Confused re exercise cals & fitbit & hunger

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fruitydude
fruitydude Posts: 8 Member
edited December 2017 in Health and Weight Loss
I have just seen that fitbit and mfp are having an issue connecting, however I'm more confused than ever.

Last week I could see my step count and exercise cals burned according to fitbit which is logged in mfp. Now mfp shows cals burned but not steps. The cals appear a lot lower (by hundreds)... which makes me wonder if what I had previously relied upon was incorrect? I'm not sure if fitbit/mfp issue is fixed or if it has been upgraded (hence the difference in exercise cals earned).

I'm set at 1200 cals per day due to age/weight. F. 50 yrs 90kgs.

What is super confusing is how many cals do I eat? Some days I clock up to 1000+ cals burned with mountain biking and over 10,000 steps. So does that mean I'm (in theory) only eating 200 cals? I haven't quite wrapped my head around the cals burned and how much I need to up the cals amount to eat.

In the past three weeks (have not been on here long), there are days I eat 1200 and days I eat 1600 by using the extra I have earned, yet this new calculation that is showing is way lower... way way lower which begs me to ask if I'm not eating enough (or previously ate too much) - though mind you, I also go by my hunger level - which seems to be faulty at best given the more I exercise the less hungry I am (directly after that is, the next day is another issue).

Please help!

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    fitbit isn't syncing right now...also as a male you should be consuming more than a net 1200 calories.
  • fruitydude
    fruitydude Posts: 8 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    fitbit isn't syncing right now...also as a male you should be consuming more than a net 1200 calories.

    Oh haha thanks. I'm female, it was the only random name I could find.
  • duskyjewel
    duskyjewel Posts: 286 Member
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    This is the second day now that fitbit is not syncing to MFP. I wish they'd fix it! :(
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    I don't really understand the question. Are you saying you have exercise calories added to your 1200 goal and it's less than Fitbit usually gives you? Did you log your exercise in MFP to make up for the fact that Fitbit isn't syncing? Or are you confused because no calories were added at all?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    duskyjewel wrote: »
    This is the second day now that fitbit is not syncing to MFP. I wish they'd fix it! :(

    I've been here for over five years...sometimes these things take time...and there have been way worse outages.
  • duskyjewel
    duskyjewel Posts: 286 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    duskyjewel wrote: »
    This is the second day now that fitbit is not syncing to MFP. I wish they'd fix it! :(

    I've been here for over five years...sometimes these things take time...and there have been way worse outages.

    Yeah, I know. Just a little frustrating but can't look a gift horse in the mouth.
  • Beaudom91
    Beaudom91 Posts: 54 Member
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    I've just been adding my step calories to MFP manually based on the amount I was given for the same amount of steps from fitbit previously. Something is definatly up with fitbit calories right now. It used to estimate my workout calories to be almost identical to the amount my actual work out machine gives me but since yesterday they've been way off, my machine will say I burned 600 cal in 30 minutes and fitbit will say I burned 150 or that I only worked out for 10 minutes of the 30. So fitbit is definatly having some technical issues right now.
  • duskyjewel
    duskyjewel Posts: 286 Member
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    Actually, no, Fitbit is working fine. MFP had an outage over the weekend and syncing with Fitbit is not happening right now. They've posted several status updates on the issue.

    I don't know which Fitbit you have, but I have a Charge 2. I waited until they had an affordable one with a HR monitor, because even though it's not perfect, it's going to be closer than any other estimation due to having my HR as part of its equation. I trust Fitbit over MFP when it comes to how many calories I burned.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,973 Member
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    Yes, it's common to not want all your exercise calories the day of a lot of exercise - feel free to eat them the next day.

    MFP uses the NEAT method (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), and as such this system is designed for exercise calories to be eaten back. However, many consider the burns given by MFP to be inflated and only eat a percentage, such as 50%, back. Others, however, are able to lose weight while eating 100% of their exercise calories.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p1
  • Beaudom91
    Beaudom91 Posts: 54 Member
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    duskyjewel wrote: »
    Actually, no, Fitbit is working fine. MFP had an outage over the weekend and syncing with Fitbit is not happening right now. They've posted several status updates on the issue.

    I don't know which Fitbit you have, but I have a Charge 2. I waited until they had an affordable one with a HR monitor, because even though it's not perfect, it's going to be closer than any other estimation due to having my HR as part of its equation. I trust Fitbit over MFP when it comes to how many calories I burned.

    I also have the charge2 and it's massivly playing up for me right now. Not logging steps, or tracking exercise ect
  • fruitydude
    fruitydude Posts: 8 Member
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    Oh thank you everyone! I have just come back from a ride and fitbit clocked it as 578 cals burned. I'm going to log this in manually.

    Oh that's interesting re the charge2 which I have. Sometimes I wonder about it because it shows my heart rate as being high when I'm hardly out of breath. Hmmm...
  • Beaudom91
    Beaudom91 Posts: 54 Member
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    My understanding from the research done into fitbit and other fitness trackers or that they are more or less reasonably accurate for heart rate but pretty far off the mark for calories at times
  • fruitydude
    fruitydude Posts: 8 Member
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    kimny72 wrote: »
    I don't really understand the question. Are you saying you have exercise calories added to your 1200 goal and it's less than Fitbit usually gives you? Did you log your exercise in MFP to make up for the fact that Fitbit isn't syncing? Or are you confused because no calories were added at all?

    Yes I was confused too. After today though, I realised that my Fitbit logged on mfp must have been partially logged (hence not the entire day)... perhaps? Fitbit showed 953 cals burned for Sunday while mfp shows 200 cals picked up from fitbit.

    Arrggh confusing. I'll log it manually for now :smile:
  • fruitydude
    fruitydude Posts: 8 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Yes, it's common to not want all your exercise calories the day of a lot of exercise - feel free to eat them the next day.

    MFP uses the NEAT method (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), and as such this system is designed for exercise calories to be eaten back. However, many consider the burns given by MFP to be inflated and only eat a percentage, such as 50%, back. Others, however, are able to lose weight while eating 100% of their exercise calories.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p1

    Thank you for this! I'll aim for 50% of exercise cals to eat back. I didn't think of eating some exercise cals the next day. Some nights I'm tired as opposed to hungry and I'm trying to listen to my body more instead of eating just to make sure I make the 1200 cal minimum (though it doesn't happen often).

    However I'll use my exercise cals if really hungry.
  • Jettaway
    Jettaway Posts: 1 Member
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    I just sent in an email that my fitbit wasn't syncing...glad to see it's not just me...this is the 2nd day!

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