Negative calorie adjustment?

xxharleyquinnxx
xxharleyquinnxx Posts: 166 Member
edited November 17 in Fitness and Exercise
Do ppl with Fit bit have this turned on with MFP? I've not at the mo but not too sure if this is hindering my weight loss!?

Replies

  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    I do not. I have my MFP set to sedentary so the calorie target is my daily minimum. Instead of MFP subtracting, then adding in, I go for the minimum, then anything my tracker gives me is extra. It will NOT give you extra calories to eat until the tracker tells it that you have taken enough steps to earn extra calories.
  • DEBOO7
    DEBOO7 Posts: 245 Member
    No... I have it turned off.
    I tend to ignore calories earned by exercise and eat to my set macros.
    I don't go to the gym or anything but do try and get in 10k steps a day and a swim 1-2 times a week, so not super active.
  • xxharleyquinnxx
    xxharleyquinnxx Posts: 166 Member
    I've got it turned off too and then just let my fit bit do the steps and then manually enter in my calorie burn from exercise as an extra :) don't think I want to turn it on as it seems really confusing too!
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    MFP is estimating a daily NON-exercise calorie burn based on your selection of activity level out of 4 options - right or wrong (most people are wrong BTW).

    Fitbit is getting a much better estimate of daily calorie burn and telling MFP what it is. And it includes exercise besides increased daily activity.

    MFP then does the math to correct itself to better figures.

    On days you might burn even less than MFP estimated - it'll correct itself down in calories, instead of just up - if you have Negative Calories enabled.

    Since your Fitbit is seeing your exercise - why are you manually logging it on MFP?


    Dealing with changing values is merely about trying to learn the life lesson many don't realize.

    You eat at an appropriate level to match your level of activity/exercise to maintain weight.
    Do more and you should eat more.
    Do less and you should eat less.

    In a diet to lose weight you eat a reasonable amount less than you burn in all 3 cases.

    Fitbit is merely trying to help you do that - synced to MFP for food database usage is merely trying to do that too.
  • xxharleyquinnxx
    xxharleyquinnxx Posts: 166 Member
    I log my exercise into mfp because I can change the name of the workout? I do DVDs so like to make sure it has the correct dvd name under my log. Unless you can do this with fitbit??
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    On Fitbit account (web or app), you create an Activity Record, not a Workout Record (which uses your calorie burn or database calculated).

    If the right Fitbit, you can start a workout on the device and it syncs up later.

    That becomes an Activity Record - is shows the stats for that chunk of time, a snapshot.

    And you can edit that name to whatever you want, besides there being Notes to put more info in.

    Makes it very easy for review in their Diary.

    Then on MFP, just make a wall post about the workout for your friends to see you are keeping busy. Or not.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    xxharleyquinnxx wrote: »
    I log my exercise into mfp because I can change the name of the workout? I do DVDs so like to make sure it has the correct dvd name under my log. Unless you can do this with fitbit??

    I get wanting to have a named workout. I keep a separate spreadsheet for that, I track strength training, cardio & (semi-rest) yoga days using columns.

    But, yeah I agree. Let FitBit do it's thing now and you will figure out how accurate it is before you get to goal. Activity trackers can be super helpful for maintenance.
  • jameyer73
    jameyer73 Posts: 13 Member
    I have my negative calorie adjustment turned on, but definitely find it confusing. I typically get dinged for -100 to -200 calories a day, sometimes as much as -300.

    The adjustments seems to get larger the more activity I have. For example yesterday I walked 18,679 steps, and went on two walks that burned 116 and 389 calories respectively. My negative adjustment for the day was -219. This can be frustrating, I burned 505 active calories according to apple watch, but according to MFP I only earned 286 after my negative adjustment.

    While I don't fully understand how the adjustment is computed, I would rather work around a worst case assumption than overeat. Does anyone else have similar issues?
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    edited April 2017
    xxharleyquinnxx wrote: »
    Do ppl with Fit bit have this turned on with MFP? I've not at the mo but not too sure if this is hindering my weight loss!?

    If you log any exercises that the step tracker won't pick up on (such as cycling), then the activity adjustment will adjust to negate them (at least with Garmin). So mine is off (but I also work at a desk, so my activity level is set to sedentary).
  • CyberTone
    CyberTone Posts: 7,337 Member
    jameyer73 wrote: »
    I have my negative calorie adjustment turned on, but definitely find it confusing. I typically get dinged for -100 to -200 calories a day, sometimes as much as -300.

    The adjustments seems to get larger the more activity I have. For example yesterday I walked 18,679 steps, and went on two walks that burned 116 and 389 calories respectively. My negative adjustment for the day was -219. This can be frustrating, I burned 505 active calories according to apple watch, but according to MFP I only earned 286 after my negative adjustment.

    While I don't fully understand how the adjustment is computed, I would rather work around a worst case assumption than overeat. Does anyone else have similar issues?

    I do not use Apple products or have an Apple Watch. I have a Fitbit with negative adjustments enabled which syncs up perfectly with MFP. A week or so ago, someone posted a screen capture of their Apple Watch activity, and I noticed that the Active Calories displayed noted that they were for "Yesterday" not "Today." Since I do not have a way to test this out, I wonder if the Apple Watch reports only yesterday's total Active Calories instead of today's when a user is looking at the page. If that is the case, the value for yesterday's Active Calories should not factor into today's equations. That would be my guess on why the two (Apple Watch and MFP) are off. If I am wrong, disregard my speculations.
  • xxharleyquinnxx
    xxharleyquinnxx Posts: 166 Member
    Just for the record mfp is on Lightly Active as I do exercise DVDs 5-6 times a week. I feel this is at least lightly active so don't want to change my level to sedentary. Think I will keep it off for this week and see how I get on.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    jameyer73 wrote: »
    I have my negative calorie adjustment turned on, but definitely find it confusing. I typically get dinged for -100 to -200 calories a day, sometimes as much as -300.

    The adjustments seems to get larger the more activity I have. For example yesterday I walked 18,679 steps, and went on two walks that burned 116 and 389 calories respectively. My negative adjustment for the day was -219. This can be frustrating, I burned 505 active calories according to apple watch, but according to MFP I only earned 286 after my negative adjustment.

    While I don't fully understand how the adjustment is computed, I would rather work around a worst case assumption than overeat. Does anyone else have similar issues?

    If always a negative ding - then your have your MFP activity level set higher than you really are even with your exercise.

    Adjustments have nothing to do with workouts.

    You can have a very active day and no exercise and get positive.
    You could have good workout and be lazy otherwise and get negative.

    It's the total that matters - so rarely if ever will the adjustment actually equal what the device says the workout burn was - that would mean your daily activity level exactly matched the MFP level.
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