Confused about Net Calories with Fitbit
CM9178
Posts: 1,251 Member
So I have a fitbit synched with MFP. In the morning, MFP will give me a lower calorie goal number based off what it thinks I'm going to burn (usually in the morning my goal is around 1250 because my TDEE is around 1750).
As the day goes on, and my fitbit records that I'm burning more calories, MFP slowly begins increasing my calorie goal for the day.
So on a regular day that I don't work out this is fine, I eat 1250, I net 1250, I'm good.
My confusion comes with workout days. MFP updates my calorie goal to include those calories. Yesterday is a good example of that, my goal ended up increasing to 1453 based off exercise, and I ate 1308.
My Fitbit calories burned yesterday were 1941 including the exercise.
When I look at my NET calories for yesterday on MFP (under reports), it shows 1195.
This isn't making any sense to me. Had I not worked out yesterday, I only would've eaten 1250.
I ate MORE, because I worked out....(MFP said I burned 239 exercising yesterday, so I tried to only eat about half of those calories back).
The way I look at it is, I burned 1941 calories all day INCLUDING working out.
I consumed a total of 1308 calories. Therefore, my deficit for the day is 633 calories, right???
Am I doing this wrong????
As the day goes on, and my fitbit records that I'm burning more calories, MFP slowly begins increasing my calorie goal for the day.
So on a regular day that I don't work out this is fine, I eat 1250, I net 1250, I'm good.
My confusion comes with workout days. MFP updates my calorie goal to include those calories. Yesterday is a good example of that, my goal ended up increasing to 1453 based off exercise, and I ate 1308.
My Fitbit calories burned yesterday were 1941 including the exercise.
When I look at my NET calories for yesterday on MFP (under reports), it shows 1195.
This isn't making any sense to me. Had I not worked out yesterday, I only would've eaten 1250.
I ate MORE, because I worked out....(MFP said I burned 239 exercising yesterday, so I tried to only eat about half of those calories back).
The way I look at it is, I burned 1941 calories all day INCLUDING working out.
I consumed a total of 1308 calories. Therefore, my deficit for the day is 633 calories, right???
Am I doing this wrong????
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Replies
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I think your way of looking at it is right. Maybe someone who uses 'net calories' will chime in and explain how it makes sense with Fitbit synching here. I think it's saying you ate 1308 and your 'exercise' (or rather the Fitbit burn minus your MFP estimated burn at the end of the day) was 113 (1308 minus 1195)? To me, 'net calories' makes no sense and is better off ignored.
If you go to MFP's page My Home, Goals, and look at the calories it expects you to burn in a day, is it 1941-113= 1828, or around there?0 -
Here's a link to the FitBit users group. New format here makes it hard to find things. You'll likely get better information over there....
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users0 -
Net calories is how many calories you've eaten after accounting for exercise
So say you're given 1500 calories to eat that's based on you doing nothing all day except lying flat. So you eat them all, then you log exercise worth 500 calories, your net calories eaten would be 1000
Or have I misread your question0 -
As of right now, it shows:
Calories Burned
From Normal Daily Activity 1,830 cal/day
So yes..0 -
Net calories is how many calories you've eaten after accounting for exercise
So say you're given 1500 calories to eat that's based on you doing nothing all day except lying flat. So you eat them all, then you log exercise worth 500 calories, your net calories eaten would be 1000
Or have I misread your question
But Fitbit automatically makes MFP increase your daily goal number based off your exercise. I ate MORE because of that. Had I only ate 1250 and then burned 249 exercising, I could understand why I'd be under. But I ate 1308 to accomodate for exercise, I should've netted
If it said I netted 1100, I would've had to eat another 400 calories to net at 1300.. which makes no sense.0 -
What?
Your TDEE according to fitbit yesterday was 1941
You ate 1453
So your defecit is 488 calories
Without exercise your TDEE is 1750
You eat 1250
Your defecit is 500
You earned 191 calories of exercise
You eat 1250+191 calories you stay at the defecit of 500
You don't eat your exercise calories and you've eaten 1059 net calories
It's not far off
During the day MFP has an estimate of how much you'll burn based on what you've done already on your fitbit - take it with a pinch of salt if you do all your exercise in the morning it might be out a bit - best to go on what it says on fitbit app during the day and complete your day on MFP the following day when you have an accurate burn up to midnight
Oh and make sure your time is set properly on MFP - mine was set to pacific standard despite being UK based and it messed up the estimates for a while0 -
Maybe I can explain this better. If I wasn't using a fitbit, MFP would have a daily calorie goal set for me, say 1250 calories. Then, I workout, and burn 200 calories. If I only ate 1250 calories that day, then I really would've netted 1050 calories.
