Should we really be eating back the calories we burn??
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Sorry, I didn't mean activity level on MFP. Poor choice of term when it's being used already.
I meant in context a higher level of accuracy. Which I then gave how to do.0 -
I eat back around 1/4 of the calories I burn and it seems to be working well for me.0
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mirandafinch wrote: »Thanks guys for taking the time to respond. I think following the eat them back if I’m hungry strategy will work for me, I’m sure I won’t actually need them all x
Except hunger cues aren't always the best indicator of whether more energy (calories) are needed, not always timed according to when the exercise occurred, etc. Some people find exercise blunts their hunger, some find it spikes it. Some feel nothing the day they do the exercise but then are ravenous days later. It's best to figure out a consistent approach and stick with that, in order to audit your results and monitor and adjust as needed.
For what it's worth - I always ate back all of my exercise calories, back when I was just using MFP estimates and now that I have a FitBit tracker. It didn't prevent me from losing weight at the desired rate of loss and it hasn't prevented me from successfully maintaining. Having too large of a deficit and losing weight faster isn't always desirable...6 -
Sorry, I didn't mean activity level on MFP. Poor choice of term when it's being used already.
I meant in context a higher level of accuracy. Which I then gave how to do.
Oh I misunderstood, sorry!0 -
Since this is an associated topic I'll jump in with a question...
I am about to get an RMR test and am a bit confused. Is RMR the same as NEAT?0 -
I will attempt to clarify Heybale's point
You use an external net calculator to estimate your net calories.
He is saying that you don't know if that calculation uses the same assumptions as MFP.
Bales suggested that you grab MFP calories from a new day, divide by 1440, and subtract that per minute value from your activity calories. They way you will have a more correct net.
ETA: oops, he did say plus deficit.
Add MFP cals from new day PLUS daily deficit and then divide by 1440 is his suggestion.
So our calculations (see next post) are *exactly* the same.
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If I understood correctly, Bale's suggestion would start from your target daily calories, which already include your deficit.
More correctly you can calculate your per minute value to deduct as follows:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator
Multiply your MFP BMR from the above calculator by the following activity factor depending on how you're setup on MFP:
Sedentary, lightly active, active, very active use 1.25, 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8 respectively.
Divide total by 1440 for per minute value or by 24 for per hour value.
Subtract from gross exercise calories to get net value.0 -
mirandafinch wrote: »I find this so confusing, say I work hard to burn 300 calories at the gym should i be eating them back or keep the deficit?
If you're doing MFP the way it is intended then exercise isn't included in your activity level...thus your calorie target excludes exercise activity. Exercise increases your overall energy expenditure and this tool is designed for you to log and eat back additional calories for additional activity...that's how you account for that activity.
MFP will give me about 2000 calories per day to lose about 1 Lb per week...this doesn't include exercise...this only includes a light active activity setting...this means that MFP is estimating my NON exercise maintenance to be around 2500 calories.
When I exercise and say I burn 350 calories, my target will move from 2000 to 2350...I'm still going to lose the same 1 Lb per week because my maintenance also moved from 2500 to 2,850 and 2,850 - 2,350 = 500 calorie deficit still.1 -
Since this is an associated topic I'll jump in with a question...
I am about to get an RMR test and am a bit confused. Is RMR the same as NEAT?
No...NEAT would be additional daily activity like getting up and walking around and brushing your teeth and cooking, cleaning, going to work, etc...your RMR is basically your BMR...the calories you burn merely existing.3 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Since this is an associated topic I'll jump in with a question...
I am about to get an RMR test and am a bit confused. Is RMR the same as NEAT?
No...NEAT would be additional daily activity like getting up and walking around and brushing your teeth and cooking, cleaning, going to work, etc...your RMR is basically your BMR...the calories you burn merely existing.
Thanks, all the acronyms were starting to make me dizzy!
I did some Googling since I posted and found a nice article that explained the differences between BMR and RMR.0 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Since this is an associated topic I'll jump in with a question...
I am about to get an RMR test and am a bit confused. Is RMR the same as NEAT?
No...NEAT would be additional daily activity like getting up and walking around and brushing your teeth and cooking, cleaning, going to work, etc...your RMR is basically your BMR...the calories you burn merely existing.
Thanks, all the acronyms were starting to make me dizzy!
I did some Googling since I posted and found a nice article that explained the differences between BMR and RMR.
Good explanation.
Just confirm your RMR test reminders came with do's and do not's before the test, fasted in morning is best chance for accuracy.
After rest day even better, so not elevated from repairs from lifting say.
RMR is just a tad higher than BMR, but in the scheme of the day as a whole with a test accuracy over calculated estimated - trivial.
Just confirm you take any TDEE estimate they will give you as not measured at all, still an estimate, merely based on a better foundation.
