Question regarding calorie deficit

24

Replies

  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    Rather than arguing with how much the OP burns in an hour of walking (though I don't find it unreasonable - keep in mind she is walking at an incline which influences things; at 135 pounds and no incline I burn about 300 per hour walking at 4.0 which is a brisk pace for me) I want to point out one reason to discount the exercise calories a little. If you were not walking, you would have still burned thru 70-100 calories. That is already accounted for in your BMR, daily activity level.

    So listen to your doctor. Eat a minimum of 1350 calories per day, and feel free to eat some additional from your workout calories earned if you feel you need them.

    if she is truly burning 400 a day then that would leave her netting 950 calories a day ...

    I feel like we need to remind people that there is a difference between the MFP Net and the actual net calories. The MFP Net ignores BMR, so a positive net is desirable. But our goal should be to have a net of zero if we are maintaining our weight and a negative net if we are trying to lose weight. The MFP Net has no meaning in relationship to health concerns.
  • alid8333
    alid8333 Posts: 233 Member
    mom22dogs wrote: »
    1979 wrote: »
    Rather than arguing with how much the OP burns in an hour of walking (though I don't find it unreasonable - keep in mind she is walking at an incline which influences things; at 135 pounds and no incline I burn about 300 per hour walking at 4.0 which is a brisk pace for me) I want to point out one reason to discount the exercise calories a little. If you were not walking, you would have still burned thru 70-100 calories. That is already accounted for in your BMR, daily activity level.

    So listen to your doctor. Eat a minimum of 1350 calories per day, and feel free to eat some additional from your workout calories earned if you feel you need them.

    if she is truly burning 400 a day then that would leave her netting 950 calories a day ...

    And she would be really hungry I would think if her calories were really that low.


    This was yesterday, and no I'm not terribly hungry. I have Crohns so I dont have much of a appetite in the first place.
  • alid8333
    alid8333 Posts: 233 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    OP - I believe that your doctor was telling you to calculate TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) and subtract 500 calories from that, which would give you one pound per week loss. you can go to a TDEE calculator and do that and subtract 500 from that number (keep in mind this is not an exact number and you will need to make adjustments). OR you can just use MFP method, set MFP to one pound per week loss and make sure that you net the number that MFP gives to you. If you find you are not losing one pound per week, you may need to adjust your exercise burned number.

    Do you use a food scale to weigh foods?

    Yes I use a food scale when needed.

    So when I use a TDEE calculator it asks about my activity level. I'm mainly sedentary but I workout 7 days a week for at least an hour. Typically around 75 min with warm up and cool down. So do I still put sedentary no exercise/desk job or do i put in exercise 7 days a week?

  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    alid8333 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    OP - I believe that your doctor was telling you to calculate TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) and subtract 500 calories from that, which would give you one pound per week loss. you can go to a TDEE calculator and do that and subtract 500 from that number (keep in mind this is not an exact number and you will need to make adjustments). OR you can just use MFP method, set MFP to one pound per week loss and make sure that you net the number that MFP gives to you. If you find you are not losing one pound per week, you may need to adjust your exercise burned number.

    Do you use a food scale to weigh foods?

    Yes I use a food scale when needed.

    So when I use a TDEE calculator it asks about my activity level. I'm mainly sedentary but I workout 7 days a week for at least an hour. Typically around 75 min with warm up and cool down. So do I still put sedentary no exercise/desk job or do i put in exercise 7 days a week?

    if you work out seven days a week you are not sedentary ...I would suggest using "active" ...are your workouts primarily walking, or do you also incorporate strength training?

  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    Rather than arguing with how much the OP burns in an hour of walking (though I don't find it unreasonable - keep in mind she is walking at an incline which influences things; at 135 pounds and no incline I burn about 300 per hour walking at 4.0 which is a brisk pace for me) I want to point out one reason to discount the exercise calories a little. If you were not walking, you would have still burned thru 70-100 calories. That is already accounted for in your BMR, daily activity level.

    So listen to your doctor. Eat a minimum of 1350 calories per day, and feel free to eat some additional from your workout calories earned if you feel you need them.

    if she is truly burning 400 a day then that would leave her netting 950 calories a day ...

