Fitbit help

sparkle126
sparkle126 Posts: 132 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
i have just got a Fitbit hr charge. A little confused, it shows me my resting carlorie burn then syncs this to MFP. Surely I just want my actually exercise tracked not all my resting BMR. Help!
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Replies

  • sparkle126
    sparkle126 Posts: 132 Member
    Bump
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    What do you mean it syncs your resting calorie burn to MFP? Can you explain exactly what you're seeing?

    What I see with my sync isn't exercise calories or resting calories, but activity calories.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    Fitbit tracks your calories burned for the entire day...BMR, general activity, and exercise. It will send over the excess burns over what MFP believes to be your maintenance calories.
  • sparkle126
    sparkle126 Posts: 132 Member
    It's syncs my BMR which is resting carlorie burn not done any exercise except what I generally would be doing through day but syncs it over from my Fitbit.x
  • sparkle126
    sparkle126 Posts: 132 Member
    It shouldn't sync all my carlorie burned should it or are my settings wrong? X

  • d_thomas02
    d_thomas02 Posts: 9,055 Member
    Try posting this to the FitBit group.

    While you're waiting, read through this post:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10098937/faq-syncing-logging-food-exercise-calorie-adjustments-activity-levels-accuracy/p1
  • wandererlust
    wandererlust Posts: 64 Member
    It absolutely should sync all of your calorie burn. It shows you how much you burn just being alive- this is how you can keep track of your calorie deficit after eating food. It also tracks your workouts and 'active minutes ' when your heart rate is elevated and burn more calories and shows them to you separately in your dashboard.
  • scolaris
    scolaris Posts: 2,145 Member
    edited January 2016
    So what you are saying is you want to use MFP's TDEE estimate rather than Fitbits actual calories burned?
    I have to say I prefer Fitbit's numbers. If I am truly sedentary for a day Fitbit will keep me in a deficit, and the calorie burns I get from Fitbit are more realistic. MFP calculates a generic burn & was giving me 250 calories for a yoga class and about 550 for Zumba; IRL I burn about 115 in yoga & anywhere from 375-450 in different Zumba classes according to my Fitbit HR.
  • maxit
    maxit Posts: 880 Member
    Fit bit will indeed sync total calorie expenditure for the day (BMR plus activity).
  • d_thomas02
    d_thomas02 Posts: 9,055 Member
    scolaris wrote: »
    So what you are saying is you want to use MFP's TDEE estimate rather than Fitbits actual calories burned?
    I have to say I prefer Fitbit's numbers. If I am truly sedentary for a day Fitbit will keep me in a deficit, and the calorie burns I get from Fitbit are more realistic. MFP calculates a generic burn & was giving me 250 calories for a yoga class and about 550 for Zumba; IRL I burn about 115 in yoga & anywhere from 375-450 in different Zumba classes according to my Fitbit HR.

    I prefer FitBit to estimate my calorie burn and adjust MFPs static calorie goal according to my activity (i.e. I don't log additional exercises into MFP). I prefer MFP to track calorie intake.
  • sparkle126
    sparkle126 Posts: 132 Member
    No I want to use Fitbit ..am on over 2000 calories burned today is this right it's all my calorie burn today including being in bed from midnight. Newbie at this, I have being walking a lot today. I am loving the Fitbit and sleep tracking etc.
  • sparkle126
    sparkle126 Posts: 132 Member
    So on my Fitbit I have burned 1094 calories today and out of that its transferred 665 to MFP, is this right? Xxx
  • racheladkins2002
    racheladkins2002 Posts: 211 Member
    It will depend on your settings in MFP. If you chose mostly sedentary, and then have more activity than it predicts, you will see an adjust for Fitbit. This is because your total calories minus MFP estimate was higher. This difference is then added.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    This is a post I made back in June, but hopefully it helps clear things up for you a bit.
    shadow2soul wrote: »
    Fitbit sends over the current calorie burn at whatever time you synced it last. We can use my numbers for an example. 599 @ 8:14 am
    MFP expects that I should burn 1907 by the end of the day. That's equal to 79.458 calories per hour or 1.3243 per minute.
    MFP then calculates a new expected burn from what I've burned already from my Fitbit.
    My day (as of last sync) has 15 hours 46 mins left.
    15 * 79.458 = 1191.87
    46 * 1.3243 = 60.9178
    599 + 1191.87 + 60.9178 = 1851.7878
    So MFP is expecting that based on my last sync, my Fitbit will report a burn of 1851 at 11:59 pm tonight. I'm currently losing calories, but I will get more as the day goes on.

