MFP calories

mandez19

This is probably stated somewhere but I cannot find it.

When you set up your goals MFP spits out your calories burned based on your weekly work out goal, but it is just a generic calculation using your weight, gender, age, height, daily activity level and the minutes working out you entered times the number of days you will work out per week. This calculation does not consider what you are actually doing for your workouts.

So use the calculator that allows you to choose your workout in the exercise tab and compare it to the number your exercise goal spit out for calories per day/week. Since this number is used to calculate your daily net calorie intake goal you must understand how accurate your actual calories burned per week are and compare that to what MFP says they are based on minutes of exercise.

If for example you say you work out 80 minutes per day, that adds up to a lot in a week. If all of those workout outs are walking your cat twice a day, you burned way less than MFP says you did so you are at risk of actually gaining weight if you hit your net calories. If all of those workouts are high intensity cardio training then you are at risk of having too much of a deficit without knowing it and feeling tired all the time.

martinel2099

Like any calculation the starting calorie number is an estimate that will require tweaking as you go. Fitness pal sets your calorie goal based on your activity (sedentary, lighty active, active and etc) for your day to day activities like at work. I work a desk job so I consider myself Sedentary, I'm I work as a mail man I might consider myself lightly active if I do a decent amount of walking.

As far as I can tell the workout goal portion of fitness pal doesn't actually play a factor in MFP's calorie estimation. Any exercise you do would be added separately (not including your daily routine) and would give you extra calories.

Many folks here prefer to account for the gym activities in their overall calorie goal and not eat back exercise calories. Just a thought for you.

diannethegeek

MFP gets around this by not actually taking your planned workouts into account when it sets your calorie goals and instead sets your calorie goal a little lower and adds more calories when you actually log your workouts.

You can test it if you want. Whether you tell MFP that you don't plan to workout or plan to workout 12 hours a week it will set your calorie goal the same. Only your physical stats and activity modifier (sedentary, lightly active, etc) get taken into account.

mandez19

Thanks for the replies. I guess it is weird for me because I do two high intensity 40 minute cardio work outs per weekday biking to and from work and a short 5 minute strength training work out after each ride. But then spend most of my day at work sitting at a desk. But then I am active at home with the family or golfing etc..(more so in the summer). I am also quite active on the weekend with family, hockey and golf. So overall maybe my daily activity level is actually a bit higher on a weekly basis. I like the idea of keeping it at sedentary to push me to be strict with my nutrition and will make sure I don't burn myself out and feel good and not starving.

I understand now that if I want to lose 2 lbs. per week MFP is saying I should only eat about 1500 calories, but if I reach my work out goals I can consume an equal amount of calories that I burn working out and still lose 2 lbs per week (approx.). At least while I am biking to work I see myself losing at least 2 lbs per week in the beginning.

Thank you for the help.

SezxyStef

Thanks for the replies. I guess it is weird for me because I do two high intensity 40 minute cardio work outs per weekday biking to and from work and a short 5 minute strength training work out after each ride. But then spend most of my day at work sitting at a desk. But then I am active at home with the family or golfing etc..(more so in the summer). I am also quite active on the weekend with family, hockey and golf. So overall maybe my daily activity level is actually a bit higher on a weekly basis. I like the idea of keeping it at sedentary to push me to be strict with my nutrition and will make sure I don't burn myself out and feel good and not starving.

I understand now that if I want to lose 2 lbs. per week MFP is saying I should only eat about 1500 calories, but if I reach my work out goals I can consume an equal amount of calories that I burn working out and still lose 2 lbs per week (approx.). At least while I am biking to work I see myself losing at least 2 lbs per week in the beginning.

Thank you for the help.

If you pre exercise walk about 10k steps a day then yes lightly active but if not then sedentary.

As for 2lbs a week that is a bit agressive for 20lbs to lose.

1500 calories is not a lot of food. Esp for a 30 year old male. I lose 1lb a week on 1800.

And yes you should eat back some of your exercise calories esp if you plan on staying at 1500.

mandez19

Thanks for the replies. I guess it is weird for me because I do two high intensity 40 minute cardio work outs per weekday biking to and from work and a short 5 minute strength training work out after each ride. But then spend most of my day at work sitting at a desk. But then I am active at home with the family or golfing etc..(more so in the summer). I am also quite active on the weekend with family, hockey and golf. So overall maybe my daily activity level is actually a bit higher on a weekly basis. I like the idea of keeping it at sedentary to push me to be strict with my nutrition and will make sure I don't burn myself out and feel good and not starving.

I understand now that if I want to lose 2 lbs. per week MFP is saying I should only eat about 1500 calories, but if I reach my work out goals I can consume an equal amount of calories that I burn working out and still lose 2 lbs per week (approx.). At least while I am biking to work I see myself losing at least 2 lbs per week in the beginning.

Thank you for the help.

If you pre exercise walk about 10k steps a day then yes lightly active but if not then sedentary.

As for 2lbs a week that is a bit agressive for 20lbs to lose.

1500 calories is not a lot of food. Esp for a 30 year old male. I lose 1lb a week on 1800.

