Exercise Calories

cincysweetheart

The way I understand it, on MFP, the calorie deficit is built without regard to workout calories… so if I exercise, I should eat back my exercise calories (or about 50% of them to account for over-estimations). This seems like kind of a pain to me. So much guess work. I'm thinking of changing my activity level to account for my workouts. But my question is… to what activity level should I change it to?

I'm currently listed as sedentary. But I workout 6 days a week for anywhere from 50-90 minutes. Combination of strength training and cardio. Currently my cardio is walking about 3.0 mph (although I gradually increase speed as my fitness level increases). To what level should I change my activity level to account for my workouts? Lightly active?

stuffinmuffin

If outside the time you are working out you are sedentary then I would put that as your MFP TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) and then add the exercise afterwards.

The MFP exercise calories are not that inaccurate. I used them for nearly all of my weight loss and it worked. It under-estimated some exercise and over-estimated others (marginally) and it all balanced out in the end. I would certainly suggest you eat at least 50% of your exercise cals back - if not more.

The other options are to buy things like a Fitbit or a Heart Rate Monitor which will give you more accuarte guidelines of the calories you are burning. I use both of these things and they actually showed just how close to the truth MFP exercise was.

cppeace

I too would highly reccommend a decent hrm. Mfp can under or over estimate your calories burned. The minimum of your exercise calories you should eat back is 1/3 when you still have so much to lose. I have a very active job 4 days a week and am fairly sedentary the other 3 so I have my activity set at light and it seems to work for me. I wouldn't change your overall activity level unless you are burning an additional 800 calories or more or the workout days. A decent polar hrm goes for around 50 or so on amazon. I started with polars cheapest and then a year or so later upgraded to a 4. It works great for me. It had me burning more than most of mfps exercises said, especially walking.
Cp

MelodyandBarbells

You could do lightly active or just manually enter in a daily calorie goal number that is the average of your target workout calories plus your current sedentary goal. If chasing exercise calories is a pain, you may be an excellent candidate for just setting one daily goal and sticking with it, exercise or not. Some people who do this still track their exercise, but just list it as "1" calorie burned regardless of intensity or duration. Try at your selected calorie level for a few weeks (about four or so). If too hangry or losing too fast, increase by a hundred or so calories, if not losing or not losing as fast as desired, decrease by a hundred or so calories per day. Rinse, repeat.

Could cross check with this calculator to see what numbers it gives you:

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

thrazt

Hi there!

Sorry to hijack this thread!!

Info from scoobysworkshop,

BMR = 1925
TDEE = 2310

MFP cal cap = 1200

I am standing at 173, weight 85kg, desk job. I set my activity as sedentary that's why MFP is 1200. Everyday after work I will go do some cardio which burns 400-500 cal, measured by my polar FT7 HRM. I would play hockey every sunday evening which burns about 1000 cal measured by polar too.

I eat back on my exercise cal with a meal replacement shake that is high on protein and vitamins. My daily water intake is usually above 10 glasses due to my exercise.

Am I on the right track? Or should I be eating more?

Thanks,
MJ

JesterMFP

I too would highly reccommend a decent hrm. Mfp can under or over estimate your calories burned. The minimum of your exercise calories you should eat back is 1/3 when you still have so much to lose. I have a very active job 4 days a week and am fairly sedentary the other 3 so I have my activity set at light and it seems to work for me. I wouldn't change your overall activity level unless you are burning an additional 800 calories or more or the workout days. A decent polar hrm goes for around 50 or so on amazon. I started with polars cheapest and then a year or so later upgraded to a 4. It works great for me. It had me burning more than most of mfps exercises said, especially walking.
Cp

Great idea, but OP is looking to not use the MFP method of "eating back" calories, so finding an accurate estimate of burn wouldn't be that useful.

OP - I would start with setting it at lightly active, or the one above (can't remember what it's called - moderate?) and see how you get on. It's a good idea to cross-check with other online TDEE calculators, although you should get fairly similar results. The real answer will come by your actual results. So, pick a number and stick with that for a few weeks. Try to eat as close to your goal as possible, so that you can tell if it's working or not.

See how much weight you lose. If you find you're losing about 2 lbs a week (which would be reasonable, looking at your ticker) then carry on as you are. If you're losing faster, (and if you find you're struggling with energy levels) then eat a little more. If you're losing slower, or not at all, eat a little less. Try the new goal for a few more weeks, and tweak as necessary. Lots of folk on here use the TDEE method rather than the MFP method. You should in theory end up eating the same amount as MFP would give you with added exercise calories, but it saves the hassle of calculating and adding exercise calories.

JesterMFP

Hi there!

Sorry to hijack this thread!!

Info from scoobysworkshop,

BMR = 1925
TDEE = 2310

MFP cal cap = 1200

I am standing at 173, weight 85kg, desk job. I set my activity as sedentary that's why MFP is 1200. Everyday after work I will go do some cardio which burns 400-500 cal, measured by my polar FT7 HRM. I would play hockey every sunday evening which burns about 1000 cal measured by polar too.

I eat back on my exercise cal with a meal replacement shake that is high on protein and vitamins. My daily water intake is usually above 10 glasses due to my exercise.

Am I on the right track? Or should I be eating more?

Thanks,
MJ

You've not actually said how much you're eating - MFP's suggestion, or are you going by the TDEE?

Anyway, you'll likely get more/better responses if you start your own thread. :flowerforyou:

thrazt

Okay!! I'll start my own thread with more info!!