Fitbit and MFP calaries

GodsPromises
GodsPromises Posts: 19 Member
edited November 2024 in Food and Nutrition
I just got a Fitbit Alta all day tracker, but I'm a little confuse. I am tracking my exercise with my Fitbit and putting in my food into MFP. At the end of the day I have extra calories in MFP but in the morning when I review my log for the previous day there is an adjustment, and I have fewer exercise calories. Who do I make sure that I am not going over my allotted calories a day on MFP?

Replies

  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I always make sure to leave some calories in the green at the end of the day, as i always lose some by the next morning. I'm set at sedentary here on MFP, and yesterday i lost 71 calories by midnight even though i did 19,000 steps! When i was set at lightly active i lost up to 200 calories every day, no matter how many steps i did.

    The problem for me is i go to bed at around 7 every night, so there's 5 hours of zero activity up until midnight which makes me lose those calories.
    Also it doesn't matter what type of fitbit you have, I too have the Alta, but started with the zip.

    What activity level are you set at, how many calories did you lose?
  • GodsPromises
    GodsPromises Posts: 19 Member
    I'm set at sedentary here on MFP and I'm losing about 200 calories a night. O am not active better 8:00pm to midnight so that may be a problem
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    Losing 200 calories is a lot if you're set at sedentary. Do you get the majority of your activity in early in the day? I do my last walk at around 4pm most days.

    I would keep an eye on this. Your only option would be that if you're regularly losing 200 calories, then make sure you have 200 left at the end of each day.
  • successgal1
    successgal1 Posts: 996 Member
    Losing calories.... is this the same as "over budget"? Fitbit is so annoying. If I'm on budget at 8 pm and eat nothing else, why am I over budget at midnight?
  • GodsPromises
    GodsPromises Posts: 19 Member
    Christine_72 wrote: »
    Losing 200 calories is a lot if you're set at sedentary. Do you get the majority of your activity in early in the day? I do my last walk at around 4pm most days.

    I would keep an eye on this. Your only option would be that if you're regularly losing 200 calories, then make sure you have 200 left at the end of each day.
    Yes it is a lot that's what has me wondering what's going on. I will keep an eye on it.
  • GodsPromises
    GodsPromises Posts: 19 Member
    successgal1 wrote: »
    Losing calories.... is this the same as "over budget"? Fitbit is so annoying. If I'm on budget at 8 pm and eat nothing else, why am I over budget at midnight?

    Exactly. If I'm not eating I shouldn't be getting calories. Yes losing calories is the same as overbudgeting
  • successgal1
    successgal1 Posts: 996 Member
    GodsPromises wrote: »
    successgal1 wrote: »
    Losing calories.... is this the same as "over budget"? Fitbit is so annoying. If I'm on budget at 8 pm and eat nothing else, why am I over budget at midnight?

    Exactly. If I'm not eating I shouldn't be getting calories. Yes losing calories is the same as overbudgeting

    Gotcha. I just moved my charge hr to my ankle, today. For a hopefully more accurate burn then my very busy arms. As of this second it says I have 163 calories left and I just finished dinner. We'll see where it is at bedtime.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    successgal1 wrote: »
    Losing calories.... is this the same as "over budget"? Fitbit is so annoying. If I'm on budget at 8 pm and eat nothing else, why am I over budget at midnight?

    Because MFP assumes that you'll stay as active as you've been when you last synced your Fitbit. When you sync it after midnight and MFP sees you didn't burn as many calories as it expected, it has to readjust to give you what you really burned.

    Like @Christine_72 said, it's best to leave a buffer of calories to account for this.
  • successgal1
    successgal1 Posts: 996 Member
    My mfp stays the same. It says I have over 500 calories left to eat and that will not change.

    Fitbit has gone from 163 left to eat to 105 as I've sat here watching TV. Had I listened to its "budget" I'd be over my calories now.

    Its fitbit that assumes activity. Not mfp. Fitbit unrealistically expects a human to be active 16-24 hours a day?

    I do leave a buffer. Right now I eat 1200 by mfp or 1000-1100 based on fitbit depending on whether or not I'm hungry. Its hard to have a buffer when calories allowed are so minimal. Yes I'm being aggressive in goal in the short term.

    Bottom line, I have to ignore the budget of fitbit. Its not a real number.
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