I don't get this

Spurry05

I've set a limit of 1600 calories and so far I've had 841 with breakfast snack and lunch

I've linked my strava to MFP and just taken the dog out for 45mins it says I've burned 537 calories and it says I can now eat 1296 calories more

That plus the 841 I've already had = 2137

If I eat that will I still lose wait I've tried and don't seem too

So confused

alyhuggan

Burning 537 calories on a dog walk doesn't seem accurate...I don't know what strava is but it sounds like it's trying to screw you over...

martina1606

I usually take my dog out for an hour and burn about 120-150 Cals...

Francl27

Yeah unless you run very fast with your dog, I can't see that happening. I suggest you unlink it and find a more accurate device (and also make sure MFP is set on sedentary).

SergeantSausage

I burn 500 calories running (fast sub 7-minute miles) for a half hour and you think you burn 500+ on a dog walk?

Yer funny.

If you walk at the speed most folks do, you burned about 150 on that walk.

earlnabby

Francl27 wrote: »

Yeah unless you run very fast with your dog, I can't see that happening. I suggest you unlink it and find a more accurate device (and also make sure MFP is set on sedentary).

Actually, setting MFP on sedentary gives you more exercise calories to eat back when you link a device. I went lightly active and get about 200 fewer exercise calories than when I went sedentary. You do get more regular daily calories at lightly active, so you need to be aware of that and adjust if necessary.

OP: i agree that there is something wrong with the info your device is giving MFP. I would unlink it and log your walks as exercise instead

Spurry05

Who said I think ?
Yer funny as well

I'm asking as it doesn't sound right
Anyway thanks to the people who posted useful stuff I'll not bother taking any notice of it and stick to my 1600 plan

Sued0nim

I walk my dog a lot and take lunchtime walks

My fitbit is synched with MFP - my activity is set to sedentary and has negative adjustments enabled

My fitbit holds my age, weight and stride length data and monitors steps and calculates on intensity

I'm 5'8, 160lb and I've found that

it takes me 2400 -4000 steps to achieve a sedentary setting (but this can include general meandering

10,000 steps (roughly 5 miles) will earn me back around 400 calories across the day

a 45 minute walk would be roughly 5000 steps - so I'd reckon to 200 calories

this has, over time, proved accurate with my actual weight loss / maintenance

I hope that helps

earlnabby

markandrews760 wrote: »

Who said I think ?
Yer funny as well

I'm asking as it doesn't sound right
Anyway thanks to the people who posted useful stuff I'll not bother taking any notice of it and stick to my 1600 plan

How did you arrive at 1600? Assuming you are using MFP's default NEAT method, you should log any purposeful exercise and eat back a portion of those calories. Your method is right, the data you are getting from your strava is wrong.

TimothyFish

I don't know how Strava compares, but for MapMyRide, I set my weight in the tool to half my goal weight, because it has been showing calorie burns that are about twice what bikecalculator.com estimates. My HRM is also giving me twice that number, but I just don't think that's right.

Spurry05

Earlnabby I don't get you

I came to 1600 as it around 500 less than what I should eat and that's what I did last year and lost 6st

Then my mum died and I lost the plot and went of the rails

I've gained 2 stone since and yoyo'ed a lot I want to now get back on track

I don't no what MFP NEAT method is
I just log what I eat and add it up

I'll unlink my strava app when I go on the pc
I have a fit bit but I think thats way more wrong as if you wear it all day it counts hand movements not steps

editorgrrl

markandrews760 wrote: »

I'll unlink my strava app when I go on the pc
I have a fit bit but I think thats way more wrong as if you wear it all day it counts hand movements not steps

Your Fitbit burn is TDEE (total daily energy expenditure, aka your maintenance calories). I lost the weight & have maintained for ten months by trusting my Fitbit. You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

Connect your accounts at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/fitbit

Enable negative calorie adjustments: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

Set your goal for .5 lb. per week for every 25 lbs. you're overweight: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided

Ignore your Fitbit calorie goal & follow MFP's, eating back your Fitbit adjustments. Trust your Fitbit for several weeks, then reevaluate your progress.

earlnabby

markandrews760 wrote: »

Earlnabby I don't get you

I came to 1600 as it around 500 less than what I should eat and that's what I did last year and lost 6st