    I feel like we need to remind people that there is a difference between the MFP Net and the actual net calories. The MFP Net ignores BMR, so a positive net is desirable. But our goal should be to have a net of zero if we are maintaining our weight and a negative net if we are trying to lose weight. The MFP Net has no meaning in relationship to health concerns.

    sorry, but this is wrong.
  • alid8333
    alid8333 Posts: 233 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    alid8333 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    OP - I believe that your doctor was telling you to calculate TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) and subtract 500 calories from that, which would give you one pound per week loss. you can go to a TDEE calculator and do that and subtract 500 from that number (keep in mind this is not an exact number and you will need to make adjustments). OR you can just use MFP method, set MFP to one pound per week loss and make sure that you net the number that MFP gives to you. If you find you are not losing one pound per week, you may need to adjust your exercise burned number.

    Do you use a food scale to weigh foods?

    Yes I use a food scale when needed.

    So when I use a TDEE calculator it asks about my activity level. I'm mainly sedentary but I workout 7 days a week for at least an hour. Typically around 75 min with warm up and cool down. So do I still put sedentary no exercise/desk job or do i put in exercise 7 days a week?

    if you work out seven days a week you are not sedentary ...I would suggest using "active" ...are your workouts primarily walking, or do you also incorporate strength training?

    Right now just walking until my heart doctor clears me for more.

    This is what my numbers looked like yesterday (hopefully the image attaches). Lolm5vk2rnj5o8v.png


  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    alid8333 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    alid8333 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    OP - I believe that your doctor was telling you to calculate TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) and subtract 500 calories from that, which would give you one pound per week loss. you can go to a TDEE calculator and do that and subtract 500 from that number (keep in mind this is not an exact number and you will need to make adjustments). OR you can just use MFP method, set MFP to one pound per week loss and make sure that you net the number that MFP gives to you. If you find you are not losing one pound per week, you may need to adjust your exercise burned number.

    Do you use a food scale to weigh foods?

    Yes I use a food scale when needed.

    So when I use a TDEE calculator it asks about my activity level. I'm mainly sedentary but I workout 7 days a week for at least an hour. Typically around 75 min with warm up and cool down. So do I still put sedentary no exercise/desk job or do i put in exercise 7 days a week?

    if you work out seven days a week you are not sedentary ...I would suggest using "active" ...are your workouts primarily walking, or do you also incorporate strength training?

    Right now just walking until my heart doctor clears me for more.

    This is what my numbers looked like yesterday (hopefully the image attaches). Lolm5vk2rnj5o8v.png


    just glancing at that day you should really not be using "quick add" calories as that is not going to be accurate and I can't see how you logged dinner...

    I would suggest making sure that you are using correct MFP entries and logging everything as accurately as possible. Inaccurate logging can result in your calorie count being 30-50% HIGHER than expected.

    Based on what you posted, you really should of eaten at least half of your exercise calories.

    Have you been losing weight?

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    alid8333 wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    alid8333 wrote: »
    Wow I guess working out for a hour total with my heart rate around 70 to 75% of my maximum heart rate isn't "sufficient" enough to burn. Since it's only
    walking at 3mph at a incline 6.

    I haven't been eating back any of my exercise calories since I started. So guess I'll just continue not to.

    I don't think you're understanding...all people are saying is that devices and machines and data bases, etc are all just estimations...nobody is saying that you're not burning calories...they're just telling you to be conservative as energy expenditure is difficult to estimate and often these devices over estimate. And like I said up thread, it's going to include your basal burn...so at minimum you would want to deduct that.

    All people are telling you is that it's an estimate, not gospel. That's it...there should always be an allowance for estimation error...I always just knocked off my basal calories which if I recall was about 20% or so.

    I understand what you're saying. What got me was people saying it wasn't possible because they only burned such amount of calories doing something else and it wasn't possible because I'm "just walking". 3mph is a brisk walk for me since I'm only 5'3 and I incline it to 6. Sometimes I walk at 3.5. I technically do a total time of around 74 to 75 min. But I just said 60 min because that 74 min includes 5 min of warm up and cool down and I don't really count that. I can get on my elliptical and do 5mph and my heart rate be at 70 to 75% for a hour and burn just as much as I did walking at 3mph at a incline of 6.

