Do you tell the the truth?

SezxyStef

celadontea wrote: »

You can't blame your friends when it's coded directly into My Fitness Pal that an elliptical burns almost 900 calories per hour. It's stuff like that to blame that estimates around a few HUNDRED calories higher than what's the real norm. If I saw someone logging it every day I might make a comment such as, "How fast are you going? I'm 200 or so pounds and only burn 500/600 calories per hour covering this much distance with this much resistance, using a heart rate monitor."

common sense has to come into play in this instance.

brb_2013

The way I see it, we may be "friends" but in the end I know I don't want unsolicited comments and they probably don't either. We are all here to do our best, unless they're asking "OMG WHY AM I NOT LOSING WEIGHT WAAAAAAAHHHHHH" all the time and behaving in an obviously unhelpful way, perhaps I'd say something politely.

Stevo_Ra

You really cant go with what MFP or the internet says in terms of calorie burn. I always use my heart rate monitor and never eat the calories back anyway. I'd bet that's the biggest reason folk don't lose. I burn roughly three quarters of what MFP says I should on most activates.

LivingtheLeanDream

I don't mention it because I don't want to be all judgey but I DO think often that they are underestimating and fooling themselves ultimately and its usually why they're not having weight loss.

SezxyStef

Stevo_Ra wrote: »

You really cant go with what MFP or the internet says in terms of calorie burn. I always use my heart rate monitor and never eat the calories back anyway. I'd bet that's the biggest reason folk don't lose. I burn roughly three quarters of what MFP says I should on most activates.

MFP is setup to eat back exercise calories tho.

When I got here back in 2013 I always ate them all back...and I lost what I wanted.

The biggest reason people don't lose is under estimating intake and over estimating burns.

Lots of times people think "effort" means they burned a lot when in fact "effort" has nothing to do with it.

HR monitors are good for certain things...steady state cardio with a chest straps...I can't use one for my lifting.

Gamliela

I would say something if I know the right answer and they have asked for advice here. I think thats why mfp works well to help people lose weight.

dwulet130

I usually don't say anything unless they ask, but sometimes i'll make a general post about "wow, MFP exercise calories are sure off. 500 for 15 minutes of cleaning?" Or if one person is doing it every day, maybe a "wow, that's quite the workout. Did you run a marathon lol?"

Meganthedogmom

I don't say anything unless asked as it's not my business, but I don't "like" it either when they are obviously double dipping on exercise calories or whatever it may be. It's their journey, not mine.

I have, however, had a few girls on my friends list in the past who would be proud of only eating 600 calories a day. After discovering this and deleting them, I learned to always check people's diaries before "liking" or congratulating them for being under their calorie goal.

Also, I have some friends who are bulking, so "liking" when they lose weight would be kinda stupid.

Francl27

Depends on my mood LOL. But if it's someone who's been losing steadily, I won't say anything, I figure that what they are doing works, even if it's not accurate.

If they complain about not losing or binging or something though, I'll check their diary and comment.

dragon_girl26

My calorie burns tend to show up as over inflated because I sync my Polar watch info with MFP, and I know it's a bit off. Maybe other people do the same thing..just a thought if their calorie burns seem high. I do TDEE minus 20%, though, so I don't worry about my calorie burns so much. I just use it as a way to record exercise time more than anything.

lemurcat12

I don't really look at diaries, certainly not with a critical eye. I will review diaries and offer helpful suggestions (including once pointing out that a chicken entry was an unaccurate one and overstating calories and generally giving hints about how to log and find good entries) when people ask or otherwise express concerns. I think people have lots of different ways of dealing with exercise calories (including knowingly logging things with a bigger burn than reality sometimes, logging things I wouldn't because they are down as sedentary and aren't really, logging things as a joke on occasion, who knows), so I mostly just like those. If someone posts about having issues losing and wants advice I would look and give helpful advice about such things, or at least ask questions.

I don't see the role of friends here to monitor your activities and eating or to be a busybody. Some people want that of each other and that's great, but not what I want or am interested in giving. I try to provide friendly support, and to offer suggestions and feedback when asked.

(I've been a dreadful friend lately, as for some reason I haven't been logging my own stuff consistently or participating much on my feed -- I feel guilty about this, of course!)

RosieRose7673

SezxyStef wrote: »

Stevo_Ra wrote: »

You really cant go with what MFP or the internet says in terms of calorie burn. I always use my heart rate monitor and never eat the calories back anyway. I'd bet that's the biggest reason folk don't lose. I burn roughly three quarters of what MFP says I should on most activates.

Lots of times people think "effort" means they burned a lot when in fact "effort" has nothing to it.

Agreed on this. I did a 6.5 mile run yesterday. I do those a few times a week. It was hard yesterday (likely because I had a cruddy night of sleep and I felt lazy). I felt like I put so much effort into that run relative to others of the same distance. Well, my calorie burn was the same (using HR monitor) despite my perceived effort!

cwolfman13

Fortunately, most of my friends know what they're doing and have been good livin' for awhile.

Dr1nkbleachndye

I really dont understand the logic of people who would alter their dietary log in order to make themselves appear as if they aren't veering away from their goal.

That seems to be a personality disorder, and is just the tip of the iceberg with said person. They are obviously all about presenting, and appearing strong. When meanwhile it's just a facade and suffer from moments of weakness like all of us, but they don't want to own up to it because they obviously think they are better than everyone else, or are ashamed of the fact that their log isn't immaculately aligned with their goal. Meanwhile if you come to this place to judge anyone but yourself, you might want to consider that you might be doing life wrong (nonsensical english intended).

LazSommer

The only unsolicited messages I get are generally from admins telling me to cool it. My wife, however, gets them sometimes. While I think it's cool when people want to offer help, I find those that give unwanted advice often give unhelpful advice.

I personally am not very supportive. I don't like or comment much on any type of social media. I mostly come around here to harass my wife and the forums. If a friend asks a question I will answer if I feel equipped to do so.

perkymommy

mkakids wrote: »

If they ask the 'why aren't I losing' question, I say something (gently).

If they dont ask, I keep silent.

This.

motivatedsister

Kind of off topic but related to a few comments made here....my account won't even let me complete my journal entry if I've eaten less than 1200 calories it warns me that I haven't eaten more than 1200. Not that I'm trying to or it happens often, lol I'm much more likely to go over than anything. But if I'm sick for example and still manage to log and I only keep breakfast down...then that's it! I'm nowhere near 1200 calories.

I don't even bother completing entries half the time, unless I work out extremely hard and want to see if everyday was like this where would I be.