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Fitbit negative adjustments

picasso66
picasso66 Posts: 38 Member
edited November 2024 in Getting Started
I've been doing Weight Watchers and have lost 59 lbs. but was struggling with having a constant loss despite staying within the point structure and exercising. I decided to give MFP a try and lost 2 lbs the first week then I read in the forums to enable the negative adjustment to have better success. I did this for this last week, finished every day under calorie goal yet lost nothing. Has anyone else experienced this and should I leave it unchecked? What I find very confusing is I originally had my setting at sedentary but the calories on MFP and Fitbit didn't match so I moved it to active and MFP was still off. I am in an office desk job all day, get most of my activity during breaks and daily gym visits and achieve on average 13k steps. Help anyone??

Replies

  • shadowfax_c11
    shadowfax_c11 Posts: 1,942 Member
    Enable negative adjustments. Eat at least half of your fitbit adjustments. And just be paitent. Some weeks you won't loose, some days you will gain. Some weeks you will loose a little and some weeks you will loose a lot. You have to look at the long term trends.

    Don't worry too much about whether the calories match in the two apps. The Fitbit adjustments are based on your actual activity. Trust it.
  • JanelleG0122
    JanelleG0122 Posts: 323 Member
    I am not a fan of negative adjustments, but that is just a personal choice. There will be weeks that you don't lose and it doesn't matter what program that you use. The fact that you haven't lost weight in a week should not be discouraging because one week of losing doesn't mean that you aren't progressing. I'm not sure what you mean by the calories on MFP and Fitbit don't match,so I can't really answer there. I just log my food into MFP and it calculates perfectly into my Fitbit. I work at a job where I am standing and moving all day, walk around on my breaks and go to the gym 3-4 times a week and I only have my activity level set as lightly active. It's all a sense of preference. I would keep doing what you're doing for another 2 weeks or so. If the scale still doesn't move than I would reevaluate your goals, but don't change them just because of one week of not losing.
  • picasso66
    picasso66 Posts: 38 Member
    Thank you both for the input. I will be patient
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    edited July 2015
    One week isn't enough time to figure out if something is working or not for you, as weight loss is not linear. Keep negative adjustments checked, as that will let MFP decrease your calories if you have a day where you don't move enough to reach your expected maintenance calories (down to the 1200 calorie floor) so you aren't overeating on those days.
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,371 Member
    You need to be set to sedentary here because that is set according to your work. If you always get more than 5000 steps a day then don't worry about having negative adjustments enabled as it won't take anything off of you by the end of the day anyway. Then you'll get positive adjustments anyway for all the extras you do. I only get a negative adjustment if I have a sick day.
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,371 Member
    Not losing may have absolutely nothing to do with the change you've made remember. Could be water, hormones, anything but just coincides.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    WaterBunnie wrote: »
    You need to be set to sedentary here because that is set according to your work. If you always get more than 5000 steps a day then don't worry about having negative adjustments enabled as it won't take anything off of you by the end of the day anyway. Then you'll get positive adjustments anyway for all the extras you do. I only get a negative adjustment if I have a sick day.

    You don't need to be. Until last month I was set to lightly active. The only difference now is that I get a bigger adjustment, but it still comes to the same amount of calories.
  • shadowfax_c11
    shadowfax_c11 Posts: 1,942 Member
    Mine is set to highly active. The only time I get negative adjustments is when I have a rare day when I am intentionally very lazy. And on those days I expect it and am glad for the negative adjustment helping me to eat according to my actual needs.
  • jkal1979
    jkal1979 Posts: 1,896 Member
    When you say that the calories on the Fitbit and MFP don't match up, are you talking about the calorie goal given?
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    Connect your accounts at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/fitbit

    Set your goal to .5 lb. for every 25 lbs. you're overweight: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided

    Enable negative calorie adjustments: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

    Ignore your Fitbit calorie goal and follow MFP's, eating back your adjustments.

    You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users
  • dubird
    dubird Posts: 1,849 Member
    I don't like having negative adjustments. Fitbit will constantly update your calorie limit over the course of the day based on your activity, and until you meet the calories burned goal in Fitbit, it will take away from MFP. I hate that because I know on non-active days, my calorie limit on MFP still gives me a deficit, so I don't want it going down. However, having Fitbit add when I do exercise is helpful.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    edited July 2015
    dubird wrote: »
    I know on non-active days, my calorie limit on MFP still gives me a deficit, so I don't want it going down.

    Sorry, but you're wrong. With negative calorie adjustments disabled you never eat at a true deficit on days you burn fewer calories than your activity level.

    Your default calorie goal is activity level minus deficit, and adjustments are the difference between your Fitbit burn (which is TDEE) and your MFP activity level.
  • picasso66
    picasso66 Posts: 38 Member
    I appreciate all the comments but I am seriously not getting this at all and feel pretty dumb right about now.

    I'm set up as sedentary to lose 2lbs a week and enabled the Fitbit negative adjustments. I've added everything in my diary for the day of what I anticipate to eat today. Here's how my board looks.

    Goal: 1200
    Food: 1575
    Exercise: 41
    NET: 1534

    Calories remaining: -334 (in RED because I’m over on calories IN)

    Here's what I think this means
    • Food minus exercise = NET
    • NET minus Goal = Calories remaining

    My questions:
    1. Do I need to move more to gain a positive adjustment from Fitbit so that at the end of the day, the calories remaining is zero or GREEN?

