Why you might want to stop Nutracheck adding exercise calories
Many users find that automatically adding exercise calories to their daily total can be counterproductive for their weight loss journey. The calorie burn estimations from activity trackers or internal app calculations are often inaccurate and can lead to overeating. Some people prefer to set a fixed calorie target for their diet, regardless of how much they exercise, to maintain a consistent calorie deficit. This approach helps prevent the "eat back your exercise calories" mindset, which can easily erase progress.
Accessing Diary Preferences on Nutracheck
To manage how Nutracheck handles exercise calories, you need to adjust your diary settings. The process differs slightly depending on whether you want to completely disable the feature or just change the diary view.
On the mobile app:
- Open the Nutracheck app.
- Go to your Food Diary screen.
- Tap the menu button, often represented by three dots or a list icon, usually located near the search bar.
- Select 'Diary Preferences' from the menu.
- Navigate to the 'Daily Totals' option.
Once inside 'Daily Totals,' you can choose how your calories are displayed:
- Combined: This is the default view where your food and exercise totals are combined, and your allowance is adjusted based on activity.
- Separate: This view tracks your food and exercise separately, maintaining a fixed calorie target for your food intake.
Disconnecting Syncs with Fitness Trackers
If you have a wearable device like a Fitbit or Apple Watch linked to Nutracheck, it will automatically import your step and exercise data, which often results in exercise calories being added. To stop this, you must disconnect the integration.
Steps to disconnect:
- Log into your Nutracheck account via the website or app.
- Go to the 'Settings' or 'Profile' section.
- Look for 'App Connections' or 'Connected Devices'.
- Find your connected tracker (e.g., Fitbit, Apple Health) and revoke access or unlink the account.
- Confirm the disconnection to ensure no further data is synced.
For some integrations, you may also need to log into your fitness tracker's app or website and remove Nutracheck's permissions from that end as well.
Understanding Different Diary Views
| Feature | Combined Diary View | Separate Diary View |
|---|---|---|
| Calorie Target | Your daily target fluctuates based on exercise calories added. | Your daily food target remains fixed and is not affected by exercise. |
| Exercise Display | Exercise adds calories back to your daily budget. | Exercise calories are logged and displayed separately from your food calories. |
| Best For | Highly active individuals who need to adjust their intake on high-intensity days. | Users who prefer a consistent, strict calorie limit for food and track exercise independently. |
| Potential Issues | Risk of overeating due to inflated exercise calorie estimations. | May not account for genuine increased energy needs on intense workout days. |
Additional methods for managing exercise calories
Beyond the main settings, you can also manage exercise calories in other ways.
- Don't log exercise at all: The simplest solution is to just not manually add exercise to your diary. If you have disconnected your wearable, the app will not track it automatically.
- Adjusting activity level: When you first set up Nutracheck, you select an activity level. Choosing a higher activity level here (e.g., 'very active') can incorporate exercise calories into your daily total from the start, effectively neutralizing the need to add them separately. However, this can still be inaccurate. A more reliable method is to choose a 'sedentary' level and manually factor in any increased food needs based on your personal judgment.
- Manually adjusting calorie goals: You can also override the app's automatically calculated calorie target and set your own fixed number. This is an advanced option and should be done with caution, but it gives you complete control over your daily allowance.
- Tap the blue menu button in your diary.
- Select 'Nutrient Goals' > 'Set My Own Goal'.
- Override the calorie figure and tap 'Apply Changes'.
Troubleshooting sync issues
Sometimes, even after adjusting settings, your Nutracheck app might continue to pull in exercise data. If this happens, try these steps:
- Clear cache and app data: On your phone's settings, clear the cache and data for the Nutracheck app. This forces a fresh start and can resolve lingering sync issues.
- Re-login: Log out of your Nutracheck account and log back in. This can often force a new sync and reset any connection errors.
- Check tracker app: Ensure the connection has been properly terminated on the third-party app (e.g., Fitbit or Apple Health). Some apps require you to manually remove the Nutracheck connection from their side.
- Contact support: If all else fails, reach out to Nutracheck's customer support for assistance with persistent sync problems.
Conclusion
Taking control of how Nutracheck handles your exercise calories is a crucial step towards more accurate and consistent calorie tracking. By navigating to your Diary Preferences and changing the 'Daily Totals' view from 'Combined' to 'Separate,' you can easily stop the app from automatically adjusting your calorie budget. For users with connected devices, it is also essential to disconnect the third-party app to prevent automatic syncing. This manual approach provides greater control and is a preferred method for many looking to avoid overestimating their exercise-related calorie budget.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How do I access Nutracheck diary settings? A: Open the app, go to your food diary, and tap the menu button (usually three dots or a list icon) near the top to find 'Diary Preferences.'
Q: What is the difference between 'Combined' and 'Separate' diary views? A: 'Combined' adds exercise calories to your food budget, while 'Separate' keeps your food budget fixed and shows exercise calories as a separate total.
Q: Will disconnecting my Fitbit stop Nutracheck from adding exercise calories? A: Yes, unlinking your Fitbit from Nutracheck will prevent the automatic syncing of exercise and steps, thereby stopping the addition of those calories.
Q: Can I set a fixed calorie target that doesn't change with exercise? A: Yes, you can manually set your calorie target in the 'Nutrient Goals' section, overriding the app's recommendations. This is best used in conjunction with the 'Separate' diary view.
Q: My exercise calories are still showing even after changing settings. What should I do? A: Try clearing the app's cache, logging out and back in, and double-checking that the connection was terminated on both the Nutracheck app and the third-party tracker's app.
Q: Is it better to count exercise calories or ignore them? A: Ignoring exercise calories is often more effective for weight loss as it prevents overeating based on potentially inaccurate burn estimations. It is safer to maintain a consistent food target and consider exercise an additional benefit.
Q: What if I have a very active job and sit very little? A: If you have a physically demanding job, you should set your activity level accordingly when first setting up your profile, but still consider using the 'Separate' diary view to maintain a consistent dietary target.
