Question: Myfitnesspal is takes reduces calories for exercise?

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jpuryear22
jpuryear22 Posts: 3 Member
edited November 2024 in Food and Nutrition
Hi Everyone,
I synced my fitbit to myfitnesspal and noticed this morning that for my 1500 steps, I should've gained 70 calories, but my Dashboard reduced the remaining calories by 70 instead of giving me an extra 70! Any idea why this may be the case? Thanks in advance!

Replies

  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    The way fitbit sync works is like this: it sends total calories to MFP, and if those calories are higher than your activity level as chosen on MFP you get extra calories, if they're lower, they get deducted. Your activity level already includes some steps. MFP doesn't assume that you are lying in bed all day so it gives you your allowance accordingly, and if it gave you extra calories for steps that are already accounted for, that would be double counting and would not be very accurate.

    If you're set to sedentary, I think you need to take 2-3.5k steps before you start getting extra calorie credit. If you are set to to a higher activity level you will need to take even more steps before you start getting extra calories.
  • jpuryear22
    jpuryear22 Posts: 3 Member
    Thank you so much for that explanation. I can understand that it not give me the calories back until I hit a certain number of steps - but why does it deduct my calories? Shouldn't it be net neutral until I start to gain? It doesn't make sense that I would lose calories with activity....?
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    You have negative calories enabled. So as of that last sync, MFP assumes that at the end of the day you will burn 70 calories less than maintenance. It’s common to see a negative adjustment in the morning after you get up, and it should turn positive in a few hours (or however long it takes for you to hit those steps).
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited March 2018
    It deducts calories because it assumes you're less active (burning fewer calories) than the activity level you selected. Deducting the calories to match what you burned on fitbit makes sense for accuracy. People who don't have a device connected don't have the luxury of knowing when they're less active than they assume, and if they're less active too often, their weight loss may be a little bit slower than expected.

    Edited to agree with what @malibu927 said. If you're planning to take more steps the calories will change throughout the day and it won't stay in the negative. I suggest setting your activity level to sedentary if you haven't already. This way you will see a positive number sooner.
  • jpuryear22
    jpuryear22 Posts: 3 Member
    Thanks all!
  • CyberTone
    CyberTone Posts: 7,337 Member
    jpuryear22 wrote: »
    Thank you so much for that explanation. I can understand that it not give me the calories back until I hit a certain number of steps - but why does it deduct my calories? Shouldn't it be net neutral until I start to gain? It doesn't make sense that I would lose calories with activity....?

    Since you mentioned the word NET, that leads me to guess that you are viewing the Dashboard on the web version, not the mobile app.

    The web version subtracts positive exercise Calories from Food and shows Net Calories.

    The mobile apps add positive exercise Calories to Goal and shows Remaining Calories (after subtracting Food logged). If you have negative adjustments enabled, exercise Calories may be subtracted from Goal if you have not yet exceeded your MFP estimated daily Goal.

    Which one (web or mobile app) are you looking at?
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