Steps Calories Adjustment
sigaiser
Posts: 9 Member
Good morning everyone. I am new to myfitnesspal and I have a question for everyone...actually two questions.
First, I understand the concept in theory about the app continually adjusting your calorie intake for the day based off your activity. However today, I logged a 63 minute exercise that netted me +639 calories. My step count as of writing is 2282 Steps according to MFP (more on that later). It is now making a step adjustment of -1000 calories! That cant be right, can it? I have everything set up correctly, I think. Using iPhone X and Apple Watch. I have step tracking set to Apple Watch. I have negative adjustments enabled. It just seems like an extreme amount of negative adjustment. My starting caloric intake is 2200 and to have a 1000 deduction based off steps cant be healthy.
My second issue is steps...I currently show the following for today...
Apple Watch - 2240
Health App - 2281
MFP App - 2282
Why are they all reading different?
If anyone has any insight into these issues, I would love to hear it. Thank you all in advance.
First, I understand the concept in theory about the app continually adjusting your calorie intake for the day based off your activity. However today, I logged a 63 minute exercise that netted me +639 calories. My step count as of writing is 2282 Steps according to MFP (more on that later). It is now making a step adjustment of -1000 calories! That cant be right, can it? I have everything set up correctly, I think. Using iPhone X and Apple Watch. I have step tracking set to Apple Watch. I have negative adjustments enabled. It just seems like an extreme amount of negative adjustment. My starting caloric intake is 2200 and to have a 1000 deduction based off steps cant be healthy.
My second issue is steps...I currently show the following for today...
Apple Watch - 2240
Health App - 2281
MFP App - 2282
Why are they all reading different?
If anyone has any insight into these issues, I would love to hear it. Thank you all in advance.
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Replies
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What did you set your activity level to? 2240 steps is pretty low. I'm not sure how the negative adjustments work, as I haven't used them. But I imagine if you set your activity high, and only walk 2000 steps there would be an adjustment. That said, I think there may be something wrong with the step count cals in the app at the moment. Yesterday, I was over 18000 steps, it told me I could eat over 7000 cals. So mine was haywire yesterday also.0
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If your set to anything above sedentary you won't start earning calories until you have surpassed 3k steps2
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I submitted a trouble ticket on this just the other day. When it syncs the exercise, it then adjusts a HUGE number off. Give it 30-60 min, and it will correct itself.
I'm supposed to get 1520/day (before exercise). I did a workout for 144 calories. Then it showed:
MFP iOS Calories burned: 2369
MFP Calories burned: 2399
MFP iOS Calorie Adjustment -464 (?????)
It says the "Your adjustment has been reduced to keep your goal above our 1520 calorie minimum" but that is clearly not the case.
The app showed 1520 starting - 782 eaten - 320 exercise = 418 remaining.
And 782 + 418 = 1200. However, I'm a male, and it's not supposed to go below 1500/1520!
I checked it an hour later, and the adjustment was then just 35 calories or so.
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Also having issues with this so glad to see it's not just me. Hopefully there will be a fix ASAP.0
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So I have confirmed that it is an error somewhere on the MFP side. If you have a negative calorie adjustment that is just stupid way off, delete it and wait for a refresh. Once it refreshes it seems to be more in line. Still not really where I think it should be but much more reasonable to say the least.
The issue I am still having is the adjustment itself, even when it appears to be normal. Take this for example and maybe someone can share some insight...
I workout Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Yesterday being Tuesday was my off day. I finished the day with a rather meager 9224 steps for a adjustment of +92 calories. Now today I had a 66 minute workout for 406 calories, my steps are at 4422 as of writing, but my adjustment is -101. How can that be? I am at roughly 50% of my step total for yesterday but with a 200 calorie difference! The math doesn't add up to me. I have checked every day I workout I am penalized step calories vs days I take off.
Has anyone else noticed this? Also, I have emailed MFP about this issue on Sunday with no response. What is their typical reply rate, if anyone knows.0 -
So I have confirmed that it is an error somewhere on the MFP side. If you have a negative calorie adjustment that is just stupid way off, delete it and wait for a refresh. Once it refreshes it seems to be more in line. Still not really where I think it should be but much more reasonable to say the least.
The issue I am still having is the adjustment itself, even when it appears to be normal. Take this for example and maybe someone can share some insight...
I workout Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Yesterday being Tuesday was my off day. I finished the day with a rather meager 9224 steps for a adjustment of +92 calories. Now today I had a 66 minute workout for 406 calories, my steps are at 4422 as of writing, but my adjustment is -101. How can that be? I am at roughly 50% of my step total for yesterday but with a 200 calorie difference! The math doesn't add up to me. I have checked every day I workout I am penalized step calories vs days I take off.
Has anyone else noticed this? Also, I have emailed MFP about this issue on Sunday with no response. What is their typical reply rate, if anyone knows.
You're only halfway through the day. It's what the adjustment is at the end of the day that matters. If you work out earlier in the day, the adjustment works on the basis of that being your level of activity for the day.
I don't see an answer to what activity level you've set yourself to in MFP that someone asked further up.0 -
I have it set at active. My base calorie intake is at 2200. I am normally in the 12k to 15k steps neighborhood.
I understand I am only halfway through the day but its the math that doesn't add up to me. Unless the system uses a sliding scale to do the calculations. In my example, 10k steps for +92 and 5k steps for -101. In the next 5k steps I will have to make up 200 calories to match yesterday. It doesn't seem right but may adjust itself, I guess.
I'm new to MFP so let me monitor the trends and see if it doesn't begin to make more sense. I really appreciate everyone's feedback and engagement. Thanks all!0 -
Having it set to Active is likely your issue, you're going to get next to no adjustment until later in the day because Active is based on hitting around 10000 normal steps. So you will have a negative adjustment until you get close to your step goal.
