Beware "eating" your exercise calories!!
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makemybodysing
Posts: 30 Member
I've noticed a trap in the way MyFitnessPal adds our exercise calories to our total allowed for the day, which means we can eat more.
The calories added are not accurate, so you can easily end up adding in more calories than you actually burned!
That's not MFP's fault, it's just that people don't exercise at the same rate. To give you an example, an hour of Body Pump is set at 435 calories. However, my gym has a body monitoring system (a bit like Fitbit) with totals showing on a screen behind the teacher: and in today's class, some people scored 475 calories - but some scored only 350. That's 85 calories less than what MFP says.
If that woman was using MFP instead of her body monitor, did the class four times a week, and ate all her calorie allowance every day, she would end up eating over 400 extra calories a week without knowing it.
The calories added are not accurate, so you can easily end up adding in more calories than you actually burned!
That's not MFP's fault, it's just that people don't exercise at the same rate. To give you an example, an hour of Body Pump is set at 435 calories. However, my gym has a body monitoring system (a bit like Fitbit) with totals showing on a screen behind the teacher: and in today's class, some people scored 475 calories - but some scored only 350. That's 85 calories less than what MFP says.
If that woman was using MFP instead of her body monitor, did the class four times a week, and ate all her calorie allowance every day, she would end up eating over 400 extra calories a week without knowing it.
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It is crazy high!!!
Totally agree.
I eat maybe half the calories back.
I have a food item I created that is 500 calories called excess calorie burn off.
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makemybodysing wrote: »To give you an example, an hour of Body Pump is set at 435 calories. However, my gym has a body monitoring system (a bit like Fitbit) with totals showing on a screen behind the teacher: and in today's class, some people scored 475 calories - but some scored only 350.
Notwithstanding the point, there is no measurement system that'll give an accurate measure of calories expended in all circumstances. For some types of exercise MFP is reasonably accurate, for others it's very dependent on personal reporting of intensity and time, as well as being inherently very difficult to estimate as well. The stuff that MFP is accurate for is also the type of thing that's reasonably easy to measure confidently as well; running, rowing etc.
The key point is, pick a method and stick with it. Test and adjust based on progress.0 -
Just a wee note, I'm guessing that the gym's 'body monitoring system' won't be super accurate either. I don't even trust my HRM.
I'd monitor my weightloss and if I'm not losing at the expected rate then I'd reduce the calories I consume. Just take all calorie expenditure with a pinch of salt.0 -
MeanderingMammal wrote: »makemybodysing wrote: »To give you an example, an hour of Body Pump is set at 435 calories. However, my gym has a body monitoring system (a bit like Fitbit) with totals showing on a screen behind the teacher: and in today's class, some people scored 475 calories - but some scored only 350.
Notwithstanding the point, there is no measurement system that'll give an accurate measure of calories expended in all circumstances. For some types of exercise MFP is reasonably accurate, for others it's very dependent on personal reporting of intensity and time, as well as being inherently very difficult to estimate as well. The stuff that MFP is accurate for is also the type of thing that's reasonably easy to measure confidently as well; running, rowing etc.
The key point is, pick a method and stick with it. Test and adjust based on progress.
This!
I started out using MFP's estimations and lost weight perfectly fine. But I did use the entries that tend to be more accurate like running.
Some people choose to use only a portion of the exercise calories. Like this poster said, pick a method, stick with it and adjust as needed.
85 calories isn't a huge variance in the grand scheme of things.
To add, outside of a lab nothing is accurate. This is all just a best guess game, your calorie intake goal, your calories burned through exercise, your calorie intake logged (even if you log as accurately as possible, you still won't be precise) are all just estimates.
You don't need to be precise.0 -
You can also change the calorie number manually when you select that exercise...instead of using the default, making it a bit easier to track your personal calories (rather than continually doing some math in your head).
I realized that early on. When I weighted 220 and walked a mile, I burned maybe 90-100 calories, which was close to the MFP burn. That worked for me for a while. But now that I've lost 70+ pounds, I estimate I burn about 40 calories per mile walking. Things change as you continue to lose, as well.
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and generally, people recommend only eating 75-50% the calories back0
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I just assume that all exercise calculators give a high reading for calories burned, and so I round down and use low estimates.
Maybe I do cycle over 19 km/h, but I record my cycling in the 16-19 range.
Maybe I give it all I've got on my stationary bike, but I use the lightly pedalling choice.
Maybe I walk a bit faster than 12.5 minutes per km ... but that's the one I use. Sometimes I'll even use the 18 min per km one.
Plus I round down on time. If I've gone for a walk and it's 38 minutes, I'll round down to 35 ... sometimes 30 min. If I've gone for a bicycle ride and I've been out there for 2.5 hours, I'll round down to 2 hours to take into account stopping to take photos, stopping at intersections, etc.
I also don't count things like ... house cleaning, grocery shopping, steps around my office, etc. Any of those things are just a bonus.
And then, I usually only eat about half my calories back.
I've been happily and steadily losing weight for months now.
