Calorie adjustment

tasharikley
tasharikley Posts: 7 Member
in Introduce Yourself
So I am fairly new to the premium world before I chose to go premium I was using an app to calculate my calories burned from my daily walks, but with my my fitness pal doing the calculations directly from my phone, my calories burned are way less than the app so does that mean my calculations have been wrong for the past few months?? I am losing weight but I would like to know if I’m doing something wrong

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    If before you were using an unsynced app and logging that burn into MFP and now you're using a synced app or device to track that activity, then generally I'd consider the adjustments from the second to be more accurate.

    The reason why is that your adjustments will only begin when you've moved MORE than MFP would have predicted given your activity level. MFP assumes you'll be moving a certain amount as part of your daily life. Your adjustments will only begin when you've moved more than what would have been predicted, so it prevents any "double dipping" when it comes to calorie burn.
  • cheribu1322
    cheribu1322 Posts: 2 Member
    Today was the first day i went 120 calories over my goal for the Fay and this is my 4 month into the program. Why am i so upset about that? I reached my step goal for the day.
  • cheribu1322
    cheribu1322 Posts: 2 Member
    I’m sorry it’s my 3rd month in the program
  • tasharikley
    tasharikley Posts: 7 Member
    I don’t know y but I cannot seem to understand the whole prediction and calculation of the calories burned
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    tasharikley wrote: »
    I don’t know y but I cannot seem to understand the whole prediction and calculation of the calories burned

    If you share what questions you have, we'll try to help.

    Basically, it works like this: MFP estimates how many calories you will use per day based on your current weight and the activity level you enter when setting your goals. This activity level is meant to be your usual daily activity apart from intentional exercise. If you tell MFP you want to lose weight, it will give you a calorie goal that should result in your desired rate of loss per week given your activity level. If you're more active than your activity level due to additional exercise, you get calories added to your goal to reflect the fact that you're using more calories overall.

    People can log specific exercises from the database or they can use a synced fitness tracker or app to reflect any additional calories burnt.
  • tasharikley
    tasharikley Posts: 7 Member
    Oh ok I understand thank u
  • tasharikley
    tasharikley Posts: 7 Member
    Wait lol so if I say I’m not very active and I go for a walk I would technically get more “extra” calories than if I said I was lightly active? Because I would be “expected” to burn more if I’m “lightly” active as apposed to “not very active “ Have I got that right?
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    tasharikley wrote: »
    Wait lol so if I say I’m not very active and I go for a walk I would technically get more “extra” calories than if I said I was lightly active? Because I would be “expected” to burn more if I’m “lightly” active as apposed to “not very active “ Have I got that right?

    Yes, if you're not very active and you go for a walk you will get more calories for it than someone who is lightly active. However, that is because the person who is lightly active gets a higher calorie goal to start the day.

    If the not very active person and the lightly active person do the same amount of activity, they will wind up at the same end goal due to the adjustments. The only difference is that the lightly active person gets more at the beginning of the day because MFP assumes that they'll be moving more than the not very active person.
  • tasharikley
    tasharikley Posts: 7 Member
    Awesome I get it now! That makes total sense! thank u very much janejellyroll

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