    But again I know it's all an estimate and that's mainly why I haven't been eating any of my exercise calories back for that simple fact.

    I just don't think it's right for someone to be like well I do a hour on this machine and I only burn this amount so it's not possible your burning that because your "Just walking". Everyone's body is different and people do workout at different levels.

    That's not what they're saying...400 calories of an hour of walking is quite a bit...it's not about "just walking"...I walk a lot in addition to many other things...a lot of people here have quite a bit of experience and in my personal experience, one would be hard pressed to burn 400 calories walking unless they were greatly overweight. Your height doesn't really matter...calorie burn is really mass moved over distance plus and intensity factor. People are just warning you not to overestimate is all....you're taking comments the wrong way.
  • alid8333
    alid8333 Posts: 233 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    alid8333 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    alid8333 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    OP - I believe that your doctor was telling you to calculate TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) and subtract 500 calories from that, which would give you one pound per week loss. you can go to a TDEE calculator and do that and subtract 500 from that number (keep in mind this is not an exact number and you will need to make adjustments). OR you can just use MFP method, set MFP to one pound per week loss and make sure that you net the number that MFP gives to you. If you find you are not losing one pound per week, you may need to adjust your exercise burned number.

    Do you use a food scale to weigh foods?

    Yes I use a food scale when needed.

    So when I use a TDEE calculator it asks about my activity level. I'm mainly sedentary but I workout 7 days a week for at least an hour. Typically around 75 min with warm up and cool down. So do I still put sedentary no exercise/desk job or do i put in exercise 7 days a week?

    if you work out seven days a week you are not sedentary ...I would suggest using "active" ...are your workouts primarily walking, or do you also incorporate strength training?

    Right now just walking until my heart doctor clears me for more.

    This is what my numbers looked like yesterday (hopefully the image attaches). Lolm5vk2rnj5o8v.png


    just glancing at that day you should really not be using "quick add" calories as that is not going to be accurate and I can't see how you logged dinner...

    I would suggest making sure that you are using correct MFP entries and logging everything as accurately as possible. Inaccurate logging can result in your calorie count being 30-50% HIGHER than expected.

    Based on what you posted, you really should of eaten at least half of your exercise calories.

    Have you been losing weight?

    Quick add was because every time I tried to select what I needed yesterday to log for lunch the app would close out. So I just used the quick add to input it since the app wouldn't let me choose what I needed lol.

    I haven't been eating the calories burned back. I was going to starting today. But now I don't want to because everyone is saying my calorie burn is incorrect. My Polar chest strap that's connected to my Apple Watch says I typically burn little over 400 calories in a 75 min workout which consists of a warm up period of walking at 2mph for a little bit and then 60 min of walking at 3mph at a incline of 6 then a cool down of walking at 2mph. During the 60 min my heart rate is between 70 & 75% of my maximum heart rate. I know I need to atleast get to what the app says I need to a day (heart doc says 1350) But I set MyFitnessPal to sedentary and losing 1 pound a week today and it put me at 1390 a day. So I'm just going to aim for that.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    alid8333 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    alid8333 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    alid8333 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    OP - I believe that your doctor was telling you to calculate TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) and subtract 500 calories from that, which would give you one pound per week loss. you can go to a TDEE calculator and do that and subtract 500 from that number (keep in mind this is not an exact number and you will need to make adjustments). OR you can just use MFP method, set MFP to one pound per week loss and make sure that you net the number that MFP gives to you. If you find you are not losing one pound per week, you may need to adjust your exercise burned number.

    Do you use a food scale to weigh foods?

    Yes I use a food scale when needed.

    So when I use a TDEE calculator it asks about my activity level. I'm mainly sedentary but I workout 7 days a week for at least an hour. Typically around 75 min with warm up and cool down. So do I still put sedentary no exercise/desk job or do i put in exercise 7 days a week?

    if you work out seven days a week you are not sedentary ...I would suggest using "active" ...are your workouts primarily walking, or do you also incorporate strength training?

