What the heck is this negative calorie adjustment with UA? Heh
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simpleonajourney
Posts: 11 Member
So, I enabled NCA with the UA calorie adjustment and it took off an immediate 453 calories, lowering my food goal. So I was like, "okay....maybe that's supposed to happen" so I just went with it. Then, I biked 3 miles and burned approx 211 calories ballpark. So it subtracted 211 calories. Confused.
What's up with this?
Note: not using a fitbit or anything. ATM I just use my phone with MFP, UA Record, and Endomondo.
What's up with this?
Note: not using a fitbit or anything. ATM I just use my phone with MFP, UA Record, and Endomondo.
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Replies
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Is it subtracting from your net intake?0
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nutmegoreo wrote: »Is it subtracting from your net intake?
Well, not sure. Here are some screenshots if that can help you with that question. By net intake, do you mean amount of calories consumed (eaten)?
1 (home page):
2 (exercise):
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What have you got your activity level set to?0
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christinev297 wrote: »What have you got your activity level set to?
I have it on "lightly active." I'm fairly out there...go to school Mon-Fri, walk around campus etc. Then nearly every day I'm out doing some physical activity.0 -
jandersen0617 wrote: »christinev297 wrote: »What have you got your activity level set to?
I have it on "lightly active." I'm fairly out there...go to school Mon-Fri, walk around campus etc. Then nearly every day I'm out doing some physical activity.
Well there goes my theory. If you were set to highly active, then you'd get calories taken away until you hit MFP's numbers.
Hopefully our resident fitbit expert @heybales will see this and chime in0 -
christinev297 wrote: »jandersen0617 wrote: »christinev297 wrote: »What have you got your activity level set to?
I have it on "lightly active." I'm fairly out there...go to school Mon-Fri, walk around campus etc. Then nearly every day I'm out doing some physical activity.
Well there goes my theory. If you were set to highly active, then you'd get calories taken away until you hit MFP's numbers.
Hopefully our resident fitbit expert @heybales will see this and chime in
Maybe I should just disable NCA due to my not using any extra tracking bands? Just using phone right now.0 -
Your tracker is saying that you haven't moved enough today to eat that 2260, it is taking away 453 cals from you for today. To be honest, I don't have the neg cal adjustment on for myself, and have accepted on the days when I am not that busy, I will lose less than I had hoped for. You could also review your goals on both your tracker and your MFP account.0
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nutmegoreo wrote: »Your tracker is saying that you haven't moved enough today to eat that 2260, it is taking away 453 cals from you for today. To be honest, I don't have the neg cal adjustment on for myself, and have accepted on the days when I am not that busy, I will lose less than I had hoped for. You could also review your goals on both your tracker and your MFP account.
Ah, but why did it take away the 211 when I exercised?
Or is that even what it did?0 -
Pure luck I clicked on this topic, almost didn't.
My username is actually the other hey - though I am in Kansas surrounded by the hay also.
What is the UA calorie adjustment coming from?
MFP does the math as follows.
Other device (UA?) reported daily burn - MFP estimated daily burn - exercise burn = adjustment
NET eating goal + exercise burn + adjustment = current eating goal.
So too many unknown figures - but if you click on that "i" for more info on that adjustment - you'll get rest of them, or can figure them out.
But at this point - it appears for today you burned less according to UA with exercise than MFP estimated you'd burn without exercise.
Ya, that's bad.
So either a bug in the math or whatever UA is.
Or that bike ride wiped you out, and you slept in 3 hrs and then took a 3 hr nap also say.0 -
jandersen0617 wrote: »nutmegoreo wrote: »Your tracker is saying that you haven't moved enough today to eat that 2260, it is taking away 453 cals from you for today. To be honest, I don't have the neg cal adjustment on for myself, and have accepted on the days when I am not that busy, I will lose less than I had hoped for. You could also review your goals on both your tracker and your MFP account.
Ah, but why did it take away the 211 when I exercised?
Or is that even what it did?
Not what it did.
You were going to get a neg 664 adjustment. But it ended up only being neg 443.
2260 + 211 - 664 = 1807 eating goal.
1807 - 435 eaten already = 1372 left to eat.0 -
@heybales
Thanks for the info!!
Want to try and figure this out.... the adjustment is coming from UA Record only, as far as I know. I use Endomondo for tracking running/walking/cycling etc, and MFP for food of course. No outside device in the picture (yet). Just phone and apps.
What the "i" on the UA Calorie Adjustment says is:
-> UA Calories Burned 2805
-> MFP Calories Burned 3469
-> UA Calorie Adjustment -664
Weirdly enough, though, UA Record says that the calories I've burned today were 1,371 (from looking at the front of it.) So I'm not even sure where the 2805 came from... unless it has to do with my BMR and steps, etc.
