Random question?! Maybe!

CLARB85

Hey! So I completely understand why I’ve ‘earnt’ an extra 41 calories in ‘exercise’ today, due to me moving a bit more than what MFP predicted to what I’ve actually done on my Fitbit.

My question is - this amount started off at 47 calories ‘extra’ halfway through the day but has now decreased to 41. I get that this is due to me chilling on the sofa all of tonight! I know this is only a minor difference but what happens if I log/eat all my food based on the higher calories earned and then I end up over eating?! Again I know this is only minor, but I’m more thinking along the lines of if I do a combat class etc. Has anyone ever gone over calories this way because it’s taken time to adjust/update accordingly? Thanks ☺️

Unicorn_Bacon

In cases like this it's best to be a day behind, eat your calories mfp gives you before your steps and what not are accounted for if your Fitbit or other gadget is doing a 24 hour projection based on your current activity. Unless you do a hard workout then I'd eat 50% of those calories back minimum.

If you wake up in the morning and yesterdays extra calories were 40, you can always bank them all week and at the end of the week have that extra treat. People will often do this if they are weekend people who go out a lot and eat out at restaurants or save them for drinks

Lietchi

As long as the day is not over, MFP will estimate how many calories you will burn based on how many calories you have burned up until then. So there can be variations when you are more active earlier in the day and inactive later on in the day.

As the day progresses, the 'margin of error' decreases. I usually eat a snack around 22PM, so usually I don't see much change (5 or 10 calories).

I eat my extra calories on the day I earn them, life is already complicated enough I might keep a small margin when I don't feel like seeing a red number the next day when the adjustment is final, but usually I don't stress over such small numbers.

PAV8888

The reduction caused by "chilling on the couch" can be calculated if you really want to calculate it.

MFP Activity Factors (AF) are 1.25, 1.4, 1.6, and 1.8 for sedentary, lightly active, active, and very active or whatever name du jour is used by the phone apps. Fitbit, when chilling, uses an activity factor of 1.0.

The AF is used to estimate your calories by multiplying your BMR based on Mifflin's formula. You can find your Mifflin BMR (used by both MFP and Fitbit in their caloric expenditure estimations) by using: https://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator

So, depending on your pre-selected activity setting on MFP you "lose" calories by 0.25, 0.4, 0.6, or 0.8 x BMR per minute left till midnight. There are 1440 minutes in a day.

Example. if you're setup as sedentary, and there are 100 minutes left to midnight by the time you become a couch potato or go to sleep, you would lose: 0.25 x BMR / 1440 x 100 Calories from your adjustment.

However I would hasten to add that these are fairly small differences that would vary the SIZE of the deficit but would probably NOT impact whether you actually have "a" deficit or not.

i.e. if you're setup at -500 and overshoot by 200... you still have a -300 deficit. You don't have to be PERFECT to achieve GREAT results. You only have to be "good enough" MOST of the time.

You're just as (if not MORE) likely to have a similarly sized error when it comes to your food intake estimations.

In any case, all of us, especially in the beginning, should be encouraged to review our expected vs actual results over 4-6 week time spans that include complete monthly hormonal cycles and adjust based on our actual progress.

Banking Calories is, of course, a viable strategy (as long as your deposits and withdrawals are not too extreme ) -- but truly it is just a size of deficit management strategy since your body remains your bank

Lillymoo01

Lietchi wrote: »

As long as the day is not over, MFP will estimate how many calories you will burn based on how many calories you have burned up until then. So there can be variations when you are more active earlier in the day and inactive later on in the day.

As the day progresses, the 'margin of error' decreases. I usually eat a snack around 22PM, so usually I don't see much change (5 or 10 calories).

I eat my extra calories on the day I earn them, life is already complicated enough I might keep a small margin when I don't feel like seeing a red number the next day when the adjustment is final, but usually I don't stress over such small numbers.

This is not quite how it works. MPF assumes you will have the same calorie burn every hour, even when you are asleep. It is why when you first wake up in the morning you start with fewer calories than your goal and why there will be a reduction in those hours when you aren't as active as you have indicated you would be with your activity level. For example, let's assume you have chosen active as your activity level, equalling around 10,000 steps. This assumes that you will do just over 400 steps every hour. If you do around that number of steps in an hour your calories will stay the same, if you do less you will see a reduction in calories and if you do more you will see an increase.

