Why does My Fitness Pal use a projection of daily exercise instead of real-time?

maryeddystewart

I am more active in the mornings with cardio and strength exercise. It seems like MyFitness Pal projects a whole day's exercise calories based on my early morning activities with my Fitbit Versa4 and then throughout the day it adjusts downward to my actual exercise calories. This messes with my daily tracking. Does anyone else have this issue? I am new to My Fitness Pal and Fitbit Versa 4 so am assuming someone has dealt with this....

Lietchi

Are the numbers for the adjustment huge in the morning? There is a fairly recent bug where Fitbit is sending over wrong numbers to MFP (and other apps).

maryeddystewart

Under the Exercise Tab MyFitnessPal says that it is making a full day projection based on my activity through a certain time of day. It keeps updating it. Because I exercise so much in the morning it is using that to project a full day as if I were to exercise like that all day long. Therefore by noontime I have a big calorie adjustment and then it decreases during the afternoon, making it hard for me to plan my eating plan. I am trying to maintain weight and not go over my fat and sugar goals, but sometimes when it adjusts downward I end up going over those nutrient goals.

AnnPT77

maryeddystewart wrote: »

Under the Exercise Tab MyFitnessPal says that it is making a full day projection based on my activity through a certain time of day. It keeps updating it. Because I exercise so much in the morning it is using that to project a full day as if I were to exercise like that all day long. Therefore by noontime I have a big calorie adjustment and then it decreases during the afternoon, making it hard for me to plan my eating plan. I am trying to maintain weight and not go over my fat and sugar goals, but sometimes when it adjusts downward I end up going over those nutrient goals.

I understand how this can be frustrating!

Keep in mind that it's your average calorie balance over time that matters. I'm betting that you have some number of calories that's roughly where you know you're likely to end up, by end of day. Consider planning to eat in that way. If you're off by an amount that seems material, it's fine to accommodate that adjustment on a later day(s). Small variances would probably work themselves out over time without conscious adjustment.

Yes, that would make your individual daily numbers a little wonky. But it will be fine to eat that way, and possible to maintain that way. (I've been maintaining in a healthy range for over 8 years now, and I'll guarantee I don't hit exact numbers every day . . . sometimes not even close numbers. Life happens!)

MFP resets at midnight, but our bodies don't. Our bodies work on what amounts to averages over time.

If you use the MFP phone/tablet app, that gives you a weekly view (in the Nutrition option of the More menu). You can use those weekly averages as a good tool, in various ways.

I'm aware that this may not be a really satisfying idea, because MFP isn't working the way you'd ideally prefer it to work. If you like, you can suggest new MFP features here:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/categories/feature-suggestions-and-ideas

Even if a suggestion is implemented, it takes time.

For myself, I try to be oriented to finding ways to accomplish my goals with the tools the way they are now, if possible, just as a practical thing. Maybe it's just me, but it would be easy for me to let frustration with some particular feature become a mental focus, rather than my goals being my mental focus. I'm sure there are things MFP could do that would be so unpleasant to me that I'd look for a different app, but I'm willing to find strategies to work with the tool as it is, short of that extreme. I don't know whether this particular thing is a deal-breaker for you or not: Only you can decide that.

As an aside, I'd comment that generically speaking I think being over sugar or fat goal now and then isn't necessarily a big deal, if calories are reasonably close. You didn't mention why you're concerned about those specifically, so maybe you aren't a generic case, of course.

Nutritionally, it's probably a bad plan to be persistently way low on protein or fats, but macros aren't a thing that needs to be exactly exact every single day for weight management or health. People who are diabetic or insulin resistant (or similar) may need to manage sugar more carefully, but for others, being over on the MFP sugars number - which is total sugars, not just added sugar - isn't necessarily a big deal. I'm frequently, maybe always, over MFP's default sugar goal, but since it's almost entirely from fruits, veggies, and no-sugar-added dairy foods, I literally don't even think about it, and my weight and relevant health markers are just fine. I even took that column out of my diary.

Best wishes for successful maintenance!

maryeddystewart

Thank you. This was helpful and I am now seeing several threads on this. I should have mentioned that I am trying to lower my A1C through diet so that I don't have to go on meds. And, I'd like to transition off if possible my statin for cholesterol, so I also am being mindful of the daily fat grams. Thanks again. I like being part of the MFP community!

AnnPT77

maryeddystewart wrote: »

Thank you. This was helpful and I am now seeing several threads on this. I should have mentioned that I am trying to lower my A1C through diet so that I don't have to go on meds. And, I'd like to transition off if possible my statin for cholesterol, so I also am being mindful of the daily fat grams. Thanks again. I like being part of the MFP community!

I think you're on a good path.

There's individual variability, of course, but for me personally, my high cholesterol resolved through weight loss alone. (I don't think I have familial hypercholesterolemia, i.e., a genetic factor for persistently high cholesterol.) I didn't ever take a statin, but my doctor had been increasingly insistent that I do so: That was one of the key triggers for me to get serious about weight loss. I figured I'd given up enough cognitive bandwidth via chemotherapy, and statins have a reputation for that as a possible side effect.

My cholesterol/triglycerides levels have stayed solidly in the normal range all through maintenance. At my last visit, my primary care doc said that my cholesterol level was "phenomenal", and that she wished all her patients had it at that level. Big change!

I can't speak to A1C personally, because I was fortunate not to have blood sugar issues even when obese; but I've seen others here say they've made huge improvements, some to the point of managing blood sugar levels entirely through eating/exercise, no longer needing routine meds.

Wishing you success!