.

I'll have to dig into their faq and get this figured out.

kimny72

Phirrgus wrote: »

I recently began using a Fitbit Versa and actually unlinked it from mfp due to "calorie adjustment confusion". The Versa just gave me 338 calories burned for a 31 minute weight lifting session. This was a relaxed, day off kind of playing around, so that's an incredibly high estimate. Mfp calculated 127 which sounds more reasonable, so I went with that.

I'll have to dig into their faq and get this figured out.

Are you looking at the calories Fitbit assigned to your workout, or are you looking at the calorie adjustment that came over to MFP when you synced?

The calorie adjustment that comes over from Fitbit isn't a straight-up calorie burn for a specific exercise. Fitbit anticipates you taking a certain amount of steps throughout the day based on the activity level you chose. I am often a lump in the AM and get most of my activity in the PM, so I will get a negative calorie adjustment in the AM, and as I start to play catchup, the adjustment gives me back calories throughout the PM. Someone who does the opposite might get a bunch of extra calories early and a negative adj later. It can be tricky when you first start, but eventually you get used to about where your calories will be, and it might be my imagination but it seems Fitbit gets better at predicting your activity.

Of course, if you are looking at the calories Fitbit assigned your workout on the Fitbit side, none of that applies

Phirrgus

kimny72 wrote: »

Phirrgus wrote: »

I recently began using a Fitbit Versa and actually unlinked it from mfp due to "calorie adjustment confusion". The Versa just gave me 338 calories burned for a 31 minute weight lifting session. This was a relaxed, day off kind of playing around, so that's an incredibly high estimate. Mfp calculated 127 which sounds more reasonable, so I went with that.

I'll have to dig into their faq and get this figured out.

Are you looking at the calories Fitbit assigned to your workout, or are you looking at the calorie adjustment that came over to MFP when you synced?

The calorie adjustment that comes over from Fitbit isn't a straight-up calorie burn for a specific exercise. Fitbit anticipates you taking a certain amount of steps throughout the day based on the activity level you chose. I am often a lump in the AM and get most of my activity in the PM, so I will get a negative calorie adjustment in the AM, and as I start to play catchup, the adjustment gives me back calories throughout the PM. Someone who does the opposite might get a bunch of extra calories early and a negative adj later. It can be tricky when you first start, but eventually you get used to about where your calories will be, and it might be my imagination but it seems Fitbit gets better at predicting your activity.

Of course, if you are looking at the calories Fitbit assigned your workout on the Fitbit side, none of that applies

LOL, it's the fitbit side. The 127 above is what mfp assigned to the workout.

To be brutally honest, I'm almost at the point where I'm going to link them back up and let them have their way with my calories. It seems every time I feel like I'm getting a handle on how it works, I read something else that throws a wrench in it.

Just as an example though, I just scrolled back to 1/1 when they were still linked and it shows 917 calories for 10,439 steps. If I understand correctly, that's taking all activity into account?

Thanks for taking the time to answer by the way @kimny72

kimny72

Phirrgus wrote: »

kimny72 wrote: »

Phirrgus wrote: »

I recently began using a Fitbit Versa and actually unlinked it from mfp due to "calorie adjustment confusion". The Versa just gave me 338 calories burned for a 31 minute weight lifting session. This was a relaxed, day off kind of playing around, so that's an incredibly high estimate. Mfp calculated 127 which sounds more reasonable, so I went with that.

I'll have to dig into their faq and get this figured out.

Are you looking at the calories Fitbit assigned to your workout, or are you looking at the calorie adjustment that came over to MFP when you synced?

The calorie adjustment that comes over from Fitbit isn't a straight-up calorie burn for a specific exercise. Fitbit anticipates you taking a certain amount of steps throughout the day based on the activity level you chose. I am often a lump in the AM and get most of my activity in the PM, so I will get a negative calorie adjustment in the AM, and as I start to play catchup, the adjustment gives me back calories throughout the PM. Someone who does the opposite might get a bunch of extra calories early and a negative adj later. It can be tricky when you first start, but eventually you get used to about where your calories will be, and it might be my imagination but it seems Fitbit gets better at predicting your activity.

Of course, if you are looking at the calories Fitbit assigned your workout on the Fitbit side, none of that applies

LOL, it's the fitbit side. The 127 above is what mfp assigned to the workout.

To be brutally honest, I'm almost at the point where I'm going to link them back up and let them have their way with my calories. It seems every time I feel like I'm getting a handle on how it works, I read something else that throws a wrench in it.

Just as an example though, I just scrolled back to 1/1 when they were still linked and it shows 917 calories for 10,439 steps. If I understand correctly, that's taking all activity into account?

Thanks for taking the time to answer by the way @kimny72

Dammit, lol.

Yes, that 917 at the end of the day would be taking into account all your activity, steps and logged workouts. If you set yourself to sedentary and got 10K steps, that might be a fairly accurate number. I must admit, I'm not too knowledgeable on realistic calorie burns and how they are affected by a person's size. Back when it was nice out and I was better at sticking to my routine, I was probably getting credited an extra 250 cals for @ 8,000 steps worth while set at sedentary. But I'm female and short, which I know would affect the formula.

magnusthenerd

Is this how metabolic confusion works?

Phirrgus

kimny72 wrote: »

Phirrgus wrote: »

kimny72 wrote: »

Phirrgus wrote: »

I recently began using a Fitbit Versa and actually unlinked it from mfp due to "calorie adjustment confusion". The Versa just gave me 338 calories burned for a 31 minute weight lifting session. This was a relaxed, day off kind of playing around, so that's an incredibly high estimate. Mfp calculated 127 which sounds more reasonable, so I went with that.

I'll have to dig into their faq and get this figured out.

Are you looking at the calories Fitbit assigned to your workout, or are you looking at the calorie adjustment that came over to MFP when you synced?

The calorie adjustment that comes over from Fitbit isn't a straight-up calorie burn for a specific exercise. Fitbit anticipates you taking a certain amount of steps throughout the day based on the activity level you chose. I am often a lump in the AM and get most of my activity in the PM, so I will get a negative calorie adjustment in the AM, and as I start to play catchup, the adjustment gives me back calories throughout the PM. Someone who does the opposite might get a bunch of extra calories early and a negative adj later. It can be tricky when you first start, but eventually you get used to about where your calories will be, and it might be my imagination but it seems Fitbit gets better at predicting your activity.

Of course, if you are looking at the calories Fitbit assigned your workout on the Fitbit side, none of that applies

LOL, it's the fitbit side. The 127 above is what mfp assigned to the workout.

To be brutally honest, I'm almost at the point where I'm going to link them back up and let them have their way with my calories. It seems every time I feel like I'm getting a handle on how it works, I read something else that throws a wrench in it.

Just as an example though, I just scrolled back to 1/1 when they were still linked and it shows 917 calories for 10,439 steps. If I understand correctly, that's taking all activity into account?

Thanks for taking the time to answer by the way @kimny72

Dammit, lol.

Yes, that 917 at the end of the day would be taking into account all your activity, steps and logged workouts. If you set yourself to sedentary and got 10K steps, that might be a fairly accurate number. I must admit, I'm not too knowledgeable on realistic calorie burns and how they are affected by a person's size. Back when it was nice out and I was better at sticking to my routine, I was probably getting credited an extra 250 cals for @ 8,000 steps worth while set at sedentary. But I'm female and short, which I know would affect the formula.

Well, I'm male and kind of short but thank you. I'm going to link them back up and double check that I'm sedentary on mfp. That seems to be the way to go. I appreciate the help!

Phirrgus

magnusthenerd wrote: »

Is this how metabolic confusion works?

YES!