Microsoft Fitness vs MSN Health & Fitness

[BlackSheriff84]

So has the new MFB along with its health app killed of the MHF app?
Is there any point in keeping the MHF app installed if you have the band?
Are Microsoft planning to integrate these to features?

 

[WhiteNiteLite]

If you have a newer phone with SensorCore, then the MSN Health and Fitness app will let you access your data from that. Otherwise, I don't really see much of a point in having it anymore if you also have the Microsoft Health app, especially since MSN no longer links to HealthVault.

Some things that MSN does that Health doesn't is also track your diet, show you monthly stats, or display your info on live tiles. But since the data is just being dumped into a void right now, I don't see much value in using that either. If MSN ever ties into Microsoft Health on the backend, then it might be useful again, especially for tracking the things that the Band can't, like food intake.

 

[sdrexler11791]

If you link the MS band health app to Myfitnesspal, it will send workout and step data to it and you can do all of your tracking in one place there. It works very well for tracking.

If you have a newer phone with SensorCore, then the MSN Health and Fitness app will let you access your data from that. Otherwise, I don't really see much of a point in having it anymore if you also have the Microsoft Health app, especially since MSN no longer links to HealthVault.

Some things that MSN does that Health doesn't is also track your diet, show you monthly stats, or display your info on live tiles. But since the data is just being dumped into a void right now, I don't see much value in using that either. If MSN ever ties into Microsoft Health on the backend, then it might be useful again, especially for tracking the things that the Band can't, like food intake.

 

[BlackSheriff84]

I'm not familiar with the SensorCorr SDK , My device is the L930 so I imagine it does but I'm unsure.
Personally I don't feel the need to keep the H&F app now that I have the band and MF. I only really used H&F for the step counter feature which I believed to be very accurate due to the fact that it takes into account the length of your stride and uses GPS to determine your step count. There has been alot of debate to how accurate the bands step count is as it doesn't use GPS for the general step count feature. So before I say goodbye to H&F app and gonna make sure I keep my phone on me at all times so I can actually compare the two results.
So far is looking good 8am and both are reading 356

 

[BlackSheriff84]

If you link the MS band health app to Myfitnesspal, it will send workout and step data to it and you can do all of your tracking in one place there. It works very well for tracking.

How did you get the step data to send to MFP? My workouts are being uploaded but can't figure out how to send my steps....

 

[sdrexler11791]

How did you get the step data to send to MFP? My workouts are being uploaded but can't figure out how to send my steps....

On the kindle app, the steps show. On the windows phone app, they show as a ms health calorie adjustment.

 

[gadgetrants]

If you link the MS band health app to Myfitnesspal, it will send workout and step data to it and you can do all of your tracking in one place there. It works very well for tracking.

Thanks for the encouraging comment -- my first experience with MFP has not been so positive -- could you please point me to a feature or two that highlights integration with the Band? I'm seeing my steps, exercise, and calories burned showing up, but not quite in the way I hoped they would (especially how calories are treated).

BTW: for those with the Android app, if you go to the Diary page and scroll to the bottom, you should see your daily steps there, under "Microsoft Health Calorie Adjustment." Not sure about the other platforms. EDIT: of course just realized there's also a progress bar on the App Home page, right under the calorie data.

-Matt

 

[BlackSheriff84]

On the kindle app, the steps show. On the windows phone app, they show as a ms health calorie adjustment.

Would love to see a screen shot of both

 

[bigskytool]

If you link the MS band health app to Myfitnesspal, it will send workout and step data to it and you can do all of your tracking in one place there. It works very well for tracking.

I have been wondering what the "Microsoft Health calorie adjustment" numbers are in MFP, thinking it was calculating the calorie burn from my steps. However, the data is all over the place. Here are my steps from Microsoft Health and the calorie adjustment in MFP since last Friday;

Fri - 1892 steps, 64 calorie adj
Sat - 5028, 0
Sun - 15482, 0
Mon - 5658, 419
Tue - 12164, 466
Today - 7224, 0

Very strange

 

[DroidUser42]

How do the calories match your workouts? Maybe the data is steps/workout calories, not steps/step calories.

 

[gadgetrants]

I have been wondering what the "Microsoft Health calorie adjustment" numbers are in MFP, thinking it was calculating the calorie burn from my steps. However, the data is all over the place. Here are my steps from Microsoft Health and the calorie adjustment in MFP since last Friday;

Fri - 1892 steps, 64 calorie adj
Sat - 5028, 0
Sun - 15482, 0
Mon - 5658, 419
Tue - 12164, 466
Today - 7224, 0

Very strange

My sense is that by telling MFP your "general" activity level during setup, it determines a fixed daily calorie burn rate for you. In my case, that number is 2220 calories (click on Home -> Goals to see your values).

