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What if you don't track exercise?

xxharleyquinnxx
xxharleyquinnxx Posts: 166 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So on here I don't log my exercise because I have no idea how to log exercise DVDS, however I am wondering if I eat my allocated calories per day and exercise but don't log it if I will lose weight or not? I used to log my exercise 3 times a week as I did running but have fallen out with that so now do exercise dvds at least 5 times a week but am a bit confused as on the 'my goals' section it says something about my gial for calorie burning is 290 even though I have set my work outs per week all to 0?
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Replies

  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
    I am wondering if I eat my allocated calories per day and exercise but don't log it if I will lose weight or not?

    Yes, if your origional goal is set correctly exercising and not eating back those calories would cause you to lose more weight than expected since you are creating a larger deficit.

    I used to log my exercise 3 times a week as I did running but have fallen out with that so now do exercise dvds at least 5 times a week but am a bit confused as on the 'my goals' section it says something about my gial for calorie burning is 290 even though I have set my work outs per week all to 0?
    The calorie burning and exercise plan in your profile does not actually affect the calorie goal MFP gives you, it is more just for your planning benefit. You can just ignore it.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    So on here I don't log my exercise because I have no idea how to log exercise DVDS, however I am wondering if I eat my allocated calories per day and exercise but don't log it if I will lose weight or not? I used to log my exercise 3 times a week as I did running but have fallen out with that so now do exercise dvds at least 5 times a week but am a bit confused as on the 'my goals' section it says something about my gial for calorie burning is 290 even though I have set my work outs per week all to 0?

    Most exercise DVD's can be logged as circut training based on my experience.

    Yes you will lose weight if you stay in goal and don't eat back exercise calories.

    AS for your goals there are 3 sections for exercise...

    1. Calories burned per week
    2. Workouts per week
    3. Minutes worked out per week

    Are they all set to 0?
  • xxharleyquinnxx
    xxharleyquinnxx Posts: 166 Member
    Yes all are set at 0 but one of them MFP has set to 290 cals burned per week as a target.
  • SailorKnightWing
    SailorKnightWing Posts: 875 Member
    If you don't want to log the exercise routines (probably as circuit training, if you want to), change your activity level to either lightly active or moderately active.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    You could change your activity level to light active or active, depending on how often you do them.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    I don't generally enter it. I don't trust that the "calories burned" thing is accurate.

    If I'm hungrier, I eat more. But I've reached the point where I can follow my body. I know when I'm hungry. I know my fluctuations, etc. I'm not going to eat three donuts and a cheeseburger because my tummy growls. :)

    Everyone does this "eat back calories" thing differently. Some eat them all back, some eat none, other eat half or some other percentage. Pick the way you want to do it and adjust later if you want.
  • SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish
    SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish Posts: 831 Member
    As long as you are actually doing the exercise 5x per week for at least a half hour, and have it set for 290 calories of exercise included in your goals, there should be no problems whatsoever if you dont log the actual calories and dont change anything. In fact, this would probably be a great way to compensate for the inevitable poor logging of food that everyone does! Just adjust your food intake based on what you see over the next few weeks: if you are losing too fast, increase cals a bit, if too slow, decrease, etc.

    *edit..I would not log those DVDs as circuit training as has been suggested, circuit training estimates will be high for most people, for most DVDs, but of course there are variations in both directions...
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    If you don't want to log the exercise routines (probably as circuit training, if you want to), change your activity level to either lightly active or moderately active.

    Either this or maybe add 150 (or so) to your daily calorie goal to compensate for the fact you aren't logging or eating back exercise.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    As long as you are actually doing the exercise 5x per week for at least a half hour, and have it set for 290 calories of exercise included in your goals, there should be no problems whatsoever if you dont log the actual calories and dont change anything.

    She doesn't have it set for 290 calories in her goals. There's no way to do that other than by adding it on manually to the goal you get (doing custom goals and not guided). I believe what she's saying is that when MFP asked what exercise she planned to do, she gave an amount and that's the projection it came up with. People get confused by this all the time, but it doesn't actually affect the calorie goal at all.
    Just adjust your food intake based on what you see over the next few weeks: if you are losing too fast, increase cals a bit, if too slow, decrease, etc.

    Agree, although if she has it on sedentary I'd start by changing that (or just increasing the existing goal a bit).
  • jenwalton
    jenwalton Posts: 87 Member
    For me, personally - I have been a lot more successful lately by not logging my exercise, and disconnecting my Fitbit from MFP.

