MFP logging and exercise accounting stuff
drosebud
Posts: 277 Member
I've had a bit of a rethink as to how I manage my calorie allowance on MFP. My goal has just been recalculated, with a target of half a pound per week to lose., and my daily allowance has gone up a bit. The way that exercise is taken into account, on a daily basis, isn't how I want to balance it out though: I'd prefer to even out exercise days with non-exercise days, and this gives me an average of 200 extra per day (assuming 1400 per week, from exercise, which is conservative). Also, the weekends are times when I do tend to indulge more, food-wise, and it would be wise to eat less in the week to allow for this.
The mental issue I have is that, when I add the cals earned through exercise, my brain thinks it can eat them all back, which is really not good, especially as I've just upped my daily cals, and it means that the days I don't log exercise are not so easy to stick to.
So, how best to handle this, via the logging function? Either I up my daily allowance by 200, or keep it the same and accept that some days I may go over? It would probably be a good idea to have a "fudge-factor" for exercise cals so that when I look at the remaining cals it doesn't seem so much.
Yes, this is all accounting fiddles to a degree, but I've been concerned that I have been going over my allowance too regularly recently, so am trying to think of a way to account for this on a weekly basis, as opposed to daily. Does anyone have any other ideas or tips?
The mental issue I have is that, when I add the cals earned through exercise, my brain thinks it can eat them all back, which is really not good, especially as I've just upped my daily cals, and it means that the days I don't log exercise are not so easy to stick to.
So, how best to handle this, via the logging function? Either I up my daily allowance by 200, or keep it the same and accept that some days I may go over? It would probably be a good idea to have a "fudge-factor" for exercise cals so that when I look at the remaining cals it doesn't seem so much.
Yes, this is all accounting fiddles to a degree, but I've been concerned that I have been going over my allowance too regularly recently, so am trying to think of a way to account for this on a weekly basis, as opposed to daily. Does anyone have any other ideas or tips?
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I also wish MFP would let people set different goals for different days as I follow an irregular eating pattern....
As you are losing weight I would say set your MFP goal to your new weekday target - that way when you eat more at the weekend you are "going over" which might limit the extra to a degree.
Most people following the TDEE method log their exercise as 1 calorie so that the daily goal doesn't get inflated by exercise calories which are already averaged out and factored in.0 -
Most people following the TDEE method log their exercise as 1 calorie so that the daily goal doesn't get inflated by exercise calories which are already averaged out and factored in.
That's one way I hadn't thought of, though I like logging the cals earned. I calculated my TDEE as sedentary, and entered the extra cals on the days I exercised, but that makes it too top-heavy on exercise days, really.
I'll use my baseline allowance as you suggest, and log exercise, but offset with some "dummy" food/exercise cals, I think, and see how that goes.0
