Fitbit Calorie Adjustment wrong
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snickerscharlie wrote: »Has anyone linked the unhelp desk to this thread? Might help them realize that this is not an isolated issue with one or two users.
I linked them to this thread a few days ago. Not sure if they are still paying attention. They told me the issue was forwarded to their developers.0 -
WinoGelato wrote: »Mine still seems to be working since I followed the steps above to have my steps tracked using Fitbit on the app. The adjustment was correct yesterday and was still there when I woke up, plus the negative adjustment this morning is based on the correct number of MFP calories.
Crossing fingers this holds but still frustrated that so many people are impacted and also that people are frustrated with FitBit when this clearly seems like a MFP problem.
I've also followed the advice provided above to (on the app) go to "More," then click "steps," and then select "Fitbit Tracker."
I'll report back today if things continue correctly or not. So far so good.0 -
Yes - the mfp burn changing, which should only change if you change height/weight etc, is what is changing for me. super frustrating and confusing.0
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Okay so new question. Earlier today when I was around 8k steps my fitbit adjustment here on mfp was showing 348 calories under exercise. Now, I ended the day with about 9.5k steps and my fitbit adjustment lowered to 296. Why?
I don't generally eat back exercise calories but I'd still like to understand this.
Suggest you read the last 2 pages of this topic - question has been answered already, and suggestions for fix.
I have already read the entire thread and tried several of the suggestions, including making sure my step tracker option was set to fitbit instead of "don't track steps". So there is no reason for my calorie adjustment to get lower at the end of the day.0 -
Okay so new question. Earlier today when I was around 8k steps my fitbit adjustment here on mfp was showing 348 calories under exercise. Now, I ended the day with about 9.5k steps and my fitbit adjustment lowered to 296. Why?
I don't generally eat back exercise calories but I'd still like to understand this.
Suggest you read the last 2 pages of this topic - question has been answered already, and suggestions for fix.
I have already read the entire thread and tried several of the suggestions, including making sure my step tracker option was set to fitbit instead of "don't track steps". So there is no reason for my calorie adjustment to get lower at the end of the day.
Hi @mclark552 - Can you clarify for us (perhaps with a screenshot) which adjustment is getting lower at the end of the day? Maybe we can put our heads together and help. There are 3 adjustments I'm aware of and I just want to make sure we're speaking the same language.0 -
Okay so new question. Earlier today when I was around 8k steps my fitbit adjustment here on mfp was showing 348 calories under exercise. Now, I ended the day with about 9.5k steps and my fitbit adjustment lowered to 296. Why?
I don't generally eat back exercise calories but I'd still like to understand this.
Suggest you read the last 2 pages of this topic - question has been answered already, and suggestions for fix.
I have already read the entire thread and tried several of the suggestions, including making sure my step tracker option was set to fitbit instead of "don't track steps". So there is no reason for my calorie adjustment to get lower at the end of the day.
My exercise adjustment almost always gets lower at the end of the day/overnight due to the inactivity between when I go to bed and midnight. That's not a glitch, that is how the system is supposed to work, is that what you're referring to?0 -
hbarnstein wrote: »Yes - the mfp burn changing, which should only change if you change height/weight etc, is what is changing for me. super frustrating and confusing.
It wouldn't matter what MFP guessed the burn was, if only they'd use the SAME number to a) calculate the correction from fitbit, and then b) add to that correction to get your actual calorie burn (and thus your budget for food). The problem is they are continually using two different numbers .. so they calculate the fitbit correction with an assumed MFP burn of, say 2000, then they calculate your calorie goal using (fitbit-2000) added to 1500 instead of added to 2000. And despite claiming to have rolled back the change that broke it, it is STILL broken.
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I think I got mine fixed...for the time being. Here's what I did. It's an unnecessarily long process for something that is supposed to just work.
1. In excel (I'm a data kinda person and can quickly analyze in excel), put it what MFP was reporting as "fitbit Calories Burned", "MFP Calories Burned", the math assoc with the difference. There were 10 days (since the first of the year) that had bad math. 9/10 time fitbit = mfp as far as calories burned.
2. I confirmed the "fitbit Calories Burned" match what my fitbit account was report. These all matched. No issue with the "in between FT and MFP" business.
