Worked out four hours today
Replies
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Totals: 1,896
Your Daily Goal: 2,743
Remaining: 847
*You've earned 1,383 extra calories from exercise today
As you can see, I didn't eat all of my calories. I understand that you are suppose to eat back ALL of the calories. But I just don't understand how eating 2,743 calories could actually help me lose weight...I ate 1,896 calories. That seems to be waaay more then enough. What do you think?
i think you have worked it out very well.
i disagree that the understanding is to eat bacl ALL your exercise cals.that would be counter intuitive, and also not recommended by my doctor,for me anyways.
i too exercised 4 hours today, ate back 25% of my exrcise cals as was hungry.also added in an extra treat for tomorrow night. my little snack bank haha.
people say exercise burns are overestimated on mfp, but i have done a lot of comparatives with other swimmers using hrms,trackers etc and we are comfortable with burns logged.
dont listen to the nay sayers and doom merchants please.
great burn day and stay positive.
regards
cw 88kg now.0 -
Close to my goal now, yes. However when I started MFP in June I was 37lbs heavier (203 lbs) and was running 30 mins at that time. Was on here for about 2 weeks when I got my HRM and started testing accuracy of the calories burned, so was definitely still overweight when I discovered this about my workouts. As my endurance gets better and I progress in my training, I notice the difference getting larger and larger with the length of runs. I have seen other posters comment on this on other threads and it seems the biggest discrepancies occur with prolonged aerobic exercise. That seems to be the general consensus for why a lot of MFPers only eat back a portion of their calories, thereby giving themselves a bit of a buffer. All comes down to personal preference and figuring out what works for the individual.
Prolonged aerobic exercise was way off for me. I tested between a run app on my phone, MFP, and my Garmin with HRM. For runs over 30mins where my heart rate was consistently around 160bpm, MFP was way too generous with my calories burned. The discrepancy gets larger the longer I run. Given I'm now up to around 2 hour runs, I'm glad I figured this out fairly early on in my training.
Totally depends on the type of exercise though. I've tested it extensively just out of curiosity. Some things are pretty close, some are waaaaaayyy off.
Just to let you know, MFP calorie burn is not "way wrong" in fact, it's not far off, especially if you are overweight 40 pounds or more. I did buy a HRM because I thought the same thing. Guess what.....MFP totals are rather accurate...
Well, maybe. I have tested it too. Dancing for fun, aerobic dancing, riding my bike, walking up and down stairs, slow walking.
Just curious, what area did you find it to be way off in?
So, lol. Sounds like you are in pretty good shape- running for 2 hours at a time, impressive. So you found this particular area off is that correct? Like I said, it seems to be more accurate the heavier one is. I am guessing you are either at your goal or close to it as you are able to run for 2 hours at a time.
I can't even imagine doing that at this point in my journey. Is there any other area you found MFP to be way off in caloric burn?0 -
why? you're making an assumption yourself there. i think you're wrong. i immediately figured it was broken up throughout the day into at least a couple sessions.i don't quite get the incredulity over the 4 hour workout. i have on many many occasions worked out for 4 hours (or more) in a day. and yes, i work full time. 40+ hours/week. it's not that hard to get in a 2.5 hour run before work, then a 90 minute yoga session after work.
I think most people are assuming it was four hours in one session.
I said I THINK. It's an opinion. I don't know what other people were thinking and neither do you which seems to mean that you're making an assumption yourself. Ironic post is ironic.0 -
Totals: 1,896
Your Daily Goal: 2,743
Remaining: 847
*You've earned 1,383 extra calories from exercise today
As you can see, I didn't eat all of my calories. I understand that you are suppose to eat back ALL of the calories. But I just don't understand how eating 2,743 calories could actually help me lose weight...I ate 1,896 calories. That seems to be waaay more then enough. What do you think?
i think you have worked it out very well.
i disagree that the understanding is to eat bacl ALL your exercise cals.that would be counter intuitive, and also not recommended by my doctor,for me anyways.
i too exercised 4 hours today, ate back 25% of my exrcise cals as was hungry.also added in an extra treat for tomorrow night. my little snack bank haha.
people say exercise burns are overestimated on mfp, but i have done a lot of comparatives with other swimmers using hrms,trackers etc and we are comfortable with burns logged.
dont listen to the nay sayers and doom merchants please.
great burn day and stay positive.
regards
cw 88kg now.