If I eat another 200 calories, now I've eaten 1450 and burned 200, so I netted 1250.
With the Fitbit, the daily goal automatically increases after exercise, basically automatically forcing you to eat back those exercise calories, which I did. Rather than only eat 1250, I ate 1308 to make up for calories burned.0 -
What?
Your TDEE according to fitbit yesterday was 1941
You ate 1453
So your defecit is 488 calories
Without exercise your TDEE is 1750
You eat 1250
Your defecit is 500
You earned 191 calories of exercise
You eat 1250+191 calories you stay at the defecit of 500
It's not far off
During the day MFP has an estimate of how much you'll burn based on what you've done already on your fitbit - take it with a pinch of salt if you do all your exercise in the morning it might be out a bit
I didn't eat 1453 yesterday, I ate 1308, so my deficit was actually 633, not 488.
But, I have NO quesiton about this. My issue is MFP, Under the reports section, shows NET CALORIES for yesterday at 1195. How is that possible??
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Here is a screenshot from the last week (ignore today since I'm not done eating yet).
Every day I've been eating at around a 500 cal +- 100 or so calories off of my daily burn. None of these should be under 1250.
*actually the only time these numbers are right are on days I didn't work out, for example Sunday, I actually only consumed 1131 and that's what it is showing I netted.
Aren't you just supposed to look at your daily burn and take your deficit off that and then eat that number? That's exactly what I"m doing, so how could I be netting less????0 -
In my post above I showed where the 1195 came from.
"Net calories" doesn't make sense intuitively. Your deficit is your burn (all of it) minus your intake. Your 'exercise burn' (or in this case your Fitbit burn excess over your MFP estimated burn) is only meaningful in that it allows you to eat more than your original MFP estimate. Subtracting that from your actual intake yields a 'net calories' value but it doesn't mean anything of value, in my opinion. I would ignore it and forge ahead with the Fitbit estimates.0 -
WalkingAlong wrote: »In my post above I showed where the 1195 came from.
"Net calories" doesn't make sense intuitively. Your deficit is your burn (all of it) minus your intake. Your 'exercise burn' (or in this case your Fitbit burn excess over your MFP estimated burn) is only meaningful in that it allows you to eat more than your original MFP estimate. Subtracting that from your actual intake yields a 'net calories' value but it doesn't mean anything of value, in my opinion. I would ignore it and forge ahead with the Fitbit estimates.
Seems to me like REALLY poor design on MFP's part, no?
It should be able to give me an accurate report....
It isn't so much that the Fitbit burn "allows you to eat over your MFP number", it forces you to eat back your exercise calories in order to net at your goal number. MFP just isn't realizing thats what you did.0 -
Also, Fitbit's estimate keep revising all the way up til midnight, past when you're done eating and checking it. So you might be eating 'dead on' to hit your originally intended deficit but after you go to bed the Fitbit estimate of your burn changes some, so you wind up being 'net' more or less than you predicted.
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Nevermind0
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I am totally there with you, something isnt right. Actually I wish it would'nt automatically update like it does because it would mess me up and I never lost any weight as I conciously ate back my calories because I felt it was ok. When I had the nike fuelband I liked it better because I would add in the calories myself. Plus nowadays my fitbit has too many issues, wondering if its time to just say good bye to it!0
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I am totally there with you, something isnt right. Actually I wish it would'nt automatically update like it does because it would mess me up and I never lost any weight as I conciously ate back my calories because I felt it was ok. When I had the nike fuelband I liked it better because I would add in the calories myself. Plus nowadays my fitbit has too many issues, wondering if its time to just say good bye to it!
I'm not having too much of an issue with calorie goal because I know how much to eat on non exericse days and I pretty much burn around the same amount of calories when I do work out, so I know what I should be eating on those days then. I don't go to bed until around 11pm and I can get a pretty good estimate of how much I'm going to burn before midnight, because I'm just sitting on the couch and I burn around 1.2 calories per minute sitting there.
I just wanted to make sure I was doing this right, and now I think I am.
I look at my fitbit calories burned for the day and take my deficit off that number - and eat that number. Ignore what MFP says I "netted" for that day.
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What?