And yes you should eat back some of your exercise calories esp if you plan on staying at 1500.

I for sure don't walk 10k steps a day. I agree that right now I am running a bit thin on calories. I am basically testing myself to see what my personal sustainable balance is. I guess I will error on the low side and leave it at sedentary because of my job.

I joined MFP after having already lost 10 lbs in 5 weeks without really watching what I was eating at all - especially on the weekends. So I am actually losing 30 lbs. as my goal. However, I am also building muscle so I am trying to keep up with my protein and keep my energy levels up for HIIT 5 days a week plus hockey Sunday nights (summer league playoffs start in a few weeks). Realistically I will probably be only losing 1 lb a week after the next couple weeks. That should be my sustainable balance until I reach my goal, then I can focus more on building strength and not worry about the number on the scale as long as my sexypants fit.

Thanks for your input and good luck with your goals!.

MinnieInMaine

(snip)
If all of those workout outs are walking your cat
(snip)

:noway: :laugh:

erickirb

OP you are confusing the NEAT method and TDEE. MFP follows NEAT:

As an example say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a TDEE calculator may tell you to eat 1700 everyday regardless if you workout.

So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 11,900 (1700*7) almost the same number of cals for the week (250 dif). The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.

What many MFPers do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back then your daily activity level should reflect the higher burn with would be covered in the 1700/day above.

mandez19

OP you are confusing the NEAT method and TDEE. MFP follows NEAT:

As an example say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a TDEE calculator may tell you to eat 1700 everyday regardless if you workout.

So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 11,900 (1700*7) almost the same number of cals for the week (250 dif). The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.

What many MFPers do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back then your daily activity level should reflect the higher burn with would be covered in the 1700/day above.

mandez19

Great info erickirb. Thank you.

I think for me personally I am just using this application to log my food to keep myself in check because for 5 days a week I burn at least 1000 (500 twice a day) riding to work and back rain or shine. I can easily eat 4000 calories a day without even being aware of it up until joining MFP. My feeling as of right now is that if I eat about 2000 calories a day for the next couple months I should be pretty close to my goal. If next week I am feeling a bit sluggish maybe I will eat a bit more per day. It has only been 3 days on here, but so far so good.

And yes, I do realize that by doing that much cardio twice a day, my activity level might not necessarily be sedentary. I also understand that by not eating at least 2500 calories per day that I burn 1000 calories through exercise I am theoretically losing more than 2 lbs. per week. I am OK with that for now as long as I feel good and can do more push ups and chin ups this week than last week.

SezxyStef

The only thing I would suggest is not waiting for goal to start lifting...lots do that and about 90% of them say "I wish I had started sooner"...me being one of them.

If you want to lift..start now.

mandez19

That is a great suggestion and one I've heard from a few people.

Right now I currently do push ups or triceps dips when I get to work (I am the only one that uses the change room at work...) and when I get home I do chin ups (starting to try pull ups now too), curls, and shoulder press. I don't do all of these things every day obviously, but for now this is really easy to fit into my schedule because the heart rate is already up and I'm only adding 5-10 minutes per day to my fitness routine.

I've never really been able to maintain a lifting routine, so I am starting out slow.

idmalone

Thanks for the replies. I guess it is weird for me because I do two high intensity 40 minute cardio work outs per weekday biking to and from work and a short 5 minute strength training work out after each ride. But then spend most of my day at work sitting at a desk. But then I am active at home with the family or golfing etc..(more so in the summer). I am also quite active on the weekend with family, hockey and golf. So overall maybe my daily activity level is actually a bit higher on a weekly basis. I like the idea of keeping it at sedentary to push me to be strict with my nutrition and will make sure I don't burn myself out and feel good and not starving.

I understand now that if I want to lose 2 lbs. per week MFP is saying I should only eat about 1500 calories, but if I reach my work out goals I can consume an equal amount of calories that I burn working out and still lose 2 lbs per week (approx.). At least while I am biking to work I see myself losing at least 2 lbs per week in the beginning.

Thank you for the help.

If you pre exercise walk about 10k steps a day then yes lightly active but if not then sedentary.

As for 2lbs a week that is a bit agressive for 20lbs to lose.

1500 calories is not a lot of food. Esp for a 30 year old male. I lose 1lb a week on 1800.

And yes you should eat back some of your exercise calories esp if you plan on staying at 1500.

Agreed, I am a 50 year old woman in a lightly active job (teaching) and I am losing 1 - 2 pounds every ten days on 1800 calories per day. If you restrict your calories too much you run the very real risk of cannibalising lean muscle. You really need to be doing strength training and do not be afraid of feeding your body!

MKEgal

goal weight x 10 = cal to eat to get there
Don't eat back exercise calories. My doctor told me that, & you can see by my ticker how well it's working for me.

I did a blog post about goal-setting, including weight & calories.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/MKEgal/view/2014-06-08-setting-goals-667045

With only 20 lb to lose, you should aim at 1/2 lb per week, which would be 250 cal per day less than what you're currently eating.
So if you're 180, you're eating 1800 cal.
To get to 160 you could eat at 1600 (goal x 10) or even go to 1550, which would get you there a bit faster.