exercise - calories burned - is this for real?

1PatientBear

But I still don't feel compelled to eat the calories I burn. I'm usually not that hungry when I get back from a ride, and most of my rides are at night, so why eat a bunch of stuff just before I go to bed? Because some web site says I should? Not a good enough reason.

I'm honestly not trying to be argumentative with you man, so I hope you don't take it that way. It's not because "some website says you should." It's because your body needs a certain amount of fuel to perform just basic, daily living and when you exercise, you add more work to your body beyond the basics. So, you need to eat more to provide that fuel.

I'm in DFW like you, so it's like if you were going to drive from DFW to Waco vs driving from DFW to South Padre. Obviously, you need more gas in your car to drive to Padre than you do to drive to Waco. It's the same concept. Based on your ticker, you still have a decent amount of weight to lose, so it may not be that big a deal right now. But PLEASE believe me when I tell you that the closer you get to your goal, the harder it is to lose weight and the more important it becomes to properly fuel your body.

Best of luck.

jennybenny35

Yes - the stationary bike feels like a lazy- chair with peddles. Not exactly the same feeling you get on a real bike ride. I really like the elliptical much better. There is also the AMT - Stair stepper - auto-stride thingy. (Sorry I don't know the real name), I have tried it once! That thing is a killer! I could only go about 15 minutes on that one. I will get there though. It's only my 2nd week! :happy:

jennybenny35

I wish I could give you guys a THUMBS UP! like on Facebook! :bigsmile:

jeffpettis

Let's put it this way: Just because this website removes X calories from your intake due to exercise you log, doesn't mean you should eat X calories extra on that day.

Actually, that's exactly what it means. Some people feel MFP overestimates burns and choose not to eat back all their exercise calories and that's fine if it works for them. But the way the MFP system is set up is based upon the premise that you DO eat the calories you burn.

I could almost guarantee that if the OP ate back that 1000 calories that MFP told them they burned they will be back here in a month or so asking why they are not losing weight.

1PatientBear

Let's put it this way: Just because this website removes X calories from your intake due to exercise you log, doesn't mean you should eat X calories extra on that day.

Actually, that's exactly what it means. Some people feel MFP overestimates burns and choose not to eat back all their exercise calories and that's fine if it works for them. But the way the MFP system is set up is based upon the premise that you DO eat the calories you burn.

I could almost guarantee that if the OP ate back that 1000 calories that MFP told them they burned they will be back here in a month or so asking why they are not losing weight.

Which is exactly why I said that some people feel MFP overestimates burns. That may or may not be the case. That's why many feel the best route is to get an HRM and use that so that the caloric burn is accurate. Regardless, again, eating back the calories is how MFP's system is set up.

heybales

But I still don't feel compelled to eat the calories I burn. I'm usually not that hungry when I get back from a ride, and most of my rides are at night, so why eat a bunch of stuff just before I go to bed? Because some web site says I should? Not a good enough reason.

I'm honestly not trying to be argumentative with you man, so I hope you don't take it that way. It's not because "some website says you should." It's because your body needs a certain amount of fuel to perform just basic, daily living and when you exercise, you add more work to your body beyond the basics. So, you need to eat more to provide that fuel.

I'm in DFW like you, so it's like if you were going to drive from DFW to Waco vs driving from DFW to South Padre. Obviously, you need more gas in your car to drive to Padre than you do to drive to Waco. It's the same concept. Based on your ticker, you still have a decent amount of weight to lose, so it may not be that big a deal right now. But PLEASE believe me when I tell you that the closer you get to your goal, the harder it is to lose weight and the more important it becomes to properly fuel your body.

Best of luck.

How about if you found out a proper feeding for the workout would help you actually improve from it, and be better for tomorrow's workout too?

The body can easily fool you, not feeling hungry and being fully fed are very different things.

Unless you are a pro that can read very fine nuances of the body, and actually they don't have to learn that well, because they have a coach to tell them what to do and eat, you should probably do some research and use your brain, not your body.

Most people can make some progress doing things all wrong, but imagine how good it could be doing it better!

For instance, did you know that the window for getting in carbs for best glucose refill is within 30 min, and it gets worse until past 2 hrs, you'll only get 50% uptake?
Or that if you do a refill ratio of carb to protein of 4:1, you enhance even more the storage and improve the performance the next day compared to not using that ratio.

