MFP and Fitbit - too many calories???

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ellieofnor
ellieofnor Posts: 6 Member
in Getting Started
Hey all,
I have linked my fitbit with MFP but am concerned with the number of additional calories it is giving me. For example today I have done 2500 steps and have been awarded 900 additional calories. This appears to be quite a large number considering I haven't done anything out of the ordinary. I am very heavy (265 lbs - down 5 from last week!) could this be it?
Have I got my settings wrong? Currently on sedentary.
I don't want to eat the number given and then put more weight on.
Thanks
E x

Replies

  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,072 Member
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    Are your stats set up correctly in Fitbit (Height, Weight, Gender,etc)

    Is 900 calories not your total burn for the day so far or is that the actual calorie adjustment that you have been given?

    My start weight was about the same and I would get about 300 calories from 10000 steps with my MFP account set to lightly active.

  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
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    what model fitbit are you using?

    tinkerbellang83 wrote: »
    Are your stats set up correctly in Fitbit (Height, Weight, Gender,etc)

    Is 900 calories not your total burn for the day so far or is that the actual calorie adjustment that you have been given?

    These are my first thought too, also make sure you the the same weight loss goal selected in MFP and fitbit, otherwise that can mess with the sync too.
  • ellieofnor
    ellieofnor Posts: 6 Member
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    I have the charge HR, and its the total calorie adjustment. I have my activity set to the lowest setting (sedentary).
    Could it be that this would be the amount if I was that active all day? My days currently tend to be more active in the morning and less in the evening.
    I have just rechecked all my settings on both and they seem to be the same.
    Should I ignore the calorie adjustment and stick as close to the base as possible?
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,072 Member
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    Was you calorie adjustment ok at the final sync?
  • jaedwa1
    jaedwa1 Posts: 114 Member
    edited August 2017
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    I'm at my most active in the mornings and I usually work out at noon. After that, I am very sedentary. With my schedule, MFP tends to award me a pretty large calorie adjustment in the middle of the day but ends up subtracting 250-300 calories from that adjustment in the evening. I find the projected calorie calculations on the Fitbit app are much stingier and I'm able to hit my end of day calorie target better using those numbers.
  • ellieofnor
    ellieofnor Posts: 6 Member
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    Having just looked back over the past week the calorie adjustment has gone down massively for each day, sometimes leaving me over. Is there a way of making sure the calorie adjustment is for what I have done so far and not a projection for the rest of the day?
  • SeptemberRain81
    SeptemberRain81 Posts: 170 Member
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    The Charge HR tracks all calories -those from just being alive and existing in addition to exercise. But you can set it with MFP to only give you back your active calories.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,072 Member
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    @ellieofnor the best thing to do is sync it later in the day, if you're in a routine you will get to know roughly what you will earn for the day from certain workouts and can just incorporate those into your calorie allowance in advance.

    For example I know if I walk to/from work I will gain around a 250 calorie adjustment so I can factor that into my day for food.
  • need2belean
    need2belean Posts: 356 Member
    edited August 2017
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    ellieofnor wrote: »
    I have the charge HR, and its the total calorie adjustment. I have my activity set to the lowest setting (sedentary).
    Could it be that this would be the amount if I was that active all day? My days currently tend to be more active in the morning and less in the evening.
    I have just rechecked all my settings on both and they seem to be the same.
    Should I ignore the calorie adjustment and stick as close to the base as possible?
    Turn on the negative calorie adjustment and as your fitbit syncs, those calories will adjust throughout the day. I recommend only eating the calories back from exercise and not the extra calories you're getting throughout the day. If you HR says you burn 400 calories in your workout but you see 900 on your screen, just eat back the 400. Unless you have your profile set to Sedentary and then you decide to walk 5 miles after your initial workout, that 900 calories will adjust down. Try it out for a day. Turn on the negative calorie adjustment, only eat back half of what you see, go to sleep, sync your phone and most likely, those calories will have adjusted down. AND just an FYI that sometimes it will adjust less than your workout. For example if your HR says you burned 400 calories in your workout but then you sat down the rest of the day and you have your profile set to moderately active, then fitbit calories may adjust based on the fact that you weren't moderately active that day and only lightly and may adjust down to 350 calorie burn. That's why it's a good idea to have that negative adjustment button clicked and why it's good not to eat back all of your exercise calories.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,072 Member
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    need2belean wrote: »
    ellieofnor wrote: »
    I have the charge HR, and its the total calorie adjustment. I have my activity set to the lowest setting (sedentary).
    Could it be that this would be the amount if I was that active all day? My days currently tend to be more active in the morning and less in the evening.
    I have just rechecked all my settings on both and they seem to be the same.
    Should I ignore the calorie adjustment and stick as close to the base as possible?
    Turn on the negative calorie adjustment and as your fitbit syncs, those calories will adjust throughout the day. I recommend only eating the calories back from exercise and not the extra calories you're getting throughout the day. If you HR says you burn 400 calories in your workout but you see 900 on your screen, just eat back the 400. Unless you have your profile set to Sedentary and then you decide to walk 5 miles after your initial workout, that 900 calories will adjust down. Try it out for a day. Turn on the negative calorie adjustment, only eat back half of what you see, go to sleep, sync your phone and most likely, those calories will have adjusted down. AND just an FYI that sometimes it will adjust less than your workout. For example if your HR says you burned 400 calories in your workout but then you sat down the rest of the day and you have your profile set to moderately active, then fitbit calories may adjust based on the fact that you weren't moderately active that day and only lightly and may adjust down to 350 calorie burn. That's why it's a good idea to have that negative adjustment button clicked and why it's good not to eat back all of your exercise calories.

