MFP now giving very tiny adjustments from Fitbit

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rosebette
rosebette Posts: 1,659 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Like many other folks, I've been having issues with MFP and Fitbit Charge syncing for the past couple of weeks. Over the past few days it's syncing some calorie adjustments, but they are very tiny, usually under a 100 calories even though I workout every day. For instance, yesterday I got a 16 calorie adjustment for a 45 minute workout video and an hour of shoveling heavy snow. Today, I spent 27 minutes on a treadmill and did an hour of yoga and got only 83 calories. Now I know people say exercise calories are overesitmated, but this is ridiculous. My fitbit Charge said I used 1675 calories today; MFP is giving me 1083.

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  • lionessNV
    lionessNV Posts: 136 Member
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    I use MFP for all sorts of things but tracking my food vs calories out I use Fitbit. I have found that this helps; just to focus on one.
  • rosebette
    rosebette Posts: 1,659 Member
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    So in other words, just use Fitbit to track both and give up on MFP for tracking food? MFP does track nutrients, macros, etc.
  • CyberTone
    CyberTone Posts: 7,337 Member
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    Check to make sure your time zones are set properly. Most of the US just switched from Standard Time to Daylight Saving time. Possibly MFP or Fitbit did not change it properly.
  • rosebette
    rosebette Posts: 1,659 Member
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    My time zone is automatically set to Eastern Standard Time, and when Daylight Savings Time started, my Fitibit clock automatically shifted over, so that's not the problem. Anyway, it's only an hour difference. I can't see how that would make a massive difference in MFP calculations for the day. It would be different if I were traveling in a completely different time zone where I'd be sleeping the same time that I would normally be awake.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,131 Member
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    having incorrect time zones can cause problems with systems syncing.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    You logged shoveling snow (28 minutes) and walking (44 minutes) and strength training (24 minutes) at MFP.

    Your problem is not an error or timezones, but perhaps you don't have a good grasp on how/why you get adjustments from Fitbit.

    MFP expects you to burn a certain amount of calories based on your activity level & stats. Fitbit tracks your total calorie burn based on activity. If Fitbit says you burn more than MFP expected, you earn more calories.

    Example: MFP expected me to burn about 1750 calories yesterday, but Fitbit says I burned 2100. That is 350 more than expected so a +350. Note: if you sync midday the # will change as your actual burn changes constantly.)

    So what happens if I log exercise in MFP? Lets say I logged my 30 minute run last night for 300 calories burned. MFP adds that to my calorie burn expectation, so now MFP thinks I should end up at 1750 + 300 or 2050 for the day. Fitbit still says I burned 2100, so the Fitbit adjustment is only 50. Note my end of day burn did not change. Its just that my log shows +300 run, +50 Fitibt instead of simply showing +350 Fitbit.

    A Fitbit adjustment is not really exercise calories. Its an adjustment saying you burned more than MFP expected.

    So looking at your Tuesday 3-14 exercise log, you logged 64 + 156 + 197 calories for exercise or 417 total. You have a -401 Fitbit adjustment. If you had not logged exercise you would have had a Fitbit adjustment of 16. If you look at your Fitbit data, your total calories burned for the day should be pretty close to what MFP expects of you based on your activity level.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    To know what MFP expects you to burn per day, either temporarily set MFP to maintain, or just add your scheduled deficit back to your initial calorie goal. If you have a custom calorie goal, you'll probably need to set to maintain to see it though.
  • rosebette
    rosebette Posts: 1,659 Member
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    I actually hand-entered my exercise calories after I had the low MFP fitbit adjustment because it wasn't showing that I was doing anything. The Fitbit adjustment was 16 before entered those exercises, so for all that day of work, I would have gotten only 16 exercise calories? Even with a deficit, that is an extremely low amount. I've been using my Fibit for a long time, and I have never seen these very low numbers unless I did absolutely nothing all day.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    MFP's expectations depend on your stated activity level. If you are set as 'active' then MFP expects you to burn more and it takes more to get an adjustment. If you're set to sedentary then MFP expects you to burn a lower amount and you earn an adjustment quicker.

    The nice thing about having a reasonably reliable tracker: you don't have to guess about your activity level.

    If your totals seem different now than before, check to make sure your stats (height, weight, etc.) are accurate both at MFP and Fitbit. And then compare total daily burns now vs a month ago. It might help you pinpoint if something has changed that you're not thinking about.
    rosebette wrote: »
    I actually hand-entered my exercise calories after I had the low MFP fitbit adjustment because it wasn't showing that I was doing anything. The Fitbit adjustment was 16 before entered those exercises, so for all that day of work, I would have gotten only 16 exercise calories? Even with a deficit, that is an extremely low amount. I've been using my Fibit for a long time, and I have never seen these very low numbers unless I did absolutely nothing all day.

  • rosebette
    rosebette Posts: 1,659 Member
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    I haven't changed anything in MFP. I'm convinced it's a syncing issue that needed to be resolved on their end. Today, I walked for almost an hour and did a belly dancing class and got a 300+ adjustment, which is more the level I used to get. The Fitbit Group (which I belong to) has numerous posts and threads about people having trouble syncing over the past few weeks, and I guess it got even worse after the time change.

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