      OR
    2. Is the goal at the end of the day have a caloric deficit of 375+ since that's how much more I've eaten than the MFP goal of 1200?

    I know there is more to this with the macronutrients and all but I just need to know for starters is how I’m explaining it correct?
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,371 Member
    Your food minus exercise should equal your goal so that you're just about in the green, allowing for continual adjustment after you've put your feet up for the night. It'll soon be second nature.
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,371 Member
    malibu927 wrote: »
    WaterBunnie wrote: »
    You need to be set to sedentary here because that is set according to your work. If you always get more than 5000 steps a day then don't worry about having negative adjustments enabled as it won't take anything off of you by the end of the day anyway. Then you'll get positive adjustments anyway for all the extras you do. I only get a negative adjustment if I have a sick day.

    You don't need to be. Until last month I was set to lightly active. The only difference now is that I get a bigger adjustment, but it still comes to the same amount of calories.

    No, true, you don't need to be, but it is how MFP is designed to be used and it then limits negative adjustments and makes it easier to plan meals for the day I find.
  • dubird
    dubird Posts: 1,849 Member
    picasso66 wrote: »
    I appreciate all the comments but I am seriously not getting this at all and feel pretty dumb right about now.

    I'm set up as sedentary to lose 2lbs a week and enabled the Fitbit negative adjustments. I've added everything in my diary for the day of what I anticipate to eat today. Here's how my board looks.

    Goal: 1200
    Food: 1575
    Exercise: 41
    NET: 1534

    Calories remaining: -334 (in RED because I’m over on calories IN)

    Here's what I think this means
    • Food minus exercise = NET
    • NET minus Goal = Calories remaining

    My questions:
    1. Do I need to move more to gain a positive adjustment from Fitbit so that at the end of the day, the calories remaining is zero or GREEN?

      OR
    2. Is the goal at the end of the day have a caloric deficit of 375+ since that's how much more I've eaten than the MFP goal of 1200?

    I know there is more to this with the macronutrients and all but I just need to know for starters is how I’m explaining it correct?


    I think your goal is too low. Are you letting MFP set your goal, or doing it yourself? If doing it yourself, how are you calculating it?

    For me, I set it to sedentary on both, but still had to adjust a little bit. The sedentary calorie goals from MFP with a half pound/week loss deficit was about 1400/day. Even with that, it wasn't losing, so did my best to calculate my TDEE and ended up adjusting down about 100 calories. I've set my Fitbit to the same goal, and don't worry about negative adjustments. For me, that basic goal on MFP is already set to a defect for a normal day for me. Exercise simply gives me more calories to work with. Also keep in mind that Fitbit adjusts over the course of the day. You won't get a fully accurate count from Fitbit until the day is over. If you set MFP to what your calorie goal is with the defect, you don't need negative adjustments. You only need to track your calories and food on MFP, and check Fitbit at the end of the day. Do that for a week and see where you're at. You need a baseline for what you normally do before you can start to figure out what you need to adjust.
  • NewMeSM75
    NewMeSM75 Posts: 971 Member
    I don't set mine for negative adjustments on a 1200 calorie goal because it's not healthy to go below this so I just allow fitbit to show the calories I've burned.
  • picasso66
    picasso66 Posts: 38 Member
    edited July 2015
    I let MFP set up the goal. Fitbit, based on my activity, labels me as lightly active. I've been increasing my activity as I lose weight. According to everything I've read on MFP, since I'm at a desk job and sitting most of my day with the exception of a few walking breaks, that is considered sedentary. When I did my first week with MFP, it was in the 1400 goal and I lost 2 lbs and then I think I did something or something happened and suddenly my goal is 1200. I can't live off 1200 right now. That's way too low for me as in getting used to eating less. Nonetheless I was just trying to understand how the numbers correlate and what it is I'm supposed to be reaching for. It sounds like if the goal is 1200 or whatever it is, that's what the calories in should equal at the end of the night. I think. I was bad at math in school so this is taking me a ways back!!!

    I do agree that the goal of 1200 is too little for a 256 lb woman.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    edited July 2015
    picasso66 wrote: »
    Goal: 1200
    Food: 1575
    Exercise: 41

    Calories remaining: -334

    Your goal (1,200) is your activity level minus your deficit. Your deficit is 250 calories for every .5 lb. per week, so if you're set for 2 lbs. per week, MFP expects you to burn 2,200 calories every day. (Maybe less, since MFP will never put your calories below 1,200.)

    You've logged 1,575 calories of food today.

    MFP looked at your Fitbit burn and has projected that at 11:59 p.m. you'll have burned 41 calories more than your activity level. Click on the adjustment in your diary to see the math (and the time MFP last synced with Fitbit).

    (1,200 + 71) - 1,575 = -334

    You are 334 calories over your calorie goal. You need to lower your weight-loss goal, move more, and/or eat less. Set your goal no higher than .5 lb. for every 25 lbs. you're overweight.

    Edited to add that your Fitbit burn is TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), aka your maintenance calories. If you eat at a reasonable deficit from that, you will lose weight. (250 calories for every 25 lbs. you're overweight.)
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