My Fitness Pal calories left

[Telly2]

I think I have been working on an incorrect assumption for MFP for a long time and now after trying to find the answers on here am even more confused.  MYP said I had 850 calories left for yesterday.  My calorie count on my ionic showed a burn of 2900 calories of which I ate approximately 2100.  So the difference between my intake and burn is just over the 750 cal daily deficit I want.  I have assumed my deficit was built into the MFP numbers and have often aimed for 0 left at the end of the day.  Should I have been always leaving my deficit there?  It seems logical that my calories eaten should be 750 left than my ionic shows I've burned. So confused with all these numbers.

[cathm]

Hi @Telly2 

The attached link talks about how MFP calculates the numbers 

https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032625391-How-does-MyFitnessPal-calculate-my-i... 

I hope this helps 😊

[AC363904]

@cathm provided a great resource. Another thing you could do is log in onto your computer and change your caloric goal manually. From your dashboard, click the Log tab. Under Food Plan find the settings and play around from there. Hope this helps.

[Telly2]

Thanks, but it doesn't clarify things for me.  That was the assumption I have been working on - that I can eat the specified calories according to the numbers I put in, plus anything gained from exercise (or at least half of those).  I have realised however that the numbers don't match the calories burned on my fitbit less a deficit and think my assumption has meant I've been eating too much.  

Here's what I mean.  

Here is today's summary.  (I have just been for a run but haven't yet had dinner hence why so many left).  If I ate all the remaining calories (1354), then I would have eaten pretty much all the calories my fitbit shows I have burned today (2641 - though I guess 200-300 more will be added on by midnight).  That means if I eat all MFP says I should have according to the numbers I put in, it almost matches my fitbit's calories burned total and any deficit is nowhere near the 750cal deficit I have programmed into both MFP and Fitbit.  I am so confused despite reading and reading all the help pages and questions on here. I am leaning towards tracking food and just ensuring I eat 750 calories less than my fitbit burn by the end of each day.   Thanks

[Francescake]

I at the beginning was doing the same but I have now stopped my fitbit syncing with my fitnesspal. And just stick to the calories it says I can eat in a day and don't count the calories I have burnt. I just found with taking the calories burnt into account I wasn't losing weight now I have lost a stone in just over a month. Good luck x

[FLRobin]

I'm wondering why you use the calories on MFP rather than using what Fitbit says?

I don't use MFP anymore, except for calculating recipe nutritional info, but it still synchs with my Versa 4's exercise.  Today, MFP says I can eat 1747 calories, where Fitbit says 1617.  Interesting, and I wonder why the difference.  I've never looked before to compare.  I'm sticking with what FitBit says.

[RyaanFinn]

I've come across a perplexing situation and could really use your insights. I've been diligently tracking my calorie intake and expenditure using my Fitbit device, and it's been a bit confusing lately. I've burned around 2,800 calories in a day, and my goal is to have a daily deficit of 500 calories. When I check the calorie count in MyFitnessPal (MFP), it suggests I have 2,200 calories left for the day. I've always aimed for a "zero left" balance, assuming that the deficit was already accounted for in the MFP numbers. But now I'm not so sure. Should I be leaving my deficit as a remainder or aiming for a zero balance? 

[wa7154733]

It's understandable to feel confused with all the numbers and calculations. Your assumption about the deficit being built into the MyFitnessPal (MFP) numbers is not incorrect; MFP typically factors in your daily calorie goal to help you achieve your desired deficit for more information visit

[marvarobb]

It's understandable to feel confused with all the numbers and calculations. To clarify, if your goal is to create a daily caloric deficit of 750 calories, you should aim to have 750 calories left in your MyFitnessPal (MFP) after accounting for your exercise and food intake.

In your example, if your Ionic fitness tracker shows that you burned 2900 calories and you consumed approximately 2100 calories, the difference is indeed 800 calories (2900 - 2100). This means you have an 800-calorie deficit for the day, which is higher than your target of 750 calories fore more info visit 

[reyn1833]

I have had the same issue.  If you go to the app look up calories backup one day.  The math will be correct.  In my case yesterday 4573 out 1407 in,  left was 2416. The only time it is correct is midnight.  Usually during the day it is off by as much as 3 - 400 calories.  It continues to adjust your calories out all day long,  calories for breathing as I like to call them. I usually leave 1000 to 2000 calories on the table every day so it does not really bother me.  As far as useful it depends on the person.  My wife who is half my size the math is much closer, and who's total calories available is a much smaller number.  I'm 203 pounds and 71 years old, it factors all that in at some point.  4573 - 1407 = 3166 - 2416 = 750 which is my differential.  As I usually wake up at 3 am because my dog wants out and go to bed at 8 - 9 pm.   I just do the math in my head,  not real useful to keep adding calories out while I'm sleeping.   Today since I have done nothing yet   Calories out 294 calories in 0  calories left 757.     

[Slipjig8]

I'm having the same issue.  First I can confirm the MFP is designed that you want to try to hit close to zero.  The calories should already incorporate the deficit of calories in a day.  And then you can gain some additional calories to eat from exercise in MFP using a phone's built-in step counter and exercises you input to it.  MFP seems to be conservative with these numbers and I appreciate that.  Until you connect an external device and let it control your exercise calories and it doesn't have the same conscientiousness not to over-inflate numbers.

When I got a Fitbit and linked it to MFP, it started reporting wild calorie burns in a day that just aren't real.  I fixed some big issues early by switching which wrist it is on and setting the wrist type to match.  I also had to turn off smart-track for all but walking exercise or it would misinterpret some activities as exercise and then give me more calorie burn because of the type of exercise (which it wasn't exercise).  But even after sorting all of that and double and triple checking my settings on weight and food and everything, the Fitbit was telling MFP I had thousands more calories to burn in a day.  Even a day where I just took 2 walks.

So I disconnected Fitbit from MFP and I'm running them in parallel to try to figure this out.  And to have one sane app where I can continue my weight loss.  I'm running MFP on IOS steps.  I put the calories in both.  Someone in these forums a few years ago said their weight loss doctor told them to reduce their weight in the app by 33% to make it more accurate.  I'm trying that now having reduced my current weight and my target weight by 33%.  I'll see if this gets closer to MFP and if I can get pretty close I may try linking them again.

Another thing people do is just set a fixed daily calorie goal in fitbit which won't add exercise calories to the calculation.  But for me that's an exercise de-motivator.  I use the exercise to push my calories high enough to eat something I enjoy which increases my long-term sustainability of my weight loss.

[Slipjig8]

If anyone's curious, it was a lot better today but using the amount it was still off on just this one day, the math suggests I need to try reducing my weight and weight goal by 48% from the 33% I just tried.  That's crazy, but I'm going to try it.  It looks silly to see my weight listed as a number that would mean I'm dead, but if it's going to feed the exercise calories more appropriately then I'll take it.

[rfeustel]

I am similar.  I keep Fitbit and MFP connected so that the caloric intake is fed from MFP to Fitbit.  I also turn off the "exercise calories" so that MFP isn't auto adjusting how many calories I have left.  I just set how many calories (macros actually) I want to eat and track that in MFP.  Then come back to Fitbit to see my caloric deficit.