Lietchi

I'm guessing the brand of the activity tracker also has an influence. My adjustments vary in a different way since I changed from Polar to Garmin.

CLARB85

KrissCanDoThis wrote: »

In cases like this it's best to be a day behind, eat your calories mfp gives you before your steps and what not are accounted for if your Fitbit or other gadget is doing a 24 hour projection based on your current activity. Unless you do a hard workout then I'd eat 50% of those calories back minimum.

If you wake up in the morning and yesterdays extra calories were 40, you can always bank them all week and at the end of the week have that extra treat. People will often do this if they are weekend people who go out a lot and eat out at restaurants or save them for drinks

Thanks so much for your reply! I’ll definitely keep an eye out to see how it’s faring!

CLARB85

Lietchi wrote: »

As long as the day is not over, MFP will estimate how many calories you will burn based on how many calories you have burned up until then. So there can be variations when you are more active earlier in the day and inactive later on in the day.

As the day progresses, the 'margin of error' decreases. I usually eat a snack around 22PM, so usually I don't see much change (5 or 10 calories).

I eat my extra calories on the day I earn them, life is already complicated enough I might keep a small margin when I don't feel like seeing a red number the next day when the adjustment is final, but usually I don't stress over such small numbers.

That’s fab thank you, I just didn’t want to wake up tomorrow and be like -200 calories over eaten! I’ve done a work out today so I’m sure today will give me a better idea. Thank you

CLARB85

Lillymoo01 wrote: »

Lietchi wrote: »

As long as the day is not over, MFP will estimate how many calories you will burn based on how many calories you have burned up until then. So there can be variations when you are more active earlier in the day and inactive later on in the day.

As the day progresses, the 'margin of error' decreases. I usually eat a snack around 22PM, so usually I don't see much change (5 or 10 calories).

I eat my extra calories on the day I earn them, life is already complicated enough I might keep a small margin when I don't feel like seeing a red number the next day when the adjustment is final, but usually I don't stress over such small numbers.

This is not quite how it works. MPF assumes you will have the same calorie burn every hour, even when you are asleep. It is why when you first wake up in the morning you start with fewer calories than your goal and why there will be a reduction in those hours when you aren't as active as you have indicated you would be with your activity level. For example, let's assume you have chosen active as your activity level, equalling around 10,000 steps. This assumes that you will do just over 400 steps every hour. If you do around that number of steps in an hour your calories will stay the same, if you do less you will see a reduction in calories and if you do more you will see an increase.

Yes this is why I’m a bit confused. I don’t want to get to the night when I fancy a snack but realise the next morning it took me OVER my calories. I was just more so wondering how often it updates, ie I’ve done my workout this morning but not really going to be moving much for the rest of the day (lockdown lol) so what number do I rely on to see how many calories I’ve got left! Thanks for your reply

CLARB85

PAV8888 wrote: »

The reduction caused by "chilling on the couch" can be calculated if you really want to calculate it.

MFP Activity Factors (AF) are 1.25, 1.4, 1.6, and 1.8 for sedentary, lightly active, active, and very active or whatever name du jour is used by the phone apps. Fitbit, when chilling, uses an activity factor of 1.0.

The AF is used to estimate your calories by multiplying your BMR based on Mifflin's formula. You can find your Mifflin BMR (used by both MFP and Fitbit in their caloric expenditure estimations) by using: https://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator

So, depending on your pre-selected activity setting on MFP you "lose" calories by 0.25, 0.4, 0.6, or 0.8 x BMR per minute left till midnight. There are 1440 minutes in a day.

Example. if you're setup as sedentary, and there are 100 minutes left to midnight by the time you become a couch potato or go to sleep, you would lose: 0.25 x BMR / 1440 x 100 Calories from your adjustment.

However I would hasten to add that these are fairly small differences that would vary the SIZE of the deficit but would probably NOT impact whether you actually have "a" deficit or not.

i.e. if you're setup at -500 and overshoot by 200... you still have a -300 deficit. You don't have to be PERFECT to achieve GREAT results. You only have to be "good enough" MOST of the time.

You're just as (if not MORE) likely to have a similarly sized error when it comes to your food intake estimations.

In any case, all of us, especially in the beginning, should be encouraged to review our expected vs actual results over 4-6 week time spans that include complete monthly hormonal cycles and adjust based on our actual progress.

