Exercise

mummyjay84

Do most people add their exercise? I feel worried about doing this most days as I’m not 100% sure the calories burnt are accurate. Is it better to leave out?

malibu927

If you're following MFP's goals you should be eating at least a portion of your exercise calories back. Start with 50%, judge your loss over the next 4-6 weeks, and adjust based on if you're off your target.

Ryansworld84

I don’t record any. Calorie burn calculators etc are guessing at best. There are so many variables that determine how many calories you burned. You can kind of figure it you if you track everything you eat, every calorie, all week then do the math backwards to see how much weight you lost to get at how many calories you burned and try to guesstimate it that way. Still not perfect. I think some people over estimate calories burned and then dont get the results they want.

sijomial

You know damn well that zero can't be accurate so why guarantee inaccuracy?

Reasonable is a more realistic "need" than accurate anyway.
If you say what your exercise is then people may be able to suggest a better way than the MFP database.

AnnPT77

malibu927 wrote: »

If you're following MFP's goals you should be eating at least a portion of your exercise calories back. Start with 50%, judge your loss over the next 4-6 weeks, and adjust based on if you're off your target.

^^^ This. Estimating exercise is hard, so starting at 50% is a good plan. If needed, adjust after 4-6 weeks.

I found that if I estimated my exercise carefully, I could eat back 100% . . . so I did that throughout losing 50+ pounds, and over 2 years of maintaining a healthy weight since. But the specufic formula is individual.

kathleennf

I agree with three of the above 4 comments, and I do add back my exercise calories. Ryan's last point is well-taken though, I do think a lot of people perhaps add in too much and then wonder why they are not losing weight. I always wonder when I see someone log that s/he burned more than 1000 calories doing some exercise for which I only get 130 LOL. The most important thing is to log and reassess every few weeks.

For me personally, one additional benefit of logging exercise calories is that it motivates me to exercise to earn myself a small "treat" for which there would otherwise be no room. I keep my activity level set at "sedentary" because there are some days I spend the whole day sitting at the computer- and then I log any significant activity as exercise calories. This has been working for me since I joined MFP in 2010.

spiriteagle99

I log all my exercise and eat back all my calories. I mostly walk and run and find that the calories are a bit understated for me, because I do a lot of hills. YMMV

Live_life_well

I use Fitbit and eat 50% of the excercise adjustment.

happyauntie2015

I log all of my exercise not because i want to know how many calories I've burned but because it's easier for me to keep trach what day or days I've done which exercises. I don't try and estimate the calories burned when i have to use the create exercise feature either. The cardio feature gives me an estimate of calories burned. I'm one that if I'm hungry and have calories available i will have a snack of 1 to 200 calories but If im not hungry i don't bother to eat any of the exercise calories back

callsitlikeiseeit

when i bother to log it (and i dont usually), i only log half the time. so if i did an hour of cardio (usually the elliptical), i only log 30 minutes. and i know i can eat those calories back if i so desire.

LivingtheLeanDream

Eat back at least 50% of exercise calories burned - that will account for calorie burn inaccuracies.

TavistockToad

spiriteagle99 wrote: »

I log all my exercise and eat back all my calories. I mostly walk and run and find that the calories are a bit understated for me, because I do a lot of hills. YMMV

i've always used MFP estimates, eaten back all my exercise cals and lost at the predicted rate.

katnadreau

I actually found MFP estimates very accurate. If you're concerned only log half the workout time, and eat those back, adjust after 4-6 weeks.

MegaMooseEsq

Welcome to one of the most controversial and frequently asked questions on MFP! The program is indeed set up so that you log calories from intentional exercise and your calorie allowance is increased to encourage you to "eat back" those calories. When it comes down to it, the best plan is going to be the one that results in you losing weight at the expected rate. Pick a plan - 100%, 50%, 0%* - and stick to it for a month at least. If you are losing weight at the rate you expected, stick to that plan. If you are losing too slow, eat less. Too fast, eat more. It is difficult if not impossible to track everything perfectly. The best you can do is watch your trends and be patient.

*A couple of factors to keep in mind when picking a strategy: How long and intense are your workouts and how low is your calorie allotment without exercise calories? If your exercise is primarily walking or something lower burn like yoga or strength training, and you're fine with your current level of calories, then maybe don't track/eat your exercise calories. But if you're trying to keep at an especially low calorie target, having another 100 calories to eat may be a big deal. Just play around and see how it goes. Good luck!

Falklang

For the first 2 weeks I only put my exercise calories down to 1 calorie so it was easier for me to track my food. Now i input what it says on the bike and will now allow myself to dip into half of the exercise calories if I'm hungry (not peckish)

JeromeBarry1

Sure, I log calories burned exercising. At the beginning of this effort, I was happy to exercise without eating calories and proud of a -10,000 weekly calorie deficit. That was dumb. These days I eat most of the calories I burn and both lose weight steadily and feel good.