Did MFP change the Fitbit calorie adjustment approach?
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thrashertm
Posts: 12 Member
For the last week or so I've been seeing fewer calories in the adjustment . For example, today I lifted weights, did eliptical (~10K steps), rode my bike, and walked another ~10K steps. I added line items in MFP for the first three items. Fitbit shows ~20K steps, which would normally result in a ~300-400 calorie adjustment in MFP, but right now it's showing 0. I did have less activity for about 4 days last week while I was stuck in meetings and only getting about ~10K steps in / day instead of my normal 20K+. Could that have thrown it off?
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It might just be a lag between the 2 sites communicating.
That would be my guess anyway.
MFP might be seeing your calorie burn from before you did most of that activity.
Click the little "i" symbol (on website) next to Fitbit Calorie Adjustment to see when they last communicated.0 -
Odd - MFP I show ~130 calories burned - however the calculations are netting out to 0.
See below
Fitbit Calories Burned
Full Day Projection
(Based on 3413 calories burned as of 11:59 pm) 3413
MyFitnessPal Calories Burned
(Includes 1326 calories from exercise) 3449
Fitbit Calorie Adjustment
0 *
Line items I have entered -
Strength training (weight lifting, weight training) 35 127
Elliptical Trainer 48 632
Bicycling, <10 mph, leisure (cycling, biking, bike riding) 44 5670 -
You don't have negative calories enabled.
MFP subtracts it's estimate and exercise it knows about from the Fitbit daily burn.
3413 - 3449 = -36
So the math is correct.
And the Fitbit daily burn includes those 1326 from logged workouts, that's why it's subtracted to compare to MFP's daily burn estimate with NO exercise.
Normally it would be:
Fitbit daily burn - MFP estimated daily burn - exercise logged = calorie adjustment.
Say 3500 - 2000 - 1326 = 174 cal positive adjustment to eating goal.
So those steps for rest of the day, while decent number, weren't the same level of intensity as other days it appears.
You should compare on Fitbit for those days, VAM or AM time for the day.0 -
I've been having the same problem for the last couple of days - adjustment shows as "0", but my exercise levels have not changed. If anything, I'm doing more.
I posted this morning asking if anyone else has seen this - got one reply who said she experiences this a lot, and if she disconnects the reconnects, the adjustment shows up. Sounds like a communication issue between Fitbit and MFP.0 -
I've been having the same problem for the last couple of days - adjustment shows as "0", but my exercise levels have not changed. If anything, I'm doing more.
I posted this morning asking if anyone else has seen this - got one reply who said she experiences this a lot, and if she disconnects the reconnects, the adjustment shows up. Sounds like a communication issue between Fitbit and MFP.
Do you have negative calories enabled?
Did you click on the "i" for more info regarding the Fitbit Calorie adjustment?
Is food syncing over to Fitbit?0 -
I do not have negative calories enabled. I recently added calories to my dashboard on Fitbit. I removed it and now I am starting to see some adjustments show up in MFP, although the # of calories is far lower than before. Not sure if this was the root cause, or just a coincidence as my activity level has returned to normal (~20K+ steps/day)0
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I don't have negative calories enabled, and never have done. But you are right - clicking on the i reveals the calculation, which shows the adjustment is in fact zero - so it's not a sync problem. Thanks!
I wonder then why all of a sudden, even though I haven't changed my exercise levels, the calculations since around the 18th Feb are around zero. Odd.
But thanks again for your help @heybales :-)0 -
thrashertm wrote: »I do not have negative calories enabled.
Your Fitbit calorie adjustment is the difference between your MFP activity level and your Fitbit burn. If you disable negative calorie adjustments, then you won't eat at deficit on days you burn fewer calories than your activity level. (You'll just get a zero adjustment.)
Enable them in your diary settings: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings0 -
I don't have negative calories enabled, and never have done. But you are right - clicking on the i reveals the calculation, which shows the adjustment is in fact zero - so it's not a sync problem. Thanks!
I wonder then why all of a sudden, even though I haven't changed my exercise levels, the calculations since around the 18th Feb are around zero. Odd.
But thanks again for your help @heybales :-)
Exercise is rarely the biggest burner of the day.
Have you lost weight?
You burn less daily moving around less weight. MFP adjusts it's math every 10 lbs when it will be significant. Fitbit adjusts theirs every weight change.
Being winter perhaps in your locale, are you moving around as much daily, do your steps counts still seem to be as high on average as before?
And are the daily burn amounts as high on non-exercise days?
And do you have as much VAM and AM time in your charts?0 -
I don't have negative calories enabled, and never have done. But you are right - clicking on the i reveals the calculation, which shows the adjustment is in fact zero - so it's not a sync problem. Thanks!
