Garmin Vivofit Negative Calorie adjustment

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tlynnweb
tlynnweb Posts: 201 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've searched on the discussion boards and got through a couple of pages but I didn't quite see what I was looking for.
I have MFP set to lightly active which gives me 1520 calories a day.
I wear a Garmin Vivofit and when I sync it, I'm guessing it communicates with MFP and sometimes gives me a negative calorie adjustment. For the life of me I can't wrap my brain around it. Doesn't MFP automatically deduct 500 calories a day?? I would assume that even if i don't do a big workout, the activity it tracks shouldn't DEDUCT calories from MFP??? Am I thinking this out the wrong way???

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  • tlynnweb
    tlynnweb Posts: 201 Member
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    I should add that when I do a real workout, I put on my HRM and track real activity that way. Would it be easier to have it not communicate with MFP and actually just input my burn that way??? I want it to be accurate.
  • knittnponder
    knittnponder Posts: 1,954 Member
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    I'm not entirely clear myself on how Garmin figures out how many calories I need but I do know it's based off of a BMR calculation of some sort. MFP must use a different one? At any rate, I refuse to go under a certain number of calories so I have the negative calorie adjustment turned off in mine. Garmin will adjust my numbers upward but can't adjust down.

    To turn off "negative calorie adjustment" for yourself go to; "Settings", "Diary Settings" and scroll down to "Calorie Adjustments". You should see a box there where you can turn the feature on and off. If I don't lose I may go back and change it but for now, I'm trusting that MFP has me low enough.
  • tlynnweb
    tlynnweb Posts: 201 Member
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    Do I turn it off in MFP or in garmin?
  • knittnponder
    knittnponder Posts: 1,954 Member
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    Those settings are here in MFP
  • kindrabbit
    kindrabbit Posts: 837 Member
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    I've done the same thing with my fitbit. I got home from work and had a total of over 100 calories left for the day. I don't usually eat all my exercise calories especially just for walking which is what fitbit measures , but I was hungry so I used them. I only ate 50 cals worth. Once I had eaten I went to complete my diary for the day and it said -80!! That's twice I've gone over my allowance the and to a negative adjustment. I've turned it off now. The funny thing is I did almost the same level of activity last Thursday but must of not had my phone (where the fit bit app is) in my pocket, as I had 0 exercise calories. I don't train on a Thursday. I still stayed in my allowance.

    On th bright side, it means I'll be good tonight!
  • kaydenjsmommy
    kaydenjsmommy Posts: 2 Member
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    i have been wondering the same thing. I just dont pay any attention to it...As in the garmin connect app I dont use I just sync it, I base solely off MFP
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    I have Fitbit - but assume they work the same way.

    By setting your profile to lightly active, MFP assumes you're going to burn 2020 per day, and subtracts 500 so you eat 1520. It then communicates with Vivofit. Vivofit calculates your daily burn based on your actual activity, not a stated 'activity level'. If you don't move enough to burn 2020 - the negative adjustment happens.

    Say you only move enough to burn 1800. If you ate at 1520, you would NOT have enough deficit to lose the 1 pound per week goal. So move more, to earn the 'lightly active' calories.
  • angel_north
    angel_north Posts: 51 Member
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    I have a totally different question. From what I am understanding most if not all of you no matter what device might be sync your wrist bands to an app on cell phones. I use my pc. I use the Garmin Vivofit and all it will allow me to do is add meals thru the Garmin no workouts. I wrote back and forth to MFP and they said they don't support any of these fitness monitors. Needless to say I felt a bit left out in the cold. With that said, should I try the app??
  • knittnponder
    knittnponder Posts: 1,954 Member
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    I actually sync mine using Garmin Connect on my Mac. I'm pretty sure they have an app for PC's too. I have the little ant stick plugged into my usb port so when I hit sync on my Vivo it syncs wirelessly using that. The app on my computer talks to the Garmin website which then talks to MFP. Sometimes I have to tell MFP and Garmin to talk to each other but typically it just takes care of business in the background. I am able to do my workouts with the Garmin HRM strap and it shows up in my MFP exercise log. I log my food on MFP and can see the amount logged on the Garmin Connect website. :)
  • otrlynn
    otrlynn Posts: 278 Member
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    Are there any Garmin Vivosmart users still following this thread? I'm trying to make sense of how Garmin and MFP view calories burned. I see where "active calories" appear in the Garmin app in the mobile "dashboard", when I sync with MFP, it seems like I am credited with a lot smaller "burn" than Garmin indicated I earned. If anyone has a link to more info, I'd love to see it!
  • zolivar
    zolivar Posts: 1 Member
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    I'm still following - has any one figured it out? I recently purchased the Garmin VivoSmart w/ HRM. I previously has the Fitbit Flex. When I switched over, the number were all out of wack and didn't make sense to me.
  • gshall66
    gshall66 Posts: 5 Member
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    I think MFP assumes you record every activity on your Garmin, so if the activity in MFP has come from say Strava and MFP see it wasn't recorded on your Garmin it deducts it, or at least that is my spin on things. I have turned it off for now.

    G

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