This is to ensure you're not over eating. The multiplier for active is 1.6 x BMR compared with sedentary being 1.25 x BMR which can be some difference.
If you have an HR model that may also affect the calorie burns, for example, walking uphill at a faster pace is going to burn more calories than walking flat at a slower pace.
I too get in a round 12500 steps per day, but I have myself set to Lightly Active which accounts for around 5000 steps so I know even if I don't get my normal walks in that my calorie adjustment is unlikely to be in the negative.2 -
As far as I’m concerned the Apple Watch sync has been broken since at least May 2017 when I got my watch.
If negative adjustments enabled and I perform Any workout that day the MFP sync always gives me a huge calorie negative adjustment for my steps.
So on days I don’t do a explicit workout but get 10,000 steps I usually get my base calories plus about 90 step calories. BUT on days I do a swim MFP says +300 or so calories for swim and -400 or so calories for steps. The more I workout, the BIGGER the negative adjustment. (And my MFP activity level is set to sedentary so this makes no sense at all no matter what time I do my steps and/or workouts.)
I gave up. Now that I’m on maintenance and trying to be very exact with my calories MFP is useless with the Apple Watch sync. I track calories burned in a different app (FITIV) and pull my intake calories Out of MFP because I can’t get any good numbers on MFP when syncing the Apple Watch.1 -
No movement, or even an acknowledgement, of the support case I filed on 4/8/2018 (3 days ago).
They are probably overwhelmed with support cases from the data breach. Considering it told me to change my password (which I did before they even said to), and that locked me out of new sign-ins for several days.0 -
As far as I’m concerned the Apple Watch sync has been broken since at least May 2017 when I got my watch.
If negative adjustments enabled and I perform Any workout that day the MFP sync always gives me a huge calorie negative adjustment for my steps.
So on days I don’t do a explicit workout but get 10,000 steps I usually get my base calories plus about 90 step calories. BUT on days I do a swim MFP says +300 or so calories for swim and -400 or so calories for steps. The more I workout, the BIGGER the negative adjustment. (And my MFP activity level is set to sedentary so this makes no sense at all no matter what time I do my steps and/or workouts.)
I gave up. Now that I’m on maintenance and trying to be very exact with my calories MFP is useless with the Apple Watch sync. I track calories burned in a different app (FITIV) and pull my intake calories Out of MFP because I can’t get any good numbers on MFP when syncing the Apple Watch.
I agree 100% and have the EACT same issue. The more I exercise the more I feel it "punishes" me by taking away calories. Thank you for sharing this with me.
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As far as I’m concerned the Apple Watch sync has been broken since at least May 2017 when I got my watch.
If negative adjustments enabled and I perform Any workout that day the MFP sync always gives me a huge calorie negative adjustment for my steps.
So on days I don’t do a explicit workout but get 10,000 steps I usually get my base calories plus about 90 step calories. BUT on days I do a swim MFP says +300 or so calories for swim and -400 or so calories for steps. The more I workout, the BIGGER the negative adjustment. (And my MFP activity level is set to sedentary so this makes no sense at all no matter what time I do my steps and/or workouts.)
I gave up. Now that I’m on maintenance and trying to be very exact with my calories MFP is useless with the Apple Watch sync. I track calories burned in a different app (FITIV) and pull my intake calories Out of MFP because I can’t get any good numbers on MFP when syncing the Apple Watch.
I agree 100% and have the EACT same issue. The more I exercise the more I feel it "punishes" me by taking away calories. Thank you for sharing this with me.
@sigaiser I highly recommend the FITIV pulse app. It pulls my calories out of MFP and correctly records step and activity and workout calories. That way the broken Apple Watch/MFP sync isn’t an issue.0 -
I get the same "step calories go negative" when another activity is added problem. To the point that I turned off negative adjustments so now it just goes to zero instead of negative.
It also changes the name of the entry from:
Google Fit Calorie Adjustment
6000 steps
to:
MFP Android Google calorie adjustment
Based on your measured activity
I've found though that If I keep the app open on my phone (Android version here) that often (but not always) eventually go back to showing the entry correctly.0 -
As far as I’m concerned the Apple Watch sync has been broken since at least May 2017 when I got my watch.
If negative adjustments enabled and I perform Any workout that day the MFP sync always gives me a huge calorie negative adjustment for my steps.
So on days I don’t do a explicit workout but get 10,000 steps I usually get my base calories plus about 90 step calories. BUT on days I do a swim MFP says +300 or so calories for swim and -400 or so calories for steps. The more I workout, the BIGGER the negative adjustment. (And my MFP activity level is set to sedentary so this makes no sense at all no matter what time I do my steps and/or workouts.)
I gave up. Now that I’m on maintenance and trying to be very exact with my calories MFP is useless with the Apple Watch sync. I track calories burned in a different app (FITIV) and pull my intake calories Out of MFP because I can’t get any good numbers on MFP when syncing the Apple Watch.
I agree 100% and have the EACT same issue. The more I exercise the more I feel it "punishes" me by taking away calories. Thank you for sharing this with me.
@sigaiser I highly recommend the FITIV pulse app. It pulls my calories out of MFP and correctly records step and activity and workout calories. That way the broken Apple Watch/MFP sync isn’t an issue.
@ryenday, I looked at that app when you first mentioned it this afternoon. I was reluctant to try it simply because I hate the idea of yet another app to have to use. I really wish Apple would just integrate calorie tracking...but such is life. It’s a shame about MFP but it seems many people have this is.
I will look into FITIV again and give it a try this weekend when I can start it fresh. Thanks a ton for the information!!
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