I wonder then why all of a sudden, even though I haven't changed my exercise levels, the calculations since around the 18th Feb are around zero. Odd.
But thanks again for your help @heybales :-)
Exercise is rarely the biggest burner of the day.
Have you lost weight?
You burn less daily moving around less weight. MFP adjusts it's math every 10 lbs when it will be significant. Fitbit adjusts theirs every weight change.
Being winter perhaps in your locale, are you moving around as much daily, do your steps counts still seem to be as high on average as before?
And are the daily burn amounts as high on non-exercise days?
And do you have as much VAM and AM time in your charts?
Enabled the setting. I'm basically even on my weight gain. I'm not tracking food every day.
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I think Fitbit has been having some server issues the last couple of days. The challenges haven't been updating within the app & the Active Minutes aren't showing up, as well as not syncing with MFP right away. Seems to be a sporadic thing as mine usually works out by the end of the day. Hopefully it's all fixed up soon as I miss my Fitbit challenge updates. Lol0
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Did you get any resolution to this? I'm here a year later with the same problem. Is there a February Fitbit/MFP update or something?
I didn't use MFP over the weekend and first thing this morning right after a high intensity, hour long workout it actually SUBTRACTED calories from my day (I did have negative calories enabled.) I understand the methodology and saw where MFP and Fitbit were communicating. I get that the calorie adjustment is a prediction based on activity. But based on that if anything it should have given me too many calories. Not taken them away.
Normally outside of this last weekend I'm pretty religious about logging food and activity and I wear my fitbit 24/7. This change from positive adjustments with exercise to a negative adjustment is sudden and a huge change from the last couple of months of tracking. It's as if the formula has changed altogether. In the mean time I've unticked negative adjustments because MFP is already creating a deficit for me and while I have my exercise calories, I don't think it's healthy for MFP/Fitbit to be removing calories in that way despite it's formula. It just doesn't make sense.
I'm hoping it irons itself out with my tracking because it's kind of the whole point of this fitbit thing working with MFP.0 -
The time after the Fitbit/MFP sync, MFP estimates based on your selected activity level - what happen prior has no bearing on rest of the day.
You could have had a syncing issues - did you look at the Fitbit calorie adjustment blue "i" for more info for time of sync, Fitbit calories reported, and MFP calories used to do the math with?
Are those all correct?
If so, it is not unheard of for someone to have a high MFP activity level, have a good workout, and then be especially non-moving rest of the day because of it.
Meaning in essence - the workout helped the body - but did nothing in regards to burning more calories for the day in total.
But it's probably a bug when you look at the figures used for the math. Unless MFP has just been slow getting updated figures - in which case just wait.
Recent one has been the MFP daily burn, which should be static, is bouncing all over the place.
Fix on web MFP account is go to Apps tab, and Steps tab.
Select Fitbit Tracker or confirm it is selected.0 -
Did you get any resolution to this? I'm here a year later with the same problem. Is there a February Fitbit/MFP update or something?
I didn't use MFP over the weekend and first thing this morning right after a high intensity, hour long workout it actually SUBTRACTED calories from my day (I did have negative calories enabled.) I understand the methodology and saw where MFP and Fitbit were communicating. I get that the calorie adjustment is a prediction based on activity. But based on that if anything it should have given me too many calories. Not taken them away.
Normally outside of this last weekend I'm pretty religious about logging food and activity and I wear my fitbit 24/7. This change from positive adjustments with exercise to a negative adjustment is sudden and a huge change from the last couple of months of tracking. It's as if the formula has changed altogether. In the mean time I've unticked negative adjustments because MFP is already creating a deficit for me and while I have my exercise calories, I don't think it's healthy for MFP/Fitbit to be removing calories in that way despite it's formula. It just doesn't make sense.
I'm hoping it irons itself out with my tracking because it's kind of the whole point of this fitbit thing working with MFP.
I just thought I'd re-emphasize what heybales said at the end, and point out how to fix it in the app. I'm pretty sure you've been bitten by the "Steps source" bug. This bug has bitten many of us, and your symptoms sound exactly right. MFP has probably spontaneously changed your step source from "Fitbit Tracker" to something else (such as "Don't track steps"). Bizarrely, this changes MFP's calculation of your expected calorie burn.
In the app, go to Steps (on the iPhone, I've seen people say you get to this under "More", on an Android, it's on the menu) and make sure "Fitbit Tracker" is selected as the step source. As heybales said, on the website, go to the App page, then click on Steps at the top of the page to get to the same setting.0