3. Within the MFP app on my phone, added step tracking via fitbit. Which is completely useless, as I have fitbit doing that.
4. On the bad math days, I added a dumby cardio to force the sync. I checked the fitbit adjustment math. Deleted dumby cardio. Checked math and it was all good.
The other thing I noticed during my data collection was the "MFP Calories Burned" were all over the place. Generally, it's between 1568 and 1582 (my MFP maintenance calories are 1579); I weigh daily so maybe my weight fluctuations have caused these calorie burned fluctations. There were a handful of days (like in the last week) that "MFP Calories Burned" were either way low (1514) or way high (1717). I did the dumby cardio on those days too and it corrected itself.
Again, everything was looking correct as of the last 20 minutes.
MFP you've got some issue you NEED to get worked out. I shouldn't have to double check your work!0 -
The other thing I noticed during my data collection was the "MFP Calories Burned" were all over the place. Generally, it's between 1568 and 1582 (my MFP maintenance calories are 1579); I weigh daily so maybe my weight fluctuations have caused these calorie burned fluctations. There were a handful of days (like in the last week) that "MFP Calories Burned" were either way low (1514) or way high (1717). I did the dumby cardio on those days too and it corrected itself.
As a test, I did the dumby cardio on the last day that didn't show MFP Calories Burned = 1579 and deleted. This corrected MFP Calories Burned = 1579. I basically just corrected my exercise diary for the last 35 days.
Thanks, MFP, for working so imperfectly. I didn't have anything else to do today *sarcasm*0 -
WilsonFilson wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »Mine still seems to be working since I followed the steps above to have my steps tracked using Fitbit on the app. The adjustment was correct yesterday and was still there when I woke up, plus the negative adjustment this morning is based on the correct number of MFP calories.
Crossing fingers this holds but still frustrated that so many people are impacted and also that people are frustrated with FitBit when this clearly seems like a MFP problem.
I've also followed the advice provided above to (on the app) go to "More," then click "steps," and then select "Fitbit Tracker."
I'll report back today if things continue correctly or not. So far so good.
So far so good!!! the MFP calories burned has remained the same all day since I made this change. I'll confirm again tomorrow if it continues correct. I suggest anyone still having the problem to do the above and report back whether it helps fix the MFP calories burned.0 -
So it sounds like with that setting they perhaps were hoping to duplicate the Fitbit method of watching steps and figuring out increased calorie burn from them.
So I could see that MFP Calories burned going higher in that case - but they screwed up still with that method by not having the base NET calories going up too if they did proper deficit math.
Or perhaps that combo works correctly when there is no 3rd party app/device syncing in.
Anyone still have Fitbit disconnected to see if the setting of steps to MPF (instead of Fitbit) causes an increase to Food Diary base eating goal when MPF app syncs?
Or perhaps they create their own Exercise adjustment then and it's supposed to work similar to the way Fitbit adjustment is supposed to work.0 -
Following this topic as I am having the same problems with varying MFP calories when they should be constant. May be stupid, however I cant find 'more' on the iphone app? I have a charge HR, and the current workaround from you guys seems to be:
"What has fixed it for me through several syncs was the suggestion above to go to the app (I'm on iPhone), More, Steps and select Fitbit. Previously I had "Don't track steps" selected."
However like I said, I cant find the 'more' part in the menu?0 -
clevelandkat40 wrote: »Lourdesong wrote: »In the IOS app under the "more" menu, I went to "steps" and saw Fitbit was not selected, instead "don't track steps" was selected. So, I changed it to track steps with Fitbit, and the adjustments have been correct for about 1/2 hour now. MFP burn number has stayed the same at 1770 at every sync.
I did this too! I almost never use the app -- I tend to use the website -- so I never even though to check. But I saw this post and went to the app and made the change, and so far it seems to have fixed the problem for me.
This change also worked for me. If you're still having trouble, please give this a go.0 -
Following this topic as I am having the same problems with varying MFP calories when they should be constant. May be stupid, however I cant find 'more' on the iphone app? I have a charge HR, and the current workaround from you guys seems to be:
"What has fixed it for me through several syncs was the suggestion above to go to the app (I'm on iPhone), More, Steps and select Fitbit. Previously I had "Don't track steps" selected."
However like I said, I cant find the 'more' part in the menu?
At the bottom right of the app. (Home is bottom left.)
