Incorrect calories burned for walking

DragonRider83
DragonRider83 Posts: 10 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi guys,

I've just started using MFP again today after a long break and I've connected my Fitbit. I went for a walk today, covered three miles (6,974 steps) and MFP is showing my correct step count... but it says that I've only burned 31 calories through exercise today. I know walking isn't the highest calorie burner ever, but 31 can't possibly be right for that distance, can it!? It's confusing because I'd expect the figure to be wrong if it wasn't connected properly, but since the step count is right, how can the calorie count be wrong? I've tried refreshing, logging out and back in again, and it stays the same. Anyone know what could be going on?
Thanks in advance!

Replies

  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    Check for activity level.
  • DragonRider83
    DragonRider83 Posts: 10 Member
    Sorry, I don't understand. Check how, and for what?
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    That number isn't just for your walk.
    Your Fitbit is trying to estimate your total burn so far today, not just exercise.
  • DragonRider83
    DragonRider83 Posts: 10 Member
    I understand that, but according to a few searches, a 3 mile walk should have burned something in the region of 250 calories, so my overall burn should actually be more than that, surely, not less?
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    DragonRider83 wrote: »
    I understand that, but according to a few searches, a 3 mile walk should have burned something in the region of 250 calories, so my overall burn should actually be more than that, surely, not less?

    Not if your Fitbit thinks your combined exercise and activity so far is lower than expected.

    If you want to use it as an exercise only tracker then don't sync it.

    BTW - was that a net or gross calorie estimate you looked at?
    https://exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs - gives you both options.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    DragonRider83 wrote: »
    I understand that, but according to a few searches, a 3 mile walk should have burned something in the region of 250 calories, so my overall burn should actually be more than that, surely, not less?

    You burn more from the walk (if logged as a workout in either Fitbit or MFP), you burned less in rest of the day.

    So only got extra 31 calories.
    You didn't log the walk on MFP, right?

    Could happen another day no logged walk or exercise - but very active, and you get a 200 cal adjustment for being more than Sedentary you may have set on MFP.

    I had 1300 calorie burn long ride on Fri night, but was less than sedentary by over 200 cal.

    So increase was only for 1100 for the day.
  • DragonRider83
    DragonRider83 Posts: 10 Member
    I was still completely confused, but I finally found an article explaining how the calorie adjustment works and I think I roughly understand it. If I understand it right, it has only given me 31 extra 'exercise' calories because my activity level over the course of the day has been lower than it expected. Thanks anyway - this is technology that I'm just not on top of yet!
  • wunderkindking
    wunderkindking Posts: 1,615 Member
    ^This.

    Even sedentary assumes some level of movement in daily life - and therefore calorie burn. If you have not yet reached that threshold, it is going to remove calories from that baseline.


    These numbers are made up, but.

    Sedentary assumes you took 3000 steps, and your calorie allotment for that level of activity is 1800 calories.
    You only did 1200 of calorie burn - because you just didn't do that much standing/walking moving. So it knocks you back to 1200 calories for what you can eat.
    Then you do a walk that's 'worth' 300 calories.

    That's going to bring you up to 1500 calories - because what the starting number the walk burn is added to is a lowered adjustment based on your activity. Ie: The 1200.

    It may well just be too early in the day for it to have accounted for your other activity (as in you haven't done it yet), which can be an issue.

    But it WILL adjust negative if your activity is lower than sedentary (or whatever your activity level is set to)
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    DragonRider83 wrote: »
    I was still completely confused, but I finally found an article explaining how the calorie adjustment works and I think I roughly understand it. If I understand it right, it has only given me 31 extra 'exercise' calories because my activity level over the course of the day has been lower than it expected. Thanks anyway - this is technology that I'm just not on top of yet!

    In the beginning, you introduced yourself. You might have said "I'm an active person and I want to lose 2 pounds a week" or whatever. There's a setting for your background activity level, how much you move around in general. If you say it's a lot, you get more calories because of it. But your Fitbit is keeping track and holding you to what you said. If you signed up as an active person it's expecting you to be active, and most of the calories your walk burned had already been given to you in your daily allotment, so giving them again as credit for exercise would double count and make you fat.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    DragonRider83 wrote: »
    I was still completely confused, but I finally found an article explaining how the calorie adjustment works and I think I roughly understand it. If I understand it right, it has only given me 31 extra 'exercise' calories because my activity level over the course of the day has been lower than it expected. Thanks anyway - this is technology that I'm just not on top of yet!

    Basically yes. FitBit and other devices don't send over a calorie burn for a specific exercise or activity, it only sends over and adjustment to reconcile between whatever activity level you've selected in MFP to the actual activity level indicated by your device.

    So for example, if you set yourself up as active in MFP, a lot of calories are going to be included upfront in your calorie target so your adjustments coming over from your device are going to be smaller or non-existent or in some cases, negative if you have not achieved that activity level. When you select a lower level of activity in MFP but in reality you are doing far more per your device, you're going to get a bigger adjustment.

    It's really just and adjustment to reconcile activity level on MFP to activity level per your device.
  • DragonRider83
    DragonRider83 Posts: 10 Member
    Thanks, guys, I was totally baffled but I think I'm most of the way to understanding. I have put my activity as 'not very active' because I am sitting for most of the day (I work from home at a computer) although I do go for a decent walk or run most days, so hopefully the exercise element of it will even out as I do more. Thanks for all of the explanations!

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