MFP and working out

katiemstamey

Hello!

Just wondering how everyone calculates their working out while monitoring their calories. I've heard from some that they don't eat the extra calories that they burn to make sure that they lose weight. From my understanding this isn't good because you aren't replenishing your body of proteins/carbs that it needs.

I'm asking because while I have only used MFP about 2 solid weeks I've only seen a minor change in the scale. My workout program is split between 4 days and it's mainly lifting. I wear a fitness band and put in the calories burned as a cardio exercise because I know how many calories I burned.

Thanks!

Clarewho

Hmm well MFP is designed so that you SHOULD eat back your exercise calories. That said, most people feel that the calories awarded for exercise are set too high, so the recommendation is eat back say 50-75% at first, then review after a few weeks - adjusting up or down depending if you're losing at a faster or slower rate than expected. If you choose not to eat them back your net calories are lower than they should be - potentially taking you below safe minimums.

There is a learning curve on the MFP database and it can be hard to get the right entries at first. If you use the odd incorrect entry you could be eating more calories than you think, so that could explain the slower loss. Again general advice - weigh everything (digital scale, grams), use the USDA entries if you can and be vigilant with things like oil, dressings etc.