why does it subtract calories allowed when I work out?

[whooooop84]

Why does it subtract calories burned from my total calories burned when I work out?  I'm buring more calories aren't I?  It subtracts my daily calories allowed also.  It makes no sense!  It's useless unless it works correctly.

[slysam]

It's been a couple days since I've logged anything, so assuming this isn't a new problem. When you log an activity whatever you log replaces the fitbit trackers movement based estimate. So logging an activity can increase, decrease or keep calorie burn the same. It all depends on how what was logged compares to what fitbit had already credited you for. The fitbit calorie burn is based on how much and how fast you move each minute and your profile stats. When I log my heart rate monitor calorie burn it usually either increases or keeps my total burn the same, but sometimes it does decrease it. This is in reference to data on the fitbit dashbard. Usually when I see someone post about this they are My Fitness Pal users and are looking at the fitbit adjustment on MFP. Is that the case for you? If so, that is a misunderstanding. The Fitbit Adjsutment on MFP is calculated by MFP and it excludes any exercise you logged. On MFP, the fitbit adjustment is the difference between your fitbit burn and what MFP expected you to burn (what MFP expects includes any exercise you log--so logging a workout can decrease the fitbit adjustment.)

[whooooop84]

Thanks - I understand the subtraction from the MFP estimation -- the fitbit will be more accurate.  But if I haven't even logged anything - just using the fitbit activity reading - it subtracts 80 calories -- and it's almost always 80 calories it subtracts after I've exercised.  Then once I log my activity (cardio, yoga, etc) in MFP I have to update (sometimes several times) both my fitbit and my MFP sites.

It's just frustrating - and makes me want to cry when I'm still huffing and puffing and dripping sweat and I look at my fitbit site to see how many calories I just worked off and see them add 80!  UGH!

[Heybales]

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@whooooop84 wrote:

Thanks - I understand the subtraction from the MFP estimation -- the fitbit will be more accurate.  But if I haven't even logged anything - just using the fitbit activity reading - it subtracts 80 calories -- and it's almost always 80 calories it subtracts after I've exercised.  Then once I log my activity (cardio, yoga, etc) in MFP I have to update (sometimes several times) both my fitbit and my MFP sites.

It's just frustrating - and makes me want to cry when I'm still huffing and puffing and dripping sweat and I look at my fitbit site to see how many calories I just worked off and see them add 80!  UGH!

---

Ah, you ddn't mention MPF sync at first.

MPF compares the Fitbit daily burn (or wherever in the day you are) to it's non-exercise activity maintenance calories - which you created by your selection of non-exercise activity level.

If you selected Lightly Active, then MFP came up with say 2000 calories for no-exercise days.

Say you did 300 cal workout and Fitbit says you burned 1920 calories in total, and reported that to MFP.

MFP takes 1920 - 2000 = neg 80.

So either you got really lazy on an exercise day (many do that, burn 300 in exercise, but then sit around and don't burn 400 they would have otherwise without the exercise - net loss of 100 calories burned in the day), or you have the wrong activity level selected, or you wanted minor adjustments (which is what you got).

Oh, only manually log exercise Fitbit is bad at estimating, like lifting, spin, elliptical, ect. Or intense running actually too.

That will sync over and replace Fitbit's low estimate and make daily burn higher, report back to MFP, and math above is done again.

Oh, and that adjustment is NOT just exercise, it's merely the difference in the compare.

If you have MFP set to such a high activity level, then it already expects you to be active.

[whooooop84]

Thanks -- I'm still not sure I understand the thinking behind the fitbit -- it is saying my goal calorie intake is around 900 -- that is NOT healthy.  I like the way it helps me count my calorie output -- but don't like the whole food plan.  I cannot survive - awake - at only 900 calories/day.

[Heybales]

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@whooooop84 wrote:

Thanks -- I'm still not sure I understand the thinking behind the fitbit -- it is saying my goal calorie intake is around 900 -- that is NOT healthy.  I like the way it helps me count my calorie output -- but don't like the whole food plan.  I cannot survive - awake - at only 900 calories/day.

---

Well - you realize YOU made it 900 actually - by your selection of weight loss goal on Fitbit.

Yes 900 is not reasonable - which means the weight loss goal you picked was not reasonable.

