Kidding Ourselves
fattothinmum
Posts: 218 Member
I keep reading posts from people who've burned up to 1000+ calories a day from cardio, and fairly light exercise. Now I know I only burn around 300 calories for running 5K, so that means these people must be running or equivalent to 15-20K a day, or 10 miles plus, but often they day things like 'hour of housework, or 2 hours of walking at moderate pace, etc etc.
If people eat back those type of calorie burn estimates, I suspect they'd have trouble losing weight, unless of course, my Apple Watch and treadmill seriously underestimates. Which would be nice.
Just watch out for overestimations if you eat back all the time.
If people eat back those type of calorie burn estimates, I suspect they'd have trouble losing weight, unless of course, my Apple Watch and treadmill seriously underestimates. Which would be nice.
Just watch out for overestimations if you eat back all the time.
9
Replies
-
I'm baffled by some of these posts as well.
If it was that easy to burn 1000 calories, I'd be eating cheesecake 3 times/day16 -
You're fairly light, so your calorie burn for a 5k is going to be much different than someone who is heavier or more out of shape. My last 5k had me around 450 calories and it took me forever to finish because I'm slow.
Sure, some people are logging higher calorie burns than they should. Maybe they don't know better and maybe they are lying to themselves. Or maybe they need to see that huge number to keep themselves motivated to try. If they aren't losing weight they'll eventually ask for help and get corrected or they'll realize they aren't being honest.4 -
i read an interesting article that some people far overestimate the calories they burn, so they end up consuming more than they think they are. It has a negative effect on weight loss in the end. I never input my work outs because I don't want calories added back into my daily allotment. I figure workouts are "extra" help or icing on the cake, haha.7
-
This is why any time somebody posts "I'm eating 1300-1400 calories per day and gaining!" I ask if s/he is eating or netting that amount. Usually the person thinks s/he's netting that number of calories, based on a really high exercise calorie number. I'm not one to claim that MFP calorie estimates are always high (I always ate my MFP exercise calories and did fine) but I do think that anybody logging exercise needs to check a few different calorie calculators to see if they are reasonable.2
-
As a 6'1 300lbs guy, the elliptical estimates around 550-575 calories burned for me in a 35min session. So according to that I could potentially burn 1000 calories in 1hr. However, those numbers are usually BS and I definitely don't eat them back. I think of exercise and lifting as fitness, and diet as weight loss.3
-
This could go one of three ways:
- The person is indeed overestimating their calories (I've seen 1500 calories for 90 minutes of zumba).
- The person is heavy (I can burn 1000 calories if I were crazy enough to do 80 minutes of reasonably fast high incline walking).
- The person is overtraining or running the distance to train for a marathon or a half.
On some days (like on hikes) I do have burns that are quite high, and I very often eat them back. The way I know I'm not overestimating is by the consistency of my weight loss.2 -
They'll find out soon enough. Those are the same people who later post that they are undereating severely based on their net calories and still gaining so clearly they must be in starvation mode! I think people just want to believe they are working so much harder than they really are and have completely unrealistic expectations of how few calories you actually burn through exercise.3
-
This is one of those topics that can quickly turn into a train wreck because calorie expenditures vary from individual to individual, and no one knows what they're burning until they've put in the work over time (while carefully tracking) to get a general view of their own NEAT and exercise energy expenditures, and/or TDEE. In other words, it's difficult to make accurate generalizations.1
-
lauragreenbaum148 wrote: »i read an interesting article that some people far overestimate the calories they burn, so they end up consuming more than they think they are. It has a negative effect on weight loss in the end. I never input my work outs because I don't want calories added back into my daily allotment. I figure workouts are "extra" help or icing on the cake, haha.
Not for me. I think there is a benefit to figuring out what calorie burns are. This is useful information for maintenance.
Plus the extra weight lost may not be "icing on the cake." Really large deficits make it harder for your body to support existing lean muscle mass. I'm over 50 and need to retain as much lean muscle as I can. Slow & steady is good enough for me.5 -
annaskiski wrote: »I'm baffled by some of these posts as well.
