If you have more muscle than average?

fairygirlpie9

I'm still quite new to the forum despite logging in for about two weeks now but I have a few questions.

Does MFP calculate your calorie burn purely by your weight and nothing else. I am overweight but I also have a considerable amount of muscle hence why I am a size 10 despite weighing around 11 stone so surely I would burn more than what MFP says. My BF is around 22%.

My regular workouts are about an hour long on the crosstrainer and MFP says I burn 657 calories but I also use light weights on the machine for my arms and do stretching exercises. Additionally last night I went out to a club and it says that for every half hour I burnt around 164 calories. That just seems way to low especially as my heart rate (out of breath, sweating etc) was higher than on the elliptical/cross trainer.

I just wondered what I should do to get a more accurate reading. I have an up band but it asks you rather than telling you how extensively you worked out which is just too subjective for me. Most people on here seem to lower MFP's calorie burn reading but I feel mine needs to go up. What do you think?

Yanicka1

I think you are over thinking this.

Try the system the way it is now, if you lose too fast, eat more but you need a month to 6 weeks sample to know.

And people almost always burn a lot less than they think

cingle87

Yes MFP work on averages, it would be hard for the average users to know how much lbm they have compared to bf, so to simplify the process it just uses and average. There is a Tdee calculator that takes into consideration bf% when calculating you Tdee and therefore your calorie deficit, im on my works computer but im sure someone will link it for you.

HeidiMightyRawr

I think you are over thinking this.

Try the system the way it is now, if you lose too fast, eat more but you need a month to 6 weeks sample to know.

And people almost always burn a lot less than they think

This!

If I ate what MFP said to have, I would lose a lot quicker than what I'm meant to. Whatever the reason, it isn't accurate for me, and I burn a lot more than it thinks.

However, for a lot of people it's just right. For some it's too much. You won't know until you try it out and you can always adjust if necessary once you've trialled it. I go by TDEE now, which I figured out by trial and error.

pcastagner

Just get to work collecting information instead of running with this conjecture.

Pick a number below your TDEE. Eat that. Losing too fast? Eat more. Losing too slow? Eat less.