Calorie adjustment - tiny bit confused!

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CLARB85
CLARB85 Posts: 19 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello! Just a quick question please. I did a workout this morning and obviously my daily calorie intake allowance increased because of this. My question is, as I am not going to be very active for the rest of the day, will I lose these exercise calories dramatically? I don’t want to plan a higher calorie dinner then wake up tomorrow to discover I’ve overeaten by like 200 calories!!

Does anyone know how often MFP adjusts the calories from my Fitbit? At the moment I’m +398 but how will I know it won’t go rapidly down by say 7pm?

Thanks so much!

Replies

  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    MFP calorie goals do not take purposeful exercise into account - do you should plan to eat back at least a portion of them

    your MFP daily activity goal should be your every day movement - steps, life activity etc
  • CLARB85
    CLARB85 Posts: 19 Member
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    deannalfisher wrote: »
    MFP calorie goals do not take purposeful exercise into account - do you should plan to eat back at least a portion of them

    your MFP daily activity goal should be your every day movement - steps, life activity etc

    Thanks for that! I still don’t understand the adjustment part of it. I don’t want to get to tomorrow morning and found out I’ve overeaten today! My activity level is set at the lowest as I am currently not moving much due to lockdown! The only exercise I am getting is through purpose one, like today. Thanks!
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    you won't see full synchronization between FITBIT and MFP until evening but if your activity level (for normal day to day is set right) - you should be in a pretty good place
  • dewd2
    dewd2 Posts: 2,449 Member
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    The calories MFP sets up are assuming you do nothing other than your typical activities. When you do purposeful exercise MFP adds those calories to your daily total. In many cases MFP overestimates the calorie burn so many people cut MFP's count in half.

    For example, if your normal intake should be 1500 calories and you do a cardio exercise for 30 minutes, MFP may give you credit for 400 additional calories burned making your allowance for today 1900. Divide the 400 by 2 and make it 200 giving you 1700 calories for the day.

    This is part of the process over the first 6-8 weeks of using MFP. Since everything is a 'best guess' you have to use MFP for several weeks and adjust. If you find after 3-4 weeks that you are not losing/gaining/maintaining at the rate MFP sets, make adjustments to fix the difference.

    Be patient. It does take some time to dial everything in but it is worth the effort.

    I'll say one more thing that my save you some stress in the future... :) Don't worry about going over for a day or 2. In the end it is not a big deal. Try to hit the targets as often as you can and don't worry about the rest.

    Good luck.
  • CLARB85
    CLARB85 Posts: 19 Member
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    dewd2 wrote: »
    The calories MFP sets up are assuming you do nothing other than your typical activities. When you do purposeful exercise MFP adds those calories to your daily total. In many cases MFP overestimates the calorie burn so many people cut MFP's count in half.

    For example, if your normal intake should be 1500 calories and you do a cardio exercise for 30 minutes, MFP may give you credit for 400 additional calories burned making your allowance for today 1900. Divide the 400 by 2 and make it 200 giving you 1700 calories for the day.

    This is part of the process over the first 6-8 weeks of using MFP. Since everything is a 'best guess' you have to use MFP for several weeks and adjust. If you find after 3-4 weeks that you are not losing/gaining/maintaining at the rate MFP sets, make adjustments to fix the difference.

    Be patient. It does take some time to dial everything in but it is worth the effort.

    I'll say one more thing that my save you some stress in the future... :) Don't worry about going over for a day or 2. In the end it is not a big deal. Try to hit the targets as often as you can and don't worry about the rest.

    Good luck.

    Thanks so much for that!! I think I will definitely give it longer to test it all out. Like you say, I doubt I will use all the calories anyway but that’s good to know. Thank you for your help!
  • CLARB85
    CLARB85 Posts: 19 Member
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    deannalfisher wrote: »
    you won't see full synchronization between FITBIT and MFP until evening but if your activity level (for normal day to day is set right) - you should be in a pretty good place

    Thanks so much, will just need to get used to it and how it works with me! Thank you!
  • knightmagic
    knightmagic Posts: 100 Member
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    because the calories aren't super accurate I don't eat them back usually. If I go over my normal daily goal (with no exercise) I don't lose my mind over it. I've had great success and you'll figure out a system that works for you with trial and error. You'll make mistakes and adjust course. you got this!
  • HollyPFlax
    HollyPFlax Posts: 79 Member
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    Your fitbit calories will drop if you don't exercise throughout the day and unfortunately, you'll have to wait and see by how much. Fitbit has a weird algorithm that I really don't like. It tries to constantly calculate how many calories you've burned from 12:00am to right now and it tries to factor in how active you'll be later. 3+ years of wearing it and my calories still drop off if I've only worked out in the morning. I have MFP set to sedentary, too. The more you wear it, though, the better you will be at predicting the calories it will give you by 11:59pm. Just stick with it.
  • CLARB85
    CLARB85 Posts: 19 Member
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    HollyPFlax wrote: »
    Your fitbit calories will drop if you don't exercise throughout the day and unfortunately, you'll have to wait and see by how much. Fitbit has a weird algorithm that I really don't like. It tries to constantly calculate how many calories you've burned from 12:00am to right now and it tries to factor in how active you'll be later. 3+ years of wearing it and my calories still drop off if I've only worked out in the morning. I have MFP set to sedentary, too. The more you wear it, though, the better you will be at predicting the calories it will give you by 11:59pm. Just stick with it.