Then my mum died and I lost the plot and went of the rails

I've gained 2 stone since and yoyo'ed a lot I want to now get back on track

I don't no what MFP NEAT method is
I just log what I eat and add it up

I'll unlink my strava app when I go on the pc
I have a fit bit but I think thats way more wrong as if you wear it all day it counts hand movements not steps

NEAT is the default method MFP uses to calculate the calories you need. It stand for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, which is the number of calories you need for your daily life without purposeful exercise. By calculating that, you then add in exercise calories each day based on how much you do. If you entered your stats into MFP and told it you want to lose 1 lb a week, the numbers it gives you will be your NEAT less 500 calories.

BMR: the calories needed to keep you alive with no movement (like in a coma)
NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis): the calories needed to fuel your everyday life
TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure): the calories needed to fuel you daily life including any purposeful exercise

MFP defaults to NEAT and expects you to eat back exercise calories. Many people prefer to go by TDEE and average out their calorie expenditure. Either works.

Fitbit does NOT count hand movements, it counts steps. I have tested it a bunch of ways (including manually counting my steps with and without moving my hand). Like all trackers, it can miss a step here and there and it can also count a false step here and there, but it is very accurate overall. I have had mine a year and it is much more accurate than anything else, including online TDEE calculators. I recently calculated my TDEE based on 30 days of actual numbers and it came out to a little less than 100 calories more than the TDEE calculated by my Fitbit. The more you wear your Fitbit, the more accurate it becomes.

whmscll

This article is old but contains a formula for figuring calorie burn from walking and running that I think is pretty accurate. Basically, it says most equipment and devices tells you your gross calorie burn when you need to subtract your basal metabolic rate for NET calorie burn. Different formulas for running and walking. For walking it is .30 x your weight x how many miles you walked. This formula applies to walking at 3-4 mph.


http://m.runnersworld.com/weight-loss/how-many-calories-are-you-really-burning?page=single

Spurry05

editorgrrl wrote: »

Set your goal for .5 lb. per week for every 25 lbs. you're overweight: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided

I dont get this, i need to lose i need to lose 122lbs so if i can do math i need to set it to 5lbs a week loss it only lets you select 2lbs a week

earlnabby wrote: »

Fitbit does NOT count hand movements, it counts steps.

i too have tested it and if you wear it all day earlnabby it counts hand movements, sit in a chair and shake it you will see..

ok so it take me a bit to get my head round this and work stuff out im dyslexic
i weigh around 290lbs and want to be 168lbs that what NHS say anyway....

Im currently eating 1600 so if any kind person want to tell me im doing it wrong please speak up and tell me what i should be doing

many thanks

Spurry05

my profile looks like this

earlnabby

markandrews760 wrote: »

editorgrrl wrote: »

Set your goal for .5 lb. per week for every 25 lbs. you're overweight: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided

I dont get this, i need to lose i need to lose 122lbs so if i can do math i need to set it to 5lbs a week loss it only lets you select 2lbs a week

earlnabby wrote: »

Fitbit does NOT count hand movements, it counts steps.

i too have tested it and if you wear it all day earlnabby it counts hand movements, sit in a chair and shake it you will see..

I have also done that (sat in a chair and swung my arm the same as I do when I walk) and I did not get any steps counted. Yes, a hard shake might count a step but normal arm movements do not.

Spurry05

showering and washing up pots count steps, but as we both have tested it and have different results we will have to agree to disagree and you and I will only go with our own test and could carry this on all night or day depending where you are from

futuremanda

And when you run that, it gives you 1600? When I run it on an external calculator, it gives me 2066 for you to lose 2 lbs a week. That's before exercise. Some other calculators actually give you more. Most calculators put your total daily energy expenditure above 3000.

But if you've tried higher goals and found you didn't lose... It might be helpful to pick a simple target and try it for, say, a month. Try, say, 2300 flat, whether you exercise or not. In a month, see how much you lost. If it averaged to 2 lbs a week, great, keep going. If less, lower the target. If more, eat more.

