Fitbit and MFP number not adding up?

paigeswashko · January 2016

I hit my step goal today, and was very active throughout the entire day, and my current total calories burned according to my Fitbit is about 2300 for the day, but my MFP calorie allowance is about 1500 a day and so far I have only received back a Fitbit adjustment of 300 calories? This is not adding up, especially when compared to calorie adjustments from yesterday or days before. I've been trying to look this up, but most people seem to be confused by the adjustment between FB and MFP, and that's not quite my problem. I would really appreciate anyone's help in understanding the issue!

lindsayh87 · January 2016

Click on your Fitbit adjustment in your diary, then click on the number again and it will go to this page.

paigeswashko · January 2016

lindsayh87 wrote: »

Click on your Fitbit adjustment in your diary, then click on the number again and it will go to this page.

I'm confused on the part that says myfitnesspal
Calories burned, yours is quite high, but that is with 412 calories of exercise, mine is also in the 2000 range but with 0 cals of exercise, and having it that high makes the difference between it and my Fitbit number smaller. It seems to me like this would make the deficit between what myfitnesspal is allowing me to eat and what I'm actually burning larger than necessary (I have a screen shot of this but I can't seem to attach it on mobile, I have an android btw)

paigeswashko · January 2016

lindsayh87 wrote: »

Click on your Fitbit adjustment in your diary, then click on the number again and it will go to this page.

Also, my Fitbit calorie adjustment has decreased in the past hour, which makes even less sense. I went from having 30 extra calories to having -7 calories

aliciakm80 · January 2016

I'm having the same problem. I am 6' tall and 178lbs and my calorie goal is 1,200. Today I ran 2 miles, did another 45 minute workout and walked 20k steps and mfp keeps switching my exercise cals from 440ish to 730ish to 230ish -- it seems to be different every time I log in. I updated the app to see if that would help -- it did not.

Seems like there are issues every few weeks with Fitbit syncing... I'm tempted to give up on mfp and log food on the Fitbit app.

paigeswashko · January 2016

aliciakm80 wrote: »

I'm having the same problem. I am 6' tall and 178lbs and my calorie goal is 1,200. Today I ran 2 miles, did another 45 minute workout and walked 20k steps and mfp keeps switching my exercise cals from 440ish to 730ish to 230ish -- it seems to be different every time I log in. I updated the app to see if that would help -- it did not.

Seems like there are issues every few weeks with Fitbit syncing... I'm tempted to give up on mfp and log food on the Fitbit app.

I just spent some time doing a little bit of research and after some digging I've found a thread of a bunch of fitbit users who are having trouble with their added calories being way too low, starting just a few days ago. It seems that myfitnesspal is changing something without letting us know, and basically our fitbit in for is raising our Myfitnesspal Calories burned, despite activity levels being set at zero, which is causing a lower gap between the numbers from the fitbit and the myfitnesspal, thus a lower allowance of calories...confusing! Basically, I'm not going to believe the calculations of myfitnesspal anymore and I'm just going to do the calculations myself based on the two different numbers, at least until this is fixed. Exclusively using fitbit would probably also be a good option.

sftbllcoachlp · January 2016

paigeswashko wrote: »

aliciakm80 wrote: »

I'm having the same problem. I am 6' tall and 178lbs and my calorie goal is 1,200. Today I ran 2 miles, did another 45 minute workout and walked 20k steps and mfp keeps switching my exercise cals from 440ish to 730ish to 230ish -- it seems to be different every time I log in. I updated the app to see if that would help -- it did not.

Seems like there are issues every few weeks with Fitbit syncing... I'm tempted to give up on mfp and log food on the Fitbit app.

I just spent some time doing a little bit of research and after some digging I've found a thread of a bunch of fitbit users who are having trouble with their added calories being way too low, starting just a few days ago. It seems that myfitnesspal is changing something without letting us know, and basically our fitbit in for is raising our Myfitnesspal Calories burned, despite activity levels being set at zero, which is causing a lower gap between the numbers from the fitbit and the myfitnesspal, thus a lower allowance of calories...confusing! Basically, I'm not going to believe the calculations of myfitnesspal anymore and I'm just going to do the calculations myself based on the two different numbers, at least until this is fixed. Exclusively using fitbit would probably also be a good option.

Mine just started acting up a lil while ago when I synced my Fitbit and it shows 0 Fitbit activity on my MFP. I've been using it for a lil more than 2 weeks and haven't had any problems till today. So there's obviously something wrong with the linking of the two trackers.

xLyric · January 2016

Yeah it's been being more difficult than normal for the past few days. Funnily enough, today is the first time it's actually been accurate for me instead of giving me 500 extra calories that I can't actually eat. I'm sure tomorrow it will be different again.

The easiest solution for me has been to look at my calories burned on my Fitbit and just subtract the deficit from that directly. I know if I walk the full 10k steps then I'll burn 2500 calories by midnight, if not more depending on how far over that goal I get, meaning I can eat 1500 at least. I've gotten to where I'm consistent all the time now, so the MFP hiccups haven't been affecting me much since I just ignore it all anyway and just look at protein and iron.

pez1234 · January 2016

I have a Fitbit charge HR and run my calorie data from it, although I use mfp to log my foods. I have dropped 6kg since 27 December when i started properly logging my food. I set the charge for a kilo a week loss. I wouldn't say it's the most accurate device but it's a hell of a lot better than nothing and with mfp it makes life easy, I love the way the Fitbit app tracks your deficit through the day makes it s breeze to meet your goals. I don't worry too much about the MFP data but I like it's database and ease of use

autumnblade75 · January 2016

paigeswashko wrote: »

Also, my Fitbit calorie adjustment has decreased in the past hour, which makes even less sense. I went from having 30 extra calories to having -7 calories

I can address this part, since I've been doing some experimenting.

I believe that this occurs when you are not as active as your MFP activity level during certain portions of the day. For this reason, I have set my MFP activity level to Sedentary. My allowed calories are GREATLY reduced, but I don't let it bother me - I know I will never be so inactive as to only eat 1200 calories. This means that I don't have to worry about (even with negative calorie adjustments disabled) Fitbit taking back some of my activity calories while I'm watching The Walking Dead and enjoying that beer that I thought I had room for.

What *I* don't understand is how Fitbit can tell me that I've eaten over my budget for the day while at the same time showing that I've burned more calories than I've consumed, and another widget on the desktop says I have 400 calories more left to eat. For my sanity, I've deleted the little fork and knife graphic widget. The meters are still difficult to interpret. The graph seems to be the sanest information available - that might just be how I'm wired. YMMV.

jhudson892 · January 2016

Third day in a row Fitbit steps not synching with MFP. It did work later in the day, hope that happens again but why does it keep happening?

Fitbit and MFP number not adding up?

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