Negative calorie adjustment

rdorward997
rdorward997 Posts: 1 Member
edited December 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
I don’t understand the negative calorie adjustments. I use a Fitbit to count my steps throughout the day and when I exercise, but some days I come out with negative calories even after a 3 mile run

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    What is your activity level set at? This is going to be a key factor in the size of the adjustments that you see.
  • azkunk
    azkunk Posts: 956 Member
    edited January 2019
    I have the same question. I am set to the lowest activity level, ‘not very active’. With over 7000 steps and 2 workouts, how is this a negative number? I am using an Apple watch

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  • capaul42
    capaul42 Posts: 1,390 Member
    You can click on the adjustment and it will show you the math
  • azkunk
    azkunk Posts: 956 Member
    It doesn’t seem to addd up.

  • azkunk
    azkunk Posts: 956 Member
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  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    azkunk wrote: »
    It doesn’t seem to addd up.

    @azkunk

    You walked about 7750 steps. Some of that was your dog walking, which you counted as an activity. So if you knew how many steps you took walking the dog, deducted them from the 7750, you would probably come out to less than 2500.

    So you need to compare the number of steps not accounted for in your exercise to the standard of "not very active". This gives you -4 calories as, outside of the exercise, you did not meet the "not very active" base (but did not miss it by much).

    If it didn't work this way, you would be double counting for the dog walk.

    This is the way it is supposed to work, so what you are doing is fine and you don't need to change anything.

  • azkunk
    azkunk Posts: 956 Member
    The steps are only counted once on my device. I used the Apple Watch to log an outside walk which was a brisk 1 mile walk. It does not count steps twice and only counts exercise minutes with a HR greater than 110. So, I walked for 20 minutes and only earned 11 exercise minutes. The health app delineates active vs resting calories which total 2555. But MFP has my phone calories as 2041. I am not understanding the math.

    I generally do not eat the calories back but I would like to understand.
  • magnusthenerd
    magnusthenerd Posts: 1,207 Member
    azkunk wrote: »
    The steps are only counted once on my device. I used the Apple Watch to log an outside walk which was a brisk 1 mile walk. It does not count steps twice and only counts exercise minutes with a HR greater than 110. So, I walked for 20 minutes and only earned 11 exercise minutes. The health app delineates active vs resting calories which total 2555. But MFP has my phone calories as 2041. I am not understanding the math.

    I generally do not eat the calories back but I would like to understand.

    Do the steps come from the Apple Watch?
    The double counting part isn't about the steps, but the activity level / calories burned.
    Since 3000 to 5000 of the steps come from walking the 1 mile, their calorie burn wouldn't go into your general burn, they go in your exercise burn.
    That does, then, also lower the estimated daily burn because it lowers the average burn for non-exercise times.
  • azkunk
    azkunk Posts: 956 Member
    All steps are coming from my watch. The Apple Watch separates active vs resting calories. In the MFP app, it had 2041 calories from my phone and then it made the adjustment based on what MFP calculated. I don’t know where the 2041 is coming from. According to my phone, I had 1896 resting & 659 active calories which totaled 2555.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    It looks to me like the 1896 is today and the 659 is yesterday (from the screen shot). But I'm not familiar with how the Apple Watch tracks stuff.
  • azkunk
    azkunk Posts: 956 Member
    That’s interesting. Screen shot was taking during the day on 1/30 and reflects 1/29. I went to bed probably around 10:30, so that’s when my active calories stopped. I’m not sure why the resting calories are time stamped on 1/30 at 12:35. So maybe there is a timing issue.
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