Exercise Calories-To Count or Not to Count

liwo81

62 year old female here and I walk 2-4 miles 5-6 times a week and have started added a couple of miles of biking riding a few times a week too. I have NOT been deducting the exercise calories and am in need of losing about 35#. I lost a couple of pounds the first week and surprisingly about 3# after week 2. But I gained 3 on the third week. I always stayed pretty well hydrated. I have stayed pretty close to the daily calories goal with a macro goal of 40% carb and 30% for protein and fat. My question is whether or not to add the exercise calories. I have NOT been but I usually burn 300-400 calories and the biking is adding another 100-200. My daily calories target is about 1400. Would love your thoughts. I’m not so concerned about the weight gain this week because I know things can fluctuate pretty wildly.

tomcustombuilder

It depends on many factors as far as what you should be doing. The best test is to either add or add 50% of those calories or none. You'll know how your equation is working after reviewing progress or lack of it in 4 weeks or so. Adjust at that point.

Anecdotally I don't figure exercise calories. That's just one more number that may or may not be accurate. When I'm in fatloss mode I lose 1 lb a week.

cmriverside

What Tom said. Sorta.

Myfitnesspal calculates your calories WITHOUT purposeful exercise and expects you to add in more on days you do it.

With that said, logging accuracy, guessing exercise calories, picking wrong "Activity Level" in Goals, or even choosing a too-aggressive rate of loss for your current situation all play into this.

Here is the official explanation: https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032625391-How-does-MyFitnessPal-calculate-my-initial-goals-

In order for you to figure it out you have to run your own experiment. Pick one way to do it for two months, adjust at the end of the experiment. Too many changes over too short a time period makes for bad data - so make very few adjustments until you get good trending data over that time period.

I always ate the additional earned exercise calories and that worked for me. Still do, 15 years later. Still at Goal weight.

tomcustombuilder

MFP calculations and equations are only as accurate as the data you give it.

Accurate calorie counting and tracking
Selecting the correct food entries
Proper lifestyle category
Proper exercise entries (many can be overstated)

If any of these are inaccurate you won’t get the results you expect. I doubt anyone is spot on with all categories so it become a matter of compensation.

Fattyohfat

I don't record my exercise. I tried, and it was just to much research, and guessing etc. I go to the gym 3-4 times a week, and do 15 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of weights. All I want is to elevate my heart rate. So as long as I am sweaty and tired at the end I don't worry about it. I just try and make sure I hit my macros and my calorie numbers. Two months in 40-ish lbs lost.

PAV8888

tomcustombuilder wrote: »

MFP calculations and equations are only as accurate as the data you give it.

All these tools use population estimates. So part of this is also how close your personal reality tracks to the population estimates. So no matter what the experiment has to be run for your own reality

Fattyohfat wrote: »

I don't record my exercise. I tried, and it was just to much research, and guessing etc. I go to the gym 3-4 times a week, and do 15 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of weights. All I want is to elevate my heart rate. So as long as I am sweaty and tired at the end I don't worry about it. I just try and make sure I hit my macros and my calorie numbers. Two months in 40-ish lbs lost.

I realize that you may be starting from a higher weight level and that these numbers may actually be quite good in your particular n=1. In general, though, approximately 5lbs a week more than doubles the generally suggested maximum rates of loss and probably far exceeds the 0.5% to 1% of bodyweight lost per week that most people end up finding to be more "sustainable" (for lack of better word) over the longer term. Yes I realize that part of this may be initial weight loss and especially if aiming for lower levels of carbs part of it may be temporary water weight removal that is expected to come back. But if we take it at face value 40 x 3500 = 140,000 / number of days = effective deficit you've applied per day... regardless of what you may have been aiming for. That said: awesome results so far; but do remain willing to adjust with your eye towards sustainability of effort... because five years from now it would be nice to see you here talking about how long you've been maintaining your weight loss!

Jarol777

LIWO81 - I agree with Fattyohfat, just measure your actual calorie intake, do the exercise but forget adjusting the calories. When you reach your weight goal, you will be happy and you will have done a whole lot less work and you will have reached your goal sooner. Good luck!
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/47707541#Comment_47707541

AnnPT77

Like Riverside, I've always estimated my exercise calories separately (and carefully), and have eaten them all back - all through about a year of loss from obese to a healthy weight, and 7+ years maintaining a healthy weight since.

My body weight outcomes have varied predictably with calorie intake, after a period at the start when I was figuring out whether I was average (i.e., matched the calculator estimates) or not. (The answer was "not" . . . so using my own experience data to adjust was essential.) Riverside's point about being consistent for weeks at the beginning to get clean experience data - that's IMIO a really smart point.

My preferred exercises are weather dependent, and my overall routine varies seasonally. I probably exercise more than the average person, most of the time. However, I do have times when I'm unable to exercise (illness, surgical recovery, injury . . . .), occasionally for weeks at a time. For those reasons, my daily calorie expenditure can vary quite a lot, and it's most useful to me to have ways to adjust my eating intelligently alongside.

Let's say someone estimates their calorie needs without considering exercise, sets a very aggressive loss rate (2 pounds/week would be aggressive for quite a range of people), and does several hundred (accurate) calories of exercise most days. If they eat back zero exercise calories, I think they're asking for trouble. It's a health risk, and usually not sustainable in the long run. (Fast loss isn't necessarily better!)

At the opposite extreme, where someone selects a gradual loss rate, does only a relatively small amount of exercise 3x a week or something, and doesn't eat back exercise calories . . . they'll probably be fine letting the exercise increase their loss rate.

Anything in between those two extremes is a question of how much health and sustainability risk a person wants to accept. Personally, I don't like betting my health.

What really matters is keeping actual loss rate at a sensible level, no matter how one does the math, though. Sensible, IMO, means 0.5-1% of current weight lost per week, with a bias toward the lower end of that unless severely obese and under close medical supervision for deficiencies or complications.

Melwillbehealthy

Not sure if I’m answering your question correctly, but I always add and eat back my exercise calories. I’m losing weight doing this. If I don’t exercise and get the extra calories, I don’t get enough calories to eat and satisfy my hunger. I’m short, older , fairly sedentary, and unfortunately don’t require a lot of calories to survive. I can’t live on the 1200 calories mfp allows me. It’s just not enough. I feel that getting the exercise calories is making all the difference in my success.