Was hoping to get help figuring out how many calories i burn with my exercises.

kallen771991

Ok, so i went through and found names for all the reps i do, My aim is for low intensity so sometimes i will get 27 of the 30 min i do these in in active minutes on my fitbit, sometimes i only get a min, it depends on a day to day basis so i'm trying to get a rough round number so i can logg it well. Right now mfp is only counting calories burned with extra steps... I don't understand it as well... my fitbit says i burned over 1000 cal the other day in active minutes and in only got 883 cal for steps on the MFP side so i'm not sure which app to go off of to know what i burn fully. either way.,.. (if someone wants to explain why the app only counts the steps, that would be awesome but if not thats fine too)

I do the fallowing, and they aren't in order as i do them just to know.

30 high steps, 15 per leg
30 flutter kicks, 15 per leg
30 cross situps, 15 per side
15 regular situps
30 donkey kicks, 15 per side
15 weighted squats with a 15lb sand ball
15 side lunges with a 15lb sand ball
30 step ups, using a boost stool my kids have, 15 each side.
15 overhead extensions with the 15lb sand ball.
15 bent over rows with 2 5lb hand bell weights
15 lateral risess with the 2 5lb hand bell weights
15 overhead shoulder presses with 2 5lb hand bell weights
15 lateral and front curl lifts with an exercise band, i do both types each rep
15 Criss cross "punches" with the 2 5lb hand bell weights
30 heel touches, 15 each side
30 side bends with the 2 5lb hand bell weights 15 each side
15 pelvic thrusts, my daughter sits on my belly while i do this and she's almost 47lbs now, its super fun for her.
30 Russian twists, i cross my legs then switch them and do it again so its 15 reps per to stretch evenly when i do them, with the 15lb sand ball

Then i don't know what the name of this one is but i lay down with my knees up, i lift my 15lb sand ball up straight, keep my arms straight, go back over my head and behind but i won't let it hit the floor, i hold for 3 seconds then bring it back up straight above me and then bring it down slow.

I do these every week day, giving myself Saturday and Sunday off. Been consistent two weeks now. I started with 10 reps instead of 15 last week but they were too easy, the upped 15 reps are much better lol.

to clarify, i have pcos, so the low intensity is to help reduce cortisol levels and i get an average of a little over 5000 steps a day.

oh!
Also, here are my specs

i'm 5 ft 8 in
249.8 lbs
30 yo
Female

and i count as an active person, i do chores daily, go outside as much as i can with the kids, i do macro photography so i constantly walk around trying to find bugs to photograph just about every time i'm out. I don't stay sitting long is my point lol

I started trying to get my weight in check back in nov 2020 but never really stayed consistant and let myself go over the holidays this past year and i'm making up for it. lol
doing better tho!

Oh! and i am getting PLENTY of protein too! i have a plant based powder i use in the mornings, i have turkey with lunch and i have a meat with dinner.

thank you in advance for the help!

cwolfman13

When you Fitbit synchs it's giving you a reconciliation adjustment to whatever you selected as your activity level in MFP. Example...if you set you activity level to moderate active on MFP but your Fitibit is indicating highly active you are going to get an adjustment to reconcile that. It's not going to be the full calories your Fitbit indicates as active because some of those are already included in your MFP activity level. Your Fitbit also is just looking at everything throughout the day, not just "active"...it's saying with everything, including active minutes, BMR, NEAT, etc you burn this many calories and it is more than the activity you selected in MFP so it gives a reconciling adjustment.

You aren't going to be able to accurately determine calories expenditure for each of those things individually. And if you have your Fitbit synched, there's no need to log it separately anyway. Your Fitbit is giving you an adjustment for all of your activity relative to whatever you selected in MFP. Let the device and the app do their job...there's no reason to intervene with anything manually.

kallen771991

cwolfman13 wrote: »

When you Fitbit synchs it's giving you a reconciliation adjustment to whatever you selected as your activity level in MFP. Example...if you set you activity level to moderate active on MFP but your Fitibit is indicating highly active you are going to get an adjustment to reconcile that. It's not going to be the full calories your Fitbit indicates as active because some of those are already included in your MFP activity level. Your Fitbit also is just looking at everything throughout the day, not just "active"...it's saying with everything, including active minutes, BMR, NEAT, etc you burn this many calories and it is more than the activity you selected in MFP so it gives a reconciling adjustment.

You aren't going to be able to accurately determine calories expenditure for each of those things individually. And if you have your Fitbit synched, there's no need to log it separately anyway. Your Fitbit is giving you an adjustment for all of your activity relative to whatever you selected in MFP. Let the device and the app do their job...there's no reason to intervene with anything manually.

ok, fair enough, so i have mfp set to lightly active right now, should i change it to active instead?

My doctor told me to stay around 1500 cal as a goal for the day with exercise, so i had it set to lightly because its closer to that goal, it gives me 1662 cal, but if its messing with the way the app is recording my burned calories, i'd like that corrected, i can do the math myself when it comes to deficit later. i had no idea that had an impact on what it shows for calories burned.

AnnPT77

What wolfman said is good advice.

