Fitbit and MyFitnessPal calorie discrepancy.

[NikkiLouLoos]

I have my fitbit account and myfitnesspal account linked together. I don't understand how the calories are worked out? I have emailed myfitnesspal and they haven't gotten back to me yet. I was hoping if someone else can help me, and explain to me how it's worked out? 

According to my dashboard I've burned 1528 cals.

 My fitness pal, I have -10 for my exercise. I don't get it.

I have also noticed the more I exercise, the more I seem to have a lower calorie allowance? I don't understand how it works. Help 

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[SteveH · Accepted solution]

Fitbit doesn't pass your burned calories through to MFP. Instead, it passes an adjustment. In your example you have slightly exceeded the amount of calories burned (by 10 calories) than was anticipated by this point in the day.

This adjustment of 10 calories is taken off your calories eaten so far, in effect giving you an extra 10 calories to eat. So, you started the day with MFP allowing you 1760 calories to eat, you are now allowed 1770. You have eaten 1062, leaving you with 708 for the rest of the day.

If you do even more exercise, fitbit will pass through a bigger adjustment and MFP will increase the amount you can eat accordingly.

[NikkiLouLoos]

Okay I think I understand that. Thank you.

Since this post my exercise on MFP has changed from 10 to 7? 

[DMcMullen]

Am I correct in this?? That I am to log my activities in through MyFitnessPal and only them and not through Fibit??

[SilviaFitbit · Accepted solution]

@DMcMullen Hey there! Yes, that's correct you should only log activities through MyFitnessPal because then these activities will go to Fitbit. 

Keep in mind that any activity that's step based shouldn't be log because your tracker was made for that. Any other activity that requires more than just steps like tennis or yoga should be logged in order to improve the accuracy of this activity's contribution to your caloric burn.

[SunsetRunner]

I just linked MFP to my fitbit a week ago and just started logging cardio yesterday, it really ads to your calories burned big time and of course active calories. This cant be right, I did and logged 109 treadmill minutes and it added 1905 active calories taking me to 17.5 calories burned per minute???

[SunsetRunner]

@DMcMullen  That's what I read in the MFP directions also and in doing it my calories added to fitbit account for treadmill use is out the roof! Free wieght logging doesn't transfer to fitbit, I'm confused...

[SilviaFitbit]

@SunsetRunner That seems weird, I would like you to check if the activity is properly logged because it may be that MFP is double counting the calories and that's why you're getting too many for an activity. If everything seems ok, please unlink and relink both accounts and let me know if that works. 

Additionally, you may want to check Total Daily Calorie partners: Should I change the way I use MFP now that I've linked accounts? and this other post. 

[karenfaz]

I got got my Fitbit yesterday.  I linked it with MyFitnessPal, and have decided that I want to un-link it.  Too confusing.  How do I unlink it?????

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[SilviaFitbit]

@karenfaz Hey there! Just go to your Dashboard and click on settings>Applications and there you'll see MFP after this click on "Revoke Access" 

[Sam079]

I have a question, I use a dedicated GPS computer for my runs and my rides which already syncs to MFP. Should I be taking off my fitbit device when using them? Does it create a 'double up' of training data.

[DMcMullen]

I can't say for sure, but it seems that it would be doubling your data. You should only use one device.

Sent from my iPhone

[SteveH]

When MFP syncs activity to fitbit it creates a manual activity in the same way as when you manually log an activity within fitbit. What happens is that the manual activity replaces any calories and active minutes that were tracked if the fitbit was being worn at the time. So, no double booking.

[Sam079]

Awesome. Thanks.

[aubie246]

Why does my Charge HR say I burned 507 cals and the fitbit adjustment in MFP only shows 385?

[SilviaFitbit]

@aubie246 It will be my pleasure to help you! You can learn more about the calorie adjustment here. 

[nanogirl21]

Thanks for this information. Maybe you can help me with a few questions I have. (I’m making up numbers here)

Scenario

Distance: 5 Miles

Steps: 2,500

Time: 1 hour

Activity: Treadmill Run

There is two ways that I can log this activity. I can use the FitBit all and track the run or I can manually enter it. Since I am not a fan of the map from the FitBit app I prefer to log this activity via MyFitnessPal. When logging the activity it only gives me the option to enter calories and time. When I look on my dashboard steps and distance is missing. How do I add the missing information into the log for the activity? This information is important to me because I would like to compare times. Some days my runs will be better than others.

Also, since I will be wearing the Flex when running will that 2,500 calories turn into 5,000 calories after the FitBit syncs with MyFitnessPal? I am a bit concerned about this because I may only want to record 2,000 calories instead of all 2,500 calories. Will those 500 calories be subtracted since who activates was happening at the same time? Are the lower or higher calories accepted? I may want to record a lower calorie amount because I may feel like I didn’t push myself as hard as I should have. I would rather have lower calories than more calories.

I have so many questions. I am so new to this and so confused.

[SilviaFitbit]

@nanogirl21 It will be my pleasure to help you, it's great to see that you have so many questions. Since you're using MyFitnessPal to log your activities and MFP is just giving you the option to log time and calories when this activities come to Fitbit you won't see steps or distance transferred. You don't need to use the Fitbti app to track your activity, you can manually do it from your online Dashboard in the same way that you're doing it in MFP but in Fitbit you'll have the option to log distance and calories so personally I think it's better if you log those activities from Fitbit. 

No, when you have Fitbit and MFP linked you won't see that the calories will be double because that's why there will be a Calorie Adjustment that will allow you to see the same amount of calories in both apps you can learn more about it here. 

[Jo_S]

Hi guys!  I'm also pretty confused... I've synched MFP and FitBit, logging food into MFP and letting FitBit track activity.

Here is an example of what is happening?

Both dashboards show that I have consumed, say 1300 calories.

Both also agree that I have burned 800 calories from exercise.

MFP has a calorie goal of 1200/day to lose 1kg/week.

FitBit is also set to 1kg/week.

MFP calculates that my "allowance" is my goal (1200) + those burned (800) - those consumed (1300)=700, meaning that I can still eat 700 calories and meet my goal.

FitBit tells me I've got 90 calories left to consume.

Now can somebody please explain this?  And what I should do?  I'm really confused, and I neither want to eat 600 calories more than my goal (hello, weight gain), nor do I want to eat 600 less (goodbye, metabolism).  Help!

[SilviaFitbit]

@Jo_S I'll be happy to help you! You may want to check this post to see how Fitbit will calculate your calories burned. You should be getting the same amount of calories allowed to eat in both accounts, because there will be a calorie adjustment and this will made the changes, so you can see the same information in both accounts.