Also don't be worried if it seems off compared to calculated - if calculated on average LBM for your gender, age, weight, height they use - you may not have avg LBM - you could have higher or lower.
I actually think calculated RMR based on good measured BF% is more useful. Even those with thyroid issues are almost never beyond 5% off. (they get hit with the tiredness which effects their NEAT/TDEE badly)
Both tests - potentially some good info.1 -
Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »I go by this rule: If my heart rate was sustained in at least zone 3 (e.g., above ~120BPM) during the workout, I enter the workout in my diary and eat at least some of the calories back, depending on how hungry I am. Note that you can always bank them up for later, you don't have to eat all of them back on the same day!
You can get your calorie estimate from the MFP website, from an exercise machine, from a FitBit, from MapMy<whatever>, Garmin, GoogleFit, SamsungFit, AppleWatch, you name it. It helps if you have something to tell you that you actually elevated your HR.
This eliminates adding calories for activities that really don't burn that many calories, such as low intensity walking, etc.
I get a good 300 calories a day from my low intensity walking and I eat back every one of them.8 -
ladyhusker39 wrote: »Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »I go by this rule: If my heart rate was sustained in at least zone 3 (e.g., above ~120BPM) during the workout, I enter the workout in my diary and eat at least some of the calories back, depending on how hungry I am. Note that you can always bank them up for later, you don't have to eat all of them back on the same day!
You can get your calorie estimate from the MFP website, from an exercise machine, from a FitBit, from MapMy<whatever>, Garmin, GoogleFit, SamsungFit, AppleWatch, you name it. It helps if you have something to tell you that you actually elevated your HR.
This eliminates adding calories for activities that really don't burn that many calories, such as low intensity walking, etc.
I get a good 300 calories a day from my low intensity walking and I eat back every one of them.
Yeah, on an average day I get about 150-300 calories from low intensity walking. I eat them back and I've been doing it for almost three years now and I lose/maintain exactly as I expect.7 -
Are you trying to lose weight or maintain your current weight? This is the maintenance board, so I'm assuming that you want to maintain your weight. If so, then you don't want to be in a calorie deficit. A calorie deficit will cause you to lose weight. This means that yes, you must eat back your exercise calories.
However, almost all methods of tracking exercise calories have some degree of inaccuracy, and some are far more accurate than others. If you're relying on MFP database estimates, those tend to be very high. The same is true for estimates provided by gym equipment. Other methods, like heart rate trackers, tend to be more accurate. When people say that you should only eat a portion of your exercise calories, they are only attempting to make up for inaccuracy in measurement. They are not saying that the goal is to create a bigger deficit.
If you're confident that your exercise calories are being measured pretty accurately, then you should eat most or all of them back. If you are not confident that those measurements are accurate, then you should start with eating half your exercise calories. See whether that leads to weight loss, maintenance, or gain, and adjust accordingly.2 -
ladyhusker39 wrote: »I get a good 300 calories a day from my low intensity walking and I eat back every one of them.
Well, you're not the only one who disagrees with me, apparently. I got 7 "woos" on my post. In any case, you soon know if your approach is working from the scale (that evil overlord of overindulgence).3 -
Thanks @heybales - I appreciate the guidance!I actually think calculated RMR based on good measured BF% is more useful. Even those with thyroid issues are almost never beyond 5% off. (they get hit with the tiredness which effects their NEAT/TDEE badly)
Both tests - potentially some good info.
Do you have a preferred formula you use to calculate the RMR with BF%? I am also getting a DEXA scan and it will be interesting to compare the values.0 -
Eat back your exercise calories, that's how MFP works.2
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I tend to gauge my hunger level. If I'm really hungry, I'll eat the extra calories but if I feel like I don't need them, then I'll take advantage of the extra calorie deficit. If I do eat the calories, I generally try to validate the calories that I burned using both the MFP calorie estimate and some other tool just as a fitbit to get an somewhat accurate estimate of the number of calories that I really did burn.0
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Thanks @heybales - I appreciate the guidance!I actually think calculated RMR based on good measured BF% is more useful. Even those with thyroid issues are almost never beyond 5% off. (they get hit with the tiredness which effects their NEAT/TDEE badly)
Both tests - potentially some good info.
Do you have a preferred formula you use to calculate the RMR with BF%? I am also getting a DEXA scan and it will be interesting to compare the values.
Usually they will do that on your printout then, along with estimated TDEE.
Be interesting to see which group asks more questions to get that potentially better.
Cunningham RMR or Katch BMR were top rated in last comparison study I saw, but that was years ago and haven't looked again.
I researched because my readout used one I'd never heard before, and it ended up being a very underestimating one that was even then normally used for females, but even then not great unless in certain BF% range. Their system must have been hard set, because my printout correctly said male, so if it was using different calc's, it should have done so. Nelson I think it was.1
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