I'd have one caveat: Many of the exercises you list are strength-challenging. I'm not sure how Fitbit estimates calories for those things (algorithm-wise). If it doesn't know you're strength training specifically - and maybe even if it does - it may use heart rate to estimate. Using heart rate to estimate strength training can result in over-estimates, because heart rate goes up during strength training partly for reasons that have nothing to do with increased oxygen consumption (and that can be extra true when new to the exercise). It's oxygen consumption that correlates pretty well with calorie burn: Heart rate is just a proxy for oxygen consumption, and it's an imperfect one.

Some fitness trackers these days, some of the ones that know the type of exercise being performed when it's happening, will use methods other than heart rate to estimate strength training. I don't know what your Fitbit does. (I'm a Garmin gal.)

Don't worry about it, though: If you follow your MFP/Fitbit calorie level for 4-6 weeks, your actual bodyweight results will tell you if there's any kind of discrepancy bit enough to be concerned about. If there is, you can adjust intake accordingly. Since you're female and 30, I'd suggest comparing body weights at the same relative point in at least two different menstrual cycles, to eliminate one potential major source of confusing water retention variations.

Best wishes!

kallen771991

AnnPT77 wrote: »

What wolfman said is good advice.

I'd have one caveat: Many of the exercises you list are strength-challenging. I'm not sure how Fitbit estimates calories for those things (algorithm-wise). If it doesn't know you're strength training specifically - and maybe even if it does - it may use heart rate to estimate. Using heart rate to estimate strength training can result in over-estimates, because heart rate goes up during strength training partly for reasons that have nothing to do with increased oxygen consumption (and that can be extra true when new to the exercise). It's oxygen consumption that correlates pretty well with calorie burn: Heart rate is just a proxy for oxygen consumption, and it's an imperfect one.

Some fitness trackers these days, some of the ones that know the type of exercise being performed when it's happening, will use methods other than heart rate to estimate strength training. I don't know what your Fitbit does. (I'm a Garmin gal.)

Don't worry about it, though: If you follow your MFP/Fitbit calorie level for 4-6 weeks, your actual bodyweight results will tell you if there's any kind of discrepancy bit enough to be concerned about. If there is, you can adjust intake accordingly. Since you're female and 30, I'd suggest comparing body weights at the same relative point in at least two different menstrual cycles, to eliminate one potential major source of confusing water retention variations.

Best wishes!

I am on a 3 month pill, so i can't accurately tell whats water weight and what isn't sadly. My weight does change day to day, its barely ever consistant. Right now i'm between 249 and 254 pretty steadily, so i can't go off weight as much, my measurements on the other hand have come down tho

AnnPT77

kallen771991 wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

What wolfman said is good advice.

I'd have one caveat: Many of the exercises you list are strength-challenging. I'm not sure how Fitbit estimates calories for those things (algorithm-wise). If it doesn't know you're strength training specifically - and maybe even if it does - it may use heart rate to estimate. Using heart rate to estimate strength training can result in over-estimates, because heart rate goes up during strength training partly for reasons that have nothing to do with increased oxygen consumption (and that can be extra true when new to the exercise). It's oxygen consumption that correlates pretty well with calorie burn: Heart rate is just a proxy for oxygen consumption, and it's an imperfect one.

Some fitness trackers these days, some of the ones that know the type of exercise being performed when it's happening, will use methods other than heart rate to estimate strength training. I don't know what your Fitbit does. (I'm a Garmin gal.)

Don't worry about it, though: If you follow your MFP/Fitbit calorie level for 4-6 weeks, your actual bodyweight results will tell you if there's any kind of discrepancy bit enough to be concerned about. If there is, you can adjust intake accordingly. Since you're female and 30, I'd suggest comparing body weights at the same relative point in at least two different menstrual cycles, to eliminate one potential major source of confusing water retention variations.

Best wishes!

I am on a 3 month pill, so i can't accurately tell whats water weight and what isn't sadly. My weight does change day to day, its barely ever consistant. Right now i'm between 249 and 254 pretty steadily, so i can't go off weight as much, my measurements on the other hand have come down tho

Do you have a weight trending app? I'm talking something like Happy Scale for iOS/Apple, Libra for Android, Trendweight with a Fitbit account (don't need a device to get a free account, but you mentioned being a Fitbit user), Weightgrapher.

The trending apps aren't magical, and can still mislead, but they can be a help in seeing the underlying pattern in the daily ups/downs. They just use statistics to smooth out the bumps in the daily weights, but it's an estimation, still, not a magic crystal ball. (Mine has thought I was maintaining or even gaining for several weeks at a time when I was actually losing fat super slowly! Usually, it's more on target, generally, though.)

If your measurements are coming down, you're almost certainly losing fat. Sometimes that doesn't show up on the scale right away: Some folks seem to lose weight in a pattern of seeming stalls then sudden whooshes (multi-pound drop), but others have different patterns.

For sure, up and down is the commonest short-term pattern, within a day to a small number of weeks. In the longer term (weeks to months), that range of fluctuation either moves gradually downward (weight loss), upward (gaining), or stays pretty consistent (maintenance). For example, maybe in X weeks, your weight would be varying between 243 and 248; if so, you could be pretty sure fat loss was happening.

The way that water/waste and body fat changes can play peek-a-boo on the bodyweight scale can be really frustrating, at first. Sticking with it, and keeping track, I'm betting you'll eventually begin to see and understand some of your personal common patterns.

Hang in there - persistence does pay off!