Compensating for calorie bias

TseliB

Ok. So I know that I need to be eating back my exercise calories, BUT I also know that the general tendency is to underestimate calories eaten and overestimate calories burned. In the absence of a heart-rate monitor or a digital food scale (and therefore any REAL accuracy) right now, is there a rule-of-thumb to follow (be it how to eat, or log, or anything at all) so I safely minimise the chances of going over on my calories without realising?

_Zardoz_

Even with a Heart rate monitor it's all guess work. HRMs use algorithms to work out calories but there is a margin of error, Even your calorie limit will be an estimate.

Anyway how to minimise any errors is just trial and error. I only eat back a portion (minimum of 50% sometimes more and on occasion all of them) of my exercise calories. I'm losing weight have energy and not hungry so it's working so you just need to experiment really and see what works for you. I wouldn't overly worry about going over your goal a little in reality it's not written in stone and is more a guide than anything else. Play around with it a little see what works and gives you results while also giving you good nutrition.

Good Luck

Rogiefreida

for me it's really been a process of trial and error to find my sweet spot for calorie intake. I go by the TDEE method to avoid trying to figure out my calories burned and have had to tweak that several times to find my true TDEE and therefore my deficit to help me lose.

hill8570

Heck, the whole system is kind of a SWAG -- base calorie burn, food calories, exercise calories. I try to estimate my exercise calories about 10% lower than the database, my food calories about 10% higher, and then watch my week-to-week loss to see if I'm sorta-kinda in my desired zone. Since that "zone" changes as you lose weight and build muscle, you'll need to tweek every couple of months anywho.

PRMinx

I'm in the process of trying to figure this out but, for the most part, I try to leave some extra calories on the table most days.

TseliB

Heck, the whole system is kind of a SWAG -- base calorie burn, food calories, exercise calories. I try to estimate my exercise calories about 10% lower than the database, my food calories about 10% higher, and then watch my week-to-week loss to see if I'm sorta-kinda in my desired zone. Since that "zone" changes as you lose weight and build muscle, you'll need to tweek every couple of months anywho.

Oooh, I like this. Gonna give it a bash.

Thanks for the tips, all.

Telutha

Ok. So I know that I need to be eating back my exercise calories, BUT I also know that the general tendency is to underestimate calories eaten and overestimate calories burned. In the absence of a heart-rate monitor or a digital food scale (and therefore any REAL accuracy) right now, is there a rule-of-thumb to follow (be it how to eat, or log, or anything at all) so I safely minimise the chances of going over on my calories without realising?

That's completely wrong. NEVER eat back calories you exercise, keeping a deficit is important if you actually want to lose weight. Increasing the amount you eat on days you exercise completely defeats the point of exercising at all. Instead, change what you eat-- let's say you have 1000 cals a day, and 90% is carbs (so 900) 5% is protein and 5% is fat. Take that, and make it 80% protein (800 cals) with 10% fat and 10% carbs (for the cravings).

PRMinx

Ok. So I know that I need to be eating back my exercise calories, BUT I also know that the general tendency is to underestimate calories eaten and overestimate calories burned. In the absence of a heart-rate monitor or a digital food scale (and therefore any REAL accuracy) right now, is there a rule-of-thumb to follow (be it how to eat, or log, or anything at all) so I safely minimise the chances of going over on my calories without realising?

That's completely wrong. NEVER eat back calories you exercise, keeping a deficit is important if you actually want to lose weight. Increasing the amount you eat on days you exercise completely defeats the point of exercising at all. Instead, change what you eat-- let's say you have 1000 cals a day, and 90% is carbs (so 900) 5% is protein and 5% is fat. Take that, and make it 80% protein (800 cals) with 10% fat and 10% carbs (for the cravings).

This is completely false. Stop giving bad information.

1. MFP has you at a deficit already. When you work out, you are increasing that deficit. If you don't eat back some of your exercise calories, you won't be eating enough. You want to shoot for your net goal, give or take a few to make up for miscalcs.