The thinking is - account for 85% of the daily burn for average person with really decent accuracy.

Take a deficit off that figure - you lose weight.

Simple.

When you sync MFP, you are merely replacing MFP's estimate of non-exercise daily burn with an actual measured value, and then MFP adjusts your eating level to keep the deficit the same.

Again, the deficit you selected when you picked your weight loss goal. Might confirm it's not so unreasonable on MFP as you appear to have done on Fitbit.

Now, Fitbit also has to start with something, so it figures sedentary just like MFP does, and then corrects itself as the day goes on. So your basic easy day is 900 eating level with the deficit you picked. You start exercising and moving more - it's higher than 900.

You correct the deficit to something more reasonable, it's higher than 900 to start out with too.

[whooooop84]

I am unable to wear the fitbit during my workhours -- because of the bluetooth capability.  So it sits in my car during the day. I wish there were some way I could estimate how many calories I burn or steps I take druing the day.  Do you have a good suggestion for a non-bluetooth calorie tracker?

[Heybales]

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@whooooop84 wrote:

I am unable to wear the fitbit during my workhours -- because of the bluetooth capability.  So it sits in my car during the day. I wish there were some way I could estimate how many calories I burn or steps I take druing the day.  Do you have a good suggestion for a non-bluetooth calorie tracker?

---

I know I saw reviews of 3 axis accelerometers pedometers that do NOT have any syncing ability, so I'd guess that means no BT.

Use that during that part of the day, get your time and miles and create your own activity on Fitbit later, and replace Fitbit BMR burn (that's what it uses for non-moving time) with what you come up with for time and steps.

Fitbit should create steps from the distance and your stride length.

But you need calorie burn. So you got your clothed weight, time of the logging by pedometer, and distance traveled, so now you have speed in mph.

Now you can get calorie count to include in that manually created activity. Use the Gross option since replacing total calories.

http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs.html

[ac7ss]

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@whooooop84 wrote:

I am unable to wear the fitbit during my workhours -- because of the bluetooth capability.  So it sits in my car during the day. I wish there were some way I could estimate how many calories I burn or steps I take druing the day.  Do you have a good suggestion for a non-bluetooth calorie tracker?

---

I used an UP for nearly a year. (Not the 24) It is not BT. I had trouble with the band cover sliding over the button and cap, as well as nerve trouble in my wrist from it's bulk. That is why I have the One now.
You could just get a cheap mechanical pedometer for your step count.

[SunsetRunner]

You can buy a no BT pedometer, just a basic one. They will track your step counts and add calories for steps/walk/run. Then you could manually add them to your FitBit activity. Just remember to add the BMR calories per HR to whatever you add. I use a sitting bike calculator for my under desk elliptical. It gives me both calories burned only using the equipment, and shows me what I would have burned just sitting, as well as total calories adding both together.  I always give it a total of everything, because the FitBit will subtract BMR calories.

[Oregonmama]

Same here and it is a new problem. All of my active minutes and steps and probably calories disappear for the timeframe I was walking as soon as I logged the walk. Not cool!!

[Heybales]

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@Oregonmama wrote:

Same here and it is a new problem. All of my active minutes and steps and probably calories disappear for the timeframe I was walking as soon as I logged the walk. Not cool!!

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That should not be a new problem.

Years ago due to cheating on challenges, Fitbit changed the way manually entered workouts would effect your daily data.

Since people were cheating by creating a very small stride length, entering a long distance walk, and getting tons of steps calculated from it - they changed that process to no longer be viable for step challenges or Active minutes.

Why exactly would you be manually logging a walk as a Workout Record for your own distance and calorie burn anyway, when you've seen the device already has it's own stats and lots more?

Or by logging you mean you created an Activity Record, after the fact and name it something meaningful, using just the start and end time? Then you'll be shown all the stats for that chunk of time - distance, calories, HR stats, ect. You can even add notes if needed - like "lots of uphill but no down".

Is that what you created and the stats disappeared?

A Workout Record you would enter the distance, or the time and pace, calories if you had them or let database calc be used.

[Oregonmama]

Yes-the Fitbit didn’t recognize my walking workout. I only entered start and end times and watched my active minutes and steps suddenly drop!
I have no idea how to manually enter steps and activity.


