Did MFP Change the Calorie Calculator?

tkbuc

Hi All,

I've recently come back to the MFP site because I have fallen off the wagon and have put back on 15lbs. I had lost 54 lbs over between 2013-2015, but with the death of my father and a change in jobs, I somehow lost my determination and my willpower since July.

I'm trying to get back on track and I noticed that MFP seems to have changed it's calculator, or at least what it is displaying. When I punch in my stats (5'9", 213.8lbs, 39 yrs old, desk job and 4x1hr workouts during the week, it provides me with a net calorie goal of 1840. Now, is this my TDEE already factoring in exercise? I was always use to having to subtract 500 cal's from the number MFP gave me, so I was expecting the site to tell me that my TDEE would be around 2300 / 2400.

Does anyone have any insight on this?

Regardless, I'm so bummed and upset that I put some lbs back on. I can't believe I took my foot off the gas while I was really kicking butt for a while. My wife is trying the PRUVIT Keto diet, but I just can't justify eating so much fat that it require.

1522009

I'm afraid I can't answer the question because I'm a newbie, but just want to say congrats! Losing 54 pounds is really impressive and catching the slide before it went too far is also an accomplishment. With major life changes like you have had, it's understandable. The trick is to come back, and you are. Please don't be too bummed. You're back on track, now!

loulamb7

I've been on MFP since 2013 also. As far as I know MFP never used TDEE, it uses NEAT, which only accounts for you daily life/work activities but not exercise. Exercise is added in after you actually do it and MFP adds extra calories. If you use MFP, as is, your deficit is already calculated based on how much you want to lose per week. So if your TDEE is 2300, and you select to lose 1 lbs/week, MFP will tell you to net 1800 (2300-500). Hope that helps.

CoffeeNCardio

It depends how you set yourself up. If you pick an activity level (like active) that already accounts for your exercise, you wouldn't log it, and your daily calorie allotment wouldn't go up allowing you to eat more. If you picked sedentary, you would log your workouts and then eat back the calorie adjustment.

MFP currently uses NEAT+BMR. So it's accounting for EVERYTHING but exercise. The only thing that matters about the exercise is what I mentioned above.

ETA: To clarify, TDEE is irrelevant, so you should not subtract from the number it gave you.

SLLRunner

CoffeeNCardio wrote: »

It depends how you set yourself up. If you pick an activity level (like active) that already accounts for your exercise, you wouldn't log it, and your daily calorie allotment wouldn't go up allowing you to eat more. If you picked sedentary, you would log your workouts and then eat back the calorie adjustment.

MFP currently uses NEAT+BMR. So it's accounting for EVERYTHING but exercise. The only thing that matters about the exercise is what I mentioned above.

ETA: To clarify, TDEE is irrelevant, so you should not subtract from the number it gave you.

In MFP, none of the activity settings account for exercise. They count for what is included in your daily work and movement outside of exercise. Also, be have to be careful with those activity levels are not a one size fits all.

For example, I work a desk job, weight lift 3 times a week, run 3 days a week, and I have my activity level at active. I wanted to lose weight slowly and discovered early on that sedentary and lightly active did not work because I lost weight quicker than what I'd set my goals for. Once I set my goals to active, I lost weight pretty much at my desired pace. I've been maintaining this way for two years.

I log weight lifting at one calorie, and would not log the calories anyway because they'd be too difficult to determine, and I log my running and elliptical exercise burns according to my heart rate monitor.

CoffeeNCardio

SLLRunner wrote: »

CoffeeNCardio wrote: »

It depends how you set yourself up. If you pick an activity level (like active) that already accounts for your exercise, you wouldn't log it, and your daily calorie allotment wouldn't go up allowing you to eat more. If you picked sedentary, you would log your workouts and then eat back the calorie adjustment.

MFP currently uses NEAT+BMR. So it's accounting for EVERYTHING but exercise. The only thing that matters about the exercise is what I mentioned above.

ETA: To clarify, TDEE is irrelevant, so you should not subtract from the number it gave you.