If it was that easy to burn 1000 calories, I'd be eating cheesecake 3 times/day
10k = 1,000 calories for me and takes about an hour. This is pretty darn easy to do 6 times a week actually. Long runs on the weekend typically burn 2000 - 2500 calories.
I love cheesecake.
ETA: Without eating all these extra calories back I'd run out of the energy to do these workouts quickly. Food = fuel. Apply as necessary.2 -
lauragreenbaum148 wrote: »i read an interesting article that some people far overestimate the calories they burn, so they end up consuming more than they think they are. It has a negative effect on weight loss in the end. I never input my work outs because I don't want calories added back into my daily allotment. I figure workouts are "extra" help or icing on the cake, haha.
I di sometimes log, just to see what MFP adds for what I've done, then I adjust the time down until calories match what I've actually likely burned.
1 -
You're fairly light, so your calorie burn for a 5k is going to be much different than someone who is heavier or more out of shape. My last 5k had me around 450 calories and it took me forever to finish because I'm slow.
.
I guess I'llm still not at the place where my brain has caught up with my current weight. I still think of myself as big.
0 -
-
fattothinmum wrote: »I keep reading posts from people who've burned up to 1000+ calories a day from cardio, and fairly light exercise. Now I know I only burn around 300 calories for running 5K, so that means these people must be running or equivalent to 15-20K a day, or 10 miles plus, but often they day things like 'hour of housework, or 2 hours of walking at moderate pace, etc etc.
If people eat back those type of calorie burn estimates, I suspect they'd have trouble losing weight, unless of course, my Apple Watch and treadmill seriously underestimates.
Those might be your numbers, if you weigh 145 lbs. For me, 1000 calories would be about 8.5-8.75 miles. And that is easily done 5x a week.
And yes, your apple watch is wrong.0 -
Now I want cheesecake.5
-
Also, nunya bidness. Just do you and let other people worry about their calorie burn. We can poke them when they start complaining about not losing.3
-
My Vivoactive (synced to Garmin Connect) generates a calorie burn based on activities I log with it. I typically eat back my exercise calories (or leave no less than 100) and I'm still losing weight at the rate I plugged into MFP.0
-
I think estimating calories burned "house cleaning or yard work" is a fool's errand. While you are burning more it is more of an activity level than an amount. I also don't use any "machine" calculations but may use an estimate in MFP as a placeholder for something like planks or a nautilus set. You need to check several and not take the one with the highest burn. The same is true for food estimates. When I run I use an app (Runtastic) and I feel it is somewhat close, I think it is about 7.5 miles for 1000 calories. Using this method I would eat back most of my exercise calories and lose weight.1
-
I think it would be wise, very helpful and a great way to avoid confusion if MFP revised down their calories burnt estimates. I remember a year or so ago someone on here saying 'It's a good thing I burn 1000 calories a day from doing housework or I'd put on even more weight'.2
-
fattothinmum wrote: »I keep reading posts from people who've burned up to 1000+ calories a day from cardio, and fairly light exercise. Now I know I only burn around 300 calories for running 5K, so that means these people must be running or equivalent to 15-20K a day, or 10 miles plus, but often they day things like 'hour of housework, or 2 hours of walking at moderate pace, etc etc.
If people eat back those type of calorie burn estimates, I suspect they'd have trouble losing weight, unless of course, my Apple Watch and treadmill seriously underestimates. Which would be nice.
Just watch out for overestimations if you eat back all the time.
I think people do overestimate. I have burns of 2000 calories because I have been marathon training. For instance 1,762 calories for 189 minutes of running which I picked a slower pace up to 2700 calories for nearly 5 hours of running. However I eat most of it back, because you are hungry!!! I think if people log 1500 calories for 90 minutes of zumba and then eat it back they wont lose weight. I would burn 2000 calories running for over 4 hours. However, I have actually put on a few pounds in the last few weeks because my appetite is huge and I had cut back some of the mileage, so I might have been massively overestimating.
0 -
lauragreenbaum148 wrote: »i read an interesting article that some people far overestimate the calories they burn, so they end up consuming more than they think they are. It has a negative effect on weight loss in the end. I never input my work outs because I don't want calories added back into my daily allotment. I figure workouts are "extra" help or icing on the cake, haha.