    Negative adjustments aren't necessarily going to help in this scenario - if you're more active in the morning and fairly sedentary in the afternoon, as the adjustment is based on you keeping that level of activity over the day, which you then don't, so you wouldn't get a negative adjustment until later in the day.
  • ellieofnor
    ellieofnor Posts: 6 Member
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    Ok I am really not understanding. I promise I am not really a dimwit but I cannot see why the 2 figures are so different. Can someone explain which figures I need to follow please?

    Today so far:

    Fitbit says I have done 6295 steps, burned 1891 calories, have eaten 801 calories and have 1395 calories left.

    MFP says I have a goal of 1440 calories, have eaten 801, my exercise adjustment is 1205 calories and I have 1844 left.

    If I go with MFP I could eat 2645 calories today with a 1000 deficit to lose 2 pounds a week, whereas Fitbit is saying I could eat 2196 calories again with a 1000 deficit.

    Both total figures seem quite high but I appreciate I am very large so would have a higher starting calorie goal.

    Thanks for all advice so far, I will get there in the end.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,072 Member
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    When you sync earlier in the day, MFP assumes the same level of activity will carry on the rest of the day and therefore gives you a bigger calorie adjustment than you might actually get when it finally syncs at midnight.

    So where you have done 6295 steps, it assumes you might do 10000 (guessing figures here) by the end of the day based on how many you have done now, if you tap on the calorie adjustment in your diary and then tap on the extra calories earned it explains how it has projected the adjustment.

    The MFP figure you start with is based on your stats alone, giving you an approximate figure - deficit based on your chosen weight loss rate.

    The Fitbit figure is based on your calorie burn taken by the watch which is determined by your stats and your HR data. This might be higher or lower than the NEAT calculation that MFP uses.
  • ellieofnor
    ellieofnor Posts: 6 Member
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    Thank you. That explains alot. So would I be better to add food via MFP (mainly for the barcode scanner) and then use the calories from fitbit?
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,072 Member
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    Yes definitely MFP for food and Fitbit for exercise. Be wary of relying on the barcode scanner though - it is still user entered so worth double checking any nutritional info the first time you scan a product.
  • xXGearheadXx
    xXGearheadXx Posts: 56 Member
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    ellieofnor wrote: »
    Ok I am really not understanding. I promise I am not really a dimwit but I cannot see why the 2 figures are so different. Can someone explain which figures I need to follow please?

    Today so far:

    Fitbit says I have done 6295 steps, burned 1891 calories, have eaten 801 calories and have 1395 calories left.

    MFP says I have a goal of 1440 calories, have eaten 801, my exercise adjustment is 1205 calories and I have 1844 left.

    If I go with MFP I could eat 2645 calories today with a 1000 deficit to lose 2 pounds a week, whereas Fitbit is saying I could eat 2196 calories again with a 1000 deficit.

    Both total figures seem quite high but I appreciate I am very large so would have a higher starting calorie goal.

    Thanks for all advice so far, I will get there in the end.

    The misfit number is more "real time", where as the MFP number is more of a daily projection. At noon, or even 8pm, the fitbit number will be much lower than the MFP number for that reason. By midnight, those two numbers will (or should) be matching up fairly closely. At 265# 2600/day sounds about right for a 2#/week loss assuming you are somewhat active (2400/day gets me around 1.5/week and i weigh 170-190 depending on where i am in my bulk/cut cycle).
  • ellieofnor
    ellieofnor Posts: 6 Member
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    Thank you! That seems to work better, as I have sat here doing nothing for almost an hour and fitbit has reduced my calories left by 36, whereas MFP has remained the same.
  • Ems_weightlossjourney17
    Ems_weightlossjourney17 Posts: 4 Member
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    At the moment I am using MFP for tracking my calories and just using my Fitbit for my exercise and that seems to be working, I have both set up for being sedentary as I sit down all day at work but I do go too Zumba twice a week and I have two dogs too walk so fingers crossed I'm getting it right.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,072 Member
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    Ems_weightlossjourney17 wrote: »
    At the moment I am using MFP for tracking my calories and just using my Fitbit for my exercise and that seems to be working, I have both set up for being sedentary as I sit down all day at work but I do go too Zumba twice a week and I have two dogs too walk so fingers crossed I'm getting it right.

    That is the right way to do it, your exercise does not form part of your activity level when using MFP's setup. As long as you're logging the exercise then you are doing it correctly, bear in mind that you may need to be conservative with eating back your calorie burns as not all trackers are accurate. 50% is a good starting point - monitor for 4-6 weeks and adjust accordingly.

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