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The fact that this topic was started a week ago and the issues are STILL not resolved had me question my renewed membership. As a test yesterday, I went back to my past site (SP), linked by FitBit and my exercise info has synced correctly every two hours -- including SLEEP (love this!) -- yesterday and today.
So adios, MFP. There are so many great, friendly members on MFP that I leave saddened, but managing my weight loss is my top goal.
Lastly -- MFP IT Support needs to be replaced. I have worked in IT Support for almost 20 years for very well known international database/apps company. Our Fortune 20 companies would have been on CNN if we had allowed these problems to go unresolved for this long.
Blessings and best wishes to the good members on MFP.0 -
The fix mentioned in prior posts seems to have resolved this issue for me as well. I made all of the changes yesterday, and things remain correct today.
I did not make the change in the app, however. I changed the setting on the website. (Apps--->Steps, then select Fitbit Tracker). I did check, and the changed setting shows up on the app as well, so I don't think it matters where you make the change. The original setting was Don't track steps.
I also went back and fixed the past couple of weeks in my exercise diary by logging in a cardio exercise, which caused things to be recalculated using the appropriate numbers. I am relieved to have this issue resolved with such a simple fix.0 -
I did not make the change in the app, however. I changed the setting on the website. (Apps--->Steps, then select Fitbit Tracker). I did check, and the changed setting shows up on the app as well, so I don't think it matters where you make the change. The original setting was Don't track steps.
Wow. Until you just posted this, I had no idea that setting even existed on the website! I suspect most other MFP users don't know it either.
I made this change (on the app) last week and can report that my syncing has behaving itself since then. So it appears to work as a fix. I'd suggest to anyone reading this thread to try this.0 -
The fact that this topic was started a week ago and the issues are STILL not resolved had me question my renewed membership. As a test yesterday, I went back to my past site (SP), linked by FitBit and my exercise info has synced correctly every two hours -- including SLEEP (love this!) -- yesterday and today.
So adios, MFP. There are so many great, friendly members on MFP that I leave saddened, but managing my weight loss is my top goal.
Lastly -- MFP IT Support needs to be replaced. I have worked in IT Support for almost 20 years for very well known international database/apps company. Our Fortune 20 companies would have been on CNN if we had allowed these problems to go unresolved for this long.
Blessings and best wishes to the good members on MFP.
Well you do have to do what works best for you, however, I wouldn't let an issue with a fitness tracker keep you away from using MFP if you were see good results from it. I tried SP for a day and didn't like the layout at all as compared to here. There were too many ads both within the SP App and online. There were also a lot of other unnecessary info on the main page and App that I felt took away from the whole point of why I would use the site, which is a quick glance at my calories. I know MFP has ads to for those who don't have a Premium membership, but even with them, the site maintains a clean look without a lot of junk taking up space from the calorie count info itself. I also find that the community suport base here on MFP is much larger than SP. I think MFP will eventually get the sync bugs worked out and everything will work as it should with the Fitbit tracker...
Just my 2¢
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Thank you to everyone who posted that the Apps>Steps setting (either on the app itself or on the webpage) needs to be reviewed to ensure the Fitbit checkbox is selected. Apparently one of the MFP "updates" installed an option of "Don't track steps" and checks that box by default. I didn't know it was there until I read this board.
It kind of makes a weird sort of sense that if your settings say "don't track steps" and fitbit sends data over when you've told the system not to track steps that it would make things behave unexpectedly. Now that I've checked mine (and it was saying "don't track steps") and changed it to Fitbit, things look more normal except for one day which I can't get to sync any fitbit data at all. But it is a lot better than the wildly changing numbers I was getting before.
I add my voice to the rest suggesting that everyone LOOK to see if your "Apps>Steps" is set correctly.0 -
I did not make the change in the app, however. I changed the setting on the website. (Apps--->Steps, then select Fitbit Tracker). I did check, and the changed setting shows up on the app as well, so I don't think it matters where you make the change. The original setting was Don't track steps.
Wow. Until you just posted this, I had no idea that setting even existed on the website! I suspect most other MFP users don't know it either.
I didn't know either, I had even tried to find something on the website that was similar to the fix via the app and I couldn't figure it out. Felt bad that the only fix that seemed to be working for people required access to the app.
Good find @ziggy2006
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