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At the most I only eat back about 50% of exercise calories and adjust as needed.0
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and generally, people recommend only eating 75-50% the calories back
That's a method to account for measurement error, but it's only realistic if one isn't burning much and CICO is the only consideration. If one is training significantly then that training needs fuel, and intentinonally underfuelling is as short sighted as not recognising that there are errors.
Personally I aim to eat them all back
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Eating back 100% of MFP exercise calories worked perfectly fine for me0
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No burn will be 100% accurate so it is a game of trial and error. That doesn't mean you shouldn't. If you want to put yourself in good stead for maintanance your need to know how much to eat back. Otherwise you'll find you're losing/gaining when you do try to maintain.0
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As some have suggested... EVERYTHING we do here is an estimate. Cals burned, no matter how you calculate, is just an estimate. Cals consumed, no matter how you measure, is just an estimate. BMR, TDEE, etc, no matter how you calculate them, is just an estimate.
People get very hung up on trying to be accurate, I get it... I used to do it to. But it just doesn't work that way.
Estimate as best you can, but realize that there is always an assumed margin of error. Track your progress for a month or so, then tweak as needed. Repeat the process until you find your "sweet spot".0 -
When I've used the MFP goal, rather than TDEE, I've always eaten all of my exercise calories and have lost weight at, or faster than, the rate I chose in my goals. I also choose lightly active rather than sedentary even though my day job is an 8-5 sit in front of a computer all day job. I even use *gasp* the strength training entry and eat all of those calories.
Again, it's all an estimate. Start with the stock numbers, observe the results after a few weeks, and change from there.0 -
Nothing is going to be accurate unless you have thousands of dollars to spend on super high tech equipment.
Newbies to MFP are usually told to eat back 50% (or a little more) of their exercise calories and go from there. If they are losing faster than their target, they should eat a higher %. If losing slower, eat back a lower %.
No big trap and no big conspiracy. It is just the nature of using empirical data to calculate something that is being used by a complex living organism.0 -
I never really stressed about what % of exercise calories to eat back. Prior to getting my FitBit (I'm generally 100% cardio) I would just have a system of underestimating my calorie burn (say, if I ran for 30 minutes at 6.3 miles per hour, I would round it down to 6 miles per hour in MFP), and overestimating calories eaten.
I also then had a practice of making sure I left a minimum of 100-200 calories in my day (usually I left more) prior to hitting the sack.
Seemed to work. I've averaged around 1.5-1.75 pounds per week of loss since starting MFP.0 -
I don't eat back any calories!! I'm at my goal weight and have stayed there for months now. I work out moderate to vigorous intensity 5-6 times per week. I don't think eating back calories should be a thing. If you're starving, give yourself a protein rich 150-200 calorie snack then cut it there. I played the exercise-more-so-you-can-eat-more game all through my 20's, and it simply does not work.0
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Generally speaking none of it is an exact science. There are so many other factors that play into it.
- People with more muscle burn more calories when resting.
- Sitting all day at work can really damage the amount of calories burned
- Fidgety people, you know that leg shaker or table tapper, actually burn more calories while resting
- Size and HRM effect calories burned
None of this stuff is one size fits all. Find your balance.
FYI, I also recommend looking at it as a weekly average not a daily thing. It actually works better that way.0 -
I don't eat back any calories!! I'm at my goal weight and have stayed there for months now. I work out moderate to vigorous intensity 5-6 times per week. I don't think eating back calories should be a thing. If you're starving, give yourself a protein rich 150-200 calorie snack then cut it there. I played the exercise-more-so-you-can-eat-more game all through my 20's, and it simply does not work.
but that is how mfp is set up0 -
I don't eat back any calories!! I'm at my goal weight and have stayed there for months now. I work out moderate to vigorous intensity 5-6 times per week. I don't think eating back calories should be a thing. If you're starving, give yourself a protein rich 150-200 calorie snack then cut it there. I played the exercise-more-so-you-can-eat-more game all through my 20's, and it simply does not work.
Again, that all comes back to where you are figuring your calorie goal from, how much you exercise and what your priorities are.
Not everyone is here just to lose weight. People who have specific goals to get faster/stronger/whatever need to balance their weight loss goal with performance goals. Not accounting for exercise calories isn't going to help.
It also has to balance on the other end. Some people aren't as diligent on the calorie end and let their exercise calories balance it out. Some believe they are eating fewer calories but, in reality, aren't.
People with a larger amount of weight to lose, or who aren't as active can afford to ignore exercise calories. Those with severe deficits, especially those who are active and/or have less to lose, should be accounting for it somehow if following MFP.0 -
I don't eat back any calories!! I'm at my goal weight and have stayed there for months now. I work out moderate to vigorous intensity 5-6 times per week. I don't think eating back calories should be a thing. If you're starving, give yourself a protein rich 150-200 calorie snack then cut it there. I played the exercise-more-so-you-can-eat-more game all through my 20's, and it simply does not work.
but that is how mfp is set up
And this too.0
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