What happens next? On a given day I go for a run, lift some weights, etc. and thankfully the corresponding calories burned during those activities show up automagically on MFP (details are under the Exercise tab). So far, so good. Today, for example, those exercise calories totaled 1247. What MFP *should* do is simply take the total number of calories burned reported by the Band and log them but, but it doesn't. Instead it says, "Well, we've determined that you were supposed to burn 2200 calories today -- so now lets add the 1247 you did from exercise, for a total of 3447. The band is currently saying you've burned a total (including exercise) of 2921, which is less than our estimate of 3447. Therefore we're sticking with our estimate, and your Microsoft Health Calorie Adjustment is 0."

In other words, it's only when the total calories burned reported by the Band exceeds what MFP estimates you should have burned, that it then allows those "extra" calories as a positive adjustment. In your case, those are presumably the days where you had adjustments of 419 and 466. On the other days, your Band reported values must have fallen under MFP's estimate.

If my logic is right, this is all very silly, and premised on the faulty assumption that you'll burn the exact same number of calories each day. I understand the idea of setting a fitness target but this is dumb. As I've ranted on another thread, MFP should simply say, "Your Band says you burned 2921 calories today. Congratulations!" Anything else is clumsy and confusing. :angry:

-Matt

 

[BlackSheriff84]

So here is how the band and the H&F app compared

I found the result quite surprising I was expecting the band to have a slightly higher step count.
Through out the day there was times they were bang on equal and others they both were out by no more than 80 odd steps. This amount of fluctuation doesn't bother me however I'm not gonna ditch H&F app just yet as I'm gonna try this again over the weekend when I walk more instead of a work day where I'm stuck at my desk.

 

[WhiteNiteLite]

The interesting thing is that I've been having the opposite experience. My Band is always consistently ahead of my phone. I realize that there are times when I might have my Band on and not my phone, but even why I try to avoid this from happening my Band still ends up ahead somehow. Here's my comparison from the last week for both.

 

[sdrexler11791]

If you go to the MFP website and click on the "i" next to the MS health calorie adjustment, it seems to indicate that this is almost exactly what they are doing. Although if you click on the FAQ, the adjustment is supposed to be up or down based on a "projection". It also will only make a negative adjustment if you change settings on the web site.
The kindle app actually says "steps". I will see if I can grab a screen shot to post.

"What is the Calorie Adjustment in my Exercise Diary?



MyFitnessPal pulls your calorie burn directly from our total daily calorie App Gallery partners. We then project forward to the end of the day based on your calorie burn so far. If this full-day number is different than MyFitnessPal’s estimate for your daily calorie burn, an adjustment will be made to your caloric intake goal. This adjustment can either be positive or negative. If the adjustment is positive, this indicates that your calorie burn for the day as reported by our partner is greater than MyFitnessPal’s estimate. If the adjustment is negative this indicates that the partner's reported calorie burn is lower than MyFitnessPal’s estimate.



Details about the calculation of any adjustment can be viewed by clicking the small "i" next to the adjustment in your Exercise Diary (on the full website), or by tapping the adjustment itself in the Exercise Diary of the latest MyFitnessPal iOS or Android apps.

Because the adjustment value is recalculated every time your device uploads new data, you should expect this value to change over the course of the day.


By default, MyFitnessPal will show you only positive calorie adjustments. To permit negative adjustments, log in to the full MyFitnessPal site at Free Calorie Counter, Diet & Exercise Journal | MyFitnessPal.com and click "My Home" then "Settings" then "Diary Settings." Check the box for "Enable Negative Adjustments" then click "Save Changes."

"If you are typically unable to sync your device until late in the day, you may wish to leave negative adjustments "off.""

My sense is that by telling MFP your "general" activity level during setup, it determines a fixed daily calorie burn rate for you. In my case, that number is 2220 calories (click on Home -> Goals to see your values).

What happens next? On a given day I go for a run, lift some weights, etc. and thankfully the corresponding calories burned during those activities show up automagically on MFP (details are under the Exercise tab). So far, so good. Today, for example, those exercise calories totaled 1247. What MFP *should* do is simply take the total number of calories burned reported by the Band and log them but, but it doesn't. Instead it says, "Well, we've determined that you were supposed to burn 2200 calories today -- so now lets add the 1247 you did from exercise, for a total of 3447. The band is currently saying you've burned a total (including exercise) of 2921, which is less than our estimate of 3447. Therefore we're sticking with our estimate, and your Microsoft Health Calorie Adjustment is 0."

