I lose hundreds of 'goal' calories overnight!

katiegud
katiegud Posts: 25 Member
edited November 22 in Health and Weight Loss
Last night I went to bed around 11:30 pm, pretty close to midnight, so I assumed that what MFP had in for my daily calorie goal would be accurate. It was a bit over 2000 calories. This morning, when I checked back to yesterday, it now says my goal was 1628. If I eat to my 'goal' every day, I would end up hundreds of calories over the next day! How do I fix it? I am already set to 'sedentary.'

Replies

  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    edited August 2015
    It sounds like you have an activity tracker connected to your account (like Fitbit).

    Look in your exercise diary for a calorie adjustment, and click on it to see the math MFP used to calculate it. It's the difference between your tracker burn & your MFP activity level (sedentary). Your adjustment changes every time you sync your tracker.
  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
    edited August 2015
    Sounds like you've got a fitness tracker linked to your MFP, and the numbers are coming from that trying to predict what you're going to burn that day and overestimating. MFP itself doesn't change your goal unless you change it yourself.

    If it's adjusting to less then sedentary then you can go to http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings and make sure 'Enable Negative Adjustments' is unchecked. If it's already unchecked, then I'm not sure how to fix it other than unsynching your tracker.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    I'm not sure I understand your question.

    Each day starts new, regardless of yesterday. Did you sync an activity tracker?......That would "adjust" your calories (it compares against your set activity level). If you are above sedentary that day....it gives you more calories than MFP's starting point.
  • katiegud
    katiegud Posts: 25 Member
    It is synced to my Fitbit. Should I unsync it? I've already noticed that what fitbit thinks I should eat and what MFP thinks I should eat seem to be different, so maybe it would be easier to not sync them.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    katiegud wrote: »
    It is synced to my Fitbit. Should I unsync it? I've already noticed that what fitbit thinks I should eat and what MFP thinks I should eat seem to be different, so maybe it would be easier to not sync them.

    Your Fitbit burn is TDEE. 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. No need to log any step-based activity—your Fitbit is tracking it for you. Log non-step exercise (like swimming or biking) either in Fitbit or in MFP—never both. Exercise logged in MFP overwrites your Fitbit burn during that time.

    You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Enable negative calorie adjustments?
  • katiegud
    katiegud Posts: 25 Member
    I have done all of the above, but I can't really ignore the fitbit calorie goals if MFP is going to be off by my entire calorie deficit! I just don't get how it could be so far off so close to midnight. Isn't that when it is supposed to reset? Shouldn't it realize I'm not going to burn 400 calories in a half hour?
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    Enable negative calorie adjustments?

    If (and only if) you enable negative calorie adjustments, you'll be eating TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) minus deficit.

    With them disabled, you never eat at a true deficit on days you burn fewer calories than your activity level. (But negative calorie adjustments never put your calories below 1,200.)
  • katiegud
    katiegud Posts: 25 Member
    I have negative calorie adjustments enabled.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    edited August 2015
    katiegud wrote: »
    I have done all of the above, but I can't really ignore the fitbit calorie goals if MFP is going to be off by my entire calorie deficit! I just don't get how it could be so far off so close to midnight. Isn't that when it is supposed to reset? Shouldn't it realize I'm not going to burn 400 calories in a half hour?


    If you're losing 400 calories every night, verify you have both MFP & Fitbit set to the same time zone:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/timezone
    https://www.fitbit.com/user/profile/edit

    Did you recently connect your accounts? My adjustments were wonky at first but they got better—as if MFP was "learning" my routine.

    Otherwise, you'll just need to leave 400 calories' "wiggle room" every night.
  • katiegud
    katiegud Posts: 25 Member
    Ok, they were not in the same time zone. I feel dumb. Let's see if it gets better now!
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    LOL I did that ...took me a couple of ,months to realise

    It does get better as it gets to know you too

  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    katiegud wrote: »
    Last night I went to bed around 11:30 pm, pretty close to midnight, so I assumed that what MFP had in for my daily calorie goal would be accurate. It was a bit over 2000 calories. This morning, when I checked back to yesterday, it now says my goal was 1628. If I eat to my 'goal' every day, I would end up hundreds of calories over the next day! How do I fix it? I am already set to 'sedentary.'

    On a side note, same time zone or not, that's why I never synchronized MFP with fitbit. Frequently I'd go to bed with Fitbit telling me I was 2000 calories today, then woke up the next day and it said 1800 or something. So frustrating.
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