Not logging exercise....a good idea or not?

Liftng4Lis

NOT. MFP is designed to eat back exercise calories, as your deficit is already built in. The winner get's to eat the most and still lose.

KittensMaster

The MFP based programs including Map My Ride give way high calorie burn numbers

Like 40% high

I added a food Calorie Burn Off that 500 per cup. I usually take of half of bicycle ride calories

bhanvi

lauragreenbaum148 wrote: »

I don't input my exercise because it increases my calorie allotment for the day. I really want to stay with 1350 calories and figure if I exercise, it will just help in the end. If I worked out an hour or two a day, it would make sense, but since I exercise moderately (swim half an hour 3-4 times a week, walk my dog daily....maybe a hike every 1-2 weeks) I don't want extra calories for it.

Do others do this, or am I missing out on some positive things by not logging exercise?

You should log the exercise at the end of the day before bedtime when you are done eating 1350 calories just to keep the track and not having it affect your diet.

lorrpb

I have a fitbit. I work with trainer 2x week. Neither of those are loggable, so there's not much point of messing with it for anything else. I don't eat back any fitbit calories, not ususlly very many and it just gives me a small buffer.

AnnPT77

If you log your exercise, at the most accurate estimates you can come up with - even if you don't eat those calories back - it can help you track progress.

In theory, you should lose at 1 pound per week for every 500 calories of deficit per day, regardless of whether that deficit comes from exercise or restricting what you eat.

If you're losing more or less than you wish per week (averaged over a period of weeks, since individual weeks can vary), but you haven't logged your exercise calories, you don't have the needed data to estimate/calculate what adjustment you need to make to accomplish your goal. (But maybe I just like data more than most people do !)

tashywashywoo

I log my exercise but usually do so at the end of the day so I don't eat it back. I used to eat it back when I exercised less and ate less (1300) but found that I wasn't losing. I now exercise 10 hours/ weeks and eat a more realistic amount (1550) and the weight is coming off. BTW these may seem like small amounts to eat - but I had a misdiagnosed hormonal illness for 3 years and had a lot of muscle wastage.

AriesGal329

tashywashywoo wrote: »

I log my exercise but usually do so at the end of the day so I don't eat it back. I used to eat it back when I exercised less and ate less (1300) but found that I wasn't losing. I now exercise 10 hours/ weeks and eat a more realistic amount (1550) and the weight is coming off. BTW these may seem like small amounts to eat - but I had a misdiagnosed hormonal illness for 3 years and had a lot of muscle wastage.

Excellent idea! I'm going to start logging exercise after I've finished eating for the day. Thanks!

999tigger

It depends whether you wish to be accurate or not, but MFP was designed for you to eat them back. it all depends how much exercise you are doing. Exercise starts getting significant at the 250-500 per day range. Some people just let it ride to cover their inaccuracies in food logging. Users on the fitness section would be very against running large deficits.

Oh and yes its a ood idea because its relevant data and you cna track progress by doing so.
Earing back? Yes a % of them becayse you are puting extra demands on your body.

TeaBea

Steam_Powered_Awesome wrote: »

I log everything and eat back my burnt calories. I didn't realize so many people don't do that.

This is what I do. It's all about where you are at, and how you figured your calories at the beginning.

People closer to goal are more at risk for lean muscle loss. People with large deficits are more at risk for lean muscle loss. I've been skinny-fat....no thanks.

Some people just want fast weight loss.....and will deal with the consequences later.

arditarose

999tigger wrote: »

It depends whether you wish to be accurate or not, but MFP was designed for you to eat them back. it all depends how much exercise you are doing. Exercise starts getting significant at the 250-500 per day range. Some people just let it ride to cover their inaccuracies in food logging. Users on the fitness section would be very against running large deficits.

This is an important factor for me. I rarely do cardio and I'm actually working on trying to get it in twice per week. I know I'm only burning 200 ish calories from it. Once per week. I'm not eating those back. Who knows? Maybe I was more lazy at work one day and burned 200 calories less. Maybe I had a super sedentary weekend.

Now when I first started and I was doing cardio 4x per week, I really really looked forward to eating those calories back and still losing at the appropriate rate.

ebonyroche

I do not log my exercise either but I do put it in my exercise notes so that it does not adjust my calories.

kdz526

I rarely log excersise unless its one i know that did significant burn. I am not overly active some days so I figure it evens out. My workouts are just 30 mins walking with some weight training thrown in. Some days I go over on calories and some days I am a little under. I still tend to lose 1 to 1.5 lbs a week, which is what I want.

TimothyFish

When I ride my bicycle, I'll ride for an hour and a half or more. That, I always log. But if I get out and mow the yard or someone wants to go for a walk around the block, I don't bother.

SLLRunner

I think the determining factor is type of workout and intensity. What you do does not sound strenuous and can most likely be figured into your activity level. However, should you decide to do something like running, or cardio machines, where you are expending a lot of energy, you would want to eat a portion of those back to properly fuel your body.

SLLRunner

KittensMaster wrote: »

The MFP based programs including Map My Ride give way high calorie burn numbers

Like 40% high

True.

I added a food Calorie Burn Off that 500 per cup. I usually take of half of bicycle ride calories

It seems to me gym machines, MFP, and any internet source provides inflated calorie burns. I have found my heart rate monitor to render more accurate numbers for me (based on my results over time), but then again that is only an estimate as well. Much of weight management is trial and error.

BWBTrish

A lot of people "demand" their body to be top fit and do a lot of work on just some calorie intake.
And i am not talking about a bit of exercise

but exercising for hundreds of calories and not giving anything back to your body for that ( after all the 1200 calories given by MFP is just for living and surviving) will lead to bings/graving, possible injuries, mal-nutrtion etc etc Most of it are long term effects. when you start you dont notice it...than the 'being tired" starts...one day..... some days
Being more hungry starts...and the gosh it is hard feeling

All because you deny your body the nutrition it needs because you dont eat enough.

there is really no harm in eating back some of the burned calories! Also when you do MFP than you do NEAT which means calories without exercise!!!!!!!
So when you do exercise you need to eat those back...because of inaccuracy people eat back only a part what is wise to do so.

Just use some common sense and think what you do to your body when you eat low calories and burn like 3 or 400 calories a day!
Its not healthy, really

misterdale67

I log my exercise, but I log it as 50% of what MFP says I burned.