Calories Burned

NakiaDM77

How does MFP calculate how much calories needs to be burned daily/weekly? I just started a fitness program...the calories that I inputted pretty much equals to the calories the program says I should have burned during the workout. However I still have tons more calories that is says I should/need have burned. Also I fulfilled my time goal (ex 45 mins a day)!!! Like today I worked out 45 mins, the program said I should burn about 189-287, I logged 193 but for some reason my daily goal is 372....why? Please explain. Thanks!

jkal01

It calculates it by taking the total calories you burn by "resting" for 24 hours which is your BMR. Where do you see 372 at? It is probably just calculating off of whatever you're goal is....IE 1-2 pounds per week.

crystalflame

So when you set up MFP, it calculates your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR, or number of calories you'd burn sitting around doing nothing) using a standard formula. Then you tell it how active you are in day to day activity NOT including exercise - for example, if you're a waitress, you're moderately active, so it adds more calories onto your total. This is your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). Then you tell it you want to lose 1lb a week, so it subtracts 500 calories from your TDEE (500*7 = 3500 calories, which is approximately the number of calories in 1lb of fat).

This is entirely separate from your exercise goals. If you tell MFP you want to exercise 5 times a week and burn 250 calories each time and then track your exercise, this is for goal setting and meeting only. It does NOT factor into your TDEE. Because of this, when you exercise, MFP adds those calories into your total calories for the day. There has already been a deficit built into your TDEE, so if you don't eat your exercise calories, you're creating a bigger deficit than you told MFP you wanted to have. So if MFP tells you to eat 1400 calories a day, then you burn 250 calories with exercise, MFP will tell you to eat 1650 calories so you NET 1400 calories.

Most people on here find eating back half their exercise calories works well for them. MFP often overestimates how many calories you burn during exercise, and you often eat more than you think you do. I'd recommend eating some but not all of what you burned off in your workout.

Also (I think this is more to answer your question), you're setting a goal for calories burned weekly. You tell it you want to work out 5 times a week for 45 minutes and burn 250 calories per workout, so it will tell you every day to meet that goal, and it will keep a tally of how close you are to your weekly goal. If you've worked out twice this week and only burned 200 calories instead of 250 calories each time, it will let you know you're at 400/1250 calories, showing you you need to burn more calories in your next workout.