My activity tracker doesn't sync with MFP...

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abbeyjones1994
abbeyjones1994 Posts: 188 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Does anyone have suggestions of how to "credit" myself with the calories my Pivotal fitness tracker says I burn since it does not sync with MFP? I wear it when I work out as well, so my idea was to subtract the calorie count my HRM says I burn from my workout from what my tracker says I burn throughout the day (it only counts "active" calories) and credit myself with that through some general exercise entry. Does this seem like the right thing to do, or should I not bother? I usually burn a couple hundred calories after exercise according to the tracker, so if I could afford to eat more obviously I would love to do so, but I also don't want to risk double dipping and negating my deficit.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

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  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    You might want to create a spreadsheet or something to make it easier, but what you will want to do:

    -Find what MFP thinks you burn on a daily basis before exercise (this information is on the goal page)

    Now since your tracker doesn't account for BMR, go to the BMR calculator on MFP (it's under Apps)

    - Take your the daily burn number you found the first time and subtract your BMR from it

    Now you will now how many calories MFP is giving you for your day to day activities.

    - Take whatever your tracker says you burn and subtract the calories from the last step

    Now you should have a number that is safe to log and you should be able to create your own custom exercise log for it.

    While my tracker syncs with MFP, I can give you an example:
    • MFP estimated daily burn without exercise : 1990
    • BMR estimate: 1406
    • 1990 - 1406 = 584
    • Current Calorie Burn : 2122
    • My tracker accounts for BMR, so I have the extra step of taking that out. It gives me 1440 for BMR.
    • 2122-1440 = 682
    • 682 - 584 = 98
      98 would be what is currently safe to log. It is only 6:30 pm however and I know that this will change before midnight, because there is no way I'm going to bed now. If I was going this route and doing it before the day is over, I might add something like 50 calories to the number I got from the last step (unless of course I did it right before bed).

    Now you could actually probably set up a spreadsheet with all the formula's so that all you have to do is enter the calorie burn from your device.
  • abbeyjones1994
    abbeyjones1994 Posts: 188 Member
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    Okay! This is what I got...568 seems high to me, but I am set to sedentary on MFP so it might be right. So would 568 be my total burn for the day so far, and that's how many I could theoretically eat back?
    • MFP estimated daily burn without exercise : 1570
    • BMR estimate: 1255
    • 1570 - 1255 = 315
    • Current Calorie Burn : 883
    • 883 - 315 = 568
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    Yep. According to what you've said the 568 is what you burned beyond what MFP thought you would burn. So yes, if your tracker is correct, then those should be perfectly okay to eat back.
  • abbeyjones1994
    abbeyjones1994 Posts: 188 Member
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    This is so helpful! Thank you so much! Hopefully I don't have to do this for long, as I'm going to ask for a Fitbit for my birthday, but for the time being I'm going to go about it this way. :)

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