THANK YOU CW.0 -
Totals: 1,896
Your Daily Goal: 2,743
Remaining: 847
*You've earned 1,383 extra calories from exercise today
As you can see, I didn't eat all of my calories. I understand that you are suppose to eat back ALL of the calories. But I just don't understand how eating 2,743 calories could actually help me lose weight...I ate 1,896 calories. That seems to be waaay more then enough. What do you think?
i think you have worked it out very well.
i disagree that the understanding is to eat bacl ALL your exercise cals.that would be counter intuitive, and also not recommended by my doctor,for me anyways.
i too exercised 4 hours today, ate back 25% of my exrcise cals as was hungry.also added in an extra treat for tomorrow night. my little snack bank haha.
people say exercise burns are overestimated on mfp, but i have done a lot of comparatives with other swimmers using hrms,trackers etc and we are comfortable with burns logged.
dont listen to the nay sayers and doom merchants please.
great burn day and stay positive.
regards
cw 88kg now.
THANK YOU CW.
It is easy to get discouraged with those who say the MFP calculator is wrong. That's the only thing motivating me right now. If I believed the "nay sayers and doom merchants " I just may slack off or worse-GIVE UP, telling myself it doesn't matter cause "it's wrong anyway".
Your post puts it to rest for me.
Again, thank you!0 -
LOL wasn't trying to be a doom merchant (although I may use that title at another time because it's pretty catchy) but was merely pointing out something that many others have noticed and commented on as a potential MFP flaw to consider as having a direct impact on "General Diet and Weight Loss Help" such as the title of this message board.
Apologies if I've caused people to be discouraged, wasn't my intention.
Peace out.0 -
LOL wasn't trying to be a doom merchant (although I may use that title at another time because it's pretty catchy) but was merely pointing out something that many others have noticed and commented on as a potential MFP flaw to consider as having a direct impact on "General Diet and Weight Loss Help" such as the title of this message board.
Apologies if I've caused people to be discouraged, wasn't my intention.
Peace out.
Well, people need to be aware of the potential issue if they are wondering why they aren't losing weight. One possibility is overestimating calories burned. It's the truth. Whether you believe it or not, just because you ignore it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.0 -
LOL wasn't trying to be a doom merchant (although I may use that title at another time because it's pretty catchy) but was merely pointing out something that many others have noticed and commented on as a potential MFP flaw to consider as having a direct impact on "General Diet and Weight Loss Help" such as the title of this message board.
Apologies if I've caused people to be discouraged, wasn't my intention.
Peace out.
Well, people need to be aware of the potential issue if they are wondering why they aren't losing weight. One possibility is overestimating calories burned. It's the truth. Whether you believe it or not, just because you ignore it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
That was my thinking, but hey, what do I know LOL. *shrug*0 -
Dear Jeebus, why?! Hahaha mostly kidding, but that's a long workout!
That said, you don't have to eat back all of your exercise calories. I usually only eat back about half of mine.0 -
LOL wasn't trying to be a doom merchant (although I may use that title at another time because it's pretty catchy) but was merely pointing out something that many others have noticed and commented on as a potential MFP flaw to consider as having a direct impact on "General Diet and Weight Loss Help" such as the title of this message board.
Apologies if I've caused people to be discouraged, wasn't my intention.
Peace out.
Well, people need to be aware of the potential issue if they are wondering why they aren't losing weight. One possibility is overestimating calories burned. It's the truth. Whether you believe it or not, just because you ignore it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
ha ha ha wouldn't they be ASKING that question if it was an issue. Nobody was asking why they weren't losing....were they?? Potential issue? Seems if it's not the issue in this post, then why would it even need to be addressed here?
I just think we all need to be aware many people are hanging onto the smallest thing for encouragement to keep going at it one more day. Don't be the one to step on their air hose. You just don't know how long they can hold their breath.0 -
It was a natural progression from the whole "eating back exercise calories" issue the OP posted. Nobody is stepping on air hoses here. Experienced MFPers are simply explaining why they DO or DO NOT eat back all of their exercise calories. If you spend a bit of time on the boards, you will see that the over estimation of calories burned has been discussed to death. Therefore, it is indeed entirely relevant to this thread.LOL wasn't trying to be a doom merchant (although I may use that title at another time because it's pretty catchy) but was merely pointing out something that many others have noticed and commented on as a potential MFP flaw to consider as having a direct impact on "General Diet and Weight Loss Help" such as the title of this message board.