Banking Calories is, of course, a viable strategy (as long as your deposits and withdrawals are not too extreme ) -- but truly it is just a size of deficit management strategy since your body remains your bank

That’s really interesting - thank you! So what you are basically saying is, even if I did possibly overeat the previous day, there’s a chance I would probably still be in a deficit! Thanks so much, going to read it a few times to sink in, haha.

Lillymoo01

CLARB85 wrote: »

Lillymoo01 wrote: »

Lietchi wrote: »

As long as the day is not over, MFP will estimate how many calories you will burn based on how many calories you have burned up until then. So there can be variations when you are more active earlier in the day and inactive later on in the day.

As the day progresses, the 'margin of error' decreases. I usually eat a snack around 22PM, so usually I don't see much change (5 or 10 calories).

I eat my extra calories on the day I earn them, life is already complicated enough I might keep a small margin when I don't feel like seeing a red number the next day when the adjustment is final, but usually I don't stress over such small numbers.

This is not quite how it works. MPF assumes you will have the same calorie burn every hour, even when you are asleep. It is why when you first wake up in the morning you start with fewer calories than your goal and why there will be a reduction in those hours when you aren't as active as you have indicated you would be with your activity level. For example, let's assume you have chosen active as your activity level, equalling around 10,000 steps. This assumes that you will do just over 400 steps every hour. If you do around that number of steps in an hour your calories will stay the same, if you do less you will see a reduction in calories and if you do more you will see an increase.

Yes this is why I’m a bit confused. I don’t want to get to the night when I fancy a snack but realise the next morning it took me OVER my calories. I was just more so wondering how often it updates, ie I’ve done my workout this morning but not really going to be moving much for the rest of the day (lockdown lol) so what number do I rely on to see how many calories I’ve got left! Thanks for your reply

I set my activity level to sedentary so that I know that as long as I had a few calories to spare I would never go over by much. In saying that I am normally more active than sedentary most hours in the day so it is only in those last few hours during the day when I see calories go down rather than up. I have read that others actually eat the additional exercise calories from the day before instead. This means you would have some days in the red with others having many calories to spare though.

heybales

Fitbit will log your non-step time as BMR rate of burn. As if sleeping, though you do burn a tad more just being awake.

As commented, MFP is accounting for your hourly burn rate as BMR x activity level (1.25 sedentary, 1.4, 1.6, 1.75) all day long, each hour.

So it depends on when you hit the couch for the evening and then to bed.
When was the last device sync (it only syncs when 100 higher burn than prior sync, that's over 1 hr of BMR burn rate time).
When are you last looking to eat to the new goal numbers.

Take a couple of typical days of hitting the couch and going to bed, and when you last look at eating goal and top off. Note the goal eating level, say 1510. That's based on hours to midnight at MFP burn rate.

Now on first sync the next day, note what the revised goal was prior day, say 1435. That's now based on Fitbit informing MFP you were actually BMR rate of burn for the remaining time.
It would have adjusted down by 75 calories.

That difference will be about the same on those same type of typical evenings.
So you leave that much in the green, 75 calories.

Knowing the next morning MFP will revise it's math with new Fitbit sync, and you'll lose 75 cal the prior day.

If set to higher than sedentary activity level, and to couch/bed really early - I've seen upwards of 250 difference.
That could be bad if not recognized.
Usually it is though - very quickly when someone reviews their week and wonders why they went over every day when they are sure they hit goal before bed.

heybales

CLARB85 wrote: »

Lillymoo01 wrote: »

Lietchi wrote: »

As long as the day is not over, MFP will estimate how many calories you will burn based on how many calories you have burned up until then. So there can be variations when you are more active earlier in the day and inactive later on in the day.

As the day progresses, the 'margin of error' decreases. I usually eat a snack around 22PM, so usually I don't see much change (5 or 10 calories).

I eat my extra calories on the day I earn them, life is already complicated enough I might keep a small margin when I don't feel like seeing a red number the next day when the adjustment is final, but usually I don't stress over such small numbers.

This is not quite how it works. MPF assumes you will have the same calorie burn every hour, even when you are asleep. It is why when you first wake up in the morning you start with fewer calories than your goal and why there will be a reduction in those hours when you aren't as active as you have indicated you would be with your activity level. For example, let's assume you have chosen active as your activity level, equalling around 10,000 steps. This assumes that you will do just over 400 steps every hour. If you do around that number of steps in an hour your calories will stay the same, if you do less you will see a reduction in calories and if you do more you will see an increase.

