iPhone calorie adjustment decreases when adding a manual workout

MichaelPuncel

I'm pretty sure I understand the way exercise adjustments work: When I signed up for MFP I put that I have a sedentary lifestyle. With the iphone integration I see that as I walk the calorie adjustment goes up and therefore I can eat more calories to still hit my goal calorie deficit for the day.

What seems weird is I sometimes add another source of calories burned, for instance if I use my peloton bike, the iphone calorie adjustment drops. For instance this morning I saw that I had a +33 "iPhone calorie adjustment". Then I added a 150 calorie workout manually and this adjustment dropped to -50 or something like that. Now at the end of the day I'm seeing a -30 iphone adjustment still with 8k steps walked. I understand that should only happen normally if I input a high activity level and MFP thinks I am below my average activity level for the day. However as mentioned previously I put the fully sedentary setting so I could control calories burned myself.

durden

Short answer: This is totally normal.

Longer answer: The adjustment is actually not based on your step count, but instead based on your entire activity for the day. The step count is there as an incentive and though it does contribute to part of your activity level, it's not the sole contributor.

Therefore x amount of steps does not mean you will receive x amount of extra calories.

The way the adjustment is derived is by comparing your total calories burned from your tracker against the total calories already provided by MyFitnessPal.

When you have earned more calories than MyFitnessPal has already provided, you will then see the difference as your adjustment.

** You can view a breakdown of this calculation by tapping on the adjustment line and then on the adjustment itself (above the Learn More button) in the app, or by clicking the "i" next to the adjustment line in the Cardiovascular section online at www.MyFitnessPal.com **

Please also note: the total calories from MyFitnessPal will include any calories instantly provided by adding separate exercises (outside of your partner adjustment) to MyFitnessPal, along with the calories needed to reach the goals you set when joining the program.

The following article may also help: https://myfitnesspal.zendesk.com/hc/articles/360032623871-What-is-the-Calorie-Adjustment-in-my-Exercise-Diary-

MichaelPuncel

That all makes sense to me. I think the problem is that MyFitnessPal is assuming the calorie burn I enter was ALSO tracked by my tracker app. However the tracker is only counting steps, and I’m manually entering a bike workout. Therefore I do expect a discrepancy between the tracker and MFP

durden

MichaelPuncel wrote: »

That all makes sense to me. I think the problem is that MyFitnessPal is assuming the calorie burn I enter was ALSO tracked by my tracker app. However the tracker is only counting steps, and I’m manually entering a bike workout. Therefore I do expect a discrepancy between the tracker and MFP

For best results you probably should be wearing your activity tracker while performing activities, but regardless- your assumption here isn't exactly correct.

The way the adjustment is derived is by comparing your total calories burned from your tracker against the total calories already provided by MyFitnessPal. If you wear your tracker all day, this is going to be more accurate, period. The thing about this general activity is that it is not always guarenteed you will receive a calorie adjustment. You have to exceed the assumed threshold for activity (which you can learn more about via the FAQ I linked above) before you get more calories back to your net calorie goal.

Regardless, if you choose to enter a manually created workout- whether that is one created by your device (like an automatic Apple Watch workout for example) or one you create in MFP- you get that calorie adjustment immediately, no matter what. Even if you sat on the couch literally all day, if you record a workout, you will receive a calorie adjustment for it.

To balance this out, you will often see your general activity adjustment lowered whenever you log a workout- it doesn't always zero out or go into negatives, but the math behind the scenes is taking into account all of your activity to ensure you aren't getting back way more calories than you should via adjustments.

This is all to say- Yes, you should be wearing your activity tracker during activities for best results, but if you're just taking it off to do a bike ride and then logging it as an exercise, you're probably fine.

MichaelPuncel

To balance this out, you will often see your general activity adjustment lowered whenever you log a workout

So MFP is assuming since I did a manual workout that I will probably be a bit less active for the rest of the day? But then if I actually am active I will earn back the adjustment?

durden

MichaelPuncel wrote: »

To balance this out, you will often see your general activity adjustment lowered whenever you log a workout

So MFP is assuming since I did a manual workout that I will probably be a bit less active for the rest of the day? But then if I actually am active I will earn back the adjustment?

You can still earn an adjustment after recording exercises, yes, but it's not because the program is assuming you'll be less active. Think of it this way; your general calorie adjustment is a ceiling you have to hit to earn more calories. If you log an exercise (which automatically gives you a calorie adjustment no matter what) the ceiling to receive adjustments through normal activity gets higher to compensate.

MichaelPuncel

Thanks for the time you've taken to explain this, I'm still confused.

Let's say X is the calories I spent walking (tracked by iphone) and Y is the calories I burned on my peloton bike (not tracked by iphone). I would like Y to be completely independent of X. It sounds like you are saying that X' (next value of X) will become (X - Y) after a workout? So that means in my setup I shouldn't even bother recording Y because it will not earn me calories

durden

No. Your peloton workout- like any other workout you independently log- will always give you a calorie adjustment, no matter what. It is actually the X in your example that would be affected.

Please take a moment to read through these FAQs;

https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032623871-What-is-the-Calorie-Adjustment-in-my-Exercise-Diary?_gl=1*1v0j05m*_ga*NzM2MDgwOTUuMTY5MjgyOTY1MA..*_ga_VG80VV73C6*MTcwODYzNzY2NS44MzUuMS4xNzA4NjM3NzkzLjAuMC4w

https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032273612-How-does-the-Step-Tracking-feature-work?_gl=1*1v0j05m*_ga*NzM2MDgwOTUuMTY5MjgyOTY1MA..*_ga_VG80VV73C6*MTcwODYzNzY2NS44MzUuMS4xNzA4NjM3NzkzLjAuMC4w

MichaelPuncel

It is actually the X in your example that would be affected.

That's what I was trying to say, maybe clumsily. I don't understand why X (calories from steps burned) is at all affected by Y (calories burned doing something else). I understand the calculation that is being done (MFP calories - iphone calories = adjustment), so that makes me think if I add something to MFP calories that is not in "iphone calories" then it just gets offset by the adjustment.

The second link you shared has an interesting paragraph:

We recommend that you manually log to MyFitnessPal any exercise that your step-based tracker's system will have trouble detecting accurately, such as rowing, cycling, and of course activities like swimming during which you cannot wear the device. We will compensate for the exercise and update your Calorie Adjustment to reflect the manually logged calories.

swimming is a great example, a step tracker would never track that and is very similar to my use case. The wording there is vague, I'm not sure what "compensate" means there. Does it mean adding calories to be eaten (purely positive adjustment)? That's the behavior I want but not the behavior I seem to be getting.

I've attached 2 screenshots demonstrating what i'm confused about.

One is from this past Saturday, and one is from today. They are both about 8k steps walked (I know the step count is cosmetic but it should be a proxy for what the iphone tracked). On Saturday I logged a 150 calorie workout and that made the iphone adjustment negative (-30). Today I actually did that same workout but did not log it with MFP and ended up with a positive adjustment (90). My feeling is that on Saturday the adjustment should not be affected at all by the manual workout.