Total v.s. Active Calorie Expenditure from Garmin

XceptN

Hi

I have noticed that my activities from Garmin are synced into MFP, it takes "Total Calories" as expenditure. Total calories of an activity is base calories + active.

Since MFP gets a base budget based on basal calorie expenditures (i.e. calorie expenditure based on activity level, age, weight etc.), I think it will be accurate if we use "Active calories" from an activity.

For example, If my daily target is 1500 kcal and when I do a very long run (I am an ultra runner) say which took 1800 kcal, where only 1400 kcal is active calories, the adjusted target should be

1500-food+1400

instead of

1500-food+1800

As 1500 already covers the base calories. Am I wrong?

I started to suspect that I started gainjng weight as my runs started to l9nger and longer (up to 63K mountain run in 11hr)..

What do you think?

Jean

Our apologies for any confusion surrounding your Calorie Adjustment with Garmin.

First, to make sure the adjustment is accurate, we would recommend making sure your time zones are the same on both Garmin and MyFitnessPal, as well as your height, weight, gender are the same for both accounts.

Next, it's important to make sure you have no other integrations connected to MyFitnessPal. You can manually add exercise to MyFitnessPal, as long as you make sure to put in your start time. If you are also using one of our apps that has the ability to track steps, unfortunately, you can not also track Steps and use Garmin. You would need to turn off any other tracking device within MyFitnessPal. All other integrations should be linked to Garmin, and transfer from there.

Though you may have earned a certain amount of calories with the device, in order to see a calorie adjustment in your exercise diary, the number of calories your Garmin projects you will burn for the entire day must be more than the amount of calories MyFitnessPal believes you will burn, based on your 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.

Please note, the Garmin Calorie adjustment will only show as a total sum, it will not be individually broken down for each exercise. Please also check your settings online at www.MyFitnessPal.com, then the "Settings" tab, then "diary settings" and see if you have the "negative calorie" option elected under the "Calorie Adjustment" section, as that setting may actually take away from your calories earned if enabled. When changing any setting option, please make sure to update those changes at the bottom of the page.

The way the adjustment works is 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.

The Garmin 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.

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 burn in order to lose weight.

We hope this better explains your adjustment, but if not, and you still feel there is a problem, please write into us directly at support@myfitnesspal.com.

MatthewMoppett

I’ve noticed the same thing, too. After looking into it a bit more, it seems that MFP’s *total* calorie consumption for each day is taken directly from Garmin’s calculation of your total calorie consumption, not from adding up the calories for each workout. In other words, the discrepancy doesn’t matter.

Lietchi

I can confirm that the discrepancy doesn't matter: the adjustment looks at total calorie burn according to Garmin, so the 'excess' calories for the workout are compensated in the adjustment.

To give a very extreme example: I'm currently getting most of my active calories from long walks, which means a LOT of BMR calories in my workout calories, but my adjustment is (very) negative, because that's where those BMR calories are subtracted to arrive at a correct total adjustment.

If you are gaining weight, the issue is not with the sync with MFP, but rather that Garmin itself is overestimating your calorie burns.

Lietchi

PS: there is another issue possibly, that could be causing some weight gain and IS an MFP issue: I've noticed that ever since they changed the activity level settings, my calorie goal in MFP does not match what my goal should be based on my calorie burns in Garmin Connect - in my case it gives a calorie goal that is around 100 kcal too high.

Have you compared your total calorie burn in Garmin Connect with your calorie intake in MFP?