    These numbers are recalculated every time you sync your Fitbit (or shortly after at least). So say you get up in the morning and go workout; your calorie burn for that time frame is probably higher per min/hour than it will be at other times during the day and you end up with a large adjustment at first. Then you go to work and sit at a desk for several hours; thus lowering your calorie burn per min/hour to lower than MFP's expectation and you lose some of the adjustment you were originally given.

    I hope that's not too confusing of an explanation. The simple explanation is your adjustment is a comparison of your Fitbit calorie burn and your MFP calorie burn.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    When you don't have a tracker connected, MFP estimates how much you'll burn in a day based on your stats and stated activity level. (Like if you say you're sedentary, lightly active, etc.) When you use a tracker, it estimates your total daily burn based on your actual activity. When you sync the tracker to MFP, MFP compares your actual burn (according to the tracker) to its estimated (according to your stated activity level). You then get an adjustment if your actual burn is higher.

    It does change throughout the day, because tracker #s are always changing. And because MFP has no way to know that you're more active some hours than others.
  • sparkle126
    sparkle126 Posts: 132 Member
    I have adjusted my settings to negative calorie adjustment and ticked the box. Starting from now it should log my calorie burn correctly...am hoping :wink:
    Thank you for everyones help, hope this sorts it. x
  • scolaris
    scolaris Posts: 2,145 Member
    At the end of every day, though, Fitbit gives me about 50 calories less than MFP. Despite them being set to the same goals, activity levels etc. I do not log activity twice and only my food thru MFP.
  • sparkle126
    sparkle126 Posts: 132 Member
    Yeah I only log food on MFP. It says on the negative calorie adjustment that if your using a tracker like fitbit you need to tick the box so everything is logged/synced-properly. X
  • sparkle126
    sparkle126 Posts: 132 Member
    Should I turn on Negative Calorie Adjustments?
    Enabling a negative calorie adjustment from your integration with a total daily calorie partner will give you the most accurate information about your calorie expenditure for the day. A negative calorie adjustment indicates that you are using fewer calories on a given day than our original MyFitnessPal estimate.

    The option for allowing negative calorie adjustments can be found by logging in to your account at www.myfitnesspal.com, then clicking "My Home" then "Settings" then "Diary settings". Check the box for "Enable Negative Adjustments" then click "Save Changes." Your settings will take effect the next time data syncs from your device.

    We recommend enabling negative adjustments if:
    you expect to wear your tracking device consistently
    you would like the most accurate calorie feedback MyFitnessPal can provide
    your device is able to sync its data multiple times over the course of the day
    We recommend disabling negative adjustments if:
    you do not expect to wear your device consistently
    your device can only sync occasionally, or only late in the day
    you wish to use the device only for the motivational experience of earning additional calories.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    Turning on negative cals will ONLY matter if you are now seeing 0 Fitbit adjustment on completed days.

    When MFP estimates your total daily burn, and your Fitbit actual burn (calories total per day) is higher you earn extra calories. But if your Fitbit actual # is lower, you'd see a 0. Or if you have negatives enabled, it would lower your MFP calorie goal. So if you're regularly seeing extra calories from Fitbit, it won't matter. That means you're moving enough to burn more than MFP expected.