In MFP, none of the activity settings account for exercise. They count for what is included in your daily work and movement outside of exercise. Also, be have to be careful with those activity levels are not a one size fits all.

For example, I work a desk job, weight lift 3 times a week, run 3 days a week, and I have my activity level at active. I wanted to lose weight slowly and discovered early on that sedentary and lightly active did not work because I lost weight quicker than what I'd set my goals for. Once I set my goals to active, I lost weight pretty much at my desired pace. I've been maintaining this way for two years.

I log weight lifting at one calorie, and would not log the calories anyway because they'd be too difficult to determine, and I log my running and elliptical exercise burns according to my heart rate monitor.

Yeah I realize that, and now having gone back and re-read I realize how very poorly it was worded. I meant activity not accounted for that is technically "exercise" (walking) but should be included in daily activity level (walking because you happen to walk all day at work/lift heavy stuff). For example, some days my job at target had me walking for 3 straight hours at a fairly steady pace, whereas other days I would sit in the front desk for 8 hours answering the phone and running returns through the computer. I was trying (and miserably failing) to illustrate the difference. For me, at that time, sedentary with added logs for the days I was up would have been the way to go, whereas now (years later) I have lightly active as my setting because there's no on/off days, it's all the same all the time.

yarwell

tkbuc wrote: »

I'm trying to get back on track and I noticed that MFP seems to have changed it's calculator, or at least what it is displaying. When I punch in my stats (5'9", 213.8lbs, 39 yrs old, desk job and 4x1hr workouts during the week, it provides me with a net calorie goal of 1840. Now, is this my TDEE already factoring in exercise? I was always use to having to subtract 500 cal's from the number MFP gave me, so I was expecting the site to tell me that my TDEE would be around 2300 / 2400.

Does anyone have any insight on this?

Don't think it's changed, assuming we're talking about Goal setting rather than the BMR tool (which hasn't changed either !).

Basically it calculates your BMR, mulitplies by an activity level, subtracts a calorie figure for your target weight loss and tells you what to eat. If you exercise and log it then the amount to eat will increase accordingly. You don't need to further subtract anything.

I guess you used a different activity level. Goals for exercise are just that - they don't influence calories in goal setting.

yarwell

Your estimated BMR is: 1,875 calories/day*

*BMR based on the Mifflin - St. Jeor equations. Please remember that even the best BMR calculators provide only a best guess and should be used as a guide only.

1875 * 1.2 - 500 = 1750

tkbuc

Thanks everyone. I set my activity level as a "Desk Job" since I literally sit at a desk from 6:30am to 3pm. However, I do workout 4 days a week (30min Cardio / 30min Weights). So based on that, it is giving me the 1840 Net Cal per day. Any harm if I don't eat back my calories burned? I have a Polar Solar Heart Rate monitor that states calories burned for the cardio portion, however, if I'm not hungry, should I even worry about adding those onto the 1840?

loulamb7

tkbuc wrote: »

Thanks everyone. I set my activity level as a "Desk Job" since I literally sit at a desk from 6:30am to 3pm. However, I do workout 4 days a week (30min Cardio / 30min Weights). So based on that, it is giving me the 1840 Net Cal per day. Any harm if I don't eat back my calories burned? I have a Polar Solar Heart Rate monitor that states calories burned for the cardio portion, however, if I'm not hungry, should I even worry about adding those onto the 1840?

No harm other then you will have a larger deficit. I'd rather keep my calories as high as possible to lose the intended weight so I can have some wiggle room to cut later if needed.

jeepinshawn

tkbuc wrote: »

Thanks everyone. I set my activity level as a "Desk Job" since I literally sit at a desk from 6:30am to 3pm. However, I do workout 4 days a week (30min Cardio / 30min Weights). So based on that, it is giving me the 1840 Net Cal per day. Any harm if I don't eat back my calories burned? I have a Polar Solar Heart Rate monitor that states calories burned for the cardio portion, however, if I'm not hungry, should I even worry about adding those onto the 1840?

I think the easiest way to figure things out is to set your level to sedentary, enable negative adjustments, and sync your activity tracker with MFP and eat back a portion of the calories it gives you.