    Right now just walking until my heart doctor clears me for more.

    This is what my numbers looked like yesterday (hopefully the image attaches). Lolm5vk2rnj5o8v.png


    just glancing at that day you should really not be using "quick add" calories as that is not going to be accurate and I can't see how you logged dinner...

    I would suggest making sure that you are using correct MFP entries and logging everything as accurately as possible. Inaccurate logging can result in your calorie count being 30-50% HIGHER than expected.

    Based on what you posted, you really should of eaten at least half of your exercise calories.

    Have you been losing weight?

    Quick add was because every time I tried to select what I needed yesterday to log for lunch the app would close out. So I just used the quick add to input it since the app wouldn't let me choose what I needed lol.

    I haven't been eating the calories burned back. I was going to starting today. But now I don't want to because everyone is saying my calorie burn is incorrect. My Polar chest strap that's connected to my Apple Watch says I typically burn little over 400 calories in a 75 min workout which consists of a warm up period of walking at 2mph for a little bit and then 60 min of walking at 3mph at a incline of 6 then a cool down of walking at 2mph. During the 60 min my heart rate is between 70 & 75% of my maximum heart rate. I know I need to atleast get to what the app says I need to a day (heart doc says 1350) But I set MyFitnessPal to sedentary and losing 1 pound a week today and it put me at 1390 a day. So I'm just going to aim for that.

    Just give yourself an allowance...it says 400, so deduct maybe 20% and try that...or don't and just go for it. Either way you go about it is going to be some trial and error and you make adjustments as per your real world results.
  • wizzybeth
    wizzybeth Posts: 3,578 Member
    alid8333 wrote: »
    Ok so I've posted on here before and got mixed opinions. I need to know if I'm looking at this correctly.

    I live a pretty sedentary lifestyle as I'm a stay at home mom and business owner. I do spend a good amount of the day at the computer doing invoices, keeping up bookkeeping etc. I do walk on the treadmill for a hour a day (30 min in the morning and 30 min in the evening) as that's all I'm allowed to do until my heart doc clears me for more.

    MyFitnessPal wanted to set me at 1200 calories a day but my heart doc said that is to low and he said no lower than 1350 a day for most women. He said I needed to figure out my how much my body needs and then subtract 500 from that and I would be at a 500 calorie deficit a day which would equal 1 pound a week weight loss.

    So if I then add 60 min of walking and say burn 400 calories I would need to eat most of those back. I use a HRM that syncs to my Apple Watch and I walk at 3mph on a incline. My heart rate easily gets up to 135 to 140. So I believe my calorie burn is correct.

    For instance yesterday after logging all my meals and with my exercise I only netted 857 calories. That's way to low right?

    I've always been told that the 500 calorie a day deficit is either done through diet or exercise alone or a mixture of both, but not to exceed the 500 a day. If you do both diet and exercise and exceed the 500 calorie a day deficit then you need to replace most (50 to 75%).

    Personally I would count maybe 200 calories total for 1 hour on the treadmill.
  • alid8333
    alid8333 Posts: 233 Member
    wizzybeth wrote: »
    alid8333 wrote: »
    Ok so I've posted on here before and got mixed opinions. I need to know if I'm looking at this correctly.

    I live a pretty sedentary lifestyle as I'm a stay at home mom and business owner. I do spend a good amount of the day at the computer doing invoices, keeping up bookkeeping etc. I do walk on the treadmill for a hour a day (30 min in the morning and 30 min in the evening) as that's all I'm allowed to do until my heart doc clears me for more.

    MyFitnessPal wanted to set me at 1200 calories a day but my heart doc said that is to low and he said no lower than 1350 a day for most women. He said I needed to figure out my how much my body needs and then subtract 500 from that and I would be at a 500 calorie deficit a day which would equal 1 pound a week weight loss.

    So if I then add 60 min of walking and say burn 400 calories I would need to eat most of those back. I use a HRM that syncs to my Apple Watch and I walk at 3mph on a incline. My heart rate easily gets up to 135 to 140. So I believe my calorie burn is correct.

    For instance yesterday after logging all my meals and with my exercise I only netted 857 calories. That's way to low right?

