Am confused by lack of agreement between Garmin Conect and MyFP

tombarkas
tombarkas Posts: 2 Member
edited November 14 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I measure activity on my Garmin Forerunner for the day, then sync it to MFP, but the calories never seem to agree. Today. Garmin gave me 215 active kcalories, so I sync it to MFP which tells me I've only earned 8 kcal from exercise! Any ideas why? Sometimes it seems to agree quite well, but most times not

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  • katyotta
    katyotta Posts: 13 Member
    The same thing is happening to me. I'm probably overthinking it but this is my theory:

    If I set 1500 calories in Garmin, it seeks to make my net calories 1500. So if I eat 1600, and exercise 100, then Garmin is happy.

    But in MFP, I have another setting that says I plan to exercise 30 minutes every day this week. Let's pretend that's 100 calories. So even though my calorie goal is 1500, MFP expects my net calories to be 1400.

    I think it's really unfortunate, but I like using these tools together so I'm willing to put up with it.
  • powered85
    powered85 Posts: 297 Member
    edited January 2017
    It's because garmin uses a different BMR activity multiplier than MFP. I gave up on calorie adjustments and just sync recorded exercises from connect instead.
  • tombarkas
    tombarkas Posts: 2 Member
    Sarahbums (lovely name, but I hope you only have 1 :-)): I'll look into it. Powered85: If I understand you right, that is what I do, but it doesn't work. Garmin Connect says I have say 200 Kcal used actively, but, when I sync it to MFP, it only gives say 8
  • bradkyleeheller
    bradkyleeheller Posts: 18 Member
    I think it has something to do with the discrepancies between what MFP expects you to burn in a day (for what you have set as your activity level) and what the garmin tracks.
    In my case I have MFP set to active it expects me to burn 2,008 calories in a day. My garmin connect recorded so far only 1,437 total that includes 175 active calories. Then MFP adds a few more calories on for the full day projection for what I actually burn with the garmin data. So in today's case I haven't actually earned more calories I have fallen way short.
    I was still given 92 exercise calories though ????
  • powered85
    powered85 Posts: 297 Member
    At least on my Garmin device, it calculates sedentary BMR as the St Jeor formula and multiplies it by 1.22.

    Mfp calculates sedentary BMR by using the same formula and then multiplying by 1.25.

    Thus this will cause sync discrepancies when the device syncs its non-recorded (ie. General steps/movement) calories over to MFP.

    Also on the Garmin side (connect), the whole "active calories" is out of whack in my opinion. Say I burn 500 calories during a run. Instead of connect telling me I have 500 active calories for the day, it subtracts the calories I would've burned while being sedentary during the duration of the run. So it might say I only have 450 active calories for example...in my experience this results in underestimating my calorie burn.

    So what I find easiest:
    1. Disable calorie adjustments from Garmin device outside of recorded activity (runs, walks, cardio etc)
    2. Determine my activity level in MFP and set it correctly (eg. Sedentary, lightly active etc)

    That way planned exercise still gets synced to MFP and I will eat back most of those calories on days I do long walks or runs.

    Key is to determine your true activity level and set it correctly in MFP. @heybales made a great spreadsheet for helping to figure that portion out.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    While this FAQ is about the Fitbit's and so settings and terms are specific there, the methods used still apply to Garmin and other activity trackers and their data synced to MFP.

    So page 2 of this FAQ with the math is especially true, but some points from page 1 apply also - like picking the activity level on MFP to match with what you really do daily. (or as page 2 shows, you may not want to do that).

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10098937/faq-syncing-logging-food-exercise-calorie-adjustments-activity-levels-accuracy/p1

    So couple comments above mentioned what is happening with Garmin showing 215 active calories, but MFP after math only giving you 8 calories extra.

    Whatever activity level you picked on MFP expected you to burn for the day about 8 calories less than Garmin appear to have you on track for the day.

    So either that workout with extra 215 calories made you more lazy for rest of the day, so you didn't burn what MFP was expecting per YOUR choice of activity level for non-exercise level, or you have the activity level higher than the true non-exercise portion of your day.

    Either way is correct - as you observed - you want to adjust your eating for an extra 215 calories - or extra 8?
    If evening workout - one may be easier.
    If morning workout - who cares probably, several meals to make up the difference.

    Depends on how much you plan and prepare, how much you like/dislike big adjustments, how much you'll follow the plan, ect.
  • powered85
    powered85 Posts: 297 Member
    @heybales wow great and extensive article on Fitbits! Does Fitbit devices use the same BMR formula and sedentary multiplier as MFP?


  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,232 Member
    You guys will have to decide for yourselves whether garmin, fitbit, or MFP is closer to a true estimate for you (and the determination of that is also dependent on the quality of your food intake logging).

    Suggested way of doing that is to compare your weight trend over a period of a few weeks to the results you would have expected based on what your logs say.

    The point being made (I assume, dangerously, without re-reading something @heybales wrote--and reading what @heybales writes is **ALWAYS** worthwhile, I just don't have time to review the Fitbit stuff right now ;-)), is that if you connect MFP to Fitbit (or Garmin) the exercise adjustment you see at the end of the day is an ACCOUNTING adjustment.

    It is a misnomer that it is lumped as "exercise".

    it is just an accounting adjustment equalising your MFP calories to the presumably more "correct" estimating tool, your activity tracker.

    Essentially when you connect (with negative calories enabled) MFP to a tracker, you are exporting the function of calculating your actual calories burned to your activity tracker.

    The MFP baseline estimate is compared at the end of the day (midnight) to your trackers results and an accounting adjustment gets entered as exercise activity.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    powered85 wrote: »
    @heybales wow great and extensive article on Fitbits! Does Fitbit devices use the same BMR formula and sedentary multiplier as MFP?


    Fitbit uses an undisclosed either proprietary or other formula for BMR, that almost matches Mifflin that MFP uses.

    They did indeed use to use Mifflin years ago.

    Fitbit Sedentary is about 1.03 x BMR - so their sedentary is really RMR, bed/chair bound but awake and thinking - barely.
    If you select that on Fitbit - even their adjustments to the day will be big as your device syncs. Must be a feel-good setting.
    Their selection though has little to do with MFP math if you sync semi-frequently. If you don't until before dinner like me, then indeed you'll have negative adjustments through the day (I just don't look, so doesn't matter).

    But just like any activity tracker that offers to track calories burned and eaten and give amounts left to reach goal - you will usually have less confusion just attempting to follow 1 road to your destination - MFP if you like the food database.
    Trying to follow 2 - MFP and Garmin (or Fitbit or whatever) - just leads to frustration and aggravation, they may rarely match until midnight - which isn't terribly useful for the other 24 hrs of the day.

    And ditto's to @PAV8888 as to what is going on - principles work the same between the brands and the syncing.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,232 Member
    Just to be clear in case it is lost in the walls of text.

    You are thinking: 215 Cal exercise on Garmin, how come only 8 Cal for exercise on MFP?

    Reality is MFP had you pegged, based on your choice of activity level, as scheduled to burn a certain number, let's call it... 2222 Cal today.

    Garmin came to an independent estimate of what you burned.

    With your 215 Cal exercise accounted for, and based on its own formulas, it estimates that you burned 2230 Cal today

    2330-2222=8 Cal

    To equalize to Garmin's estimates, MFP has to give you an extra 8 (not 215) Cal.

    Thus MFP now does so and tells you that you have an 8 Cal exercise adjustment.



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