Always set your activity level to "sedentary" when using an activity tracker?

There's a setting for "negative calories" which you should turn on. If you have this enabled, and use a tracker, it really doesn't matter what your activity level is because the system will adjust for you every day based on your actual activity.

Negative calorie adjustments happen if you don't move as much as your activity level projects. So if you say you're very highly active, but you only walk a mile or two, it will adjust your calorie goal down. That's what you should turn on; you're already getting the other side of the coin from your tracker, if you say you're sedentary and walk 20 miles you'll get a big upward adjustment. Allowing the downward adjustment too when it's warranted means your stated activity level is unimportant, the system will work it out.

MyFitnessPal compares the estimated burn based on the MFP activity level you chose to the burn that FitBit has calculated based on the activity it has measured. If your actual activity, measured by FitBit, is higher than MFP's estimated activity, you get more calories. If your actual activity as measured by your FitBit is LOWER than your MFP estimate (and you have negative adjustments enabled), MFP will subtract calories from your goal.

It's perfectly fine to set your MFP activity to whatever level you feel is appropriate, as long as you enable negative calorie adjustments so it will adjust if you don't meet the activity level you set. Many people use sedentary as their default so they don't have to worry about negative adjustments. But it's fine to set a higher activity level - you will only get additional calories if your Fitbit activity exceeds the activity level you've set - i.e. it won't "double dip."

The Fitbit adjustment is really just a way of fine-tuning the activity level.

I have mine set to active and I've not had any problems. Even with that activity level I usually end up with 300-400 calories logged under exercise. In my opinion, setting to sedentary when I'm far from it becomes too confusing.

I just started using the app last week. I have mine at low activity and to lose 2 lbs a week. Giving me 1,500 calories per day which I have been under every day and not hungry either. That is the most surprising thing.

I use the treadmill at highest incline at 3.8 miles per hour for 60 minutes. It says I am burning 760 calories but I don't buy it. I do that 5 times a week. I also do a rigorous weight training at an additional 4 times per week. I sweat just as much as the treadmill.
(yes I have issues) I have been doing that for years.

I am treating all that exercise as gravy. I am not using that to change my calorie numbers.

So I am pushing along. My wife and I already see a difference. I am already tightening my belt by one more hole and my pants are looser. My girls said to me on Sunday, "you have a 6 pack?" If an 8 year old notices it must be real. The six pack was under a few extra pounds.

My first weigh in after 1 week using the app is Thursday. Hope to see the results I think I have but either way, I feel a heck of a lot better. I am only looking to lose 15 pounds so I have a feeling I will be there in 6-8 weeks give/take.

Wish me luck!

Great to hear how much the app is helping everyone. I have a slightly different problem. I use a fitness tracker to record my activity and I walk about 12,000 steps a day. Even though my activity level is set to sedentary I always get a negative calorie adjustment. It ranges between 20 and a couple of hundred. I would love to be able to adjust the base calories, but MFP says there is no way to do this. Any thoughts?

sueyoung132 wrote: »

Great to hear how much the app is helping everyone. I have a slightly different problem. I use a fitness tracker to record my activity and I walk about 12,000 steps a day. Even though my activity level is set to sedentary I always get a negative calorie adjustment. It ranges between 20 and a couple of hundred. I would love to be able to adjust the base calories, but MFP says there is no way to do this. Any thoughts?

Are you using the web version or the mobile app?

On the web version home page dashboard, a positive Calorie adjustment from an activity tracker is subtracted from your daily Food Intake.
Food - Exercise = Net.

On the web version home page dashboard, a positive Calorie adjustment is added to your daily Goal.
Goal - Food + Exercise = Remaining.

Which are you looking at?

If you set it to sedentary, and are more active, you get bonus calories to eat.
If you set it to active, but don't move your *puppy* some days, you get penalized with calories taken away.
The net is about the same but, in my mind I'd rather see the reward than be punished. I understand it works out the same in the end, but it just doesn't "feel" the same.

So I set mine to sedentary and relish all these extra calories I'm given for being a good boy.

weavernv wrote: »

kaylaatx512 wrote: »

We're all different so here's what is working for me. I have recently turned off exercise calories so they don't calculate into my edible calories. I still manually log exercise but not steps or other activity. For me, I found that I was relying too heavily on mind games and kooky math to get to eat more, which was defeating the purpose and my goals. Also different apps were giving different values to exercise so I stopped trusting it. Now I work only with the calories allotted and I'm losing weight again. Again, we're all different but I'm happy with this method for me. Good luck, friends! Progress not perfection!

So how do you turn off exercise calories. I want to turn off my step calories, but be able to keep the calories from just the exercise that I do, but I don't seem to be able to do that. I use a garmin and it gives a ridiculous amount of calories for my steps.

You can only turn exercise calories off if you're a Premium subscriber, and it turns all of them off

seafire211 wrote: »

How do you enable the negative calorie adjustment? Is thatbjust on the premium?

No, there is a setting on the diary settings page for regular users.

So if I don't have a Fitbit what should I be setting myself at? The options are only "Not Very Active", "Lightly Active", "Active" or "Very Active". I don't see "Sedentary"?

sarahrosemayer wrote: »

So if I don't have a Fitbit what should I be setting myself at? The options are only "Not Very Active", "Lightly Active", "Active" or "Very Active". I don't see "Sedentary"?

sedentary is whatever the lowest activity level is