    When I am logging my workouts and letting Fitbit add extra calories to MFP, I was too relaxed about my calorie deficit and felt that I could eat back all those extra calories. Maybe that works for some people but... I simply wasn't losing any weight.

    Now, I try to stay at my actual goal of 1,300-1,400 calories a day (but usually end up closer to 1,600) on top of 4x weekly workouts. It feels a lot more balanced this way, for me, and I am actually seeing weight loss finally!
  • MsSashaFire
    MsSashaFire Posts: 49
    As long as your creating a calorie deficit your gonna lose weight no matter what, so if you don't wanna log you don't have to I just like to be as accurate as possible so I use a hrm for my workouts, and weigh and measure all my foods. I do know nothing is an exact science but it helps me to feel better.
  • GatorDeb1
    GatorDeb1 Posts: 245 Member
    I do this when I want to lose weight to get from normal weight to race weight (triathlons) but I'm not in a hurry. Eat 1500 cals a day which is what I burn at rest and the exercise (swim/bike/run training) and weights leans me out.
  • GatorDeb1
    GatorDeb1 Posts: 245 Member
    Uhm, cardio burns tons of calories. Well, at least the way *I* do it.
  • maidentl
    maidentl Posts: 3,203 Member
    The rule of thumb is that cardio exercise does not burn a lot of calories,

    Actually, the rule of thumb is the opposite of that.

    ETA: OP, I don't log exercise here either. I eat a percentage of TDEE based on 3x/week. No calculating of exercise necessary. :smile:
  • williams969
    williams969 Posts: 2,528 Member
    Uhm, cardio burns tons of calories. Well, at least the way *I* do it.

    Here, here :drinker: Me, too, that's why I don't need to do more than 30 minutes a day of it. Running (higher than jogging pace esp.), climbing stairs, vigorous jump roping, road cycling (sprint pace), incline hiking, elliptical on high resistance, etc. are all types of cardio with high burn rates. There are many more, but those are the kinds *I* have done.

    To the OP, if you have a set weekly workout schedule (example, MWF 45min-1hr of mixed exercise), calculating your TDEE based on your planned exercise, less 15-20% (more than 20% is too aggressive, generally). Eat that number every single day (even rest days) for weight loss.
  • williams969
    williams969 Posts: 2,528 Member
    Uhm, cardio burns tons of calories. Well, at least the way *I* do it.


    Well it has to be done for long periods of time, or if you're in great shape you can do it more intensely. But for someone who is trying to get IN shape, they might not be able to do it as hard. All I'm saying is some exercise is not has hard as people think and doesn't burn thousands of calories.

    Who's trying to or claiming to burn "thousands of calories" in a "standard" cardio session?
  • GatorDeb1
    GatorDeb1 Posts: 245 Member
    I lost over 100 lbs with Spin, TurboKick, and Zumba, and I did it at 230 lbs 5'4" which is very obese :shrug:
  • MsSashaFire
    MsSashaFire Posts: 49
    The rule of thumb is that cardio exercise does not burn a lot of calories, so in order for you to utilize calories, you have to do lots of it. Cardio that involves complete motion of the legs will be the best. I think 60 to 90 minutes a day is recommended for fat loss. That and a sensible diet. So I could see how just doing a half hour of something won't have an effect.


    Ummm this is so wrong! Cardio is what burns calories, and how much you burn depends on your weight and intensity level. Heck I can burn almost a 1000 calories doing one hour of cardio especially in beast mode. A 30 minute workout is a great start, when I first started I could only do 20 minutes you will build up your endurance as you go along.
  • williams969
    williams969 Posts: 2,528 Member
    Well according to Steve Turano, the average person only burns 70 calories through 15 minutes of exercise. So, sometimes I feel we overestimate how much we are burning.

    That's rather over-generalized. What is "average person" and what is "exercise"?
  • GatorDeb1
    GatorDeb1 Posts: 245 Member
    Well according to Steve Turano, the average person only burns 70 calories through 15 minutes of exercise. So, sometimes I feel we overestimate how much we are burning.

    Uhm, I call B.S. that the average person burns 280 cals in an hour of cardio. When I was obese I burned 700-800 cals an hour doing Zumba. Now I do 300-350 because I'm not that tall or wide. And I don't "need" to lose weight, I lean out towards races at 117-118 lbs at 5'4". Anyone who needs to lose weight will burn plenty in an hour of cardio. The bigger you are, the more you burn.

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