Fitbit and MFP workout logs

KittyKatalicious
KittyKatalicious Posts: 2 Member
in Getting Started
So this is a really dumb question. I have a Fitbit synced to MFP and I record my workouts on the Fitbit. MFP takes the steps I've taken and automatically logs them in the Exercise section for the calorie adjustment but the calories aren't what my Fitbit says I've burned for my workout. Do I also need to manually log my workout calories burned in the Exercise column?

For example, today I did a casual walk on the treadmill and my Fitbit said I burned 365 calories but MFP took my steps and adjusted only 299 for the steps. Do I need to enter the treadmill walk and 365 for a total caloric burn of 664???

Replies

  • joans1976
    joans1976 Posts: 2,201 Member
    I am a new Fitbit user. So I’m trying to figure all this out as well. All I can figure out is that MFP grossly overestimates calories burned when you enter them in under cardio. I rely on my Fitbit for a more accurate calories burned count. I have MFp steps set to the Fitbit (you can set them to manual or your phone to track them)
    I also have learned exercises you log on the Fitbit don’t automatically sync to MFP. But calories burned do. Calories eaten logged on MFP sync to Fitbit but not what you have eaten. Clear as mud?

    Also if you scroll down in the community here, there is a section for tech questions. May be better than my old technologically challenged self can do. There is also a help forum on the Fitbit app.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 33,783 Member
    The calorie adjustment isn't just exercise - it can be either more and less than exercise calories, in a sense.

    As a generality, the calorie adjustment (by the end of the day) is the difference between (1) the number of calories MFP expected you to burn, based on your profile settings including activity level, and (2) the number of calories that the fitness tracker estimates you actually did burn in total (resting, daily life chores and stuff, plus exercise).

    For example, using round numbers just to keep it simple: Let's say MFP thinks I'd burn 2000 calories daily to maintain my weight. That includes the assumption of some amount of activity calories for routine daily life stuff, based on my activity level. I say I want to lose a pound a week, so it gives me a calorie goal of 1500.

    On some particular day, I do a bunch of stuff: Maybe clean the garage, work in the veggie garden, do some vigorous exercise for a fairly long time (let's say 250 calories), on top of my usual daily life routine chores and job. My fitness tracker watches all of that movement, and combines that with what's in my profile on that device (age and weight and stuff), and it thinks I burned 2600 calories in total.

    I'd expect to get an 600 calorie positive adjustment. Some of that is exercise, some of it is the extra chores. I should end up with a calorie goal for the day of 1500 + 600 = 2100 calories. (It keeps the 500 calorie deficit in there so I'll still expect to lose the pound a week.)

    On the flip side, let's say I have a bad day, maybe a migraine or something, so I call in sick to work and pretty much lie in bed in a dark room all day, and my family brings me food. I do nothing, really. On that day, my fitness tracker estimates that I burn 1800 calories, because I'm doing less than normally expected. If I have negative calorie adjustment enabled in MFP (a good plan), MFP should actually subtract 200 calories from my calorie goal, to give me a calorie goal for the day of 1500 - 200 = 1300. It does that because I was less active than it expected, based on my MFP activity level.

    The above examples would be end of day. Some trackers will talk with MFP more than once a day, and make estimates of what will happen later that same day, based on what's already happened. Only by the end of the day is it reconciling MFP's expectation for the whole day, vs. the fitness tracker's estimate of reality for that whole day.

    Under most circumstances, the calorie adjustment number isn't going to exactly match the exercise calorie number from the fitness tracker. On top of that, the "exercise calories" number that many trackers display is gross calories for the time period of the exercise, including the calories we would've burned just lying in bed. What we really want MFP to learn about is the net calories, just the extra calories from the exercise itself, not including the "lying in bed" calories.

    I hope that makes sense.

    P.S. The Apple calorie adjustment has been poorly programmed by Apple. It may be incorrect in some scenarios.

Categories