Negative Exercise Calories

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MsCinnamonLB
MsCinnamonLB Posts: 5 Member
in Getting Started
Can anyone explain what negative exercise calories are and how the exercise calorie counter works to adjust my daily intake?

I am so confused.

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  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    Mfp and other apps over estimate the calories gained by working out. Some people here eat back a third to a half of the calories burned.
    For ex, if I am supposed to eat 1500 calories a day and i burn 300 calories working out, I eat 100 calories in food ( total 1600 for the day).
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
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    Do you mean when you have a fitness tracker synched with MFP?

    If so - I told MFP I'm lightly active and it gave me 1440 calories. However, it is linked to my FitBit. So if I have done less than my usual steps, say I've been on the couch all day, MFP takes calories away from me (known as negative adjustments) because that day I'm not being lightly active, I'm being a couch potato. Usually I have negative calories in the morning (because I've been sleeping and not moving) and I 'earn' them back as I go about my normal day. Because my calorie goal is based on me being 'lightly active' and already gives me calories for that, I have to go above that to start earning extra exercise calories.

    Hope that helps.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    MsCinnamonLB wrote: »
    Can anyone explain what negative exercise calories are and how the exercise calorie counter works to adjust my daily intake?

    Your tracker burn is TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), the calories necessary to maintain your current weight. Your default MFP goal is activity level minus deficit. Adjustments are the difference between your tracker burn & your activity level.

    With negative calorie adjustments disabled, you never eat at a true deficit on days you burn fewer calories than your activity level. But they'll never put your calories below 1,200.

    If you enable them (and log everything you eat accurately & honestly), you're eating TDEE minus deficit: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings
  • terbusha
    terbusha Posts: 1,483 Member
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    I don't log my exercise calories. I focus on hitting a specific calorie goal that lets me make progress towards my fitness goal. If you are trying to lose weight, eat so you drop 1-2 lbs/week. This assumes an average calorie burn from you getting in all of your workouts. This will be different for everyone, so you'll have to do some trial and error to figure it out. I'd start ~1600 cal/day. Hit this goal, along with your macros and getting in your workouts, for 2 weeks. If you lose 1-2 lbs/week, you're good to go. If you lose too much, increase your intake and repeat. If you don't lose enough, reduce your intake a bit and repeat. After a few cycles, you'll figure out what works for you in your situation.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    terbusha wrote: »
    I don't log my exercise calories. I focus on hitting a specific calorie goal that lets me make progress towards my fitness goal. If you are trying to lose weight, eat so you drop 1-2 lbs/week.

    The less you have to lose, the more slowly it comes off. That's just the way the human body works. A healthy, sustainable goal is .5 lb. per week for every 25 lbs. you're overweight.

    Activity trackers like Fitbit calculate your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), the calories necessary to maintain your current weight). If you eat at a reasonable deficit from that, you will lose weight.

    Your default MFP calorie goal has your deficit built in, so you're supposed to eat back your exercise calories. The burns & calorie counts are estimates, so some people eat back a percentage of their exercise calories to reduce the margin of error. I eat back 100% of my Fitbit adjustments, lost the weight, and have kept it off for more than a year.

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