How to stop swapping calories burned for ones I can eat?

mallen404

Sorry I don't understand.

So are you saying that when MFP tells me to eat 1900 calories it knows that I am working out doing circuit training three times a week even if I don't log it based on my activity assessment when I signed up?

If you put it to sedimentary for exercise and didn't put in any fitness goals, I would eat back your exercise calories.

stumblinthrulife

Sorry I don't understand.

So are you saying that when MFP tells me to eat 1900 calories it knows that I am working out doing circuit training three times a week even if I don't log it based on my activity assessment when I signed up?

MFP uses three factors to determine how much you should eat -

A. Activity level - This is where you choose whether you are sedentary, moderately active etc... It includes everything you do except exercise.
B. Your desired deficit - This is where you choose how much you want to lose per week. Half a pound per week = 250 calorie deficit per day, etc....
C. Logged exercise calories - This is the stuff you log, like your runs, time on the elliptical, etc...

The way MFP works is it first works out how many calories you can eat to lose weight with no exercise. So you can eat A - B. If you had a 1,900 NEAT figure (i.e. everything you do in a day except exercise) and you picked a 500 deficit (for one pound a week lost), MFP will tell you to eat 1,400 Calories a day to lose weight.

If you then run 5k, and burn 400 calories, it will subtract those 400 calories from what you have eaten. You then continue to eat up until the 1,400 mark. In total you will have eaten 1,800 calories, but that is still a 500 calorie deficit. If you do not eat back those 400 Calories, you will be running a 900 Calorie deficit.

Another (and probably easier) way to look at it is to figure out your total calorie allowance. I think this is what you are getting at. It gives the exact same end result - eating 1,800 calories.

Your calorie allowance effectively equals A + B - C.

MFP gives you 1900 calories for your base activity level.
On a given day you burn 400 calories running a 5k.
You want to lose 1 pound per week, so you set your deficit to 500.

You can eat 1,900 + 400 - 500 = 1,800 Calories.

The third method some have alluded to is TDEE. TDEE is your daily energy burn including exercise. There are lots of calculators out there to figure this out, some using more data than others. Some will go so far as asking you how many minutes you spend every day sleeping, sitting, lightly active, active, heavily active, and working out. It's more accurate, but also more work to setup. To use this method of creating a calorie deficit, you first calculate your TDEE and then subtract 10-20% from that number. You set the result as a custom goal in MFP, and then forget about logging exercise at all.

Ultimately, whichever method you use, it's all going to be trial and error. Food and exercise logging errors will invariably mean your results will vary slightly from those predicted. Pick a method, stick with it for six weeks, then compare your actual to predicted progress. Adjust accordingly. Losing too fast - eat more. Losing too slow - eat less, or reign in your exercise calorie burn estimates.

bagge72

Don't log your exercise. The only reason to log it is to add calories to eat back.

bagge72

Sorry I don't understand.

So are you saying that when MFP tells me to eat 1900 calories it knows that I am working out doing circuit training three times a week even if I don't log it based on my activity assessment when I signed up?

If you set your activity level to high, then it assumes you are working out, so don't add it back in once you do it. If you are set a sedentary, you need to log your exercise, and eat back those calories.

sijomial

If you set your activity level to high, then it assumes you are working out, so don't add it back in once you do it. If you are set a sedentary, you need to log your exercise, and eat back those calories.

Sorry that is incorrect. Activity level reflects your lifestyle and job - it does not relate to added exercise.
I have a desk job so my activity level is sedentary, someone with a physically demanding job would be active or very active irrespective of how much added exercise they may do.