Logging exercise on MFP - I don't want it affecting my daily calories

pattyandthemoos

I don't totally know what I'm doing with MFP. I've been using it a while but I never log my exercise. I'd kind of like to but I don't want to "eat back" the calories I burn. I prefer to have a fixed amount of calories I eat and not adjust them based on my workouts. Also, I don't know how to log strength training on here. I don't always do straight sets so it's a pain in the butt to put everything in here. I keep a paper log so it's not that important. I think there is a way to just log how long you strength train. I'd only like to log this to have an idea how much I am burning each day. I just don't want it to come off my daily calories.

DancingMoosie

You can log time working out under the cardiovascular tab. You can change the calories burned # to 1 so that it doesn't really affect your daily calorie goal. You can either log weight sets in the strength tab, or make notes in the note section. Or, you can just keep your paper notes.

pattyandthemoos

hmm okay. I may play around with that.

Dali032484

I take it you want to either lose weight or maintain? Well if you feel energized with the amount of food you are eating you are probably eating enough. Can you get through your workouts without running out of gas? It's always good to log your exercises for tracking purposes. That way you can adjust not only your caloric intake if you need to but also the calories you burn when you exercise if your goal is to continuously improve your fitness. I always log it :-) You don't have to, but it does help to see your numbers and how you are doing overall.

pattyandthemoos

cutemarci24 wrote: »

I take it you want to either lose weight or maintain? Well if you feel energized with the amount of food you are eating you are probably eating enough. Can you get through your workouts without running out of gas? It's always good to log your exercises for tracking purposes. That way you can adjust not only your caloric intake if you need to but also the calories you burn when you exercise if your goal is to continuously improve your fitness. I always log it :-) You don't have to, but it does help to see your numbers and how you are doing overall.

Well at some point I would like to track this better. In the fall I want to work on putting on some weight but right now I'm more or less at maintenance. I plan all my meals and macros the night before and it's a pain in the butt to adjust this later. Once I'm trying to gain it won't be so annoying to me. Plus I really don't trust an app to know how many calories I burn. I'd just like to have an idea.

rileysowner

cutemarci24 wrote: »

I take it you want to either lose weight or maintain? Well if you feel energized with the amount of food you are eating you are probably eating enough. Can you get through your workouts without running out of gas? It's always good to log your exercises for tracking purposes. That way you can adjust not only your caloric intake if you need to but also the calories you burn when you exercise if your goal is to continuously improve your fitness. I always log it :-) You don't have to, but it does help to see your numbers and how you are doing overall.

Really how a person feels doesn't always tell whether they are eating enough or not. Lack of nutrition is a cumulative thing. For that matter, long term it is better to learn to eat the correct amount, not massively under eat and then end up on a binge because of it. If the original poster is using the calories from MyFitnessPal, they do not include exercise calories which is why people are supposed to eat back their exercise calories to avoid running a massive deficit. Either eat your exercise calories, or if you don't want calories goals that change daily, figure out your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) including your intended exercise and take off about 20% from that, then set your calorie goal manually. When you log exercise, change the calories burned to 1 and it won't make a huge difference to your overall calories, but will let you know what exercise you have done.

pattyandthemoos

Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to think about this some more and figure out what I want to do.

cecsav1

I track for accountability but just ignore the exercise calories.

Caremy24

I agree with the post above me. Let it track your exercise points, but ignore them. It will keep them lumped under exercise points, so you can just continue to eat the amount you want. I like doing it because it shows me how much each thing gives back. Plus, if you have a day where you do want to eat more, you know which exercise you should do to supplement

pattyandthemoos

Caremy24 wrote: »

I agree with the post above me. Let it track your exercise points, but ignore them. It will keep them lumped under exercise points, so you can just continue to eat the amount you want. I like doing it because it shows me how much each thing gives back. Plus, if you have a day where you do want to eat more, you know which exercise you should do to supplement

I thought about this last night and this is exactly what I'm going to do and then just make manual adjustments to my calories. Thank you!

ninerbuff

Here's the issue. Most women for some reason go for the maximal loss each week, which is usually 2lbs. And for many that puts their intake at 1200 calories. Now subtract the exercise calories from that (let's just say 500 calories) and now the NET intake is 700 calories.
That's REALLY low. Initial weight loss will happen the first couple of weeks or so, but then weight loss will come pretty much to a halt due to the fact that the body will adapt to the calories being provided. That usually means a LOWERING of metabolic rate at rest. And you burn the most fat at rest, not EXERCISING as some perceive.
The body is much smarter than anyone thinks, which is why just cutting calories to the max isn't the best way to lose weight without compromising something metabolically.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

pattyandthemoos

ninerbuff wrote: »

Here's the issue. Most women for some reason go for the maximal loss each week, which is usually 2lbs. And for many that puts their intake at 1200 calories. Now subtract the exercise calories from that (let's just say 500 calories) and now the NET intake is 700 calories.
That's REALLY low. Initial weight loss will happen the first couple of weeks or so, but then weight loss will come pretty much to a halt due to the fact that the body will adapt to the calories being provided. That usually means a LOWERING of metabolic rate at rest. And you burn the most fat at rest, not EXERCISING as some perceive.
The body is much smarter than anyone thinks, which is why just cutting calories to the max isn't the best way to lose weight without compromising something metabolically.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Well I know I need to start working on increasing my calories soon. I am less than 2 lbs from my goal and then I want to do maintenance for a while. But my weightloss has been slow. I have lost 1 lb per week steadily for around 7 months. I think my calories are ok. But I am going to need to start increasing soon because I don't want to lose any more and I'm just more active than before.

workout_junkee

I have found eating back calories does not work for me right now. My exercise will cause a 1000 calorie difference some days. Going from a 2900 cal day to 1400 wrecked havoc on my body. I adjusted my daily cal need to 2000 (using TDEE) and log my exercise as 1 calorie. It has been working well.