Fitbit Calorie Adjustment

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pennyk54166
pennyk54166 Posts: 18 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi Everyone,
I am new to MFP and using my fitbit one to track activity. Today I walked 1 mile on the treadmill, then spent 40 min in the pool doing laps at a low-moderate pace. When I type in the activity in MFP it gives me over 500 calories burned. When I look at the Fitbit adjustment, it gives me 120 calories burned. Does this seem accurate? I have a desk job so my setting is sedentary. Could a setting be wrong? Any ideas are appreciated.

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  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    I might not be understanding exactly what you're saying. 500 calories seems excessively high for that amount of time. Why would you log the treadmill? That's walking - exactly what FitBit is made to track. I wouldn't log anything step related.

    Also your fitbit adjustment will be whatever you burn over and above what MFP already assumes you'll burn. So you have to reach that threshold first - and then you start getting an adjustment.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    MFP has a Fitbit Users group: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/1307-fitbit-users

    Your Fitbit burn is your TDEE—way more accurate than any online calculator. Your MFP calorie goal is your activity level minus your deficit. MFP looks at your Fitbit burn, calculates what it will be at 11:59 p.m., then compares that number to your activity level. So MFP estimates that at day's end you will have burned 120 calories more than whatever activity level you've chosen.

    Set your activity level to sedentary: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided

    Enable negative calorie adjustments. Otherwise, you won't eat at a deficit on less active days: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

    My adjustments got better & better each day, as if the system was "learning" my routine. So give it at least a week. If you eat less than your Fitbit burn, you will lose weight.

    Edited to add do not log step-based activity. Log non-step exercise (like swimming or spinning) either in Fitbit or in MFP—never both. I find Fitbit's burns to be way more accurate than MFP's one-size-fits-all guesstimates.
  • GingerLolita
    GingerLolita Posts: 738 Member
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    The fitbit adjustment isn't based on one particular activity. It adjusts your MFP calorie budget based on your TDEE. By choosing an activity setting on MFP, you're estimating your TDEE. Fitbit adjusts it to make it more accurate. You don't need to log treadmill exercises, as the fitbit should measure that. The only exercises you need to log are ones that fitbit is unable to measure.

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