Does the Negative Adjustment work for you?

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intrigame23
intrigame23 Posts: 193 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I read in an article by MFP "6 Reasons You're Not Losing Weight" that one reason could be 'double dipping'. From what I understood, that means one could be accidentally eating more calories if their diary is set to 'lightly active' or 'active', but they eat the same amount of calories allotted for an active day on less active days. Am I getting that right?

Changing the setting on the desktop page (did not find it on the app) is supposed to decrease your daily allotment of calories if you're not as active as you originially said on your diary setting?

Has anyone done this and see better weight loss results? I set my loss to 1.5lbs per week but actually lose maybe .75 per week. I'm wondering if it's because I'm 'double dipping'?

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  • intrigame23
    intrigame23 Posts: 193 Member
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    WinoGelato wrote: »
    Do you have a FitBit or other activity tracker? That’s what the negative adjustments are usually for, an automatic down grade of calories if it detects you ha e less activity than normal because it auto syncs with your device. If you don’t have a tracker, then I’m not sure how that would work as all the exercise entries are keyed in by the individual - you’re already in control of what you enter so if you’re less active than normal you wouldn’t enter a workout, and if you are just moving less then I still wouldn’t call that double dipping. It could cause you to have a little higher goal than on your active days but if it’s not a common occurrence I wouldn’t worry about it.

    Generally the MFP blog is filled with clickbait and not always that reliable. If you’re concerned that you aren’t losing weight at the desired rate of loss I think there are more likely causes of that:

    1. Is 1.5 lbs/week an attainable and appropriate goal for you? Ie do you have more than 50 lbs to lose?
    2. What is your calorie goal?
    3. How accurate is your logging? Are you using a food scale for solid foods?

    Thanks! I do have a tracker I wear every day. My goal is 1760, I reach that most days and use a food scale, I've got 100lbs to lose. Maybe too many days over goal...
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    intrigame23 wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    Do you have a FitBit or other activity tracker? That’s what the negative adjustments are usually for, an automatic down grade of calories if it detects you ha e less activity than normal because it auto syncs with your device. If you don’t have a tracker, then I’m not sure how that would work as all the exercise entries are keyed in by the individual - you’re already in control of what you enter so if you’re less active than normal you wouldn’t enter a workout, and if you are just moving less then I still wouldn’t call that double dipping. It could cause you to have a little higher goal than on your active days but if it’s not a common occurrence I wouldn’t worry about it.

    Generally the MFP blog is filled with clickbait and not always that reliable. If you’re concerned that you aren’t losing weight at the desired rate of loss I think there are more likely causes of that:

    1. Is 1.5 lbs/week an attainable and appropriate goal for you? Ie do you have more than 50 lbs to lose?
    2. What is your calorie goal?
    3. How accurate is your logging? Are you using a food scale for solid foods?

    Thanks! I do have a tracker I wear every day. My goal is 1760, I reach that most days and use a food scale, I've got 100lbs to lose. Maybe too many days over goal...

    If you have a tracker then yes you definitely should enable negative adjustments.

    Going over goal repeatedly can absolutely take the deficit from what you need to lose 1.5 lbs/week to 0.75 lbs/week. It’s 325 cals/day difference.

    Be patient and good luck!
  • MsHarryWinston
    MsHarryWinston Posts: 1,027 Member
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    I absolutely hate the idea of negative adjustments. So what I do is set myself as sedentary and have positive adjustments every day. I prefer the idea of baseline calories plus bonus calories. Instead of not getting as many on my less active days.

    But if getting fewer calories doesn’t mess with your head then for sure set up negative adjustments in order to help you be more accurate.
  • workinonit1956
    workinonit1956 Posts: 1,043 Member
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    The negative adjustment works for me. After some experimentation with settings between my Fitbit and MyFitnessPal, I have my activity level set to lightly active (which I feel is most accurate for my daily routines). I start the day with negative “exercise” calories but by lunchtime I’m back in the positive.
    I’m currently in the process of losing the last 10 pounds or so, and am happy with the system I’ve set for myself. I lose around 2 pounds a month at this point, which I feel is about right.
  • Dani9585
    Dani9585 Posts: 215 Member
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    MsHarryWinston wrote: »
    I absolutely hate the idea of negative adjustments. So what I do is set myself as sedentary and have positive adjustments every day. I prefer the idea of baseline calories plus bonus calories. Instead of not getting as many on my less active days.

    But if getting fewer calories doesn’t mess with your head then for sure set up negative adjustments in order to help you be more accurate.

    This. I'm definitely not sedentary - I average in at 11,600 steps per day. However, seeing the negative calories was difficult for me. So, I'm set at sedentary and can only go up from there! My calorie goal is 1530. This works well for me.

  • MsHarryWinston
    MsHarryWinston Posts: 1,027 Member
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    Dani9585 wrote: »
    MsHarryWinston wrote: »
    I absolutely hate the idea of negative adjustments. So what I do is set myself as sedentary and have positive adjustments every day. I prefer the idea of baseline calories plus bonus calories. Instead of not getting as many on my less active days.

    But if getting fewer calories doesn’t mess with your head then for sure set up negative adjustments in order to help you be more accurate.

    This. I'm definitely not sedentary - I average in at 11,600 steps per day. However, seeing the negative calories was difficult for me. So, I'm set at sedentary and can only go up from there! My calorie goal is 1530. This works well for me.

    Yay! Right now I get 1200 cals per day because I’m closing in on my last 25lb. I’m about to adjust my loss to 1lb per week instead of the current 1.5lb. Some days I only move enough to earn an extra 500 cals. 1750 cals is plenty to me. But I often also have days I earn 2000 cals for a total of 3200. This is why I make sure to adjust UP. Because my activity level is ALL OVER the place.

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