Calories and step counting..

criiisdaw · September 2016

I put this in another part of the forum but go replies

.. mamybe this is a better place to ask ?

Hi All,

i am quite new to this but am very hooked on checking out the data. to such end if have been entering every calorie and aiming for 10000 steps a day. And it is working . 3kg in 4 weeks. I am happy.

What i dont understand though is the difference in the calories burned between the withings health mate app and MFP.

for example today i earned 979 calories according to MFP (apple heath tell me this was 9.2 miles / 17478 steps)

Health mate tells me i did 17471 steps but only awarded me 534 calories .. nearly 500 different. I choose to eat the difference (well drink it ) but it would be useful to know which estimate of calories burned is more accurate.

its not a one off either. the last counts where 697 vs 441/ 590 vs 350 /1910 vs 1577.

can anyone help me understand why these values are so different ? both apps seem to use the same data (weight and steps) yet the Health mate consistently estimates significantly less .

Thanks

C

ShandaLeaS · September 2016

I use MFP and Fitbit. I'm on a 1200 calorie plan a day but sometimes Fitbit will tell me I've eaten too much at 1200 calories. I think every app you use will be slightly different due to how they calculate things. As long as you're losing weight, getting healthier and feel good I wouldn't worry about the small inconsistencies.

criiisdaw · September 2016

The inconsistencies are huge though. Today mfp has me with 150 left .. a cuppa and a biscuit. Withings health mate how ever has me as 350 over .....

Spliner1969 · September 2016

I personally allow MFP to adjust calories for steps and let my phone report the steps to MFP (it's a setting). I think you're going to have to choose either the tracker you're using or MFP and adjust from there, they will never consistently match each other. The reason I don't use a separate tracker or app for step tracking is that MFP tends to add calories for steps unless I add in exercise. So that way I'm not double-dipping so to speak. So for instance, I log a couple of workouts each morning, one is a 5k walk/jog and the other is a bunch of cross training. I easily get over 5k steps usually by the end of those workouts, but it doesn't add any calories. However, if during the course of the day I start to get over 10k calories it starts to add in a few more calories as I go. It makes sense to me, and has been fairly accurate for me over the last year and a half. I never eat back all the calories, even now that I'm in maintenance mode.

Regardless of how you set it up, you will need to watch what you're being awarded on calories, try eating back up to 50% of those calories and see, over the period of a few weeks, if you feel it's accurate. If you're losing more than anticipated, eat a bit more back of those calorie, if you're not losing at the rate you expected, eat less. Eventually you'll be able to estimate a percentage of your exercise calories that you can safely eat back. For me that number is 70%, but for other people it might be only 50%, or 90%. I had a problem when I first started using MFP of double exercise logging, and MFP support told me to disconnect other apps except for one (that includes Apple Health, because it was double logging stuff).

criiisdaw · September 2016

thanks for the reply. I think it sounds like good advice to work out how many of the calories one can eat back.

I still dont see why there is such a difference though. The only data is coming from my phone for steps so both apps get the same input . Could it be that the withing app is usinf some of the additional data it gets from the linked scales ? perhaps it adds lean weight/ fat mass etc into its calculations...

Any how . at least for today i stayed under with MFP even if the health mate is telling me i have over eaten..

Spliner1969 · September 2016

If you look at your exercise log in MFP, just make sure it's not doubling up on calories given back for steps/exercise. That's what was happening to me, one of my apps was adding double entries. On the mobile app you can see this at the bottom of your diary, on the web it's on a separate tab for exercise.

Spliner1969 · September 2016

Even if the devices were synced/same you would still want to watch your weight loss and adjust it to your own needs. Everyone is different, and everyone will burn calories differently. As a matter of fact, every 5 lbs lost you should probably adjust it again, or at a minimum of monthly. The more you weigh the harder it is for you to exert yourself and the more calories you'll burn doing a specific exercise. As you lose weight it gets harder to burn calories at the same rate. Most apps have a setting where you enter your age, height, weight, etc. for that reason. They'll adjust their calorie burns accordingly. Make sure that on your Withings app you have all that information set or it'll be extra in-accurate. If it doesn't have that setting/adjustment then it's likely the reason it's so inaccurate.

For watching my weight trends I use a free app (there's a paid version if you want) called Happy Scale which logs a months worth and ignores the usual ups and downs and gives you an overall loss or gain amount for the month. You can also use MFP's graph for weight lost if you update it at least weekly in the app. Most people will only log losses, and I do the same on MFP unless I see a huge gain and feel I need to cut (hasn't happened yet thankfully). If I don't lose any or gain a little I don't log it. I only log when I lose weight. That's why I use the second app, I log every Thursday morning after my workout and before breakfast. It gives me an exact number weekly that I can go back at the end of the month and see if I am maintaining, gaining, or losing overall.

criiisdaw · September 2016

thank you very much for your help and insight . I will delve in and check

Calories and step counting..

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