Anyway, it's much clearer now...I think I'll keep it on. However if I start getting hungry or something trying to rigorously follow it, it's going off unless I get a device that may or may not be more accurate.0 -
Now that does speak to a bug then, unless they happen to do things very differently than any tracker method of doing it.
Shoot - even Fitbit app used with steps from your cell phone and no actual Fitbit device, still reports a daily burn that is exactly that - all included daily burn. In fact with them, if you don't point out a workout block of time - it's buried in the daily stats and you could never review it later for just the workout.
If the UA is directly saying 1371, and I'm guessing they do a step count and total miles walked along with giving daily burn estimate - but MFP received 2805, I'm guessing like you said they included BMR level burn in what they sent to MFP, but only reflect to you in the app what was burned beyond that.
Perhaps - math good to confirm.
Daily 2805 - 1371 movement = 1434 BMR @ this moment, 7:52 pm PST, or 19:52, or 1192 min of the day.
BMR 1434 / 1192 min x 1440 min in day = 1732 BMR for day.
Does that sound right?
1732 x 1.4 Lightly Active = 2425 MFP estimated daily burn no exercise. That doesn't appear correct, so the BMR is wrong, or that's not BMR that UA added.
Are your stats matching on UA and MFP?
Your MFP daily burn appears to be:
3469 - 211 exercise = 3258 estimated no exercise.
Your daily eating goal 2260 means you have a 2lb weekly goal set, or 1000 cal deficit. (you are on the verge of that not being reasonable deficit, I'd suggest 2-3 weeks of that, then back off to 1.5 lbs weekly, or 750 cal deficit. Otherwise you risk muscle mass unless you do everything dead on correct, and even then potential.)
3260 / 1.4 lightly active = 2328 Mifflin BMR or there abouts.
So ya, UA is not adding in a BMR, or their stats are way off and they miscalculated your BMR at only around 1732, about 600 less.
This will be interesting to see where the problem is.0 -
Now that does speak to a bug then, unless they happen to do things very differently than any tracker method of doing it.
Shoot - even Fitbit app used with steps from your cell phone and no actual Fitbit device, still reports a daily burn that is exactly that - all included daily burn. In fact with them, if you don't point out a workout block of time - it's buried in the daily stats and you could never review it later for just the workout.
If the UA is directly saying 1371, and I'm guessing they do a step count and total miles walked along with giving daily burn estimate - but MFP received 2805, I'm guessing like you said they included BMR level burn in what they sent to MFP, but only reflect to you in the app what was burned beyond that.
Perhaps - math good to confirm.
Daily 2805 - 1371 movement = 1434 BMR @ this moment, 7:52 pm PST, or 19:52, or 1192 min of the day.
BMR 1434 / 1192 min x 1440 min in day = 1732 BMR for day.
Does that sound right?
1732 x 1.4 Lightly Active = 2425 MFP estimated daily burn no exercise. That doesn't appear correct, so the BMR is wrong, or that's not BMR that UA added.
Are your stats matching on UA and MFP?
Your MFP daily burn appears to be:
3469 - 211 exercise = 3258 estimated no exercise.
Your daily eating goal 2260 means you have a 2lb weekly goal set, or 1000 cal deficit. (you are on the verge of that not being reasonable deficit, I'd suggest 2-3 weeks of that, then back off to 1.5 lbs weekly, or 750 cal deficit. Otherwise you risk muscle mass unless you do everything dead on correct, and even then potential.)
3260 / 1.4 lightly active = 2328 Mifflin BMR or there abouts.
So ya, UA is not adding in a BMR, or their stats are way off and they miscalculated your BMR at only around 1732, about 600 less.
This will be interesting to see where the problem is.
Odd....used a few calculators and my BMR should be ~2000ish. (2038 on last calculator.)
I do have a 2lb weekly goal set.
So yeah, those definitely don't sound correct.
Also, what do you mean about it not being a reasonable deficit? I should change it to 1.5 after 2-3 weeks? What about the muscle mass?
Interesting indeed.
I wonder if the fact that I didn't walk much today at all has something to do with it. In fact, I was extremely inactive from my norm today. Laid around a lot up until that exercise I did have.0 -
How about contacting customer service?0
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Your BMR as used on MFP is found under Apps - BMR calc. Mifflin BMR.
But a 300 cal difference between what MFP is using right now (which is about 2328) and what you found on several sites - speaks to having your stats wrong on MFP.
In which case UA is perhaps closer, but still not right.
But a lazier than normal day would indeed cause negative adjustments - just not that big usually.
You can make the normal diet muscle mass loss worse by taking a bigger deficit.
At about 60 lbs to go, 2 lbs weekly, or 1000 cal deficit - has now become that bigger deficit.
Your body tears down and rebuilds muscle every day normally.
In a diet the body is going to decide where the now reduced protein/carbs from food goes to - basic systems for life, cells for nail/hair/skin growth, liver/kidney, all other cells, or for muscle that isn't being used as much as other needed stuff.