    I've always been told that the 500 calorie a day deficit is either done through diet or exercise alone or a mixture of both, but not to exceed the 500 a day. If you do both diet and exercise and exceed the 500 calorie a day deficit then you need to replace most (50 to 75%).

    Personally I would count maybe 200 calories total for 1 hour on the treadmill.

    Well if that's the case then I'm not going to bother even working out anymore and taking the chance of having a cardiac event for 200 calories.

  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    edited January 2017
    Working out and elevating your heart rate will reduce your long term risk of a heart attack, by making your heart stronger. Also, you can do gentler walks (at a slower pace) and keep your heart rate from going so high.
  • Rachel101511
    Rachel101511 Posts: 35 Member
    I totally understand people wanting to help save someone from possibly overestimating their burn.. but I swear this whole "400 calories is a lot for an hour walk" or "I don't even burn that much just waking an hour"


    It's not just a walk. There's incline involved. That pushes your heart rate up quite significantly. There have been times I've burned 600 (yes i accounted for a possible over estimation just to be safe) in one hour on a treadmill, 3 to 3.5mph, with a 5 incline. I weigh more than OP yes, BUT it's not JUST a walk.. and I swear that's all I feel people are seeing and commenting on. I mean if you aren't then my bad but I feel bad for this girl repeating herself over and over
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited January 2017
    alid8333 wrote: »
    wizzybeth wrote: »
    alid8333 wrote: »
    Ok so I've posted on here before and got mixed opinions. I need to know if I'm looking at this correctly.

    I live a pretty sedentary lifestyle as I'm a stay at home mom and business owner. I do spend a good amount of the day at the computer doing invoices, keeping up bookkeeping etc. I do walk on the treadmill for a hour a day (30 min in the morning and 30 min in the evening) as that's all I'm allowed to do until my heart doc clears me for more.

    MyFitnessPal wanted to set me at 1200 calories a day but my heart doc said that is to low and he said no lower than 1350 a day for most women. He said I needed to figure out my how much my body needs and then subtract 500 from that and I would be at a 500 calorie deficit a day which would equal 1 pound a week weight loss.

    So if I then add 60 min of walking and say burn 400 calories I would need to eat most of those back. I use a HRM that syncs to my Apple Watch and I walk at 3mph on a incline. My heart rate easily gets up to 135 to 140. So I believe my calorie burn is correct.

    For instance yesterday after logging all my meals and with my exercise I only netted 857 calories. That's way to low right?

    I've always been told that the 500 calorie a day deficit is either done through diet or exercise alone or a mixture of both, but not to exceed the 500 a day. If you do both diet and exercise and exceed the 500 calorie a day deficit then you need to replace most (50 to 75%).

    Personally I would count maybe 200 calories total for 1 hour on the treadmill.

    Well if that's the case then I'm not going to bother even working out anymore and taking the chance of having a cardiac event for 200 calories.

    This particular individual is doing what many people do here and just cut it in half...it's rather arbitrary and I never did that...I always just trimmed off about 20% as that lined up well with the calories I would have burned anyways. Through some trial and error, you'll be able to more accurately lock it down. People have many ways of going about this...some are better than others. I know that I burn more than 200 calories on a 3 mile walk

    I would think your cardiologist would want you to continue doing some light exercise activity like walking regardless of the calorie burn...calorie burn is just a nice bi-product...regular exercise is protective of the heart.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    alid8333 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    alid8333 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    alid8333 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    OP - I believe that your doctor was telling you to calculate TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) and subtract 500 calories from that, which would give you one pound per week loss. you can go to a TDEE calculator and do that and subtract 500 from that number (keep in mind this is not an exact number and you will need to make adjustments). OR you can just use MFP method, set MFP to one pound per week loss and make sure that you net the number that MFP gives to you. If you find you are not losing one pound per week, you may need to adjust your exercise burned number.

    Do you use a food scale to weigh foods?

    Yes I use a food scale when needed.

