Excerice and Calories

spikesforu

So the MFP app tells me I need to eat about 1800 calories per day. The days I excerise, every other day, it adds the amount of calories I burned back to my 1800 total. I was under the impression that I was not suppose to make up the amount of calories I burn. Can some explain this to me.

I'm over weight and need to lose about 50 pounds. So I assumed the more I burn while keeping under 1800 was the best approach.

Thanks.

Yourkindagirl

I don't eat my exercise calories. A lot of times MFP overestimates the amount of calories burned per exercise anyway. For an accurate account of calories burned, get a heart rate monitor or FitBit. I have lost over 60 pounds using MFP.

malibu927

MFP sets you up to lose weight without exercise. That's why when you log it it gives you more calories, as you're burning more than they expect. Ideally you'll want to eat them back, but as stated above they tend to be overestimated for many people. Start by eating about half of them back. A higher rate of loss isn't necessarily a good thing, as it becomes more likely that you'll be losing more muscle.

JinjoJoey

You should eat back some of them, although, you don't have to. Mfp sets you up to lose weight without exercise. Exercising will help you lose weight faster, though. However, if you do a lot of exercising, you may find yourself being hungrier during the day, which is why you can and a lot of times, should eat some calories back. Some people like to exercise just so they can eat more.

lorrpb

You need to fuel your workouts, so you should eat a little more on your workout days.

TonyB0588

How much is too much calories to eat back?

Today was a very active day for me and I burned 1628 extra calories. That means based on advice often seen on this site, I should consider eating back 814 calories. I've just finished a decent sized meal and my total for the day is 134 calories over my normal MFP target. I certainly don't need nor want to eat another 680 calories tonight.

What should I do on days like this?

capaul42

If you're not hungry, don't force yourself to eat. One day here and there under your goal isn't going to hurt you.

malibu927

TonyB0588 wrote: »

How much is too much calories to eat back?

Today was a very active day for me and I burned 1628 extra calories. That means based on advice often seen on this site, I should consider eating back 814 calories. I've just finished a decent sized meal and my total for the day is 134 calories over my normal MFP target. I certainly don't need nor want to eat another 680 calories tonight.

What should I do on days like this?

What did you do and how are you determining those calories? That's an extremely high burn.

TonyB0588

malibu927 wrote: »

TonyB0588 wrote: »

How much is too much calories to eat back?

Today was a very active day for me and I burned 1628 extra calories. That means based on advice often seen on this site, I should consider eating back 814 calories. I've just finished a decent sized meal and my total for the day is 134 calories over my normal MFP target. I certainly don't need nor want to eat another 680 calories tonight.

What should I do on days like this?

What did you do and how are you determining those calories? That's an extremely high burn.

The calories were calculated by MFP. 1 hour walking, then 4 hours working in the garden. It was actually a bit more than 4 hours but I thought the numbers would be ridiculous.

Yourkindagirl

TonyB0588 wrote: »

malibu927 wrote: »

TonyB0588 wrote: »

How much is too much calories to eat back?

Today was a very active day for me and I burned 1628 extra calories. That means based on advice often seen on this site, I should consider eating back 814 calories. I've just finished a decent sized meal and my total for the day is 134 calories over my normal MFP target. I certainly don't need nor want to eat another 680 calories tonight.

What should I do on days like this?

What did you do and how are you determining those calories? That's an extremely high burn.

The calories were calculated by MFP. 1 hour walking, then 4 hours working in the garden. It was actually a bit more than 4 hours but I thought the numbers would be ridiculous.

You really need to get an accurate account of your physical activity. MFP tends to over estimate your activity. You need a heart rate monitor or activity watch. When I used to use the calories burned activity from this site, I was extremely surprised in the difference once I learned what I was truly burning.

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TonyB0588

IAmSimplyKriss wrote: »

im so anal about activity and calories burned
If it was me, i wouldn't even log gardening, to me thats a daily activity thing, unless you have yourself set as sedentary. Just like how it drives me insane when people log "cleaning" as an excersize and burn over 1000 calories doing it apparently.

Its why i dont log my steps as excersize, at work im walking about 17-21 thousand steps per day but my daily calorie goal is 1850, BMR is 1350, Step counter says walking that amount of steps is anywhere between 500-600 calories burned which would give me a total close to the 1850 MFP gives me as "Lightly active"

My profile is set at Lightly Active, and that covers the regular activities I do at my job. Gardening is definitely not a daily activity for me, but rather something that gets done when the opportunity arises. I was doing fairly intensive outdoor stuff for a few hours and I definitely felt the difference in my body afterwards, so I think it would justify including it as a separate calorie burn.

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cabrams3

I would log it. You did the work. Log it

TonyB0588

@cabrams3 Thanks for the reassurance.