Apologies if I've caused people to be discouraged, wasn't my intention.
Peace out.
Well, people need to be aware of the potential issue if they are wondering why they aren't losing weight. One possibility is overestimating calories burned. It's the truth. Whether you believe it or not, just because you ignore it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
ha ha ha wouldn't they be ASKING that question if it was an issue. Nobody was asking why they weren't losing....were they?? Potential issue? Seems if it's not the issue in this post, then why would it even need to be addressed here?
I just think we all need to be aware many people are hanging onto the smallest thing for encouragement to keep going at it one more day. Don't be the one to step on their air hose. You just don't know how long they can hold their breath.0 -
My longest was 6 hours of workouts in one day, all classes, all pretty intense, including boxing, warrior workout, kickboxing etc. That burnt me about 2500 extra calories.
That aside, I sometimes get in 3 hour bike rides and find walking for long periods pretty easy. I do think that for some people, the walking calories on mfp tend to be overestimated.
but as long as you are not eating all of your mfp estimated calorie burn, there should not be an issue.0 -
4 hours of working out isn't that extreme. I'm shocked so many people are shocked. I would spend that long working out if I had time, just cos I love exercise.0
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LOL wasn't trying to be a doom merchant (although I may use that title at another time because it's pretty catchy) but was merely pointing out something that many others have noticed and commented on as a potential MFP flaw to consider as having a direct impact on "General Diet and Weight Loss Help" such as the title of this message board.
Apologies if I've caused people to be discouraged, wasn't my intention.
Peace out.
Well, people need to be aware of the potential issue if they are wondering why they aren't losing weight. One possibility is overestimating calories burned. It's the truth. Whether you believe it or not, just because you ignore it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
ha ha ha wouldn't they be ASKING that question if it was an issue. Nobody was asking why they weren't losing....were they?? Potential issue? Seems if it's not the issue in this post, then why would it even need to be addressed here?
I just think we all need to be aware many people are hanging onto the smallest thing for encouragement to keep going at it one more day. Don't be the one to step on their air hose. You just don't know how long they can hold their breath.
Nope. As an adult I prefer real information. Sometimes it can be a got dang smack in the face but then I adjust and recover and life goes on. This is the wrong place to hide from the truth. Someone will inevitably spill the beans lol0 -
Okay, I'll jump back into this. Four hours of exercise EVERY DAY seems extreme to me because there are many aspects to a full life. I work at least 50 hours a week, I read, write, knit, draw, play the piano, take care of my home and car, batch cook and freeze meals, maintain relationships, and do any number of other things that make up a full and varied life.
I have seen many people jump into MFP and go extreme in diet and exercise. They usually burn out quickly and disappear. Most of the people who have been around a while take a moderate approach, both in figuring out what to eat and how best to maintain their fitness.0 -
Okay, I'll jump back into this. Four hours of exercise EVERY DAY seems extreme to me because there are many aspects to a full life. I work at least 50 hours a week, I read, write, knit, draw, play the piano, take care of my home and car, batch cook and freeze meals, maintain relationships, and do any number of other things that make up a full and varied life.
I have seen many people jump into MFP and go extreme in diet and exercise. They usually burn out quickly and disappear. Most of the people who have been around a while take a moderate approach, both in figuring out what to eat and how best to maintain their fitness.
A lot of people who don't go "extreme" in exercise quit MFP too. I do three hours a day of intentional exercise most Mondays and saturdays. I work a 40 hour week first shift job, single income no kids and do what I want with my time. Including three hours of classes a couple times a week. If your lifestyle cannot support that, that's one thing, but somebody else's might. As you've also noticed, the op too was not looking to do four hours of exercise every single day.0 -
I think that working out for four hours is crazy. Why is that necessary or even desirable?
I'm just curious....why is it crazy?? I have never heard ANYONE say that exercising for any length of time is crazy. But I would love to hear your expert opinion. Sounds like you have it all together. So...tell me...what's your expert advice on losing weight and how much one should and should not execercise?
