Steps and calorie adjustments

The biggest thing I've learned since using adjustments is that MFP's adjustments are predictive. So when OP said the 240 calorie burn for 3,000 seems high, she was right. At that point in time, MFP was assuming her activity level would stay consistent. If she walked the 3,000 steps, then sat still for an hour, MFP will take some of those calories away. Because I work strange hours and don't usually get out of bed until 11am, MFP starts my day by taking away an average of 200 calories. But once I start moving, MFP slowly gives me those calories back.

MFP's predictive calculus can understandably frustrate. I find that the calorie allotment in my Fitbit app to be more stable so I tend to rely on that one. For example, at this point in the day, MFP says I have 835 calories left to eat but FItbit says I only have 688. If I was planning to be active later, I would use MFP's allotment...but since I'm going to binge watch Netflix, I'll stick to Fitbit's calculations for today.

If MFP is the preferred tool, you can start by eating back a percentage of the predicted calories, so if MFP takes some away later in the day, you don't find yourself in the red.