Sent from my iPhone

[Heybales]

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@Oregonmama wrote:
Yes-the Fitbit didn’t recognize my walking workout. I only entered start and end times and watched my active minutes and steps suddenly drop!
I have no idea how to manually enter steps and activity.

---

Well, you don't manually enter steps. You can enter a workout of walking, enter distance and time, or time and pace, and your own calorie burn figure or let it calculate it. Fitbit will divide the distance by your stride-length figure and say the result was the number of steps.

It's assuming if you are manually entering a workout - then the device wasn't with you to see anything.

But those steps are not then allowed for challenges in the day's total.

I haven't seen the function on the app in a long while, never used it. I always synced at night, when I could correct any workout info immediately.

But the website calls it creating an Activity Record, or a Workout Record.

Activity Record you get to name it, there's notes available, and all it's doing is displaying the stats the device saw for the chunk of time you say. (it's what a sleep record is actually).

Workout Record you again put in the time, but also choose an activity, give a distance, see some calories, and this replaces whatever stats the device had.

Unless there is some major bug going on, an Activity Record doesn't contain the info to replace anything, only displays stats.

It really sounds like it's the Workout Record you are entering.

They both will show up under Recent Exercise.

Here's how both show up under Activity History.

Bike is my manually entered Workout Record, can't input steps, but I did my miles, my time, my calories. This replaced whatever stats Fitbit had for that chunk of time.

ride pre-change is the Activity Record done first for the same chunk of time - showing the stats Fitbit had already. My name, my time chosen, and notes if I wanted to. The miles and calories was overwritten when I did the Workout after it.

Here's how you create the Activity Record. Hover over that "i" next to Log Activities and it describes the difference.

 

 

[Oregonmama]

I did this on the phone app. I clicked the plus sign next to where it tells
me how many days of exercise I've done. I then tell it to log a walk and
give it a start time and duration. And yes, as I keep saying, this is a new
bug. I can't say exactly when it started, but It wasn't doing this before.
Judging by my miles, it also missed about half of my steps. This happened
last week too, but I thought it might be because it was raining and I was
carrying an umbrella. This week my arms were swinging the whole time The
map says I went about 1.5 miles. The Fitbit says .8 miles..
First, it should have automatically detected the workout (and has in the
past.) Second, when I corrected it by logging the workout, it should not
have subtracted the data it collected with zeros. Whatever features they
were adding when they created these bugs weren't worth it. They need to
roll them back and make things work again!

[Heybales]

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@Oregonmama wrote:
I did this on the phone app. I clicked the plus sign next to where it tells
me how many days of exercise I've done. I then tell it to log a walk and
give it a start time and duration. And yes, as I keep saying, this is a new
bug. I can't say exactly when it started, but It wasn't doing this before.
Judging by my miles, it also missed about half of my steps. This happened
last week too, but I thought it might be because it was raining and I was
carrying an umbrella. This week my arms were swinging the whole time The
map says I went about 1.5 miles. The Fitbit says .8 miles..
First, it should have automatically detected the workout (and has in the
past.) Second, when I corrected it by logging the workout, it should not
have subtracted the data it collected with zeros. Whatever features they
were adding when they created these bugs weren't worth it. They need to
roll them back and make things work again!

---

You logged a Workout then - you selected walk, you said start time and duration.

That's how a Workout Record is logged.

And the results are expected. Not a bug.

Did you decide to input distance, or pace?

How did you determine miles? (you commented missed half the steps, but used a map)

Look at my last picture better. There is a field for logging a workout by starting with the name of the activity, selecting it from the list, and doing what you did.

And then up in the corner is how to log an Activity Record.

Totally different entry info, and effects. Just confirmed still doing what I said it does.

This same difference is in the app too - I just don't recall how you select the difference.

Oh, Swinging arms isn't how steps are seen, impacts are, and special algorithm to attempt to see correct impact data despite the swinging of arms.

The seen impact, compared to the calculated impact based on weight & stride length, tells the device the length of that step.

If the stride length setting is off - the impact calculation for distance will be off.

Ever walked a known distance at average daily pace of 2 mph, and confirmed the distance Fitbit reported? Not grocery store shuffle pace, not fast exercise pace - middle of the range pace.

Map distance not accurate enough, high school track using the mile markers (most are meter tracks now), or some other means.

