Negative calories?

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artamarta
artamarta Posts: 11 Member
in Getting Started
Can anyone explain me why when I add exercise, I have less calories to consume? Shouldn't be the other way round?

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  • qwikstreet
    qwikstreet Posts: 94 Member
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    You might be looking at it wrong. You have your daily goal allowed and then your calories already consumed which then shows you how many calories you have left for the day. When I add exercises in I get more calories left for the day. Sometimes if I workout early in the morning I burn more calories than I consumed so I will have a negative number in calories already consumed. It threw me off the first time I saw it too.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    just NET the number MFP gives you …so if MFP says eat 1500 and you burn 300 then you eat 1800 - 300 = 1500 …< caveat - you probably only want to eat back half of burned calories because burn estimates tend to be wrong on the hight side.
  • isulo_kura
    isulo_kura Posts: 818 Member
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    qwikstreet wrote: »
    You might be looking at it wrong. You have your daily goal allowed and then your calories already consumed which then shows you how many calories you have left for the day. When I add exercises in I get more calories left for the day. Sometimes if I workout early in the morning I burn more calories than I consumed so I will have a negative number in calories already consumed. It threw me off the first time I saw it too.
    This the figure you're probably seeing is the NET calories. If your allowance is 1500 calories and you do 1700 calories of exercise your NET calories will be -200 meaning you have 1700 to hit 1500 net. On the web version the big green number is what you have left including your exercise (calories remaining below it). Hope that makes sense
  • CyberTone
    CyberTone Posts: 7,337 Member
    edited March 2015
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    Your Exercise Diary shows an entry for Fitbit Calorie adjustment. Since it is displaying negative Calories, you have "enabled negative adjustments" in your settings. If you have not burned enough Calories from movement, such as first thing in the day, your Fitbit Calorie adjustment will take away Calories and let you know that unless you move more, you can't eat more, or you have to eat less than you originally have planned. As you move throughout the day, and the Fitbit and MFP resync, you should get a positive Calorie adjustment. If it stays negative, you may not be moving enough.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Yep, my jawbone doesn't start kicking in calories burned until I hit about 4000 steps that day.
  • chriscruz83
    chriscruz83 Posts: 23 Member
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    CyberTone wrote: »
    Your Exercise Diary shows an entry for Fitbit Calorie adjustment. Since it is displaying negative Calories, you have "enabled negative adjustments" in your settings. If you have not burned enough Calories from movement, such as first thing in the day, your Fitbit Calorie adjustment will take away Calories and let you know that unless you move more, you can't eat more, or you have to eat less than you originally have planned. As you move throughout the day, and the Fitbit and MFP resync, you should get a positive Calorie adjustment. If it stays negative, you may not be moving enough.

    Thank You for that!!
  • jkal1979
    jkal1979 Posts: 1,896 Member
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    CyberTone wrote: »
    Your Exercise Diary shows an entry for Fitbit Calorie adjustment. Since it is displaying negative Calories, you have "enabled negative adjustments" in your settings. If you have not burned enough Calories from movement, such as first thing in the day, your Fitbit Calorie adjustment will take away Calories and let you know that unless you move more, you can't eat more, or you have to eat less than you originally have planned. As you move throughout the day, and the Fitbit and MFP resync, you should get a positive Calorie adjustment. If it stays negative, you may not be moving enough.

    Along with this, there is no need to add in your step based activity like running to your diary. The Fitbit is tracking it. It also increases your chances of messing up your exercise calories if you don't have the correct start and stop time on any exercise that you add.

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