Don't you have to eat your macros back? I mean look at your protein before and after exercises it goes up meaning it needs to be replenished
Some people choose to ignore exercise calories all together. For some it's because exercise is minimal or they have modest weekly goals, others who may not understand how MFP works, and still others who think that all weight loss is 100% fat loss & that faster weight loss is a good thing.
But, yeah I get your point. There is no blanket one-size fits all. The @lauragreenbaum148 post wasn't good advice really. I wouldn't want fast weight loss at the expense of lean muscle mass.0 -
It could be better for certain. Don't know that it is always on the high side, but 1,000 calorie burn is a lot for most people.
Per MFP, which only has one entry for spinning, a person my weight doing 45 minutes burns a little under 400 calories. There isn't any adjustment for intensity.
This other site has at least two listings - moderate and vigorous. Guessing my 45 minute class is about 25 minutes moderate and 20 minutes vigorous since the instructor today alternates working songs with recovery songs. Gives me 500 calories.
https://healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc
The one hour class on Saturday is a lot more challenging...longer, harder, and less recovery. Probably more like 45 minutes vigorous and 15 moderate at a guess. We go to anaerobic thresh hold multiple times and I've been getting post-workout chills. That one would be more like 600 calories. MFP gives more like 500 for that.
For 1,000 I would need a longer class because I don't know if I could do harder...have to have some recovery.
If I really cared though I could get a heart rate monitor to get closer...even that is more for steady state.0 -
lauragreenbaum148 wrote: »i read an interesting article that some people far overestimate the calories they burn, so they end up consuming more than they think they are. It has a negative effect on weight loss in the end. I never input my work outs because I don't want calories added back into my daily allotment. I figure workouts are "extra" help or icing on the cake, haha.
Don't you have to eat your macros back? I mean look at your protein before and after exercises it goes up meaning it needs to be replenished
Once my protein hits a gram per pound of body weight I stop caring about macros as much. I tend to bump the carb bucket more at that point or if I'm really lacking on calories I'll hit something like peanut butter that's calorie dense.1 -
It's really dependent on your own fitness level, weight, and how much effort it takes for you to complete the same task. For instance, I used to burn 1000 calories every morning walking (I walked by calorie count, not by distance or time) around 4-4.5 miles. I'd walk about 4mph, almost at a slow run, but I weighed 280-305 at the time and my heart rate would stay between 150-160 most of the time. Is that an over estimation? Maybe a little, but not more than a couple hundred calories at most. The same 4 mile walk today with the same HR monitor, same app, and I burn only around 600 calories. The difference? I weigh now 192, and my HR never gets over 115 or so doing the same speeds.
On a normal daily workout I burn about 500 calories on my Bowflex M5. It's a cross between a stair climber and an elliptical. I have it dialed up to level 14 presently on a steady state setting (max is 15 on resistance) and it is the only thing now that I can sustain a 150+ HR while exercising. So I spend about 30-35 minutes a day on it to burn that 500 calories. Then, directly after that, while my HR is still elevated (with very little rest) I move into HIIT body weight training. My HR drops to an average of about 120ish give or take 5bpm during the next 30 minutes, and I generally only burn 250-300 calories. That gives me my 800 calorie a day burn six days a week.
Here's the catch though, even though I figure that those calorie estimates are pretty close (because they are calculated on the App/HR strap I wear), I always assume they are inflated by 20-30% just to be safe. So I either try not to eat back any of those calories, or I try to only eat back a small portion of what's left (taking into account a 20-30% inflation). I've done that now for over six months and steadily lost weight without any issues. Granted, it is harder for me to lose any now since I'm pretty much at my goal and I'm eating closer to maintenance every day, but I guess my point is this. A lot of people do over-estimate their calories, and the majority of the time the device they are using might be to blame, but it's not impossible for someone to burn 1000 calories doing some sort of cardio.
