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florencehw
florencehw Posts: 10 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
Hello!
Just a quick question - does MFP adjust Fitbit calories depending on your activity level on MFP? For example - my ‘extra’ calories today are 488 based on steps and a swim calculated by Fitbit. My activity level on MFP is lightly active. If I change it to not active/more active would the calories change? I’m trying to gain weight and want the most accurate number to get to possible!

Replies

  • florencehw
    florencehw Posts: 10 Member
    Anyone :)?
  • Phirrgus
    Phirrgus Posts: 1,894 Member
    I think @heybales gives the best explanations I've seen yet on exactly how the fitbit works with mfp.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    Yes. Your activity level affects the calories that come over from your Fitbit. Change your activity level and it will change your Fitbit adjustment.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    florencehw wrote: »
    Hello!
    Just a quick question - does MFP adjust Fitbit calories depending on your activity level on MFP? For example - my ‘extra’ calories today are 488 based on steps and a swim calculated by Fitbit. My activity level on MFP is lightly active. If I change it to not active/more active would the calories change? I’m trying to gain weight and want the most accurate number to get to possible!

    MFP really is using Fitbit to adjust it's own calories burned based on it's own activity level - and the Fitbit only is supplying total daily burned figure.

    Within the same day I'm not sure if calorie adjustment would change, it should - if it did then:
    A change to sedentary would cause adjustment to go up.
    Change to active would cause it to go down.

    End of the day the eating goal would be the same, during the day the adjustment would have that difference.

    Usually you get know what you burn daily and around how much you need to eat to meet the goals (lose, maintain, gain weight).

    The only kicker to going higher than sedentary is the night time adjustment.

    If you hit the couch and bed early and thought you hit goal calories, then a higher activity level means MFP would be estimating calorie burn rate until midnight much higher than what Fitbit is going to correct MFP to the next morning.
    In a deficit that means if you nailed the calorie goal at say 8 pm, the next morning you'll discover you went into the red by possibly 200 cal for that 4 hrs of correction.

    If you stay up late and eat late and meet goal late - no issue really.
  • staticsplit
    staticsplit Posts: 538 Member
    I set mfp to sedentary and let the fitbit adjust as needed, which seems to be working fine.
  • florencehw
    florencehw Posts: 10 Member
    Thank you all :)

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