Bodymedia Link

hmontigney
hmontigney Posts: 56 Member
edited November 19 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, guys! This question has probably been asked several times but I figured why not try again.

I purchased the Bodymedia Link a few weeks ago. Had a little bit of a rough time getting it set up but once that was over, I fell in love. I love being able to see how many calories I'm burning in a day. My only issue is, it seems to be giving me an exercise adjustment in MFP that seems a bit high. For example, I synced my data about an hour ago and MFP gave me roughly 300 exercise calories so far today. I work a desk job so I'm pretty sedentary for most of the day. I believe it said I only walked around 2,300 steps so far. Where on Earth did those 300 exercise calories come from?

So now my daily calorie goal went from 1,230 to 1,589 and I didn't even get my workout in yet! It makes me nervous to think about eating that many calories. Has anyone had an experience like this? Should I ignore it or maybe eat a portion of them? I worry about the calculations being wrong, eating too much and then not losing. HELP!

Thanks in advance! :)

Replies

  • Em2je05
    Em2je05 Posts: 215 Member
    Make sure that in your settings you are set to sedentary! I eat some of the calories back, however not all of them. I also don't sync mine until the evening and just watch how much I am burning on the app.
  • PeachyPlum
    PeachyPlum Posts: 1,243 Member
    I love my Bodymedia tracker too - I've found it to be extremely accurate!

    My guess is that MFP has underestimated how much you actually burn. It's not that you actually (necessarily) did 300 calories worth of true exercise, just that you're burning more calories than MFP predicted.

    I had the same "problem" with mine. On a fairly sedentary day at my desk job, I burn 1700 calories even if I don't exercise after work. When I had MFP set at "lightly active" it assumed I would burn about 1450, so whenever it synced, it would give me 250 exercise calories to eat.
  • gurlofgod
    gurlofgod Posts: 15 Member
    I had the same thing happen to me! The thing most people don't consider is that you are burning calories ALL DAY, not just when you exercise. your basic expenditure is essentially what your body burns in a coma, doing NOTHING. Every time you walk around or do anything burns calories. Though I am fairly sedentary too...MFP tells me 1500-1600 is my "base", but my BodyMedia Link told me I burn roughly 2200-2500 on my most sedentary days. sometimes 3000 calories per day when I am exercising hard! I totally loved all the info the device gave me...it was just a little bulky and conspicuous so I stopped wearing it regularly. Try upping your calories 100-200 and see if you still lose. Who knows; you may lose even faster! :)
  • PeachyPlum
    PeachyPlum Posts: 1,243 Member
    I wouldn't set my settings to sedentary. All that's going to do is have MFP predict a really low burn for you and then award you a TON of extra exercise calories.

    I adjusted my activity setting to whatever caused to roughly arrive at what my Bodymedia tells me I burn every day (I think I had to set it to very active, even though I don't consider myself to be). Now it expects me to burn a lot more calories, and it only awards me exercise calories when I go over that.

    It's just way easier to plan your eating when you're not suddenly being handed 480 extra calories when you sync up at 7:30 at night!
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