Your TDEE according to fitbit yesterday was 1941
You ate 1453
So your defecit is 488 calories
Without exercise your TDEE is 1750
You eat 1250
Your defecit is 500
You earned 191 calories of exercise
You eat 1250+191 calories you stay at the defecit of 500
You don't eat your exercise calories and you've eaten 1059 net calories
It's not far off
During the day MFP has an estimate of how much you'll burn based on what you've done already on your fitbit - take it with a pinch of salt if you do all your exercise in the morning it might be out a bit - best to go on what it says on fitbit app during the day and complete your day on MFP the following day when you have an accurate burn up to midnight
Oh and make sure your time is set properly on MFP - mine was set to pacific standard despite being UK based and it messed up the estimates for a while
Nevermind
I'll take that as "thank you for trying anyway" and walk away0 -
I agree! I think 'net calories' is a strange value that makes sense somewhat if you're following MFP's plan alone (no Fitbit input) AND if you don't hit the 1200 floor. Otherwise I think it's just nonsensical.I look at my fitbit calories burned for the day and take my deficit off that number - and eat that number. Ignore what MFP says I "netted" for that day.
0 -
What?
Your TDEE according to fitbit yesterday was 1941
You ate 1453
So your defecit is 488 calories
Without exercise your TDEE is 1750
You eat 1250
Your defecit is 500
You earned 191 calories of exercise
You eat 1250+191 calories you stay at the defecit of 500
You don't eat your exercise calories and you've eaten 1059 net calories
It's not far off
During the day MFP has an estimate of how much you'll burn based on what you've done already on your fitbit - take it with a pinch of salt if you do all your exercise in the morning it might be out a bit - best to go on what it says on fitbit app during the day and complete your day on MFP the following day when you have an accurate burn up to midnight
Oh and make sure your time is set properly on MFP - mine was set to pacific standard despite being UK based and it messed up the estimates for a while
Nevermind
I'll take that as "thank you for trying anyway" and walk away
No I had posted a response and then realized I was wrong, so deleted it.0 -
WalkingAlong wrote: »
I agree! I think 'net calories' is a strange value that makes sense somewhat if you're following MFP's plan alone (no Fitbit input) AND if you don't hit the 1200 floor. Otherwise I think it's just nonsensical.I look at my fitbit calories burned for the day and take my deficit off that number - and eat that number. Ignore what MFP says I "netted" for that day.
I wonder how many people are looking at this "net" number and wrongly eating too many calories to make up for it.
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WalkingAlong wrote: »
I agree! I think 'net calories' is a strange value that makes sense somewhat if you're following MFP's plan alone (no Fitbit input) AND if you don't hit the 1200 floor. Otherwise I think it's just nonsensical.I look at my fitbit calories burned for the day and take my deficit off that number - and eat that number. Ignore what MFP says I "netted" for that day.
I was just looking at you profile. That thread you linked to about counting WW points on MFP was actually posted by me!! How random!0 -
Do you have negative calories enabled? I turned mine off, so on MFP I have my goal then it will add my exercise calories from fitbit and then I choose however many to eat back. I primarily do this since I don't exercise until later in the day and I don't like MFP adjusting my calorie needs throughout the day, but it may display better for you this way too. Just a thought
Editing: I may have misread your post. I also see that my daily burns between MFP and Fitbit don't exactly align and use my Fitbit as the more accurate number.0 -
WalkingAlong wrote: »
I agree! I think 'net calories' is a strange value that makes sense somewhat if you're following MFP's plan alone (no Fitbit input) AND if you don't hit the 1200 floor. Otherwise I think it's just nonsensical.I look at my fitbit calories burned for the day and take my deficit off that number - and eat that number. Ignore what MFP says I "netted" for that day.
I was just looking at you profile. That thread you linked to about counting WW points on MFP was actually posted by me!! How random!
Oh that's funny! Whoever wrote that little utility, it sure helped a lot of people. I used to count points here but it's easier to just count calories.
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SkinnyGirlCarrie wrote: »Do you have negative calories enabled? I turned mine off, so on MFP I have my goal then it will add my exercise calories from fitbit and then I choose however many to eat back. I primarily do this since I don't exercise until later in the day and I don't like MFP adjusting my calorie needs throughout the day, but it may display better for you this way too. Just a thought
Editing: I may have misread your post. I also see that my daily burns between MFP and Fitbit don't exactly align and use my Fitbit as the more accurate number.
I do have negative calories enabled and I don't really mind it updating throughout the day even though I don't work out until later. As I said, I pretty much know how many calories I'm going to end up burning anyway, unless I have some random out of the norm day with a TON of extra calories burned, which is extremely rare.0
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