Huge Calorie Burn Calculation Mistake

mollylayton
mollylayton Posts: 24 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
For over a month, I've been logging certain activities, like aerobics, using online calorie estimates provided by the websites I get the routines from. I trusted these estimates, but went for the smaller end of the range because I'm a smaller person.

Today I finally noticed the weight they were using to estimate that value. The weight they used was 21% heavier than I am. After a brief moment of surprise, I went to calculators with weight estimates to see what I was actually burning.

Turns out it's half of what I expected.

What should I do now to make up for the error?

Replies

  • neohdiver
    neohdiver Posts: 738 Member
    Log the correct amount going forward.
  • mollylayton
    mollylayton Posts: 24 Member
    Well, yes, I will do that, but I meant "what should I do about the large amount of calories I wasn't actually burning"?
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,401 Member
    If you know the error, personally I wouldn't go back and correct your logs, if that is your question. Since you now know how to deal with it, just track it correctly from here on out. If you already ate back too many calories, the "damage" as it may be is already done.

    But it's just another thing to overcome, and can be done.
  • ultrahoon
    ultrahoon Posts: 467 Member
    mollylayton wrote: »
    Well, yes, I will do that, but I meant "what should I do about the large amount of calories I wasn't actually burning"?

    Nothing, just move forward.
  • Clarewho
    Clarewho Posts: 494 Member
    It doesn't matter about the error in your logs just forget it. If you still lost whatever weight you expected to during this timescale, then you know you can continue with the same approx. deficit and still lose at the same rate. If you lost slightly slower than you expected then you know this should improve now you're logging the exercise more accurately. Most of us make logging errors in the beginning, either with exercise or with the food diary entries. It's a learning curve ;)
  • MommyL2015
    MommyL2015 Posts: 1,411 Member
    Not much you can do at this point. You're aware of it and know what to do now, so that's good enough.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    mollylayton wrote: »
    Well, yes, I will do that, but I meant "what should I do about the large amount of calories I wasn't actually burning"?

    Ignore it, sunk cost. Log more appropriately in future.
This discussion has been closed.

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