Need help understanding this.

nasr25

I have questions I hope someone can answer these for me they've been bugging me.

1. Does mfp use net calorie burn for there activity calculator or gross? If it’s gross can someone please post a website that has net values if you know of one?
2. I am male 280 pounds trying to lose at a rate of 1.5 pounds a week and when I do that mfp gives me 2120 calories to eat but online calculators give me 2700-2750 total calories to maintain at sedentary. So 2750 - 750 is 1950 not 2120 so why is mfp giving me more calories the. It should?

Any input would be great thank you in advance.

spiriteagle99

Try using the numbers than MFP gives you for a month and see if you are getting the results you expect. I eat back all the calories that MFP calculates for my exercise and that works for me. Some people eat 50% or 75% to be cautious. If you don't have enough energy to do your workouts or if you are losing weight too fast, then eat a bit more.

Calorie burn depends partly on the exercise. Walking and running are simple math and easy to calculate. Exercises that depend on intensity (i.e. calisthenics, aerobics, or yoga) can vary according to the exercise and how hard they are really working and how fit they are.

AnnPT77

nasr25 wrote: »

I have questions I hope someone can answer these for me they've been bugging me.

1. Does mfp use net calorie burn for there activity calculator or gross? If it’s gross can someone please post a website that has net values if you know of one?
2. I am male 280 pounds trying to lose at a rate of 1.5 pounds a week and when I do that mfp gives me 2120 calories to eat but online calculators give me 2700-2750 total calories to maintain at sedentary. So 2750 - 750 is 1950 not 2120 so why is mfp giving me more calories the. It should?

Any input would be great thank you in advance.

You're comparing apples and oranges.

MFP's estimate (for you to lose at the rate you indicated, or maintenance if that's what you indicated) is calories to eat before intentional exercise (NEAT, non-exercise energy expenditure). Almost all other (non-MFP) calculators are estimating calories including intentional exercise (TDEE, total daily energy expenditure), and they're probably subtracting a percentage to allow for weight loss (if you're paying attention to that distinction). (MFP subtracts a flat number of calories depending on your loss rate goal, not a percentage.)

Even the sedentary value will be differnt between the two, because of the methodology difference.

Pick one.

Option 1: Let MFP set your goal based on work and home life activity level, and eat back a rational estimate of exercise calories on top of that. That means you eat more on exercise days, less on non-exercise days, or you bank exercise calories to spread them differently (via your own accounting). This tends to work well for people who like to eat more when they exercise, or for whom exercise is somewhat unpredictable (such as weather dependent).

Option 2: Use an external TDEE calculator to set your calorie goal, and manually input it to MFP. Eat that same amount every day. This is more likely to work well for someone who likes to eat the same amount every day, and who has a consistent, predictable activity level.

Either way, the calculated estimate is your starting point. Stick to the initial goal for 4-6 weeks (at least one full menstrual cycle for premenopausal women, to allow comparing weights at the same point in at least two - preferably more - menstrual cycles at the same point in the cycle).

After that trial period, compare actual average weight loss per week to the sensible target weight loss, and adjust intake. If the first week or two of loss look unusual (sometimes there are weird water weight effects that don't continue), throw those out, and use the subsequent weeks. In the long run, you're best guided by your own weight loss results, not the estimates.

PAV8888

Because some sedentary estimators estimate sedentary as an activity factor of 1.2 BMR while others estimate it as an activity factor of 1.25 BMR.

MFP is currently estimating sedentary at 1.25 BMR

This has nothing to do with net and gross calories as NEITHER estimator is including any appreciable activity when choosing this type of setting.

On MFP you would be expected to ADD your exercise (or other substantial activity that is not included in your selected activity setting) separately. This WOULD bring up the issue of net and gross burn and in reality MFP would be using gross burns which is why you often hear the advice about only eating back a portion of your exercise calories especially when it comes to longer and lower multiplier value activities.

HOWEVER, this does not apply to activity trackers where the "exercise adjustment" represents a TDEE adjustment based on all of your daily activities and does not represent the value of a particular exercise.

Apple --> MFP integration currently seems to have errors (and so does Samsung based on a couple of posts). These can be circumvented by synchronizing via an intermediary app. An app called Pacer has been proposed and seems to work, I am sure others would be able to do the same. Fitbit integration has its own occasional issues but under normal circumstances calculates your TDEE correctly. As does Garmin AFAIK.

As a data point activity DEFINITELY matters and can substantially change your caloric values. If you are consistently averaging more than 5000 steps a day it is extremely unlikely that you're actually sedentary. Most people start moving out of sedentary once they exceed about 3500 steps with very few people burning calories consistent to being labelled sedentary when moving around more than 5K steps a day. Of course the quality/speed of the steps matters... moving around the house is different from walking uphill on sand

nasr25

Thanks for the help.