Extra calories just for walking?
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erinstewart173
Posts: 3 Member
The app keeps adjusting my daily calories based on how many steps I have take . To me this seems counterproductive since I choose my target calorie range based on my current level of activity which is also based on how much I walk per day. Should I turn of the calorie step adjustment? Or is it okay to leave it on?
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Replies
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I thought the same exact thing. I therefore unsynched my fitbit to MFP and never manually enter any calories burned from daily steps. I figure walking 10 000 steps a day is part of my regular lifestyle therefore I should not allow myself extra caloric intake.
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I don't have a fitness tracker, but I always add my walking manually. Usually an hour or more a day. However, there are days I don't walk that much, or that I walk much more, so I think it's important to add it in. I am not a believer in the "normal daily activities" settings by MyFitnessPal. I think activities should be entered as accurately as possible.0
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So in that case, do you set your daily activities to the lowest setting and account for whatever physical activity you do hat day?0
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You need to set your activity to sedentary.0
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If it is adjusting your calories based on a synced step tracker, it means that you are walking more than your activity level would indicate.0
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erinstewart173 wrote: »So in that case, do you set your daily activities to the lowest setting and account for whatever physical activity you do hat day?
Yes. Set it to sedentary like gia07 said, and then add in your exercise manually. You'll get much more accurate results this way.0 -
If your goal is weight loss then turn off the calorie step adjustment.0
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Apparently I was lied to
>.>
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This is what I doerinstewart173 wrote: »So in that case, do you set your daily activities to the lowest setting and account for whatever physical activity you do hat day?
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It doesn't have to be set to sedentary. You need to make sure negative adjustments is turned on. That way, even if you set your activity level to active, it will add or subtract accordingly based on your tracker.
This is incorrect and not this way this works. For the sake of OP's question, the activity is set to high and does need to be set lower at sedentary for it work as it should.
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You should set your activity level to sedentary or a fitness tracker is basically double dipping. Personally, I also manually set my initial calorie goal in MFP to match what fitbit estimates my initial calorie goal at...which is what I would need to lose weight if I literally laid in bed all day. So my day starts out with like 750 calories, but as I walk, that number goes up and up and by the end of the day, even on a modest step day (like say 5,000), I've got more like 1200 or 1300 a day. It's a bit confusing to think about, but it works.0
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Okay that all makes sense. Thanks everyone for helping to clear that up!! 0
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I have found that I have been doing a much better job of hitting my 10,000 step goal lately. Considering that, I have increased by activity level to 'lightly active' because I am more active than I was when I started. And now I get a smaller calorie adjustment for my regular daily activity. I also have the Fitbit/MFP linked to adjust negatively if I am not as active.0
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Two questions came up in this thread. One question is a steps adjustment and the other question is a Fitbit "exercise" adjustment.
I can speak to the Fitbit "exercise" adjustment. Whether the MFP step adjustment works the same or not, I have no direct experience as it is a new feature I haven't looked at.
The Fitbit/tracker "exercise" adjustment is a misnomer. It should be called the "fitness tracker" TDEE adjustment.
If you have negative adjustments enabled, MFP basically offloads the complete caloric expenditure calculation for the day to your Fitness Tracker.
Regardless of what activity level you chose in MFP, with a combination of positive and negative adjustments you end up, AT MIDNIGHT with the number of calories your fitness tracker has calculated as your daily expenditure.
This means that for most people, if all the activity they perform all day is about 10K steps, they will probably end up without a substantial positive or negative adjustment if they're setup as active on MFP; but, will end up with a substantial positive adjustment if they're setup as sedentary. and a substantial negative adjustment if they're setup as very active.
All this assumes that integration is functioning correctly. This is not a guarantee these days ;-)0 -
It doesn't have to be set to sedentary. You need to make sure negative adjustments is turned on. That way, even if you set your activity level to active, it will add or subtract accordingly based on your tracker.
This is incorrect and not this way this works. For the sake of OP's question, the activity is set to high and does need to be set lower at sedentary for it work as it should.
@gia07 - clobern80 is right.