Don't try anything for less than about 4 weeks and conclude it doesn't work. Weight loss is not linear, meaning it is irregular. You might lose 1 lb, then 0, then 5, then 0, then 3... instead of exactly 2 every week. So you need to give things time.

earlnabby

markandrews760 wrote: »

showering and washing up pots count steps, but as we both have tested it and have different results we will have to agree to disagree and you and I will only go with our own test and could carry this on all night or day depending where you are from

Agreed.

Now, to get back to your calories: by entering the info you did into MFP, how may calories did they say you need to eat? 1600 seems really low. When I was your weight, I was eating 1900 calories and losing 1.5 lb a week. I was also eating back about 50% of my exercise calories. I am also female, and we tend to need fewer calories than a male at the same weight.

Now (108 lb. less than when I started) MFP gives me 1760 calories to eat. I calculated my TDEE and I am actually eating 2100 calories each day and not eating back any exercise calories.

Spurry05

I don't no I set it my self to 1600

How do I find out what MFP says I should eat? Do I have to start again

Spurry05

I've just re enter my weight and MFP says I should eat 2130 calories

And my fitbits on charges

maillemaker

MFP has me at 1570 calories a day, 260 pounds 5'8" tall, male, sedentary. This is set for a 2-pound-per-week loss, but I am achieving just over 1-pound-per week over the last 13 weeks. I attribute this to inaccurate logging.

Spurry05

So I'm guessing I'm doing this all wrong then ?
Tomorrows another day so from tomorrow what are you suggesting please?

chandramiller68

Hi @markandrews760 , I found that Strava over estimates calories burned. I now use RunKeeper; it has a 'walking' mode.

futuremanda

markandrews760 wrote: »

I've just re enter my weight and MFP says I should eat 2130 calories

And my fitbits on charges

markandrews760 wrote: »

So I'm guessing I'm doing this all wrong then ?
Tomorrows another day so from tomorrow what are you suggesting please?

I would suggest eating the 2130 that MFP says. Log your exercise -- MFP will add those calories to your total. Eat some of them, but not all. (Maybe half?)

Give it a month and see how you do.

Spurry05

futuremanda wrote: »

And when you run that, it gives you 1600? When I run it on an external calculator, it gives me 2066

Sorry missed your post no it gives me 2130 I put the 1600 in thinking I was doing the right thing

Spurry05

If I put sedentary in it says 1800 calories

Not sure which I should use now when I'm at work we don't move much as I'm a security guard and can be sat a lot

TR0berts

markandrews760 wrote: »

I've set a limit of 1600 calories and so far I've had 841 with breakfast snack and lunch

I've linked my strava to MFP and just taken the dog out for 45mins it says I've burned 537 calories and it says I can now eat 1296 calories more

That plus the 841 I've already had = 2137

If I eat that will I still lose wait I've tried and don't seem too

So confused

I can't help with the rest of what's going on, but I think I can explain what you've described here.

1600 (start) - 841 (eaten) = 759 (remaining)

759 (remaining) + 537 (earned) = 1296.

futuremanda

markandrews760 wrote: »

If I put sedentary in it says 1800 calories

Not sure which I should use now when I'm at work we don't move much as I'm a security guard and can be sat a lot

Sedentary is something like <5000 steps a day.

You could pick lightly active, and add your workouts to the exercise tab. (But don't log your dog walks.) You'd probably be pretty safe with that.

Or you could put a custom target in the middle. Like 2000.

Just so you know, even though MFP asks you how much you plan to exercise, it doesn't use that number when figuring out what you should eat. So if you want to lose 2 lbs a week, MFP gives you a calorie target that will get you there even if all you did was sleep and go to work and do your regular chores. So, when you then go on a bike ride or lift weights or something, MFP wants you to eat more -- otherwise, you could be eating too little. (Eating too little can mean you lose more muscle mass, perform badly when you workout, sit more because you don't have much energy, have mood swings, even have some symptoms of malnutrition, like losing hair.)

No calculator can give you your real number, only one starting point. You'll have to pick something that looks safe and doable for you, and try it for a month or two.

Spurry05

TR0berts wrote: »

I can't help with the rest of what's going on, but I think I can explain what you've described here.

1600 (start) - 841 (eaten) = 759 (remaining)

759 (remaining) + 537 (earned) = 1296.

Ye got that now, just strava had calories burned to high so linked my Fitbit now

Plus I have my calories allowance all wrong by the sounds of it