In other words, it's only when the total calories burned reported by the Band exceeds what MFP estimates you should have burned, that it then allows those "extra" calories as a positive adjustment. In your case, those are presumably the days where you had adjustments of 419 and 466. On the other days, your Band reported values must have fallen under MFP's estimate.

If my logic is right, this is all very silly, and premised on the faulty assumption that you'll burn the exact same number of calories each day. I understand the idea of setting a fitness target but this is dumb. As I've ranted on another thread, MFP should simply say, "Your Band says you burned 2921 calories today. Congratulations!" Anything else is clumsy and confusing. :angry:

-Matt

 

[BlackSheriff84]

Details about the calculation of any adjustment can be viewed by clicking the small "i" next to the adjustment in your Exercise Diary (on the full website), or by tapping the adjustment itself in the Exercise Diary "My Home" then "Settings" then "Diary Settings." Check the box for "Enable Negative Adjustments" then click "Save Changes."

I don't seem to have this option in MFP, am i looking in the right place?

I have linked my band to MFP through the Microsoft fitness app and my workouts show on MFP. Is there any other steps I need to take enable negative adjustments?

 

[Upstate Dunadan]

I don't have the negative adjustment option either. It's not in App or website.

I'm fine with the Band only passing my workout calories burned to MFP.

I have my daily goal set slightly lower than my BMR as I want to slowly lose my last 5-10 pounds. Having the workout calories added saves me using MFP to estimate them. I eat these calories back so I need them logged. The rest of my activity calories from the Band (living, breathing, walking around) are already figured in the BMR number I already entered.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[gadgetrants]

@sdrexler11791 thanks for a super-helpful post -- in particular, you helped me realize that activating the negative adjustment option is exactly the solution I was hoping for! Unfortunately (as others have noted) the option seems turned off for now. The other day I remember reading an FAQ or user question at MFP that noted it's "not turned on for all device partners," in so many words. Hopefully Band users will see it soon.

OK, went back and found the question/answer I was thinking of:

MyFitnessPal | negative calorie adjustment missing

negative calorie adjustment missingpcrane2 ? Oct 27, 2014 08:30PM PDT

The negative adjustment in the diary settings is missing, how do I turn it off? It is adjusting the calories.


1 Community Answers

Best Answer Oct 28, 2014 12:41PM PDTMichael

Hello,
Thanks for posting your question with us.
The negative calorie option is only available if you are connected to one of our integration partners. This option is not yet available for users that have allowed step tacking with their iPhones.
There is not a way to turn off a calorie adjustments from any integration partner or from tracking steps via your iPhone. You would have to turn of the step trackign feature to turn any adjustments.
Regards,
Michael



MyFitnessPal Staff

EDIT: Ah, I see you actually copied/pasted from the MFP website -- I thought you were an MFP employee for a second! LOL :wink: Either way, your post helped me stumble on to this helpful page:

MyFitnessPal | Should I turn on Negative Calorie Adjust...

Should I turn on Negative Calorie Adjustments?

Enabling a negative calorie adjustment from your integration with a total daily calorie partner will give you the most accurate information about your calorie expenditure for the day. A negative calorie adjustment indicates that you are using fewer calories on a given day than our original MyFitnessPal estimate.

The option for allowing negative calorie adjustments can be found by logging in to your account at Free Calorie Counter, Diet & Exercise Journal | MyFitnessPal.com, then clicking "My Home" then "Settings" then "Diary settings". Check the box for "Enable Negative Adjustments" then click "Save Changes." Your settings will take effect the next time data syncs from your device.

We recommend enabling negative adjustments if:

• you expect to wear your tracking device consistently
• you would like the most accurate calorie feedback MyFitnessPal can provide
• your device is able to sync its data multiple times over the course of the day

We recommend disabling negative adjustments if:

• you do not expect to wear your device consistently
• your device can only sync occasionally, or only late in the day
• you wish to use the device only for the motivational experience of earning additional calories

If indeed Band users get access to the negative adjustment option and it works as stated, I'll be a very happy camper. YIKES, I just remembered this is a MSN H&F thread, NOT a MFP thread. My apologies if I'm hijacking!

​-Matt