I have mine set to Lightly Active and negative adjustments turned on. I have yet to meet the predicted estimated calorie burn of 1810 with my fitbit. Because I haven't met the 1810 calorie burn that MFP predicts it is taking away calories. I'm currently losing 110 calories. At the lightly active setting, I always start the morning with a negative adjustment and as the day progresses if I'm active enough, I will earn calories back until I meet MFP's calorie burn after which I can start getting a positive adjustment.
That's the whole point of negative adjustments. It takes away calories if you don't meet MFP's expected calorie burn and won't add calories till you surpass it.
Sedentary = Larger Adjustments
Any Activity Level above Sedentary = smaller adjustments / start day with a negative adjustment / can end day with less calories than your set MFP Goal for the day (example: my goal is 1310, but I'm losing 110 calories due to inactivity leaving me with a goal of 1200 calories for the day)
So really it's a matter of preference. Both ways work exactly the same. Some people don't like to start in the Negative, so they set to Sedentary and like the bigger adjustments.
Others, like myself, like to set the activity level higher so the adjustments are smaller.0 -
shadow2soul wrote: »It doesn't have to be set to sedentary. You need to make sure negative adjustments is turned on. That way, even if you set your activity level to active, it will add or subtract accordingly based on your tracker.
This is incorrect and not this way this works. For the sake of OP's question, the activity is set to high and does need to be set lower at sedentary for it work as it should.
@gia07 - clobern80 is right.
I have mine set to Lightly Active and negative adjustments turned on. I have yet to meet the predicted estimated calorie burn of 1810 with my fitbit. Because I haven't met the 1810 calorie burn that MFP predicts it is taking away calories. I'm currently losing 110 calories. At the lightly active setting, I always start the morning with a negative adjustment and as the day progresses if I'm active enough, I will earn calories back until I meet MFP's calorie burn after which I can start getting a positive adjustment.
That's the whole point of negative adjustments. It takes away calories if you don't meet MFP's expected calorie burn and won't add calories till you surpass it.
Sedentary = Larger Adjustments
Any Activity Level above Sedentary = smaller adjustments / start day with a negative adjustment / can end day with less calories than your set MFP Goal for the day (example: my goal is 1310, but I'm losing 110 calories due to inactivity leaving me with a goal of 1200 calories for the day)
So really it's a matter of preference. Both ways work exactly the same. Some people don't like to start in the Negative, so they set to Sedentary and like the bigger adjustments.
Others, like myself, like to set the activity level higher so the adjustments are smaller.shadow2soul wrote: »It doesn't have to be set to sedentary. You need to make sure negative adjustments is turned on. That way, even if you set your activity level to active, it will add or subtract accordingly based on your tracker.
This is incorrect and not this way this works. For the sake of OP's question, the activity is set to high and does need to be set lower at sedentary for it work as it should.
@gia07 - clobern80 is right.
I have mine set to Lightly Active and negative adjustments turned on. I have yet to meet the predicted estimated calorie burn of 1810 with my fitbit. Because I haven't met the 1810 calorie burn that MFP predicts it is taking away calories. I'm currently losing 110 calories. At the lightly active setting, I always start the morning with a negative adjustment and as the day progresses if I'm active enough, I will earn calories back until I meet MFP's calorie burn after which I can start getting a positive adjustment.
That's the whole point of negative adjustments. It takes away calories if you don't meet MFP's expected calorie burn and won't add calories till you surpass it.
Sedentary = Larger Adjustments
Any Activity Level above Sedentary = smaller adjustments / start day with a negative adjustment / can end day with less calories than your set MFP Goal for the day (example: my goal is 1310, but I'm losing 110 calories due to inactivity leaving me with a goal of 1200 calories for the day)
So really it's a matter of preference. Both ways work exactly the same. Some people don't like to start in the Negative, so they set to Sedentary and like the bigger adjustments.
Others, like myself, like to set the activity level higher so the adjustments are smaller.
I totally 100% agree with you, but for OP in general, the suggestion is set to sedentary.
So me being presumptuous that cloern80 was 100% wrong was incorrect on my part. We are both right in how it should or can work. OP can adjust later once he/she see how this works.0 -
I let MFP adjust the calories but I don't eat extra food. I just ignore it but I know it is there should I go over my calories for the day.0
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