    The problem happens when someone sets their profile to a higher activity level (example only) like moderately active, but they don't move enough. They eat what MFP tells them, they don't have as much of a deficit as expected so either don't lose weight or lose less than expected.
  • d_thomas02
    d_thomas02 Posts: 9,055 Member
    I can have very lazy days this time of year so I need the negative adjustment.
  • sparkle126
    sparkle126 Posts: 132 Member
    StaciMarie1974 wrote: »
    Turning on negative cals will ONLY matter if you are now seeing 0 Fitbit adjustment on completed days.

    When MFP estimates your total daily burn, and your Fitbit actual burn (calories total per day) is higher you earn extra calories. But if your Fitbit actual # is lower, you'd see a 0. Or if you have negatives enabled, it would lower your MFP calorie goal. So if you're regularly seeing extra calories from Fitbit, it won't matter. That means you're moving enough to burn more than MFP expected.

    The problem happens when someone sets their profile to a higher activity level (example only) like moderately active, but they don't move enough. They eat what MFP tells them, they don't have as much of a deficit as expected so either don't lose weight or lose less than expected.
    StaciMarie1974 wrote: »
    Turning on negative cals will ONLY matter if you are now seeing 0 Fitbit adjustment on completed days.

    When MFP estimates your total daily burn, and your Fitbit actual burn (calories total per day) is higher you earn extra calories. But if your Fitbit actual # is lower, you'd see a 0. Or if you have negatives enabled, it would lower your MFP calorie goal. So if you're regularly seeing extra calories from Fitbit, it won't matter. That means you're moving enough to burn more than MFP expected.

    The problem happens when someone sets their profile to a higher activity level (example only) like moderately active, but they don't move enough. They eat what MFP tells them, they don't have as much of a deficit as expected so either don't lose weight or lose less than expected.
    StaciMarie1974 wrote: »
    Turning on negative cals will ONLY matter if you are now seeing 0 Fitbit adjustment on completed days.

    When MFP estimates your total daily burn, and your Fitbit actual burn (calories total per day) is higher you earn extra calories. But if your Fitbit actual # is lower, you'd see a 0. Or if you have negatives enabled, it would lower your MFP calorie goal. So if you're regularly seeing extra calories from Fitbit, it won't matter. That means you're moving enough to burn more than MFP expected.

    The problem happens when someone sets their profile to a higher activity level (example only) like moderately active, but they don't move enough. They eat what MFP tells them, they don't have as much of a deficit as expected so either don't lose weight or lose less than expected.
    StaciMarie1974 wrote: »
    Turning on negative cals will ONLY matter if you are now seeing 0 Fitbit adjustment on completed days.

    When MFP estimates your total daily burn, and your Fitbit actual burn (calories total per day) is higher you earn extra calories. But if your Fitbit actual # is lower, you'd see a 0. Or if you have negatives enabled, it would lower your MFP calorie goal. So if you're regularly seeing extra calories from Fitbit, it won't matter. That means you're moving enough to burn more than MFP expected.

    The problem happens when someone sets their profile to a higher activity level (example only) like moderately active, but they don't move enough. They eat what MFP tells them, they don't have as much of a deficit as expected so either don't lose weight or lose less than expected.

    No didn't work all I really want on MFP is calories burnt doing activity not just generally calorie. It's still doing same as before x
  • sparkle126
    sparkle126 Posts: 132 Member
    So I have burned 910 calories since midnight, it synced over to MFP as I have done 665 as exercise. Is this right all I have being doing is day to day things. Help
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    sparkle126 wrote: »
    So I have burned 910 calories since midnight, it synced over to MFP as I have done 665 as exercise. Is this right all I have being doing is day to day things. Help

    Doing day-to-day things does burn calories. I don't know we can know, on the basis of the information you've provided, whether or not it is accurate. But just walking around will generate a calorie burn.
  • prettysoul1908
    prettysoul1908 Posts: 200 Member
    Hi! If it's causing you that much distress then just unsync MFP from your Fitbit. Only manually add in your tracked Fitbit exercise (track by using the stop watch feature) into MFP.

