FitBit and MFP exercise calories

dalesimpson1
dalesimpson1 Posts: 26 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Today I checked the "Enable Negative Adjustments" box in my diary settings and what I am seeing is somewhat unsettling. Shortly after I started my day there was a negative number in my exercise spot on MFP which I got back into the positive by going for my morning walk, and now MFP is slowly eating away at the positive number.

Is this normal or is something jacked up?

Replies

  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,589 MFP Moderator
    The way Fitbit works is it makes a daily estimation for what you will burn all day based off of what you have done so far. Early in the morning since all it has seen you do so far is sleep, it assumes you will continue to sleep all day long so it will take away some of you calories thinking you will not need them. Once you get up and start moving it will start giving them back to you.

    The MFP taking the calories back is strange. Did you log your exercise on MFP and then the fitbit negatively adjusted again? That would be normal.
  • dalesimpson1
    dalesimpson1 Posts: 26 Member
    I do not log my exercise on MFP, I have been letting FitBit do that for me.

    If it's normal for FitBit to take back the calories it has credited me that certainly is a demotivator for me...
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,589 MFP Moderator
    The only thing I can think is if you are really active for you walk and then go back to being very sedentary maybe it overestimes your day after the walk and then has to adjust back down. If you click the number it adjusted on your diary it will tell you how it got it. It should say your daily projected calories needed for the day are xyz, see if that changes downwards.
  • juicymisslucy
    juicymisslucy Posts: 72 Member
    The way Fitbit works is it makes a daily estimation for what you will burn all day based off of what you have done so far. Early in the morning since all it has seen you do so far is sleep, it assumes you will continue to sleep all day long so it will take away some of you calories thinking you will not need them. Once you get up and start moving it will start giving them back to you.

    The MFP taking the calories back is strange. Did you log your exercise on MFP and then the fitbit negatively adjusted again? That would be normal.
  • juicymisslucy
    juicymisslucy Posts: 72 Member
    by the end of the day it will even itself out. Just keep on moving! :)
  • mandasalem
    mandasalem Posts: 346 Member
    The only thing I can think is if you are really active for you walk and then go back to being very sedentary maybe it overestimes your day after the walk and then has to adjust back down. If you click the number it adjusted on your diary it will tell you how it got it. It should say your daily projected calories needed for the day are xyz, see if that changes downwards.

    This is what it does. So if it assumes you'll sleep all day, it dips into the negative calories. Then you get up, you walk around, you're active! Holy cow! So it goes all nutbar and assumes, along with the help of MFP, that you're going to do that all day or most of the day. Then you sit down at your desk to get some work done and FitBit and MFP go "Oh, I'm totally unreasonable" and eat away at it. My suggestion? Don't enable negative adjustments. If your calories are calculated without your activity or workouts, then negative adjustments should be moot.
  • GingerLolita
    GingerLolita Posts: 738 Member
    MFP starts with a calorie estimation based on how active you say you will be. If you have your activity level set to anything but sedentary on here, change it. This will reduce the likelihood of you having negative calories. You're clearly not as active as you thought. If you don't enable negative calorie adjustments, you won't be at the deficit you want.
  • laurelthistle
    laurelthistle Posts: 145 Member
    I had the negative adjustment setting turned on for a while and ended up turning it off. It was more of a pain. I figure MFP tells me what I should be eating for day and no matter what I'm going to eat at that level. I just allow it to make positive adjustments and have found that that works out much better for me.
  • katro111
    katro111 Posts: 632 Member
    by the end of the day it will even itself out. Just keep on moving! :)
    MFP starts with a calorie estimation based on how active you say you will be. If you have your activity level set to anything but sedentary on here, change it. This will reduce the likelihood of you having negative calories. You're clearly not as active as you thought. If you don't enable negative calorie adjustments, you won't be at the deficit you want.

    Both of the above. It's a timing issue. It will adjust your calories in MFP based on the last sync with FitBit. So, if you haven't worked out yet/met your goals in FitBit for the day but have pre-logged all your food in MFP, it may tell you you're over in your calories. Even if you have a certain calorie goal in MFP, it will lower your caloric needs for the day if you take the day off from being active, basically so you can meet the weight loss goal/deficit you put in when you setup MFP.
  • dalesimpson1
    dalesimpson1 Posts: 26 Member
    Thanks for all the replies. I was more than a little shocked and disappointed when I saw my "bonus calories" were being taken back, but I think I'm ok now.

    I have my settings set to sedentary, and I will continue using the negative adjustment setting for a few days to see if I can learn to deal with it. If I can't mentally adjust to it I will turn it off again like I had it before. I am losing weight according to my plan so it must have been good enough before, but I don't want to BS myself into stopping/slowing my weight loss.

    ETA: I did correct the time zone, so now it's correct. It was WAY off before I changed it.

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