Negative adjustments removing calories for other types of exercise

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lara_maccrimmon
lara_maccrimmon Posts: 46 Member
edited April 2015 in Social Groups
Hi, sorry if this has been asked before.

I have an UP move which syncs with MFP & have recently negative adjustments turned on. This morning I did some weight training for my arms & added it as a workout in UP & in the cardio bit of MFP. I have not gained any calories for it as the negative adjustment has deducted them all :( Obviously as it was not step based my UP has not given me any extra credit for it.

Any suggestions? Should I be putting things like this in the strength category instead? I also have FitStar connected & noticed it deducted calories from that as well.

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  • NEW_BEGINNINGS28
    NEW_BEGINNINGS28 Posts: 22 Member
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    I'm actually having the same problem with up.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    edited April 2015
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    I have an UP move which syncs with MFP & have recently negative adjustments turned on. This morning I did some weight training for my arms & added it as a workout in UP & in the cardio bit of MFP. I have not gained any calories for it as the negative adjustment has deducted them all :( Obviously as it was not step based my UP has not given me any extra credit for it.

    Your UP total burn is TDEE (aka your maintenance calories)—way more accurate than any online calculator. If you eat at a reasonable deficit from that, you will lose weight.

    When you connect an activity tracker to MFP, you have to let go of the idea that exercising instantly "earns" you more calories. That's not how it works. Your default MFP calorie goal is activity level minus deficit. Adjustments are the difference between your projected UP burn at 11:59 p.m. and your activity level.

    Click on any adjustment to see the math MFP used to calculate it. But negative adjustments mean you're burning fewer calories than your MFP activity level. Lower your activity level—and/or move more!
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    edited April 2015
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    Any suggestions? Should I be putting things like this in the strength category instead?

    No need to log any step-based activity—your UP is tracking it for you. Non-step exercise (like swimming or biking) can be logged either in UP or in MFP—never both.

    Exercise logged in MFP overwrites your UP burn during that time, so I log food & water in MFP and exercise in UP. It'll take trial & error to find which one you prefer—but never, ever log your exercise in MFP as 1 calorie. If you want your UP exercise to show up in your newsfeed, post it as a status update.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    edited April 2015
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    I also have FitStar connected & noticed it deducted calories from that as well.

    I would connect FitStar to UP, not to MFP. So FitStar > UP > MFP.
  • lara_maccrimmon
    lara_maccrimmon Posts: 46 Member
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    Thanks. I will try these :smile: might start logging the exercise just UP & disconnecting Fitstar from MFP.

  • lara_maccrimmon
    lara_maccrimmon Posts: 46 Member
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    Ok, so I used an app this morning that just connects to MFP & not UP. I did not log it as a workout in UP, but my negative adjustment has deducted all the calories from it. It was lunges & squats, so not something up would be able to track via movement. I realise I need to change the mind set, but it is a bit disheartening when you do an extra 15 mins of workout & the system reacts the same as if you were sat down :(
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    Click on today's adjustment to see the math MFP used to calculate it. Your calorie goal is activity level minus deficit, and MFP is predicting that by 11:59 p.m. you'll have burned fewer calories than your activity level.

    You have two options:
    1. Reduce your activity level: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided
    2. Move more!

    While you're doing step 1, make sure you've set your goal to .5 lb. per week for every 25 lbs. you're overweight.
  • lara_maccrimmon
    lara_maccrimmon Posts: 46 Member
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    editorgrrl wrote: »
    Click on today's adjustment to see the math MFP used to calculate it. Your calorie goal is activity level minus deficit, and MFP is predicting that by 11:59 p.m. you'll have burned fewer calories than your activity level.

    Ok, I get that, but there is a difference between the estimate burn in MFP used to calculate it & what it says in the UP app. I.e today, the UP app has my estimated burn as 3029, but in the calcs MFP only has it as 2753....I have added no exercise directly into MFP, only in the UP app.
  • timetravelforfitness
    timetravelforfitness Posts: 242 Member
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    I had this problem, and found that if I log the stuff into UP by hand, it works, but it will always subtract it if I add it from MFP. I don't know why, but that's just the way it works. The 3029-2753 difference I think is the amount of calories you're supposed to consume based on your basal rate? Mine does the same, but the amount is closer to 1200, so I'm not sure about that.