    Personally I love knowing how being just a little more active directly correlates with my deficit and calorie burn. It showed me that my workouts are just a portion of the picture.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    The Fitbit adjustment is NOT saying you've exercised for X calories. Its saying that you're on course to burn X amount more than MFP expected for the day. If you're very active early in the day you're likely to see an adjustment early on. If you have your MFP profile set to Sedentary when you're actually fairly active then you're more likely to see an adjustment.

    Look at your past days of activity. What was your total daily burn according to Fitbit for yesterday, the day before, and the day before? What is your starting daily MFP calorie intake goal? What is you goal deficit per day? (1 pound per week would be 500 goal deficit.) Do these #s make sense? Like if MFP gives you a starting cal # of 1500 per day, you have a deficit of 500, and Fitbit says you burned 2800 yesterday, then 2800 - 500 (deficit) = 2300. 2300 - 1500 (MFP calorie goal) would mean you earned ~800 extra calories. The end of day #s can vary a little from between MFP & Fitbit, due to using different BMR formulas/rounding/etc. But in this example I'd expect something in the neighborhood of 800 for 'yesterday's' adjustment. You can look at your own #s to see if they make sense.
  • sparkle126
    sparkle126 Posts: 132 Member
    Yes it makes sense I think that I am more active the sedentary, maybe I should change my activity to lightly active, these are my 3 overall burns this week. X
  • sparkle126
    sparkle126 Posts: 132 Member
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  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    You are much more active than the level you selected for MFP. That is going to cause the big adjustments.

    That is what the adjustments mean. Your actual was different from expected.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    edited January 2016
    Your adjustment isn't just exercise. It is the difference between what Fitbit tracked your TDEE to be and what MFP expected your TDEE to be.

    The adjustment can go up or down as your day goes on.
    If your set to Sedentary on MFP, you will see a large adjustment if you are not actually Sedentary.
    If you set your activity level higher, you will most likely start the day with a negative adjustment that will slowly get smaller as you start to get closer to your MFP estimated TDEE.

    Looking at your screen shots, Fitbit is doing exactly what it should be doing.

    Example:
    MFP expects me to burn 1639 calories in a day. Which is:
    68.291 calories per hour
    1.138 calories per minute

    As of 10:01 am (my last Fitbit sync) Fitbit reported my calorie burn to be 731 calories.

    Now, I have 13 hours 59 mins left in my day that Fitbit hasn't tracked yet.

    Above, I broke down MFP's expected calories per hour and minute. Well this is where that part comes into play.

    MFP sees that Fitbit says my calorie burn so far is 731 calories, but that I still have 13 hours 59 mins left to the day. So, MFP does some behind the scene math to predict what Fitbit is going to say at 11:59 pm tonight. The math:

    13 * 68.291= 887.783
    59 * 1.138 = 67.142
    731 (Fitbit's burn) + 887.783 (MFP's estimate for 13 hours) + 67.142 (MFP's estimate for 59 mins) = 1685.925

    So MFP estimates that Fitbit will say at midnight that my overall calorie burn was 1685.

    My adjustment is then 1685 - 1639 = 46.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    I'm set to sedentary on MFP and under normal circumstances, I can easily get an adjustment of 500 +. That's because I'm not sedentary. Sedentary by step count is typically considered less than 5k steps in a day. If you take more than that, then you are not Sedentary. Fitbit adjusts your calories based on what it tracks your activity level to be. If you set your activity level low, you get a large adjustment. If you set it too high, it will take away calories or give you no adjustment (negative adjustments needs to be turned on for it to adjust down). I'll see if I can find the information about approximate step counts and activity level.


    found it:
    <5000 steps/day = 'sedentary
    5000-7499 steps/day = low active
    7500-9999 steps/day = somewhat active
    >or=10000 steps/day= active
    >12500 steps/day= highly active
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14715035

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