If you're running a 5k and your basing your calculations on heart rate with a good strap and a decent app then my guess is that your HR isn't getting into the anaerobic level and are simply in better shape than other people. Just my .02, I'm no expert. I simply believe it is possible to burn that much because I've done it, and in as much as an hour at times when I was much heavier and way more out of shape.1 -
I also feel that apple's devices are pretty accurate, at least for step counting and GPS. I've had more consistent results with an iPhone than with FitBit. My wife tried a fitbit and we compared the two, the fitbit failed constantly, and was easy to cheat. I never found a good way to cheat the iPhone' step counter. However, I would not trust any sensor on my wrist for heart rate. Get a strap, it's so much more accurate. Pair it with your iPhone and your own calorie burns will start to get more accurate.0
-
The only time i can really be sure about calorie burns is with steady state cardio and a chest strap HRM. All others like swimming, stationary row machine at the gym, etc are ones i dont even include as exercise as im not really certain, though i do have a better idea than some of the extravagant amounts some people think they are burning. The chest strap HRM are really accurate for steady state cardio though. If i weight 10 pounds more than where i want to be my calorie burn for that 1 hour 45 minute mountain bike ride yields me about a 1k calories burned. Once ive dropped about 10 pounds of true body mass weight my calorie burn for that same mountain bike ride/duration yields me low 800s calorie burns. There is a pretty big difference in calorie burns between a 10 pounds swing in body mass weight. I can only imagine the amount of calorie burn difference between 20-40 pounds true body mass difference.0
-
The only time i can really be sure about calorie burns is with steady state cardio and a chest strap HRM. All others like swimming, stationary row machine at the gym, etc are ones i dont even include as exercise as im not really certain, though i do have a better idea than some of the extravagant amounts some people think they are burning. The chest strap HRM are really accurate for steady state cardio though. If i weight 10 pounds more than where i want to be my calorie burn for that 1 hour 45 minute mountain bike ride yields me about a 1k calories burned. Once ive dropped about 10 pounds of true body mass weight my calorie burn for that same mountain bike ride/duration yields me low 800s calorie burns. There is a pretty big difference in calorie burns between a 10 pounds swing in body mass weight. I can only imagine the amount of calorie burn difference between 20-40 pounds true body mass difference.
Agreed. I've also had good luck with HIIT cardio using my polar H7. I've kept a close eye on it and it seems very accurate. Whether or not an app can account for the ups/downs of HIIT cardio is anyone's guess. Again I always figure it to be inflated a bit just to be on the safe side.0 -
The easy way to not kid yourself: Don't eat back your calories. I know exactly what my intake goal is every day. I eat that much and no more. Some days I'm active, some days not. I still lose either way.
Everything you do involving calorie counting is inexact. If you want to lose, you're better off being inexact by NOT eating than inexact by eating.
MFP is great for estimating intake. It's truly terrible at estimating calories burnt.1 -
xmichaelyx wrote: »The easy way to not kid yourself: Don't eat back your calories. I know exactly what my intake goal is every day. I eat that much and no more. Some days I'm active, some days not. I still lose either way.
Everything you do involving calorie counting is inexact. If you want to lose, you're better off being inexact by NOT eating than inexact by eating.
MFP is great for estimating intake. It's truly terrible at estimating calories burnt.
But if being active means dipping into too low of a calorie net, it takes a toll on your muscles, recovery and energy. I'm currently taking a semi-break, set to slightly more than 1/2 pound a week and losing in the ballpark of that every single week for the past 3 weeks. I did slightly more than 400 calories of exercise today, which is a typical day.
On some days my extra calories are actually 1000 or more. Now imagine if I didn't have my loss set to only a slight deficit. If I had it at 1.5 pounds a week like I did earlier this month at 1350 calories. On a typical day I would be netting a measly 950, and on heavier days I would be netting under 500 calories. How would my body handle that severe deficit? I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be good.0 -
I'm conflicted about the OP's post, but I will say this: I haven't seen such great success in fat loss since I upped my calorie intake (1500 to 1700) and STOPPED eating back my exercise calories. It's probably not for everyone (nothing really is, other than oxygen and sweet love making), but it's worked out really well for me. I do have people on my friend list who list 1,200 calories for 45 minutes of elliptical and stuff like that. I can only assume that, after little progress is made, they'll do the healthy thing and make minor adjustments until something does create success.1
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.2K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 426 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.7K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions