Garmin Connect and Negative Calorie Adjustment

scottharrisswh

I am not understanding how this works. The more steps I put in over a day puts me more negative. This seems completely backwards from what I would expect.

durden

Though you may have earned a certain amount of calories with your daily tracking device, in order to see a calorie adjustment in your exercise diary, the number of calories your device projects you will burn for the entire day must be more than the amount of calories MyFitnessPal believes you will burn, based on your previous profile information. Since the integration takes your entire day's activity into account, it's important to wear your device as much as possible during the day. The two programs will work with each other to determine if an adjustment was actually earned.

When you first join MyFitnessPal, we ask you for your weight, height, age, gender, and your normally daily activity level. We then use all this information to provide you with your daily goals based on an "average" from the information you provided. However, since these goals are based on an "average" activity level, this may vary for each person.

Your device is designed to give you a more precise account for your personal daily activity level. When you originally choose your activity level on MyFitnessPal, you may think that you are an "active" person. MyFitnessPal will then automatically give you goals based on what an "average" active person may burn through the course of the day. However, if you are wearing a personal tracker, that average may change based on your "actual" activity level. You may not actually be as active as an "average" person, or you may even be more active.

If you are not as active as the original activity level you chose, then, depending on how you set your device up with MyFitnessPal (MyFitnessPal gives you the option to either have a negative adjustment or only a positive one if you are due) your daily calorie goal will either not be effected, adjust up or even go down.

In other words, MyFitnessPal may have given you a daily goal of 1700 calories based on your profile information, but activity recorded by your device may result in a projection of only a 1600 burn by the end of the day. MyFitnessPal will now either give you no adjustment and keep your calories at 1700, or if you chose to allow negative adjustments, it will sync a -100 calorie adjustment to bring your goal in line with the new data.

Depending on when you sync your device with MyFitnessPal, this goal may fluctuate throughout the course of the day. If you sync in the morning after a work out, you will get an estimate based on that activity level. However, if you sleep the rest of the day, it will adjust again according to this new information.

Details about the calculation of any adjustment can be viewed by clicking the small "i" next to the adjustment in your Exercise Diary (on the full website), or by tapping the adjustment itself in the Exercise Diary of the MyFitnessPal app.

If you find you are continuously not getting an adjustment or are constantly receiving a negative adjustment (if you elected for the negative option), you may want to change your originally chosen activity level on MyFitnessPal. Instructions for changing the details of your MyFitnessPal profile can be found here: https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032271472-How-can-I-force-my-calorie-goals-to-update-

Also, please remember, though your daily tracker may show you have burned a high amount of calories for the day, you must still surpass what you need to burn to lose weight, before an "extra" adjustment can be added. For example, say for the day you have burned 2000 calories, but you only receive an adjustment of 100. This is because, you must also account for not eating back those calories you need to give up in order to lose weight.

scottharrisswh

This does not really answer my question. One day I got -396 calories for 8344 steps the following I got -502 calories for 11065 steps. Going deeper into the negative for more activity does not make any sense. If I take more steps I should be closer to that 1700 in your example not further away.

durden

scottharrisswh wrote: »

This does not really answer my question. One day I got -396 calories for 8344 steps the following I got -502 calories for 11065 steps. Going deeper into the negative for more activity does not make any sense. If I take more steps I should be closer to that 1700 in your example not further away.

This can be explained by understanding that the adjustment isn't based on steps at all, it's based on your overall activity as reported by your device. Steps are listed as a motivational tool to get you active, but don't play a huge (if any) role in the actual adjustment itself.

Lietchi

What is your activity level setting on MFP?
Your calorie goal given by MFP?

For those two days: did you exercise at all, or was it just the steps? You didn't log a walk?
And how many calories did you burn for those two days according to your Garmin (under Calories, not Calories In/Out).
You can compare those numbers with the number MFP received and see if it corresponds: tap on the calorie adjustment (takes a few steps to get there):


Durden is right, the number of steps in itself doesn't determine the adjustment. It depends on your heart rate during those steps etc. which influences your calorie burn, which is what determines your calorie adjustment.