Yes, it should have auto-detected the workout - that is a setting to enable or disable, perhaps it got switched after an upgrade. Is this a HRM Fitbit with HR enabled? Enough steps and high HR should kick it on after so many minutes and then it back timestamps the activity.

The zeroing of some data after logging a workout is correct behavior no matter how undesired.

[Oregonmama]

Not seeing any pictures, but I checked and it is possible to set pace distance etc. I never realized it was and have never done it. I just leave those values to auto-set. Auto recognition appears to be on, but clearly is no longer working. It does seem like it is missing steps regularly, but I haven’t checked carefully and the virus has upended my daily routines. It seems like it is subtracting the steps, etc. in the exercise from my daily total.

Sent from my iPhone

[Heybales]

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@Oregonmama wrote:
Not seeing any pictures, but I checked and it is possible to set pace distance etc. I never realized it was and have never done it. I just leave those values to auto-set. Auto recognition appears to be on, but clearly is no longer working. It does seem like it is missing steps regularly, but I haven’t checked carefully and the virus has upended my daily routines. It seems like it is subtracting the steps, etc. in the exercise from my daily total.

Sent from my iPhone

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Not sure why the pictures don't show for you. You are missing some good details that would assist.

If you can set pace or distance - you have confirmed you are creating what they call a Workout Record. Not what you want.

If you can save that without putting in either value (now that would be a bug) as you've said you've done - then distance of 0 divided by your stride-length setting equals 0 (Zero) steps.

The bug would be allowing you to continue with no numbers in there. If you never recalled entering a number - then you were doing it differently prior.

Despite the fact calculated steps from a Workout Record could Never be counted in challenges or part of Active levels, they would still show up in the daily count.

So that is your issue - you are replacing the stats Fitbit had for that chunk of time with a Workout Record that says 0 steps. 0 distance too for that matter, and 0 calories. Your are totally screwing up your daily totals.

Again - you are using the wrong option to cause the stats for that walk to be displayed as exercise.

Please find your option in the app to NOT create a Workout, but rather to log or create an Activity Record. That is their term for it - it is there - guaranteed.

You'll know you are on an Activity Record because you'll get to name it whatever you want.

You'll put in a Start and End time, NOT Start and duration.

You can put in notes.

There will be NO fields for distance, pace, or calories. Because this Activity Record is merely viewing what Fitbit already has for stats for this chunk of time.

This record will then display in your Exercise history, it will show the stats of the exercise, and it will not change the daily totals.

Edit to add: I've looked through support docs for iPhone, and it appears they may not have an Activity Record logging now available. Only through website login.

But they talk about how you can edit an existing exercise (auto-start defaults at 15 min and back time-stamps supposedly) and they describe a Activity Record fields - start, stop, description name, notes.

So I'm wondering if an iOS update is trying to create either record depending on if you enter data or not. Which means if you select an Intensity for that walk, you are giving a pace, it estimates a distance.

If you pick nothing at all but the name, it's supposed to create an Activity Record and just use the Fitbit stats already there.

So there may be an iOS app bug. In theory possible.

In which case just log into your web account - Log - Activities - Create Activity Record as I've said.

[Oregonmama]

The numbers are NOT zero, which is part of why I didn’t realize they could
be entered. It is subtracting the displayed numbers from what it measures
otherwise. And NO, this is exactly what I have always done. It is a new
bug. I am a little tired of being told I am lying or mistaken

What I am doing is called “log” “exercise “ - the words are on separate
screens. I have been all over the app and have seen nowhere to do what
you describe. Sounds like a great feature. Wish I had it!

Melanie

[Heybales]

Sorry, didn't mean to imply I thought you were lying.

But you never know how familiar someone is with technology and app, ect. And people will forever translate words a screen says to something different when passing it on.

So you have to start from basic idea that something is using different terms perhaps than even a screen says, option is missed, ect.

So they removed the option from Apple it appears. Even the online instructions for android could be wrong now and it's gone there now too.

I'd suggest reinstall the app too, just in case.

As to the issue of it starting a workout automatically - that's on the device actually doing that.

Since device isn't doing it - change the option to match the disabled it's acting as - then sync device.

Then change option back to auto-start workout - sync again.

Sometimes making the setting match the effect already being done works when you switch it back.