But yes, I do have it all together, so thanks for recognizing that! My expert advice is to eat less (mostly unprocessed whole foods), enjoy moderate amounts of exercise you enjoy, develop some hobbies, read some books, volunteer your time to others, and be grateful to still be alive.0 -
OP didn't say they did four hours of exercise EVERY DAY or even every day.Okay, I'll jump back into this. Four hours of exercise EVERY DAY seems extreme to me because there are many aspects to a full life. I work at least 50 hours a week, I read, write, knit, draw, play the piano, take care of my home and car, batch cook and freeze meals, maintain relationships, and do any number of other things that make up a full and varied life.
I have seen many people jump into MFP and go extreme in diet and exercise. They usually burn out quickly and disappear. Most of the people who have been around a while take a moderate approach, both in figuring out what to eat and how best to maintain their fitness.
They just said they did it that day, then you jumped in with your name-calling.0 -
It sounds like a normal day for a lot of people. I wouldn't call walking 'working out' but MFP has some weird conventions.I did four hours because all I did was walking outside and walking up and down my stairs in the house. I didn't do them all at the same time either.0 -
It sounds like a normal day for a lot of people. I wouldn't call walking 'working out' but MFP has some weird conventions.I did four hours because all I did was walking outside and walking up and down my stairs in the house. I didn't do them all at the same time either.
One of my MFPals actually walks at my jogging pace. And she covers double the miles! Yeah, that's a workout0 -
Totals: 1,896
Your Daily Goal: 2,743
Remaining: 847
*You've earned 1,383 extra calories from exercise today
As you can see, I didn't eat all of my calories. I understand that you are suppose to eat back ALL of the calories. But I just don't understand how eating 2,743 calories could actually help me lose weight...I ate 1,896 calories. That seems to be waaay more then enough. What do you think?
i think you have worked it out very well.
i disagree that the understanding is to eat bacl ALL your exercise cals.that would be counter intuitive, and also not recommended by my doctor,for me anyways.
i too exercised 4 hours today, ate back 25% of my exrcise cals as was hungry.also added in an extra treat for tomorrow night. my little snack bank haha.
people say exercise burns are overestimated on mfp, but i have done a lot of comparatives with other swimmers using hrms,trackers etc and we are comfortable with burns logged.
dont listen to the nay sayers and doom merchants please.
great burn day and stay positive.
regards
cw 88kg now.
THANK YOU CW.
It is easy to get discouraged with those who say the MFP calculator is wrong. That's the only thing motivating me right now. If I believed the "nay sayers and doom merchants " I just may slack off or worse-GIVE UP, telling myself it doesn't matter cause "it's wrong anyway".
Your post puts it to rest for me.
Again, thank you!
0 -
It sounds like a normal day for a lot of people. I wouldn't call walking 'working out' but MFP has some weird conventions.I did four hours because all I did was walking outside and walking up and down my stairs in the house. I didn't do them all at the same time either.
One of my MFPals actually walks at my jogging pace. And she covers double the miles! Yeah, that's a workout
Yes girl because my pit bull have me sweating! That's why I call it a workout. And walking up and down my stairs is a even bigger workout because my legs burn and I sweat. I know I need to do strength training...I could probably just use my bands but I really do love walking. It truly does help me.0 -
When I first read the title/subject line, I thought, "4 hours...that's crazy!" Then I realized that I do that sometimes, too. In the winter, on "mountain days" (those days that I ski or snowshoe) I exercise WAY more than 4 hours. lol Good for you OP!
To answer the question, I try to eat back half or a bit less, on average. If it's a crazy hungry day, I will eat back every single one, but that's only happened once or twice. Good luck to you!0 -
This thread made me realize that the term 'working out' means something very specific in my head. When I think working out, I think hardcore (to me) exercise, like hard aerobics, running, or lifting weights at the gym, while when I think general exercise I think walking to class or cleaning or light hiking or pretty much anything else.
Maybe that's why so many people were like 'omg, you worked out for FOUR HOURS today?!', haha. Because I know I was thinking 'omg you were at the gym for FOUR HOURS today?!' in my head.0 -
This thread made me realize that the term 'working out' means something very specific in my head. When I think working out, I think hardcore (to me) exercise, like hard aerobics, running, or lifting weights at the gym, while when I think general exercise I think walking to class or cleaning or light hiking or pretty much anything else.
