FitBit Calorie Adjustment with MyFitnessPal

[magiross]

Hey, I used to have a FitBit in 2014, and wore it for around 8 months. If I ran approx 5 miles, and the treadmill showed that I had burnt roughly "600" calories, then my MFP calorie adjustment when it synced with my FitBit was also around "600" calories.

I recently got a new FitBit Flex, and was so excited to not manually have to log my runs anymore. I already have a deficit worked into MFP, and my daily goal is 1375cal. My MFP account, and my FitBit account are connected, and my calorie goal also shows up on my FitBit account.

Here's where it gets tricky.

Yesterday I had eaten around 1200 calories before suppertime. I run before I eat dinner. I ran 5 miles, and burnt 600 calories. FitBit had showed that over the course of the day, I burnt 2200 calories in TOTAL. However, my MFP calorie adjustment was ONLY 298 additional calories, bringing me up to 1,673 calories I could eat yesterday before, according to MFP, I was "over."

FitBit never used to do this to me. I have checked, and re-checked settings and I'm not sure what to do. I'm already going crazy and it's only been one day. I have read forum after forum and I'm at my wits end. Someone please help!!

[SilviaFitbit]

@magiross I hope you're doing well! MyFitnessPal pulls your calorie burn directly from the total daily calorie from Fitbit. Since Fitbit tracks minute to minute, and our program views the entire day as a whole, we then project forward to the end of the day based on your calorie burn so far. You can learn more about the adjustment here.

Let me know how it goes. 

[TaniaToko]

This is where I am confused as well. So I walked this morning for 10km and burnt approx 550 cal per the fitbit HR. Then I check on My Fitness Pal and it says 124 adjustment.

I have read and reread the adjustment thing and it just does not make sense to me. Can I overide it and put in the 550 cal or do I just assume I have 550 cal extra for the day? I really want it accurate for obvious reasons 🙂

Thanks
TaniaTokyo

[SilviaFitbit]

@TaniaToko A warm welcome to the Community! Fitbit will do the adjustment if it thinks it's necessary you don't need to do anything (just have the apps linked). So, if you do an exercise and burned 550 calories that doesn't mean that you're going to get an adjustment in MFP for that amount of calories. Those calories burned are going to be in MFP but not as an adjustment. 

The adjustment represents calories burned above MFP's estimate. 

[pcgirl]

Maybe check your activity level setting.  I originally had it on lightly active until I read this:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10070162/choosing-the-correct-activity-level

I have since changed it to sedentary.  How this affected MFP and Fitbit is as such:  When I had it on slightly active, MFP allowed my 1440 calories per day to reach my goal of loosing 1 lb per week.  When I would do exercise during the day and burn 350 calories, fitbit would only adjust about 120+.  If I wasn't able to exercise on a given day, fitbit would take the calories away.  I didn't like that too much.  After reading the above info about activity levels, I changed it to sedentary because, although I believe I am fairly active on most days, I don't do 30 minutes of activity every day and I am not on my feet everyday all day.  So now that I have reset my activity level, MFP gives me 1200 calories per day to reach my goal but most days now fit bit will give me extra calories based on my activity level during the day.  So even if I can't do an exercise on a day, my steps and stair climbs in fitbit will count for calorie burn and it will adjust in MFP.  It seems that on most days I am active enough to receive some extra calories from fitbit, even if it is only 100 or so.  This to me seems more accurate than telling fitbit MFP that you are active but you aren't.

[subhash_f]

I want to know what is Fitbit adjustment 

Moderator edit: format 

[SilviaFitbit]

@subhash_f Welcome to the Community! I'm pretty sure this thread can help you getting to know more about Fitbit calorie adjustment in MyFitnessPal. 

Let me know how it goes . 

[Chelle88]

Does Fit Bit transfer total calories burned to MyFitness pal?  

My fitness pal states "fitbit tracker calorie adjustment" then below says the amount of steps ive done so far.  So is it only pulling over "calories" from my steps?  I do other workouts that dont require alot of steps, beachbody programs lifting etc.  and my heartrate gets up and I am burning calories.  So my question is, is myfitness pal pulling over the correct amount of calories burned?  

Example: On fitbit I tracked my workout and burned 399 calories for that complete workout, that workout consisted of some treadmill and the rest squats, lunges, chest press, split squats etc.  My total calories burned for the day so far are at 1472 (per fitbit) On my fitness pal it says I only burned 198 calories.   so are those 198 only based off of my 8762 steps for the day? Does it not pull over any of the other calories I am burning?

I am trying to make sure that I am eating the correct amount of calories per day and want to make sure that both apps are counting the correct amount of calories burned and how many I should be eating.

[Amandabassin]

I am struggling w the same. My cal burned on Fitbit show 1700 but my total cal I am to eat per mfp is 1900

why

[arielz]

Did you ever get a resolution to this? I'm really struggling understanding

[SilviaFitbit]

Welcome to the Community @arielz. I'll be happy to assist you.

Can you provide me with more details about what you're struggling to understand? Have you checked the calorie adjustment article? 

Keep me posted! I'll be around if you need further assistance. 

[WalkerLady57]

Please can you explain what is happening with the Fitbit calorie adjustment to MyFitnessPal. I have a sedentary career but I’ve recently noticed that any walking climbing stairs etc that I do in a normal day is now being added as extra calories. The other day I walked 7500 during my work hours and I found I had been given a whopping 450 calories! I don’t even get that walking at a fast pace for 6 miles. It’s very misleading 🤪

[WalkerLady57]

That’s 7500 steps.

[SilviaFitbit]

@WalkerLady57 Welcome to the Community. Thanks for the details mentioned. 

Fitbit does not send your activity to MyFitnessPal as a series of separate cardio exercises. Rather, Fitbit monitors your activity all day long, and calculates the calories your movements are burning. Every time you sync your Fitbit device, Fitbit updates your calorie usages to MyFitnessPal. 

At MyFitnessPal, we already have an estimate of the amount of calories you will need for the day, based on your profile information, and the general activity level you selected (lightly active, very active, etc). When Fitbit tells us how many calories you are on track to burn by the end of the day, MyFitnessPal updates your calorie goal to keep you on track for your targeted weight loss (or weight gain).

You can verify that the correct data is being transferred after any Fitbit sync, by viewing the detail screen for your adjustment. If you look under the Fitbit adjustment you will see that it is based on a number of calories burned as of the time of the last sync. This number should be the same as the number showing on your Fitbit Dashboard. Please note it may take up to 15 minutes for MyFitnessPal to show the last sync, so the numbers may vary slightly due to this delay.

I'll be around if you have any additional questions. 

[ChicagoFoodie]

Is there a way to turn this off?  I just want to have my exercise show based upon what I did, my food show based upon what I eat, and my weight based upon the lie I tell myself.  SO simple in theory!