Extra calories from exercise

Jozzmenia
Jozzmenia Posts: 252 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
How do I change my settings so it doesn't automatically give me more calories for exercise. I feel like it's over estimating when it says I can eat 800 extra calories and all that though I have been really active lately, I'd rather just stick to my regular calories...

Replies

  • bpetrosky
    bpetrosky Posts: 3,911 Member
    Generally, people advise eating back only a portion of exercise calories recognizing they're overstated.

    Or you can log exercise as 1 calorie burns so it doesn't add anything significant to your target.
  • Jozzmenia
    Jozzmenia Posts: 252 Member
    what portion is recommended? Though I will probably still ignore the extra calories because I don't trust the estimates. Cons of a fitbit linked with myfitnesspal I suppose lol
  • bpetrosky
    bpetrosky Posts: 3,911 Member
    People tend to go between 1/2 to 3/4. There's no hard and fast rule
  • thunder1982
    thunder1982 Posts: 280 Member
    You can unlink the fitbit from MFP if you dont want the adjustments to be pushed through. I presume you log food on MFP since you get your goal calories from there.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    Your only options are to unlink your Fitbit or purchase MFP Premium, which allows you to not add exercise calories into your total. But you are meant to eat those back. Start by eating 50% and adjust depending on how close to your expected loss rate you are.
  • Losewtforlife4him
    Losewtforlife4him Posts: 423 Member
    I used to eat back all of my calories or half of them and never seemed to lose. I've been doing this now again since Feb. and have lost 21 lbs not eating back any exercise calories. Many times even though the machine I'm on says I'm burning 400 calories, I just don't put it in. I feel that if for some reason I go over a food "just a bit" as far as my calories for the day, it won't hurt too much and it obviously hasn't. I still track each calorie when I go over but it's never very much at all. Hope that helps.
  • Losewtforlife4him
    Losewtforlife4him Posts: 423 Member
    joobey wrote: »
    I used to eat back all of my calories or half of them and never seemed to lose. I've been doing this now again since Feb. and have lost 21 lbs not eating back any exercise calories. Many times even though the machine I'm on says I'm burning 400 calories, I just don't put it in. I feel that if for some reason I go over a food "just a bit" as far as my calories for the day, it won't hurt too much and it obviously hasn't. I still track each calorie when I go over but it's never very much at all. Hope that helps.

    Oh and it seems like if I put my calorie amount, it's just fooling me making me "think" I have all of those extra calories I can still eat but really don't need to. If I'm starved I would eat some though for sure. I think it comes down to listening to those signs of true hunger

  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    Jozzmenia wrote: »
    How do I change my settings so it doesn't automatically give me more calories for exercise. I feel like it's over estimating when it says I can eat 800 extra calories and all that though I have been really active lately, I'd rather just stick to my regular calories...

    If you pay for Premium you can opt out of that. If it's exercise that you enter manually then log it as 1 calorie or don't log it.
  • Anabbee
    Anabbee Posts: 25 Member
    I've unlinked my fitbit, because I was getting too many calories and eating them and not losing. Now I'm just putting in my actual exercise, and I eat all of that, and I'm losing again.
  • size102b
    size102b Posts: 1,370 Member
    I never eat execute calorie feels odd rewarding yourself with good esp if you've a weight problem
  • pandabear_
    pandabear_ Posts: 487 Member
    Do you mean extra calories from steps? I turned mine off in settings. It was counting them from my iPhone. As for exercise calories.. Just type in 0 into calories burned when you log exercise? Or don't log exercise at all.
  • jandsstevenson887
    jandsstevenson887 Posts: 296 Member
    MFP is designed for you to eat these calories back. I agree that you don't have to eat all of them. But you should probably eat some of them. It is actually one of my main motivators to work out.
  • veganbaum
    veganbaum Posts: 1,865 Member
    edited April 2016
    size102b wrote: »
    I never eat execute calorie feels odd rewarding yourself with good esp if you've a weight problem

    It's not odd. It's important to fuel your body relative to the activity you are asking it to do. At least some exercise calories should be eaten, lest you create too big a deficit. If all you're doing is a leisurely walk, not so important to eat those back. However, if a person if doing vigorous exercise, or categorized themselves as sedentary when they're not, it's important to fuel your body. It's not a reward, it's actually treating your body well.
  • Abbie918
    Abbie918 Posts: 120 Member
    Don't add them if you don't want to eat them back or pay attention to them. I add them in case I am hungry later, but I tend to not eat them back. I like the flexibility that if I'm hungry after a big workout day, I can fit some extra food into my day without going over too much!
  • jenkylynn
    jenkylynn Posts: 6 Member
    I don't use my exercise calories either unless I want a cheat day
  • coreyreichle
    coreyreichle Posts: 1,031 Member
    Jozzmenia wrote: »
    How do I change my settings so it doesn't automatically give me more calories for exercise. I feel like it's over estimating when it says I can eat 800 extra calories and all that though I have been really active lately, I'd rather just stick to my regular calories...

    Manually adjust exercise cals, or go premium.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    It's fitbit giving the calories to eat and if you don't trust it why use a fitbit?
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
    I eat back most to all of my exercise calories from my Fitbit Charge HR and I lose weight. If I didn't do so, I'd be cheating myself. It brought me down to 110 pounds. I'm bulking now and finding I need to eat even more than my Fitbit says. Everyone is different, but I agree you should eat back a portion if you're losing at a faster rate than expected. Faster is not always better.
  • Jozzmenia
    Jozzmenia Posts: 252 Member
    Jozzmenia wrote: »
    How do I change my settings so it doesn't automatically give me more calories for exercise. I feel like it's over estimating when it says I can eat 800 extra calories and all that though I have been really active lately, I'd rather just stick to my regular calories...

    Manually adjust exercise cals, or go premium.

    I have premium, but where do I do it at?
  • gillianperez1
    gillianperez1 Posts: 6 Member
    I generally put half my exercise in cause I feel it overestimates the calories you gain back. For example, if I do a certain workout for 1 hour, I'll just put that I did it for 1/2 an hour into MFP
  • Jozzmenia
    Jozzmenia Posts: 252 Member
    Great Idea!
  • 2015Jason
    2015Jason Posts: 34 Member
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    It's fitbit giving the calories to eat and if you don't trust it why use a fitbit?

    I dunno about fitbit, but most exercise apps (including the UnderArmour MapMyX) estimate calories burned in exercise INCLUDING the resting calories you would've burned anyway! Is this to make us feel good or something? It's kinda nutty. I just eat back 1/4 of what I "burned" and feel comfortable calling it a day.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    2015Jason wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    It's fitbit giving the calories to eat and if you don't trust it why use a fitbit?

    I dunno about fitbit, but most exercise apps (including the UnderArmour MapMyX) estimate calories burned in exercise INCLUDING the resting calories you would've burned anyway! Is this to make us feel good or something? It's kinda nutty. I just eat back 1/4 of what I "burned" and feel comfortable calling it a day.

    fitbit is not an app.

    I use an activity tracker too and lose appropriate amounts of weight based on those burns. It measures resting burn and active burn.
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