Exercise adjustment

gometros

Can someone please explain the exercise calorie adjustment to me like I'm in grade school? The MFP explanation just isn't clear to me. I mean if I burn, say 400 calories working or, shouldn't that be deducted from my daily calorie intake? Instead it generally tends to balance out with my burned calories. Thanks

cmriverside

Official detailed info:
https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032625391-How-does-MyFitnessPal-calculate-my-initial-goals-

Good threads to read: (Most Helpful Posts/Stickies from "Getting Started")
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300331/most-helpful-posts-getting-started-must-reads#latest

Specifically: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1


Other than that? In general, you set up your Goals to lose weight? If so, the site calculated a lowered calorie goal that would facilitate weight loss based on the info you gave it. That number didn't include purposeful exercise so when you do additional purposeful exercise it will ADD calories to offset that expended energy. Eat the additional calories. For more details, read the above links.

gometros

That's great info, Thanks a lot. You explained it so much better. I was thinking about it incorrectly, thinking that the more calories I burn, the better off I am, not taking into account that my calorie goal was already set for that reason.

yirara

Yes, calories are not part of your deficit. Thus if you work out you should log those calories and eat more. Just to give you an idea how that works. I''m exaggerating a bit on purpose. Say someone is on 1200 calories per day, then runs a 10k worth about 800 net calories *

1200-800 = just nutrition for 300 calories in a day. That's starving and not good in the long run.

* exercise calories consist of the calories for the actual movement (net calories) and the calories your body would burn anyway to keep it alive, organs functioning, brain doing it's thing, new cells created, etc. Both together form gross calories. if you log those (some apps only provide those), then you'd be double dipping the calories your body burns anyway as those are part of your calorie deficit MFP gives you.

Also, some trackers, devices and MFP grossly overestimate calorie burn. It might be a good idea to only log half of 2/3 of the burned calories and see how your weightloss goes for 4-6 weeks (at least one menstrual cycle for women), then adjust accordingly and eat a bit more or less.

This is a good calorie calculator for running and walking. chose net calories (or just play with it to see what it does): https://exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs

cmriverside

MFP grossly overestimate calorie burn

I don't find this to be true. I've always used Myfitnesspal's numbers and if anything, they are too low (at least, the calorie estimate is...not necessarily all the fault of the Exercise cals, but still...)

I eat a full 300 calories more per day than the Myfitnesspal suggestions.

However I accept that it is an experiment everyone has to run for themselves. I would start with using the easiest method if you're using this site. Use their calories recommendations for 4-6 weeks, log everything and collect your data. At the end of your experiment, adjust calories if the weight changes warrant an adjustment.

yirara

cmriverside wrote: »

MFP grossly overestimate calorie burn

I don't find this to be true. I've always used Myfitnesspal's numbers and if anything, they are too low (at least, the calorie estimate is...not necessarily all the fault of the Exercise cals, but still...)

I eat a full 300 calories more per day than the Myfitnesspal suggestions.

However I accept that it is an experiment everyone has to run for themselves. I would start with using the easiest method if you're using this site. Use their calories recommendations for 4-6 weeks, log everything and collect your data. At the end of your experiment, adjust calories if the weight changes warrant an adjustment.

Yes, you're right. MFP's calorie burns might be overstated for some people. The same is true for fitness trackers and apps. The calories might also be too low, or work out.