2. 1,000 calories a day is not enough food for most people. Stop it.

3. An 80% protein, 10% fat and 10% carb diet is virtually impossible for a normal person to follow. I'm shooting for a 40/30/30 and that's tough as it is. And that's not even getting into fact that you NEED carbs and fat to fuel your body properly.

Net, net? Don't give advice on these forums. Sit back, read some of the threads and learn.

BarbieAS

Ok. So I know that I need to be eating back my exercise calories, BUT I also know that the general tendency is to underestimate calories eaten and overestimate calories burned. In the absence of a heart-rate monitor or a digital food scale (and therefore any REAL accuracy) right now, is there a rule-of-thumb to follow (be it how to eat, or log, or anything at all) so I safely minimise the chances of going over on my calories without realising?

That's completely wrong. NEVER eat back calories you exercise, keeping a deficit is important if you actually want to lose weight. Increasing the amount you eat on days you exercise completely defeats the point of exercising at all. Instead, change what you eat-- let's say you have 1000 cals a day, and 90% is carbs (so 900) 5% is protein and 5% is fat. Take that, and make it 80% protein (800 cals) with 10% fat and 10% carbs (for the cravings).

This is completely false. Stop giving bad information.

1. MFP has you at a deficit already. When you work out, you are increasing that deficit. If you don't eat back some of your exercise calories, you won't be eating enough. You want to shoot for your net goal, give or take a few to make up for miscalcs.

2. 1,000 calories a day is not enough food for most people. Stop it.

3. An 80% protein, 10% fat and 10% carb diet is virtually impossible for a normal person to follow. I'm shooting for a 40/30/30 and that's tough as it is. And that's not even getting into fact that you NEED carbs and fat to fuel your body properly.

Net, net? Don't give advice on these forums. Sit back, read some of the threads and learn.

To the first quoted poster - solid first post. (ETA: second quoted poster said everything I would have wanted to respond.)

To the OP - set your deficit goal in MFP to a reasonable level given your stats and goals. Start by eating back maybe 50% of your exercise calories and you can adjust up or down from there based on your results. Make it a point to invest in some gear to make your estimates slightly better estimates - I would argue that a food scale should be your first purchase by leaps and bounds; your food calories are likely to be farther off than your exercise calories over the course of a day, plus you can get one really cheap - there's a non-digital one at Target that goes for about $5.

elyelyse

NEVER eat back calories you exercise, keeping a deficit is important if you actually want to lose weight. Increasing the amount you eat on days you exercise completely defeats the point of exercising at all.

Wrong. As others have stated, there is already a deficit built into the mfp system, without exercise. (If you are using the TDEE method, thenyou do not eat back calories, because extra calories for activity are already built in to that system)

The main purpose of exercise is health and fitness, not weight loss...though it DOES have the added benefit of allowing us to eat more, because we burn more and need to refuel. Having said that, I only log 50%-75% of my exercise, to compensate for errors.

ETA:

change what you eat-- let's say you have 1000 cals a day, and 90% is carbs (so 900) 5% is protein and 5% is fat. Take that, and make it 80% protein (800 cals) with 10% fat and 10% carbs (for the cravings).

and this is terrible advice. besides 1000 calories being WAY too low for at least 99% of the population...80p, 10f, and 10c is going to be completely unsustainable for the majority...not to mention unhealthy. sorry, this is just crazy talk.

TseliB

To the first quoted poster - solid first post.

:laugh:

To the OP - set your deficit goal in MFP to a reasonable level given your stats and goals. Start by eating back maybe 50% of your exercise calories and you can adjust up or down from there based on your results. Make it a point to invest in some gear to make your estimates slightly better estimates - I would argue that a food scale should be your first purchase by leaps and bounds; your food calories are likely to be farther off than your exercise calories over the course of a day, plus you can get one really cheap - there's a non-digital one at Target that goes for about $5.

