Fitbit/fitness pal sync messing me up!

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marycharron
marycharron Posts: 3
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone! Ok so I am feeling frustrated, I have synced my Fitbit and fitness pal and yesterday fitness pal took into consideration my exercise on Fitbit and adjusted (increased) my calories. I thought it seemed a bit excessive so I didn't eat them all back, I saved about 100. Well I'm glad I did because I woke up this morning, looked at yesterday's entry and it had adjusted again AFTER I had signed off for the day and now it says my exercise wasn't as much as originally calculated and I actually over ate by 150 cals!! Wtf!? Should I just ignore my exercise adjustment and follow what Fitness pal originally set up for me or is there a way to fix this? Thank you!!!
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Replies

  • SandyCoils
    SandyCoils Posts: 164 Member
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    Waiting for responses on this. I have a FitBit Charge and have not yet experienced this, but am anxious to see replies just in case.
  • GoalWeight165by2018
    GoalWeight165by2018 Posts: 48 Member
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    I'm waiting for a response, too. I have a fitbit, and I think maybe I should unsync it from my fitness pal? It keeps saying I've burned a ton of calories, and adding it to my eating, but I know I'm not burning that much just sitting at my desk!
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    When you sync your Fitbit, MFP is estimating what your burn will be for the day based on what you've burned up to that point. If you move more between that sync and your next one, you get more calories. If you move less, it takes them away. When I had my accounts connected, I could easily come home from a morning at work with a 600-calorie adjustment, but by the end of the day not doing much more it dropped to 350-400 calories.
  • maineforever
    maineforever Posts: 1 Member
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    I thought I synced my Fitbit with my fitness pal, although the steps I log on my Fitbit are not the same as what my fitness pal indicates I've walked. My fitness pal also says steps are iPhone adjustments!
  • mgtortora
    mgtortora Posts: 1 Member
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    I disconnected it after the same thing happened... and I think I gained a pound or two not realizing what it was doing. I try not to eat my exercise calories regardless. I think it's safer to use the two systems separately.
  • SandyCoils
    SandyCoils Posts: 164 Member
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    I think MFP gives a "forecasted" amount of calorie burn and FitBit gives a real-time cal burn. I think that's part of the problem. To be on the safe side, I always go with who gives me the least amount of cal allowance. Still would like to see more replies though.
  • GoalWeight165by2018
    GoalWeight165by2018 Posts: 48 Member
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    Thank you malibu927. Yeah, I did a workout in the morning, and fitbit saidf I burned 600 calories (woot!), but then MFP adjusted my calories for the day, and I deleted the adjustment. For the rest of the day I'm at my desk!!! That 600 was all that's gonna happen today!
  • GoalWeight165by2018
    GoalWeight165by2018 Posts: 48 Member
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    malibu927 - did you unsync the two?
  • Trissyboo
    Trissyboo Posts: 69 Member
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    Interesting account. I recently synced my fitbit with My Fitness pal and like everyone has stated it says that I have burned a ton of calories. However, I know what the calories are set for originally with myfitnesspal so no matter what my fitbit says I go by the calories set by MFP. So if I have 1700 calories for a day and the fit bit gives me more.. I still try to stay within those 1700 calories. Hopefully this helps some
  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
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    I had a similar problem ages ago, I *believe* the fix is to go to http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings and turn off (or on, if it's off) Enable Negative Adjustments. I think that was what fixed it for me, but this was months and months ago and I can't quite remember. You could also toggle the Calorie Estimation option on Fitbit's website and see what that does.
  • jfcarlson713
    jfcarlson713 Posts: 108 Member
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    I synced my Fitbit with MFP also but I only use MFP to log my food. When I compare calories burned with my Polar 4 they seem a lot closer on Fitbit. Remember that Fitbit is estimating your total calories burned throughout the day - not just from exercise. I tend to use that number when figuring out how many calories to eat during the day. My goal for calories burned during the day is currently at 2,200 so I keep my intake at 1400 - 1600 per day. I don't adjust daily. I pay more attention to weekly numbers since and average them per day.
    -
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    GoalWeight165by2016 wrote: »
    malibu927 - did you unsync the two?

    I only did because I now follow the TDEE method rather than MFP's goals. But I had them together for a year and lost 50+ pounds in that time, including eating back a portion of what was added by Fitbit.
  • marycharron
    marycharron Posts: 3
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    Thanks for the responses. I agree that I think from now on I will stay with my original fitness pal estimates. I don't like the idea of "predicted" amounts j don't know how you are supposed to plan your day when your calories are constantly changing!
  • 89nunu
    89nunu Posts: 1,082 Member
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    mfp gives an estimate based on what fitbit sayd on your last sync + what your rest of the day should be like based on your activity level you told fitbit. If you told fitbit you were active it will think the rest of your day will be very active too. In order to avoid these things happenening be cautious with your activity level on mfp.
  • mom2kpr
    mom2kpr Posts: 348 Member
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    DemoraFairy wrote: »
    I had a similar problem ages ago, I *believe* the fix is to go to http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings and turn off (or on, if it's off) Enable Negative Adjustments. I think that was what fixed it for me, but this was months and months ago and I can't quite remember. You could also toggle the Calorie Estimation option on Fitbit's website and see what that does.

    This. If you have the negative calorie adjustment off, it will not lower your daily allotted calories. It may add in FB adjusted calories if you are active. I have MFP set at my TDEE so I ignore those, unless I have an unusually active day.
  • pjcfrancis
    pjcfrancis Posts: 121 Member
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    I always leave some calories because I also have gone close to the limit but gone to bed thinking I was still under and then awoke to find that MFP says I went over. Now 15 cal on a 1000 cal deficit isn't really a problem, but I hate to see the red. Most days I end with about 300 cals under. Since I'm 6'2 and burn 3000 cals a day with exercise, that still lets me eat about 1700 cals a day, which is plenty.
  • jessicapk
    jessicapk Posts: 574 Member
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    I try to avoid eating back the Fitbit calories on work days but I love the fact that it rewards me for increased activity on my busy weekend days. I have never had Fitbit lower the calorie adjustment at the end of the day but I have MFP and Fitbit both set to sedentary so it's basing things on the lowest possible calorie burn. Even at a desk job, I get positive adjustments from the bit of walking I do during the day (and it makes me walk so much more!). So far, it's working great! I have literally jogged in place just to be able to make those extra steps to feel like I did something that day. It's one thing to convince myself to be more active in little ways but it's another to actually quantify it.
  • sandylion
    sandylion Posts: 451 Member
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    I have not had this experience with mine being synced... It takes them away in the morning, but then gives them back as I burn.
  • klbaierwalter
    klbaierwalter Posts: 309 Member
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    Did you enable negative adjustments? It will take what you actually burned vs what MFP says you should burn per day and adjust it accordingly. You can turn the negative adjustments off.
  • marycharron
    marycharron Posts: 3
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    No I didn't enable neg adjustment thanks to those who mentioned it I will try that and see if it works!

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