    So when I use a TDEE calculator it asks about my activity level. I'm mainly sedentary but I workout 7 days a week for at least an hour. Typically around 75 min with warm up and cool down. So do I still put sedentary no exercise/desk job or do i put in exercise 7 days a week?

    if you work out seven days a week you are not sedentary ...I would suggest using "active" ...are your workouts primarily walking, or do you also incorporate strength training?

    Right now just walking until my heart doctor clears me for more.

    This is what my numbers looked like yesterday (hopefully the image attaches). Lolm5vk2rnj5o8v.png


    just glancing at that day you should really not be using "quick add" calories as that is not going to be accurate and I can't see how you logged dinner...

    I would suggest making sure that you are using correct MFP entries and logging everything as accurately as possible. Inaccurate logging can result in your calorie count being 30-50% HIGHER than expected.

    Based on what you posted, you really should of eaten at least half of your exercise calories.

    Have you been losing weight?

    Quick add was because every time I tried to select what I needed yesterday to log for lunch the app would close out. So I just used the quick add to input it since the app wouldn't let me choose what I needed lol.

    I haven't been eating the calories burned back. I was going to starting today. But now I don't want to because everyone is saying my calorie burn is incorrect. My Polar chest strap that's connected to my Apple Watch says I typically burn little over 400 calories in a 75 min workout which consists of a warm up period of walking at 2mph for a little bit and then 60 min of walking at 3mph at a incline of 6 then a cool down of walking at 2mph. During the 60 min my heart rate is between 70 & 75% of my maximum heart rate. I know I need to atleast get to what the app says I need to a day (heart doc says 1350) But I set MyFitnessPal to sedentary and losing 1 pound a week today and it put me at 1390 a day. So I'm just going to aim for that.

    ok - I would do that and see how it goes for four weeks.

  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    edited January 2017
    OP, stop getting hung up on the exercise calories, it's just not that big a deal. People are just suggesting you under-estimate because calorie burn is pretty much a guessing game.

    How long have you been eating how you currently are, and what has your weight been doing in that time?

    950 calories net or otherwise is not enough. Double check your logging - make sure it's as accurate as possible and that you are using correct entries in the database. Eat your 1350 and then do what you want with the exercise calories. After 4-6 weeks, adjust what you're doing if your weight isn't responding the way you would expect.

    Good luck!
  • alid8333
    alid8333 Posts: 233 Member
    Working out and elevating your heart rate will reduce your long term risk of a heart attack, by making your heart stronger. Also, you can do gentler walks (at a slower pace) and keep your heart rate from going so high.

    I know but I need to get this weight off for my health. But if I'm taking a risk to only in the end burn what people are saying then there's no point. I just think it's crazy I can hop on my elliptical and keep my heart rate exactly how it is when I walk on the treadmill around 70 to 75% with an incline and I burn the same on either one. But yet if I was to have posted and said I burn 400
    Calories a day doing 60 min on the elliptical no one would of said anything because that's a elliptical and I'm just walking so it's impossible.

    So needless to say I'm feeling pretty discouraged at this point.

  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    I think the burn is reasonable. I used to burn that much while losing even when I was close to goal, and I always ate back every calorie and lost right on schedule.

    But it really doesn't matter, OP. Do it one way for a month. If you've lost as much as expected then great! Keep going. If you haven't lost as much as expected, eat back less calories for awhile and see if that's better. Adjust as needed, but not too often. You have to give something a chance to work before you switch.
  • Rachel101511
    Rachel101511 Posts: 35 Member
    alid8333 wrote: »
    Working out and elevating your heart rate will reduce your long term risk of a heart attack, by making your heart stronger. Also, you can do gentler walks (at a slower pace) and keep your heart rate from going so high.

    I know but I need to get this weight off for my health. But if I'm taking a risk to only in the end burn what people are saying then there's no point. I just think it's crazy I can hop on my elliptical and keep my heart rate exactly how it is when I walk on the treadmill around 70 to 75% with an incline and I burn the same on either one. But yet if I was to have posted and said I burn 400
    Calories a day doing 60 min on the elliptical no one would of said anything because that's a elliptical and I'm just walking so it's impossible.

    So needless to say I'm feeling pretty discouraged at this point.

