Is It Possible to Have a Negative Net Calorie Count Daily?

ninerbuff

Yes, if you're fasting or starving yourself for a long enough period of time. Of course something I don't advise to do.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Psychgrrl

Cardio machines also grossly over estimate. 60 minutes on the Pre-Cor elliptical and the machine (after inputting gender, age and weight) will tell me I've burned a little over 700, while the HRM says I've burned about 450.

PAV8888

Michaelseastman wrote: »

That's a problem here on the MFP app. I run on the elliptical for an hour and the machine at the gym tells me roughly 900 calories. That can't be right. Then MFP tells me that 1185 calories burned. WHAT? At the average of 5 calories per minute, that's only 300. There's a lot of discrepancies on both this app and the machines at the gym, so I never really know what I'm burning.

And you have decided on 5 calories per minute for the elliptical (which I achieve by walking... slowly), how?

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/PAV8888/view/how-can-i-double-check-exercise-calorie-burns-741824

kindrabbit

theresaTerriM wrote: »

Thanasi99 wrote: »

Serious? Wow, I just got onto MFP and was curious if they under or overestimated. So what's a good way to count calorie burn? I would hate to start logging my exercises today and think I'm burning more than I actually am! No bueno, yikes....

I also found that to be a bummer, especially considering that I've been taking these numbers to heart.

No kidding! I was using the LoseIt! app previously but it didn't connect to my new fitness tracker (Garmin Vivofit) and so I just got onto MFP yesterday and will start logging my exercises on it today.

Umm...kinda bummed to be honest if that's the case. But if there's some sort of ratio to keep in mind while logging them, I am still good with that.

I eat back 100% of steady state exercise (eliptical, running rowing), 75% of circuit training and 50% of what my heart rate monitor gives me for strength training. My hrm and mfp are pretty similar so if I didnt have a hrm I would use the same percentages of mfp allowances. Its all relative anyway - if you are loosing keep doing what yuo're doing and if you aren't then eat less of your exercise calories (or eat fewer calories in general, or burn more calories - however you choose to do it)

Hope that helps

Michaelseastman

PAV8888 wrote: »

Michaelseastman wrote: »

That's a problem here on the MFP app. I run on the elliptical for an hour and the machine at the gym tells me roughly 900 calories. That can't be right. Then MFP tells me that 1185 calories burned. WHAT? At the average of 5 calories per minute, that's only 300. There's a lot of discrepancies on both this app and the machines at the gym, so I never really know what I'm burning.

And you have decided on 5 calories per minute for the elliptical (which I achieve by walking... slowly), how?

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/PAV8888/view/how-can-i-double-check-exercise-calorie-burns-741824

Just off of what I've read on here. Heck, on this very post, several stated that burning 10 calories per minute over a long period of time is athlete status.

theresaTerriM

Karen_libert wrote: »

theresaTerriM wrote: »

Thanasi99 wrote: »

Serious? Wow, I just got onto MFP and was curious if they under or overestimated. So what's a good way to count calorie burn? I would hate to start logging my exercises today and think I'm burning more than I actually am! No bueno, yikes....

I also found that to be a bummer, especially considering that I've been taking these numbers to heart.

No kidding! I was using the LoseIt! app previously but it didn't connect to my new fitness tracker (Garmin Vivofit) and so I just got onto MFP yesterday and will start logging my exercises on it today.

Umm...kinda bummed to be honest if that's the case. But if there's some sort of ratio to keep in mind while logging them, I am still good with that.

I eat back 100% of steady state exercise (eliptical, running rowing), 75% of circuit training and 50% of what my heart rate monitor gives me for strength training. My hrm and mfp are pretty similar so if I didnt have a hrm I would use the same percentages of mfp allowances. Its all relative anyway - if you are loosing keep doing what yuo're doing and if you aren't then eat less of your exercise calories (or eat fewer calories in general, or burn more calories - however you choose to do it)

Hope that helps

Thank you!!!! Seriously, that's one of the best answers. I have a busy schedule and my brain is so fried at the end of the day that my head will explode at trying to calculate everything perfectly with all the equations,calculators etc that are being thrown around. I stick to MFP's default and whatever I get back from exercises I will eat back according to those percentages. Thank you thank you thank you!!

theresaTerriM

bwogilvie wrote: »

theresaTerriM wrote: »

bwogilvie wrote: »

...On October 13, 2013, I ate 3260 calories, but I burned 4284 (estimated by my Garmin Edge 800 GPS cycle computer, which uses heart rate, fitness level, speed, and altitude changes to estimate energy expenditure). That was on an 9-hour (moving time), 111.5-mile bike ride up and down the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. I just couldn't eat that much.

You're my new hero. I just got into cycling and only aspire to do that much! My fiance is a cycling freak, and I don't know if he could even do that ride. Wow.

Aw, shucks! It was the Great River Ride out of Westfield, Mass., following the three branches of the Westfield River. Absolutely beautiful scenery, with the foliage at its height.

If you're in good health and have patience, you can work up to a ride like that. It's mostly about three things: (1) building the endurance to exert yourself at a moderate level all day, (2) learning how to eat and drink enough calories on the bike (200-300 calories/hour) to keep your blood sugar up and prevent a bonk, and (3) accustoming your butt, feet, arms, hands, and neck to spending that much time on a bike!

I've been riding on a stationary trainer with my bike over the winter months, but now that its nice out I'm going for rides. I'm finally used to the saddle sores from riding, and the rest of me is slowly catching up. I just did the Bending Crank Arms workout yesterday with my bike...that's killer! Have you tried it??

I would love to ride that ride! I'm starting out, but look forward to being able to do something like that one day

terar21

You swam 2 straight hours without stopping after biking.....?

So you swim / have swam for competition long term?

Serious question. Because as someone who swam competitively for the good part of a decade, I find it all too common that swimming gives false expectations of calorie burns because MFP and pretty much any calculator on Google do is have calorie burns that don't correlate to the average person. It's not a knock on you the swimmer. It's a great exercise and just a shame there's no great way to judge calorie burns since you can't use an HRM. It can be very deceiving.

I can't imagine a scenario where someone would do even a light bike for multiple hours and then swim moderately for 2 hours. Even if you can, thats a serious assault on the quads in an unnecessary way if you (in the reverse order) weren't doing serious full triathlon training and even then...we're talking the max worst case scenario of a race. How far did you swim?

terar21

And if for some reason you are really doing that amount of swimming in preparation for a competition, then you really should be on a nutrition plan that covers the amount of calories you burn if this is some how a regular thing.