Kidding Ourselves
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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
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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
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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
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amusedmonkey wrote: »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.
+1
And for shorties like me who are not overweight, eating back exercise cals is pretty much a requirement. I'm netting 1240 cals to lose a bit less than 2lbs per month. I run 5+ miles at least 4 days a week, weather permitting. If I didn't eat those back, my recovery would be totally shot.1 -
Sometimes the high numbers are a result of a low activity selection paired with a fitness tracker. What I mean is, if you select sedentary, but wear a fitbit and do a lot during a day, you'll see a much larger adjustment than you would if you did that same exercise but selected a higher daily activity level.
So, it may show 1000 calories burned, but that is due to the very low expected burn. It still may be over estimating, but it then has to do with a larger difference rather than an outright calorie burn. When I put sedentary, I might get 1000 exercise calories a day. If I chose a higher activity level, I only get a few hundred.
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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'll probably get flamed for this but exercise is also not an excuse to eat anything you want. By all means, consume back some the calories burned in the form of lean proteins and maybe allow yourself some minor indulgences... but last time I checked a bowl of ice cream, cake and a bag of chips are neither lean nor considered proteins.
You just can't outrun a bad diet!1 -
I do pretty well eating ice cream. I eat it frequently. When I have calories left for it.. and macros left.. and I also choose healthier versions, some with protein added. I see no need to quit the things you like as long as you understand what they cost you. Nobody should go hungry on a diet, if you do, you're doing something wrong or choosing the wrong thing(s) to eat. Stay within your budget and macros and eat what you feel comfortable with.
I defend ice cream quite frequently because I'm addicted lol.. no flame intended. I had to learn to eat the "no sugar added" and the protein laced versions pretty quick or I would have had to give it up.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.
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.
Won't you hit catabolism at that point? coz here's how I'm understanding this let's say I plug all my info in mfp weight, age, activity level etc. So mfp calculates all this and gives me my Cal limit and macro now from my understanding anything i do outside of my activity level ie exercise calories I gotta replenished coz my body won't have those nutrients
I have my protein macro set at 35% which gives me a goal of 218 grams a day. If I do a run that burns 2500 calories I don't need to carry that ratio and hit 437 grams of protein. That's a bit much don't you think? No, you're not burning muscle. You just need a good amount for muscle repair. Your body still prefers carbs and all of those extra carbs are to rebuild the glycogen stores you ripped through.
I still get a larger amount of protein. Even though I don't try to hit 35% on the extra portion I bet I clear 300 grams easily on these days. How much do I need?
ETA: If you're just asking if I eat the calories back, then yes. I generally do.0 -
RunnersLament wrote: »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'll probably get flamed for this but exercise is also not an excuse to eat anything you want. By all means, consume back some the calories burned in the form of lean proteins and maybe allow yourself some minor indulgences... but last time I checked a bowl of ice cream, cake and a bag of chips are neither lean nor considered proteins.
You just can't outrun a bad diet!
You technically can't outrun a bad diet, but you absolutely can run away from a restrictive diet by burning more calories. Lean protein is not the be all and end all of dieting. Sometimes "yet another chicken breast" is exactly what you shouldn't be having, and that tub of ice cream is exactly what your diet needs. I can't imagine myself lasting nearly as long or losing nearly as much if every time I burned 1000 calories I had 4 more chicken breasts.5 -
amusedmonkey wrote: »...and that tub of ice cream is exactly what your diet needs.
^^^This^^^ Just don't go overboard. If It Fits Your Macros. Check out IIFYM.com. Great place to read about flexible dieting.
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RunnersLament wrote: »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'll probably get flamed for this but exercise is also not an excuse to eat anything you want. By all means, consume back some the calories burned in the form of lean proteins and maybe allow yourself some minor indulgences... but last time I checked a bowl of ice cream, cake and a bag of chips are neither lean nor considered proteins.
You just can't outrun a bad diet!
*shrug*
I use my regular calories for lean protein, veg and such. Exercise calories are for whatever I want to eat whether that's pizza, fries, ice cream, cake, or fruit. Honestly, after I get sufficient protein why pass up food I like to get more? I'm usually at or over (0.8*LBM) by the time the day is done. And why avoid fats in general?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.
Won't you hit catabolism at that point? coz here's how I'm understanding this let's say I plug all my info in mfp weight, age, activity level etc. So mfp calculates all this and gives me my Cal limit and macro now from my understanding anything i do outside of my activity level ie exercise calories I gotta replenished coz my body won't have those nutrients
Unless you're on steroids you're body can only use so much protein, about 1g/kg. Any more than that and your cells will need assistance to utilize it so to speak. (Or about 1 g per lb of lean body mass).
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I under estimates calories burned and over estimated calories taken in. No worries for me.
For calories burned, most exercises I average about 400 -500 calories per hour, so I just plug that in no matter what. That said, I do three hours of tennis and I am upwards of 1200-1500 calories.0
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