    Brilliant, thanks so much! I guess it’s just trust and error 😊😊
  • CLARB85
    CLARB85 Posts: 19 Member
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    knightmagic wrote: »
    because the calories aren't super accurate I don't eat them back usually. If I go over my normal daily goal (with no exercise) I don't lose my mind over it. I've had great success and you'll figure out a system that works for you with trial and error. You'll make mistakes and adjust course. you got this!


    Yes that sounds about right! Even if I do ‘overeat’ I doubt it will be by a huge amount anyway. Thank you for your reply!
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
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    HollyPFlax wrote: »
    Your fitbit calories will drop if you don't exercise throughout the day and unfortunately, you'll have to wait and see by how much. Fitbit has a weird algorithm that I really don't like. It tries to constantly calculate how many calories you've burned from 12:00am to right now and it tries to factor in how active you'll be later. 3+ years of wearing it and my calories still drop off if I've only worked out in the morning. I have MFP set to sedentary, too. The more you wear it, though, the better you will be at predicting the calories it will give you by 11:59pm. Just stick with it.

    This isn't Fitbit doing this but the syncing between Fitbit and MFP. From what I can see Fitbit only provides the calories you have burned so far that day. MFP seems to assume with its algorithms with this syncing that you will burn the same number of calories every hour, how much depends on the activity level you have chosen. I ended up choosing sedentary for my activity level simply so these adjustments were small in those last few hours of the day when I was asleep.
  • CLARB85
    CLARB85 Posts: 19 Member
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    Lillymoo01 wrote: »
    HollyPFlax wrote: »
    Your fitbit calories will drop if you don't exercise throughout the day and unfortunately, you'll have to wait and see by how much. Fitbit has a weird algorithm that I really don't like. It tries to constantly calculate how many calories you've burned from 12:00am to right now and it tries to factor in how active you'll be later. 3+ years of wearing it and my calories still drop off if I've only worked out in the morning. I have MFP set to sedentary, too. The more you wear it, though, the better you will be at predicting the calories it will give you by 11:59pm. Just stick with it.

    This isn't Fitbit doing this but the syncing between Fitbit and MFP. From what I can see Fitbit only provides the calories you have burned so far that day. MFP seems to assume with its algorithms with this syncing that you will burn the same number of calories every hour, how much depends on the activity level you have chosen. I ended up choosing sedentary for my activity level simply so these adjustments were small in those last few hours of the day when I was asleep.

    Yes that makes total sense! At the moment I am most definitely sedentary anyway! Thanks very much
  • CLARB85
    CLARB85 Posts: 19 Member
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    HollyPFlax wrote: »
    Your fitbit calories will drop if you don't exercise throughout the day and unfortunately, you'll have to wait and see by how much. Fitbit has a weird algorithm that I really don't like. It tries to constantly calculate how many calories you've burned from 12:00am to right now and it tries to factor in how active you'll be later. 3+ years of wearing it and my calories still drop off if I've only worked out in the morning. I have MFP set to sedentary, too. The more you wear it, though, the better you will be at predicting the calories it will give you by 11:59pm. Just stick with it.

    My Fitbit calories should never drop should they, as my Fitbit is counting how much I am burning constantly minute by minute, even if I’m stationary? I think the best bet is to keep an eye on it! Thanks!!
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    CLARB85 wrote: »
    HollyPFlax wrote: »
    Your fitbit calories will drop if you don't exercise throughout the day and unfortunately, you'll have to wait and see by how much. Fitbit has a weird algorithm that I really don't like. It tries to constantly calculate how many calories you've burned from 12:00am to right now and it tries to factor in how active you'll be later. 3+ years of wearing it and my calories still drop off if I've only worked out in the morning. I have MFP set to sedentary, too. The more you wear it, though, the better you will be at predicting the calories it will give you by 11:59pm. Just stick with it.

    My Fitbit calories should never drop should they, as my Fitbit is counting how much I am burning constantly minute by minute, even if I’m stationary? I think the best bet is to keep an eye on it! Thanks!!

    Your total daily estimated calorie burn, as tracked on your Fitbit, will never drop. Your Fitbit adjustment (as shown on MFP) can drop.
  • CLARB85
    CLARB85 Posts: 19 Member
    edited April 2020
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    CLARB85 wrote: »
    HollyPFlax wrote: »
    Your fitbit calories will drop if you don't exercise throughout the day and unfortunately, you'll have to wait and see by how much. Fitbit has a weird algorithm that I really don't like. It tries to constantly calculate how many calories you've burned from 12:00am to right now and it tries to factor in how active you'll be later. 3+ years of wearing it and my calories still drop off if I've only worked out in the morning. I have MFP set to sedentary, too. The more you wear it, though, the better you will be at predicting the calories it will give you by 11:59pm. Just stick with it.

    My Fitbit calories should never drop should they, as my Fitbit is counting how much I am burning constantly minute by minute, even if I’m stationary? I think the best bet is to keep an eye on it! Thanks!!

    Your total daily estimated calorie burn, as tracked on your Fitbit, will never drop. Your Fitbit adjustment (as shown on MFP) can drop.

    Yes I thought so! In the reply above she wrote that your Fitbit calories will drop but I think she meant to say the MyFitnessPal adjustment will drop (or even increase!) not the actual calories burned on my Fitbit! Thanks a lot 😄

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