calories out
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wishfullthinking79
Posts: 322 Member
I wanted to ask a question about the total number of calories out. I wear a fitbit almost 24/7. When I go to the gym I set it so that it knows that I am working out. I log the amount of cardio that I do while I am there. Fitbit and MFP numbers are completely different. I do not typically use the fitbit app to log my food consumption. I do log it into MFP. I just wanted to see if anyone else has a large gap in the numbers. From my experience MFP does not deduct anything when you enter in anything outside of cardio. Is this an absolute truth? I am just wondering if it would be more beneficial for me to use the fitbit app to log my food? MFP says I burned 249 calories while fitbit says I burned 350 while working out. I know this is not a huge number for today. Typically there is a large gap of over 250 calories.
The only reason why this concerns me at all is because I know that it is neccessay to eat back some of the calories you burn while working out.
The only reason why this concerns me at all is because I know that it is neccessay to eat back some of the calories you burn while working out.
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Replies
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I don't know about all that. I"d check to see what settings you have as your syncing. My Fitbit dashboard imports my diet info from MFP. But I don't have an HRM fitbit, so I get calorie adjustments based on steps only...0
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huumm. Now that woud be really cool if I could get it to import my food. I have the fitbit HR so it tracks everything. I just find it too cumbersome to do it in both apps. There are times that I do but not often.0
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It doesn't import all my food, just calorie totals by meal groupings, I think... I'd have to look. I think I had to sync it from both sides, from MFP to FitBit and from Fitbit to MFP...0
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My fitbit syncs with MFP as well. Look for a tab that says APPS on the top of the MFP page. That's where you can set it so sync up. Also, I don't eat back exercise calories. Ever. Not everyone does. I also don't go by what MFP says my calorie goal should be.0
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Yes thank you ladies. I did finally find where to go to sync them. This makes things a little easier. I do have a question for you though. So in MFP it does the projected adjustment based on your calories out at the time of the sync. Should I still input the cardio I do in MFP?
I definitely do not eat it all back. There are times at the end of the day where my calories left to consume are more than my calorie goal.0 -
wishfullthinking79 wrote: »Yes thank you ladies. I did finally find where to go to sync them. This makes things a little easier. I do have a question for you though. So in MFP it does the projected adjustment based on your calories out at the time of the sync. Should I still input the cardio I do in MFP?
I definitely do not eat it all back. There are times at the end of the day where my calories left to consume are more than my calorie goal.
If you enter the exercise, make sure you have negative adjustments allowed, and you need to use the exact start time and durations from the gym, so that MFP and FitBit know what you get credit for and what you don't...0 -
Oh that sounds like too much of a hassle for me. I start it at the beginning of my warm up cardio and then stop it following my cardio at the end of my workout. I do not stop it everytime I finish something. I like to track calories burned for the entire workout session.0
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My friend corrected my misunderstanding and said that she does that but that you don't have to do that. I'd watch what the burns are and the steps and stuff, and just see if it balances out. She doesn't even tell her HRM that she's working out....she said it is pretty good at calculating it for her.0
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honestly I have done it from day one. I do not do it for the times I go walking around so my son can ride his ripstik. I guess aways see what it does. So I think I may still be confused. So it is not necessary to go log cardio into MFP because the fitbit has already trackeed it.. Right? Or is it the other way?0
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I think that the FitBit will adjust automatically, and what it posts as your total adjustment to daily intake should mirror what it says on FitBit's page as well as MFP's page, after adjusting for what it thinks your base calorie burn rate is for existing.0
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If you have your fitbit synced with MFP, there is no need to manually log any exercise. I love my fitbit because it's set and forget, I let it do everything automatically for me.0
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Have any of you noticed that previous days fitbit calorie adjustment changes? I started manually logging my workouts b/c after 3 or 4 days I noticed my 400 or so calorie adjustment was reduced to 20 or 30 calories. I have no idea why it's doing that. Not a big deal, but sometimes I like to look back at previous weeks and I want an accurate reflection of what I did then and having the fitbit adjustment reduce for no reason makes no sense to me.0
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@Annie422 it's reducing the overall adjustment because it's adjusting so that you don't double count the manual workouts you're logging in.0
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Thanks for your response @KnitOrMiss but at the time I wasn't manually logging workouts, I was only relying on the fitbit adjustment and it still went back and reduced significantly (by hundreds) starting several days back. I only started manually adding my exercise calories when I noticed what was happening so I would have a more accurate record.0
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I'd have to look at your numbers, but something seems like if you're more heavily active than it's automatic settings calculate, it will be higher, thne if you're inactive when it assumes you're active, that will be a less active number, and it will get the numbers off - because we're active off and on, but it assumes averages all day long. @annie422
So if your MFP or FitBit is set at moderately active, and you do this:
Walk before breakfast, quick numbers up (200 cals, maybe) over the "average" it calculates.
Miss the lunch walk, adjustment bumps back down.
Heavy weights workout after work, but not steps or HRM, so it doesn't give you "full credit" for your activity, etc.
Quick walk after dinner might bring it back up, but might not.
Setting your baseline activity at sedentary, then allowing yourself to eat back calories is one way around this, but it still does the averages things.
Like mornings I made it to the Farmer's Market, I'd have 200-300 cals showing extra, then if I took a nap, after that, I'd been back showing neutral and such.... I depends on your sync rates and how your activity is spaced throughout the day, as well as whatever your baseline activity setting/calorie allowance is set to.0 -
You've got negative adjustments enabled, right?
I used to be set at lightly active but always lost calories from the afternoon onward, because MFP expects you to keep up that activity til midnight, which i never, ever did. I turn into sloth mode from around 5pm onward. So now I have it set to sedentary, which I most definitely am not, and just let fitbit and mfp do it's thing, I don't manually log anything.0 -
Thanks @KnitOrMiss and @Christine_72 I appreciate your responses.0
