Switched to this program and I have a few questions

AllishComedy

Hey guys!
I've been using Lose It! since November. A couple of years ago I was ~300lbs I weighed in this week at 247.5. So I'm underway to my 220 goal. On Lose It! it would subtract my weight lifting from my daily calorie count. I've noticed on here none of the workouts have calorie values associated with them. Is it good at this point to stop factoring in the 200-300 calories a day that burns to really "hit the afterburners" so to speak?

Also: I can't for the life of me find planks on the workouts. I thought it'd be good to start tracking that better so I can really get above a minute and beyond on those workouts!

Thanks,
Your friendly neighborhood fat guy.

Rusty740

You've hit the nail on the head. Supercharge your weight loss by not eating your exercise calories back. It's nice to balance that out though, by still attempting to keep your hunger at bay, so there's a balance there.

Also, just a note on weightlifting. Calories burned by weightlifting are very difficult to estimate and also not as significant as cardio for pure burnage (still excellent for your physique so don't stop). Another reason not to count them. I still track all my calories, but I don't usually eat them back.

jessiefrancine

If you really want to, there is a general "strength training" entry in the cardio database that does reflect a calorie expenditure. Not sure on accuracy as compared to your actual program, though (does the database number reflect the same amount of exertion as your program? length of rests between sets? whether lifts are compound or isolation?).

Personally, I enter my strength training minutes for my own tracking purposes, but modify the calorie expenditure down to 1 because I just don't trust that my lifting is actually burning what the database formula speculates I might be burning. I do eat back 50% of calories for cardio exercise. I consider this a good hedge against food logging errors or items I might occasionally forget to log. Your mileage may vary.

AllishComedy

Thanks for the replies guys!

Tried30UserNames

I do eat most of my exercise calories back. I think you'd very likely be undereating if don't eat at least some of them since MFP is designed for you to eat them. You need to fuel those workouts. A lot of people recommend eating at least half back.

lorrpb

Do eat back about half the exercise cals. Use the same estimate you were using on LoseIt, or look under Cardio, then strength training. You don't burn substantial cals during a plank.