Cool. Main thing I'm getting is that I should be level-headed and start at a mid-point (50% calories back); then monitor how what I'm doing is working; adjust accordingly; repeat. Am I right? What's a reasonable trial period to gauge results (a week, a month)? Is it ever ok to stay below 50% (like if for instance I still don't lose my 0.5 kg per week at 50% calories back, could there be something else that I should be looking at/adjusting)?

TIA guys. Appreciate any solid info/help you can give.

P.S. I actually did have an analogue scale which my one-year-old smashed a few days ago. I started to freak out coz after getting that scale in the first place I really saw just how way off my previous eye-ball portion-size estimates were. Will definitely replace it this weekend though.

Sarauk2sf

Ok. So I know that I need to be eating back my exercise calories, BUT I also know that the general tendency is to underestimate calories eaten and overestimate calories burned. In the absence of a heart-rate monitor or a digital food scale (and therefore any REAL accuracy) right now, is there a rule-of-thumb to follow (be it how to eat, or log, or anything at all) so I safely minimise the chances of going over on my calories without realising?

That's completely wrong. NEVER eat back calories you exercise, keeping a deficit is important if you actually want to lose weight. Increasing the amount you eat on days you exercise completely defeats the point of exercising at all. Instead, change what you eat-- let's say you have 1000 cals a day, and 90% is carbs (so 900) 5% is protein and 5% is fat. Take that, and make it 80% protein (800 cals) with 10% fat and 10% carbs (for the cravings).

You obviously have no idea how this site is set up - a deficit is baked into your base number. Also, 1,000 calories is a bad idea and fats of 10% is also bad advice, as is 10% carbs in most cases.

OP: I usually suggest eating to a static number based on estimated activity levels, or eating back about 50% of your exercise calories. Either way, be consistent, look at the trend, and tweak if you do not get the expected results.

Sarauk2sf

To the first quoted poster - solid first post.

:laugh:

To the OP - set your deficit goal in MFP to a reasonable level given your stats and goals. Start by eating back maybe 50% of your exercise calories and you can adjust up or down from there based on your results. Make it a point to invest in some gear to make your estimates slightly better estimates - I would argue that a food scale should be your first purchase by leaps and bounds; your food calories are likely to be farther off than your exercise calories over the course of a day, plus you can get one really cheap - there's a non-digital one at Target that goes for about $5.

Cool. Main thing I'm getting is that I should be level-headed and start at a mid-point (50% calories back); then monitor how what I'm doing is working; adjust accordingly; repeat. Am I right? What's a reasonable trial period to gauge results (a week, a month)? Is it ever ok to stay below 50% (like if for instance I still don't lose my 0.5 kg per week at 50% calories back, could there be something else that I should be looking at/adjusting)?

TIA guys. Appreciate any solid info/help you can give.

P.S. I actually did have an analogue scale which my one-year-old smashed a few days ago. I started to freak out coz after getting that scale in the first place I really saw just how way off my previous eye-ball portion-size estimates were. Will definitely replace it this weekend though.

I would look at a trend over at least a 4 week period to try to mitigate water weight fluctuations. Look at the big picture though as your diet and/or cycle can make the scale swing temporarily due to water retention.

A scale is a very good idea.

I would go for about 1lb a week weight loss on average until you are nearing 'the final stretch' when 0.5lb a week would be more preferable - tweak what you need to get there.

TseliB

I would go for about 1lb a week weight loss on average until you are nearing 'the final stretch' when 0.5lb a week would be more preferable - tweak what you need to get there.

Thanks. Yes, my goal is 0.5kg a week... that's approx 1lb

Wiseandcurious

That's completely wrong. NEVER eat back calories you exercise, keeping a deficit is important if you actually want to lose weight. Increasing the amount you eat on days you exercise completely defeats the point of exercising at all. Instead, change what you eat-- let's say you have 1000 cals a day, and 90% is carbs (so 900) 5% is protein and 5% is fat. Take that, and make it 80% protein (800 cals) with 10% fat and 10% carbs (for the cravings).

:noway:

what a heck of a first post....

stated not as an opinion but as holy truth, too, I see...

TseliB

bump