Your body will never tell you that, and you'd have to experiment leaving out other variables to hope to notice, but studies have already done it.

Same way many vitamin or mineral deficiencies can take a while to show up, and by the time they do, some bad damage has already happened that can take awhile to get over. Usually only matters if really pushing your body, but how much better to know with the brain then hope to tell with the body.

Mr_Knight

But I still don't feel compelled to eat the calories I burn. I'm usually not that hungry when I get back from a ride, and most of my rides are at night, so why eat a bunch of stuff just before I go to bed? Because some web site says I should? Not a good enough reason.

I find using MFP that way just doesn't work for me. I have a daily/weekly calorie budget, and that's what I eat. The budget is built with certain exercise assumptions, so I eat according to plan, and exercise according to plan, and everything works out no fuss no muss.

Mr_Knight

Which is exactly why I said that some people feel MFP overestimates burns. That may or may not be the case. That's why many feel the best route is to get an HRM and use that so that the caloric burn is accurate.

Those damn HRMs have something like god-like status on MFP. I use one, too, but people taking numbers from those things blindly aren't doing themselves any favors, either!

Cindyinpg

Which is exactly why I said that some people feel MFP overestimates burns. That may or may not be the case. That's why many feel the best route is to get an HRM and use that so that the caloric burn is accurate.

Those damn HRMs have something like god-like status on MFP. I use one, too, but people taking numbers from those things blindly aren't doing themselves any favors, either!

Yeah, my Bodymedia Fit gives me diddly squat for calories burned on a stationary bike for 60 minutes (200) as compared to MFP (600). The true values are probably somewhere in the middle. It's all a game of estimating and there're so many variables. :ohwell:

PaulHalicki

Most people can make some progress doing things all wrong, but imagine how good it could be doing it better!

My definition of "better" is losing weight without getting all stressed out about it. My better is different than yours, and it's working for me so far. If I have issues down the road I may refine my method, but I'm happy with the results to date.

heybales

Easily burn 1000 cal / hr.

Per VO2max test with literal polling at all the HR's on it's way up, I'll burn 1000 cal / hr if I can maintain avg HR of 153, which is near the top of my "aerobic" HR zone. So easy to get more than that running or the bike.
Swimming not so much, but swimming would have different values anyway.

If the bike had electrical resistance, and you entered your weight, and it showed you your watts - the bike would have been more accurate than MFP with it's 2 descriptions of effort, or even a HRM estimating calorie burn.

Outside a treadmill, a ergo cycle is the 2nd most used means of testing fitness and VO2 and calories burn, ect, in the lab, and has very accurate formulas for it - even to the point of differences between cadence or RPM that is used.

And just like running, if you are on the extremes of the tested range where personal efficiency starts entering the picture big time, then you'll start getting more inaccurate.

admegamo

MFP calories burned are always less than what the exercise machines tell me that I burned...

1PatientBear

Most people can make some progress doing things all wrong, but imagine how good it could be doing it better!

My definition of "better" is losing weight without getting all stressed out about it. My better is different than yours, and it's working for me so far. If I have issues down the road I may refine my method, but I'm happy with the results to date.

Ok man. We tried to help. Personally, I'd rather learn the right way to do things up front so I can create good habits from the start and not have to refine midstream and unlearn my previous methods. But that's me.

heybales

Male 5'11" age 54 233lb doing 40km at avg cadence 75 and avg speed 17.8mph it took me 83mins and according to HRM avg HR 132 I burnt 1045 calories. so would seem a little high possibly at 1000 and possibly low at 435.

Holy cow, you are in shape!

To maintain that pace out on the road with that low HR for that long. Unless that was a group ride drafting for a big part of the time (which is where pace based calorie burn breaks apart on the bike), that's great.

Do you use a HRM with a VO2max stat and self test? Cause I gotta tell ya, if you don't, you burned more, guaranteed.

PaulHalicki

Those damn HRMs have something like god-like status on MFP. I use one, too, but people taking numbers from those things blindly aren't doing themselves any favors, either!

It's probably something like +/- 50% for MFP's descriptive exercise calorie counts (i.e., 30 minutes cycling at 12-14 mph), but with a HRM it narrows it down to +/- 20%. If you went to a biometrics lab and got baselined, you could maybe get it down to +/- 5% based on HRM inputs.