Yes this is why I’m a bit confused. I don’t want to get to the night when I fancy a snack but realise the next morning it took me OVER my calories. I was just more so wondering how often it updates, ie I’ve done my workout this morning but not really going to be moving much for the rest of the day (lockdown lol) so what number do I rely on to see how many calories I’ve got left! Thanks for your reply

I would suggest always plan on an after dinner snack for final calorie adjustment.
Don't deal with it early in the day due to the effect you've seen.
After a few days you'll learn what the daily limit will be around and can adjust each meal if needed.
Maybe you do want a big breakfast, decent lunch, and small dinner - in which case maybe dinner is the adjustment if eaten later.

CLARB85

heybales wrote: »

Fitbit will log your non-step time as BMR rate of burn. As if sleeping, though you do burn a tad more just being awake.

As commented, MFP is accounting for your hourly burn rate as BMR x activity level (1.25 sedentary, 1.4, 1.6, 1.75) all day long, each hour.

So it depends on when you hit the couch for the evening and then to bed.
When was the last device sync (it only syncs when 100 higher burn than prior sync, that's over 1 hr of BMR burn rate time).
When are you last looking to eat to the new goal numbers.

Take a couple of typical days of hitting the couch and going to bed, and when you last look at eating goal and top off. Note the goal eating level, say 1510. That's based on hours to midnight at MFP burn rate.

Now on first sync the next day, note what the revised goal was prior day, say 1435. That's now based on Fitbit informing MFP you were actually BMR rate of burn for the remaining time.
It would have adjusted down by 75 calories.

That difference will be about the same on those same type of typical evenings.
So you leave that much in the green, 75 calories.

Knowing the next morning MFP will revise it's math with new Fitbit sync, and you'll lose 75 cal the prior day.

If set to higher than sedentary activity level, and to couch/bed really early - I've seen upwards of 250 difference.
That could be bad if not recognized.
Usually it is though - very quickly when someone reviews their week and wonders why they went over every day when they are sure they hit goal before bed.

That’s so helpful, thank you. I’m already a few days in and can gauge already what it’s likely to be if I do exercise early on, then rest for the remainder of the day! Plus, I’ve always worn my Fitbit, so that gives me pretty accurate ideas of what my typical calorie burn is! Thank you

NovusDies

If you consider that all calories are averages and not exact numbers and the amount of energy we burn in a day is not a static number either you could and should dismiss 6 calories as inconsequential. It is important to strive for precision but also understand there is a margin of error. I do not, for instance, consider eating over my calorie goal by 30 calories as actually being over even if MFP makes it red and forboding. I have never understood that. I think it should be yellow as long as you are still within your deficit.

heybales

NovusDies wrote: »

If you consider that all calories are averages and not exact numbers and the amount of energy we burn in a day is not a static number either you could and should dismiss 6 calories as inconsequential. It is important to strive for precision but also understand there is a margin of error. I do not, for instance, consider eating over my calorie goal by 30 calories as actually being over even if MFP makes it red and forboding. I have never understood that. I think it should be yellow as long as you are still within your deficit.

That's a good idea.
Because 30 over from time to time is better than 150 below goal constantly.
Even a field that says "still in deficit by xxx" when you go over a bit.

CLARB85

NovusDies wrote: »

If you consider that all calories are averages and not exact numbers and the amount of energy we burn in a day is not a static number either you could and should dismiss 6 calories as inconsequential. It is important to strive for precision but also understand there is a margin of error. I do not, for instance, consider eating over my calorie goal by 30 calories as actually being over even if MFP makes it red and forboding. I have never understood that. I think it should be yellow as long as you are still within your deficit.

That’s a great way of looking at it! Estimates can be over or under, you are right! Thank you

PAV8888

heybales wrote: »

NovusDies wrote: »

If you consider that all calories are averages and not exact numbers and the amount of energy we burn in a day is not a static number either you could and should dismiss 6 calories as inconsequential. It is important to strive for precision but also understand there is a margin of error. I do not, for instance, consider eating over my calorie goal by 30 calories as actually being over even if MFP makes it red and forboding. I have never understood that. I think it should be yellow as long as you are still within your deficit.

That's a good idea.
Because 30 over from time to time is better than 150 below goal constantly.
Even a field that says "still in deficit by xxx" when you go over a bit.

Yeah, well, it's not as if the ideas have not been mentioned before!