Maybe that's why so many people were like 'omg, you worked out for FOUR HOURS today?!', haha. Because I know I was thinking 'omg you were at the gym for FOUR HOURS today?!' in my head.
This.0 -
This thread made me realize that the term 'working out' means something very specific in my head. When I think working out, I think hardcore (to me) exercise, like hard aerobics, running, or lifting weights at the gym, while when I think general exercise I think walking to class or cleaning or light hiking or pretty much anything else.
Maybe that's why so many people were like 'omg, you worked out for FOUR HOURS today?!', haha. Because I know I was thinking 'omg you were at the gym for FOUR HOURS today?!' in my head.
This.
Went holiday to Scotland in the Ben Nevis area and spent at least 2 hours a day walking and on 2 of the days well over 6, as well as open water swimming every day (admittedly a dip on the big walk days) but it's still working out. Much more fun than the gym too.
If working out for 4 hours is something that you don't do very often, don't worry about not eating the calories back on that particular day and just work it in over the next few days. If you've burned a lot, it's sometimes difficult to physically eat it all on the one day. If it's something you do often, because you have an active job or strenuous hobby (e.g. allotment gardening) then you'll have to get those extra calories in regularly.
I don't log my excerise calories in the same way, but the consensus seems to be that you should eat a bit less than what MFP gives you as it overestimates. Other than that, eat the extra calories - you've burned them. As long as you're eating less than you burn, you'll lose weight, even if the deficit figure for the extra active days are rather higher than you're used to.0 -
LOL wasn't trying to be a doom merchant (although I may use that title at another time because it's pretty catchy) but was merely pointing out something that many others have noticed and commented on as a potential MFP flaw to consider as having a direct impact on "General Diet and Weight Loss Help" such as the title of this message board.
Apologies if I've caused people to be discouraged, wasn't my intention.
Peace out.
Well, people need to be aware of the potential issue if they are wondering why they aren't losing weight. One possibility is overestimating calories burned. It's the truth. Whether you believe it or not, just because you ignore it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
ha ha ha wouldn't they be ASKING that question if it was an issue. Nobody was asking why they weren't losing....were they?? Potential issue? Seems if it's not the issue in this post, then why would it even need to be addressed here?
Well, the OP had a 1300+ exercise total from 4 hours of exercise, so if I've found that the totals for, say, 4 hours of biking seem way off for me, and that I lose what I expect to (or only a little more) by eating back about half of those totals (which is true), it's relevant to the advice sought. Basically, sometimes there's a problem with multi-hour exercise totals, maybe because what you'd burn otherwise needs to be backed out.
I don't think anyone should strain to eat back a giant exercise calorie total in a particular day. If it's an irregular thing, eat what you feel like and be open to eating a little more the next day if you are hungrier. If it's regular, consider working it into overall activity level. When I'm commuting regularly by bike I may ride 2 hours in the day (in lieu of a on average 1:45 daily commute, so it doesn't really cost me much time) on top of whatever other exercise I do, but I include bike commuting (and walking, like the OP seems to be largely talking about) as part of general activity level.
I also think there are other calorie totals that seem too high, but people should experiment with their results. I've also seen people claiming they don't lose when they eat back exercise calories, and that's certainly not been my experience--other than the really high totals, I tend to eat back most of mine and don't lose less than I should.0 -
This thread made me realize that the term 'working out' means something very specific in my head. When I think working out, I think hardcore (to me) exercise, like hard aerobics, running, or lifting weights at the gym, while when I think general exercise I think walking to class or cleaning or light hiking or pretty much anything else.
Maybe that's why so many people were like 'omg, you worked out for FOUR HOURS today?!', haha. Because I know I was thinking 'omg you were at the gym for FOUR HOURS today?!' in my head.
This!0 -
This thread made me realize that the term 'working out' means something very specific in my head. When I think working out, I think hardcore (to me) exercise, like hard aerobics, running, or lifting weights at the gym, while when I think general exercise I think walking to class or cleaning or light hiking or pretty much anything else.
Maybe that's why so many people were like 'omg, you worked out for FOUR HOURS today?!', haha. Because I know I was thinking 'omg you were at the gym for FOUR HOURS today?!' in my head.
^^^This0
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