Number of Fitbit calories earned is decreasing

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unckate7
unckate7 Posts: 22 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So I recently started using my Fitbit again, and linked it to MFP. My settings here are on Sedentary, losing 1 lb a week, which gives me 1200 calories (I'm 29, 5'0", 142 lbs). So when I walk during the day, MFP adds calories to my daily allotment once I reach about 5,000 steps. I noticed, though, that the number it gives me is going down throughout the day, though. I did most of my walking this morning/early afternoon, and it said that I had earned 245 more calories through exercise today. However, when I just checked again, it now says that I've earned 200 calories through exercise today. If I already earned them, why is it taking them away? (I don't have negative adjustments enabled). I usually plan to eat most of my exercise calories back, because 1200 is just too few for me on a daily basis (and I'm fine with sticking around a 500 calorie deficit). But if I had eaten what MFP had given me earlier in the day, I'd be 45 calories over right now. Am I doing something wrong?

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  • DaddieCat
    DaddieCat Posts: 3,643 Member
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    Negative calorie adjustments. It's because you haven't exercised past the expected goal of the sedentary setting. It will adjust throughout the day to keep in line with the expected calorie burn of the sedentary setting.

    You aren't doing anything wrong, but if it bothers you, you can disable negative calorie adjustments. But, if you do that, keep in mind that you might be overeating exercise calories if you do.
  • unckate7
    unckate7 Posts: 22 Member
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    But I mentioned I don't have negative calorie adjustments enabled. Shouldn't it just be giving me the amount of calories I can eat if I'm sedentary (like, if they define that as anyone who walks under 5,000 steps a day, or whatever), and then anything over that is added and I get to keep? If I already exceeded what they expect from a sedentary person and are adding calories, why are they then being taken away later in the day?
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    Mine does this too. It's because the calories it gives you for the day is a projection based on your activity level up to that point. If you go through a few hours of inactivity, it needs to change the projection. So if I workout in the morning, I will get the exercise cals, and then spend the rest of the day studying, I slowly lose them. Perhaps save those added calories for a snack before bed, that would be the most accurate time for the extras.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
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    The Fitbit calorie adjustment is based on estimated calorie burn throughout the day. Simply put, you stopped exercising in early afternoon so Fitbit decreased its estimate for what you would do throughout the remainder of the day. As more hours pass, the estimate becomes more and more accurate.
  • DaddieCat
    DaddieCat Posts: 3,643 Member
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    You have exceeded it at the time of the adjustment... but not later in the day. If you are expected to have burned, for example 800 calories by noon and you've exceeded that it will add those, but if your rate of activity decreases after noon and your expected rate of burn catches up, at say two pm, to the fitbit adjusted number, it will readjust. To keep you in line with your goals.

    It's a fine balancing game. between your expected rate of burn and your actual burn.

    Negative adjustements would take you even lower at that point by actually taking away from your total that you would get to eat overall and not just the added calories. (Sorry, I missed the part about having it disabled.) Negatives could, for example, take you below your total goal on a particularly sedentary day.
  • unckate7
    unckate7 Posts: 22 Member
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    Thanks for the answers! I knew the actual FitBit did that, but didn't realize that MFP did the same thing. That's really annoying. It would be nice if it were treated like any other exercise that went above and beyond your expected movement for the day. I use MFP to take the guesswork out of calorie counting; I don't like that it adds more guesswork into it so that I don't know until the next day whether I hit my goal or not.
  • scolaris
    scolaris Posts: 2,145 Member
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    I log food on MFP but I also have a Fitbit account & that very thing sort of drove me batty. It is almost impossible to eat in the Fitbit 'green zone' so I was always under in yellow or over in red. (I know... stupid to care, right? Bear with me... There is a point to this story...) Anyhoo, I started to get interested in TDEE & what my TDEE will be at my goal weight. That led me toward a weekly calorie budget rather than a daily one and I can't tell you how great that has been for me personally! I don't sweat going over on one day & I don't feel encouraged to eat more on days with giant deficits. It all evens out in the end. Since changing to this way of eating I started losing 2 lbs a week rather than my customary 1 lb a week.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    unckate7 wrote: »
    Thanks for the answers! I knew the actual FitBit did that, but didn't realize that MFP did the same thing. That's really annoying. It would be nice if it were treated like any other exercise that went above and beyond your expected movement for the day. I use MFP to take the guesswork out of calorie counting; I don't like that it adds more guesswork into it so that I don't know until the next day whether I hit my goal or not.

    But MFP is taking the exercise adjustment from FitBit. They sync regularly through the day, and so the numbers will change. I just set a daily goal above the 1200 suggested by MFP, so I have to be really active for FitBit to give me anything. Then I ignore the exercise calories knowing that they will make up for my lazy days.

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