Help me get started

brownra179
brownra179 Posts: 1 Member
in MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions
As a new user I am becoming very disillusioned with this app. While I have managed to log food with success the steps calories are a complete mystery. I think I have managed to link my Fitbit the calories shown on that bear no resemblance to what is recorded in the MFP app. Why not? Similarly when I use the Apple steps (health) app that too bears no resemblance to to the MFP app. Is there are 'How to get started with MFP' guide anywhere?

Answers

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,168 Member
    brownra179 wrote: »
    As a new user I am becoming very disillusioned with this app. While I have managed to log food with success the steps calories are a complete mystery. I think I have managed to link my Fitbit the calories shown on that bear no resemblance to what is recorded in the MFP app. Why not? Similarly when I use the Apple steps (health) app that too bears no resemblance to to the MFP app. Is there are 'How to get started with MFP' guide anywhere?

    Because your MFP activity level already builds in some calories for expected daily life movement.

    Simplistically stated, is MFP and the tracker compare notes on what MFP thinks you'd burn based on settings, and what the tracker saw you as burning based on it's estimating algorithms. Based on that, MFP adds calories if the tracker saw more burn than MFP expected. (If you have negative adjustments turned on, which I'd recommend, MFP will also subtract calories on days when you move less - fewer calories - than MFP expected.)

    On top of that, the estimate from the tracker, if that vendor has properly set up the sync, includes all movement all day that the tracker saw, not just steps and formal exercise.

    Your steps/exercise calories in the tracker won't typically match the MFP adjustment because of that stuff.

    Suggestion: Believe the estimate/adjustment for 4-6 weeks, follow the calorie goal, and see where you end up in scale weight results. Adjust intake then if necessary. (Note that a tracker doesn't measure your calorie burn . . . it's just making a more nuanced estimate. It can be wrong, potentially even very wrong, though a good one will be close for many people.)

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