    Don't get discouraged. I too have a cardiac issue and I have to limit myself somewhat. I had heart surgery the fall of 2015, and before then I wasn't even allowed to work out at all. Just keep focusing on what you've been doing, and take the advice given about the deficits. No one has any idea if it's really 200 or 400.. just focus on eating healthy, follow your docs advice, and be happy with what you CAN do. :)
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    alid8333 wrote: »
    Working out and elevating your heart rate will reduce your long term risk of a heart attack, by making your heart stronger. Also, you can do gentler walks (at a slower pace) and keep your heart rate from going so high.

    I know but I need to get this weight off for my health. But if I'm taking a risk to only in the end burn what people are saying then there's no point. I just think it's crazy I can hop on my elliptical and keep my heart rate exactly how it is when I walk on the treadmill around 70 to 75% with an incline and I burn the same on either one. But yet if I was to have posted and said I burn 400
    Calories a day doing 60 min on the elliptical no one would of said anything because that's a elliptical and I'm just walking so it's impossible.

    So needless to say I'm feeling pretty discouraged at this point.

    Since you posted this after my reply, I just wanted to add... Are you cleared to exercise? Your cardiologist should have told you whether you should exercise or not. You keep saying it's a "risk" so that just concerned me. You want to lose the weight in a healthy manner, or you are just going to exchange one health problem for another. Eat enough to fuel your body, and exercise in whatever way you can.

    I can't imagine being discouraged by burning 200 cals an hour, I doubt I've ever burned more than that ever LOL. Please take care of yourself, best of luck.
  • alid8333
    alid8333 Posts: 233 Member
    I think the burn is reasonable. I used to burn that much while losing even when I was close to goal, and I always ate back every calorie and lost right on schedule.

    But it really doesn't matter, OP. Do it one way for a month. If you've lost as much as expected then great! Keep going. If you haven't lost as much as expected, eat back less calories for awhile and see if that's better. Adjust as needed, but not too often. You have to give something a chance to work before you switch.

    Yeah i never planned on eating back all my calories just maybe 50%. That way it does give room for error. I know their not 100%. I wore a Fitbit today as well and my Apple Watch that was connected to my polar chest strap said I burned 225 calories during my 38 min workout and the Fitbit said I burned 295. lol.



  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    You're getting way to hung up on the energy expenditure...your weight loss is going to come primarily from diet anyway. Exercise expenditure is just gravy, and really, regardless of whether you're doing a treadmill or elliptical or bike or whatever, it's fairly nominal to the energy you expend existing and going on about your day to day outside of training like an athlete.
  • alid8333
    alid8333 Posts: 233 Member
    Thanks for all the advice.
  • hellobaconplease
    hellobaconplease Posts: 108 Member
    I do a regular (every second day usually) walk of approx 46 minutes. I go 3.8km in that time, which I think is 2.36 miles. According to the system I have chosen to log activity, that gets me a burn of about 321 calories. I have been eating those back and still losing weight at a faster than expected rate. I can fully see how a walk can use a lot of energy. I am 192lbs. I used to have a fitbit HR which agrees with this approximate energy output and I lost a lot of weight in 2015 wearing it constantly.

    My walk is around the suburbs and has ups, downs, and flat parts. I'm 4'11", female and 34.

  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    alid8333 wrote: »
    As others point out, 400 for an hour sounds pretty high. But, if you're confident, eat them all back. If then you do not lose at the rate you want/expect, drop the cals a little.

    The thing to remember is that all the figures are, at best, an estimation - BMR, TDEE, Calories in, exercise burns, all bring with them some errors.

    So, set a target, implement it and tweak your outputs or inputs if you don;t get the planned results.

    So walking at 3mph on a incline with a heart rate of 135 to 140 for a total of an hour isn't sufficient enough to burn 400 calories? I'm using a polar chest strap that's Blue toothed to my
    Apple Watch. I'm not going by what the treadmill says or what MyFitnessPal estimates.

    The way to tell whether the balance of your calories in and calories burned is working is by your results.

    What is your weight doing?

    Are you losing at your desired rate?
  • nataliecu78
    nataliecu78 Posts: 3 Member
    I do interval training and burn about 900/hour. So 400/hour of walking sounds about right.
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