On average, it's the muscle that isn't rebuilt, other needed systems get it. So you lose muscle mass.
As you lose weight the rate of loss should slow down, because you wisely made it slow down by taking a lower deficit the less you have to lose.
If you don't, your body will force itself slower anyway and the result will be slow weight loss with a stressed out body and less muscle mass.
So at 45 lbs left, for sure be at 1.5 lbs.
30 lbs - 1 lb.
15 lbs - 1/2 lb weekly.
Just rough guides to be on the safe side. If you feel risky, go for more - just be aware a whole lot harder to build up a pound of muscle than it is to not lose it in the first place.
Losing muscle never bodes well for maintaining after you have lost. Hence the reason such a huge majority of crash dieters gain the lost weight and usually more back - they put their bodies into a bad spot for eating normal again, besides adherence is usually terrible to desired diet.0 -
Your BMR as used on MFP is found under Apps - BMR calc. Mifflin BMR.
But a 300 cal difference between what MFP is using right now (which is about 2328) and what you found on several sites - speaks to having your stats wrong on MFP.
In which case UA is perhaps closer, but still not right.
But a lazier than normal day would indeed cause negative adjustments - just not that big usually.
You can make the normal diet muscle mass loss worse by taking a bigger deficit.
At about 60 lbs to go, 2 lbs weekly, or 1000 cal deficit - has now become that bigger deficit.
Your body tears down and rebuilds muscle every day normally.
In a diet the body is going to decide where the now reduced protein/carbs from food goes to - basic systems for life, cells for nail/hair/skin growth, liver/kidney, all other cells, or for muscle that isn't being used as much as other needed stuff.
On average, it's the muscle that isn't rebuilt, other needed systems get it. So you lose muscle mass.
As you lose weight the rate of loss should slow down, because you wisely made it slow down by taking a lower deficit the less you have to lose.
If you don't, your body will force itself slower anyway and the result will be slow weight loss with a stressed out body and less muscle mass.
So at 45 lbs left, for sure be at 1.5 lbs.
30 lbs - 1 lb.
15 lbs - 1/2 lb weekly.
Just rough guides to be on the safe side. If you feel risky, go for more - just be aware a whole lot harder to build up a pound of muscle than it is to not lose it in the first place.
Losing muscle never bodes well for maintaining after you have lost. Hence the reason such a huge majority of crash dieters gain the lost weight and usually more back - they put their bodies into a bad spot for eating normal again, besides adherence is usually terrible to desired diet.
Used the calculator on MFP. It says 2030. Odd.
Interestingly, though, I was quite a lot more active today...nearer my usual. I got past the negative adjustment, and now it's positive and giving me a higher caloric allowance for the rest of the day. I suppose this is the "more accurate" amount of calories that I should be consuming according to my physical activity, right?
Also thanks for the tip. I'll definitely keep that in mind and drop the goal as I drop weight.0 -
Then your stats in your profile are different than what you used in the calculator.
Or your net eating goal would be BMR 2030 x 1.4 Lightly Active = 2842 - 1000 deficit = 1842 eating goal.
And it's 2260.
That's a 418 cal difference. You use lbs and not kg's in your profile?0 -
From my understanding, one would only even want to consider negative calorie adjustment if logging ALL activity through the day, such as wearing a device. I guess it could be done with an app, but it would seem that would be painful at best.
And OP, since you are obviously attempting to nail things down to more accurate for a reason, you might want to look at Endomondo vs accepted calorie burns. Endo will grossly overestimate BMR/RMR for me.0 -
I suppose that I had misunderstood the MFP activity level. I changed it down to sedentary, since most of the day I am at a desk. I log my workouts. I suppose this might make more sense...Then your stats in your profile are different than what you used in the calculator.
Or your net eating goal would be BMR 2030 x 1.4 Lightly Active = 2842 - 1000 deficit = 1842 eating goal.
And it's 2260.
That's a 418 cal difference. You use lbs and not kg's in your profile?
Anyhow, here's what it's looking like now if you're interested:
home page:
exercises:
UA cal adjustment:
Perhaps this might be better. I think my stats are right, though. What stats exactly are you referring to @heybales? I do use lbs.
Indeed. I log all activity, though. I carry my phone everywhere. I think it seems okay, now. I managed to get it acting correctly, at least I believe so. I'll be getting a Fitbit device soon, though, which should make it more accurate to say the least.robertw486 wrote: »From my understanding, one would only even want to consider negative calorie adjustment if logging ALL activity through the day, such as wearing a device. I guess it could be done with an app, but it would seem that would be painful at best.
And OP, since you are obviously attempting to nail things down to more accurate for a reason, you might want to look at Endomondo vs accepted calorie burns. Endo will grossly overestimate BMR/RMR for me.
Also, what do you mean about that last part? I was using Endo, but decided for MapMyFitness due to better syncing.0
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