Calories Disappearing?????

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dragonmatrix
dragonmatrix Posts: 2
in Getting Started
Can someone explain why my calories deplete when I don't eat anything? I have noticed during the day my calories disappear even when I didn't eat anything so by the end of the day even after walking calories still go in to the negative.

Thanks !!

Replies

  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    I looked at your diary from yesterday and under the exercise diary, it shows a negative adjustment from your UP. I'm not sure how these work, you may want to ask about that specifically or search for discussions about UP for more info.
  • dragonmatrix
    dragonmatrix Posts: 2
    edited November 2014
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    oh ok I'm using UP to only count steps, is it that I need to eat more to keep the calories up maybe?
  • SmartAlec03211988
    SmartAlec03211988 Posts: 1,896 Member
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    Your UP adds or subtracts calories based upon your activity - if you're not active enough it takes away calories to account for that. If you're more active than usual than it rewards you with more.

    In other words; be more active.
  • echofm1
    echofm1 Posts: 471 Member
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    There is likely a button on your UP profile that says "allow negative calories." Basically, if you don't get in as many steps as UP thinks you should that day, it's taking away calories. I don't have UP so I don't know where that setting would be, but I've seen it with the Fitbit so I'm pretty sure it exists.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    If MFP sees you aren't moving much when you sync your UP, it realizes you're not going to burn as many calories as your maintenance, so it takes away calories to keep you in the same deficit.
  • markdmia
    markdmia Posts: 5 Member
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    I have this same issue with my Misfit Flash (activity/step tracker). I agree that if I have a really sedentary day that MFP should take calories away based on my non-activity, but it's also taking calories away from exercising that I do which I don't agree with. For instance when I do fitness workouts where I'm not taking steps but still burning calories I log those calories in MFP but then MFP takes calories away because they didn't register on my Flash. I would disable the negative calories setting but I do want it to go negative if I don't exercise and don't do much walking. Just not when I do exercise.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    markdmia wrote: »
    I have this same issue with my Misfit Flash (activity/step tracker). I agree that if I have a really sedentary day that MFP should take calories away based on my non-activity, but it's also taking calories away from exercising that I do which I don't agree with. For instance when I do fitness workouts where I'm not taking steps but still burning calories I log those calories in MFP but then MFP takes calories away because they didn't register on my Flash. I would disable the negative calories setting but I do want it to go negative if I don't exercise and don't do much walking. Just not when I do exercise.
    Rather than log the activity on MFP log it on your Misfit Flash. The Fitbit/MPF combo does the same thing if I log activities into MFP and not on the Fitbit site.

    Personally, I log it on both sites and then delete the MFP entry. That gives my MFP friends the message in their feed that I completed a workout but doesn't mess up my calorie allotment.
  • radcliff17
    radcliff17 Posts: 22 Member
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    Has anyone else noticed that there numbers change the next day. Yesterday when I went to bed I had 47 calories left for the day But this morning I flipped back to yesterday to make sure I added an item and discovered that now my calories were in the negative? This is the second time I have noticed this?
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    radcliff17 wrote: »
    Has anyone else noticed that there numbers change the next day. Yesterday when I went to bed I had 47 calories left for the day But this morning I flipped back to yesterday to make sure I added an item and discovered that now my calories were in the negative? This is the second time I have noticed this?

    Depending what time you go to bed, yes, this is very common. Just because you have ended your day by going to sleep, the system is on a 24 hour clock. So when you are sleeping, you are burning less calories than you were when you were up and moving around. The system (MFP or whatever activity tracker you are using) will adjust those calories downward.

    Depending what time I call it a night I can lose anywhere from 50-150 calories before the next morning so I usually try to account for that and leave a few on the table for that purpose.

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    radcliff17 wrote: »
    Has anyone else noticed that there numbers change the next day. Yesterday when I went to bed I had 47 calories left for the day But this morning I flipped back to yesterday to make sure I added an item and discovered that now my calories were in the negative? This is the second time I have noticed this?

    It adjusts when you sync your tracker and adds in the remaining burn from the previous day. I'll do mine now as an example...

    Calories left 11/10/14 when I last synced my Fitbit (about 8 PM): 153
    Calories left 11/10/14 after syncing my Fitbit now (11:18 AM): 62

    My actual burn for those four hours was 91 calories less than what it assumed it would be. Which makes sense, as I relaxed on the couch and went to bed at 11. But since MFP uses an average throughout the day to calculate burns from an activity tracker, going from midnight to midnight, you're probably not going to get as much as it thinks unless you exercise late in the evening.
  • kristy6ward
    kristy6ward Posts: 332 Member
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    radcliff17 wrote: »
    Has anyone else noticed that there numbers change the next day. Yesterday when I went to bed I had 47 calories left for the day But this morning I flipped back to yesterday to make sure I added an item and discovered that now my calories were in the negative? This is the second time I have noticed this?

    That happens a lot to me. I use a fitbit and it's set so that its estimating my calorie burn per day based on previous days. In actuality, I burned less than it was estimating I would for the 24 hr period, hence the disappearing calories. That time period after dinner and before midnight is really a toss up.
  • radcliff17
    radcliff17 Posts: 22 Member
    edited November 2014
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    but I synced my tracker right before bed, so it should have already done any adjustments? and yes I excercise between 8 pm and 9 pm and sync right when i finish at the gym.
  • SnuggleSmacks
    SnuggleSmacks Posts: 3,732 Member
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    If you're having problems with negative adjustments often, then your activity level in your fitness tracker is set too high. It starts the day expecting you to have a certain activity level, and if you don't make it, then it has to subtract those calories. With my Bodymedia, I set both the Bodymedia app and MFP to sedentary. That way it always has calories to add. This works very well for me as a second-shifter who often eats and gyms in the middle of the night.

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