I Do Not Think My Calories Burned Is Correct..Need Advice

2»

Replies

  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    I understand the retaining water, but I've been at this for 36 days not two weeks. I've been under goal and log everything. My weight loss goal I want is 2 pounds a week.

    But it's only been two weeks since you had a loss?
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    it's hard to figure this all out sometimes.....my HRM watch always says that I've burned more calories than MFP does....for instance....I walked briskly for 10 minutes this morning to work and my watch said 162....MFP says 39!!!...I entered the 39 calories and I probably won't eat them back.....last night I did 30 minutes of Brazil Butt Lift Sculpt....my watch said 531!!!! WTF??...MFP says about 200....I entered the MFP amount....my general rule is enter the MFP amount or about half of what my watch says, whatever one is lower and then eat back only a few of those entered.....good luck!!!

    HRMs are designed for steady state cardio, So your walking calories are a pretty good estimate if your HRM has a chest strap. Chest strap models have more accuracy than wrist only models because pulse is only measured periodically and arm movements can thro things off. But for circuit training, HIIT, strength training, yoga, things like HRMs are much less accurate.
  • Mike_III
    Mike_III Posts: 22 Member
    I'm sorry... I was losing like 2 pounds a week since I started and it stopped two weeks ago. 1600 cals a day. I don't know if you can see my diary?
  • Mike_III
    Mike_III Posts: 22 Member
    I understand the retaining water, but I've been at this for 36 days not two weeks. I've been under goal and log everything. My weight loss goal I want is 2 pounds a week.

    But it's only been two weeks since you had a loss?
  • Mike_III
    Mike_III Posts: 22 Member
    I'm sorry... I was losing like 2 pounds a week since I started and it stopped two weeks ago. 1600 cals a day. I don't know if you can see my diary?
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    I'm sorry... I was losing like 2 pounds a week since I started and it stopped two weeks ago. 1600 cals a day. I don't know if you can see my diary?

    Weight loss will slow as you get closer to goal. Weight loss won't be linear. You would have to keep lowering calories to maintain the same pace....and at some point it's just not very safe (or even healthy weight loss).

    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.
  • AlyssamR6712
    AlyssamR6712 Posts: 114 Member
    I would recommend getting a HRM to track your burning calories.. Also everyone's weight fluctuates daily so you may have eaten something the day before to make yourself retain water. it is impossible to gain that much weight in one day. i am a daily weigher also but i just keep in mind the body will fluctuate, for me its usually 3-4 lbs of fluctuating, accept when i am around "that time" it will be more like 5-6
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    I'm sorry... I was losing like 2 pounds a week since I started and it stopped two weeks ago. 1600 cals a day. I don't know if you can see my diary?

    I can't see it, it's set to private. You can change it by going to settings > diary settings.

    Two weeks isn't long enough to be concerned yet, especially if you haven't changed anything and you were losing 2 lbs per week prior to that. You can double check your accuracy-- make sure you're weighing your food on a scale and measuring free-pouring liquids, logging everything, choosing the database entries with no asterisk or making sure the label matches, etc.

    As far as I know there are no really accurate trackers for weight training calories. I always used what MFP gave me and that was fine. Now I use what fitbit gives me and that's been fine too. But it's just a token number. The best thing to do is use it for a few weeks and then adjust up or down as needed.
  • I usually say I did half the exercise that I have actually do. For example if I work out 30 minutes I log 15 minutes, or if I work out 2 hours I use 1 hour, or if I work out 60minutes I use 30 minutes
  • Mike_III
    Mike_III Posts: 22 Member
    Changed it
  • xmichaelyx
    xmichaelyx Posts: 883 Member
    I know it's a cardinal sin here, but I don't add back in my exercise because, short of using a heart rate monitor, there's no decent way to calculate the calories involved. I can do a full-body workout 2 days in a row that are identical on paper, but have vastly different calorie-burning potential depending on the effort I put into them (yes, even using machines - the numbers they give you are meaningless).

    If I ran marathons I'd care. But doing an hour long class or weight-lifting session? Pointless.

    Everything we do here is an estimation. Even if you weight your food to the gram, there will be varying amounts of water (or fat, or protein, or carbs) in 1 piece of chicken (or plum, or banana) compared to another making those weights approximations.

    If adding back in your exercise calories is screwing up your calorie estimates, just stop.
  • silentKayak
    silentKayak Posts: 658 Member
    MFP estimates for calories burned are chronically high. Use the gym equipment numbers if you have them. Alternately, if you use the MFP database, put in 50% of the time. That is - if you do 60 minutes of yoga, log it as 30.

    You don't need cross-fit or running to lose weight. It sounds like you're doing a lot of gentle low-impact exercise, which is fantastic, but be aware it may not burn that many calories. To lose, you'll have to be really careful with what you eat. I'm on a similar plan (80% food, 20% exercise). Feel free to add me.
  • silentKayak
    silentKayak Posts: 658 Member
    I understand the retaining water, but I've been at this for 36 days not two weeks. I've been under goal and log everything. My weight loss goal I want is 2 pounds a week.

    That's not really enough time to tell what's happening.

    Try using an an app like Libra or HappyScale. You log your weight every day, and it shows you your weight trend without all the variance from water etc. It will seriously prevent these freakouts if you don't appear to lose within a week or two.
  • canadjineh
    canadjineh Posts: 5,396 Member
    I agree with most of the posters on this thread, but just on a side note... really look at the food log choices you are making on MFP, since as you will notice there's usually about 15 choices for the same food but most are incorrect. Try going to nutritiondata.self.com to get the real macros in your foods then you will know which ones to choose for a correct macro & calorie count. It's a huge pain but incorrect choice on the list will really screw with your numbers (& of course results). For instance, one Morningstar Vegetarian 'Chicken' Patty choice on MFP's list apparently has no carbs.... which is totally WRONG....so check the sides of the box of food or the site mentioned above for correct numbers. Good luck, you are checking everything out so you will be successful in the end...
  • 20yearsyounger
    20yearsyounger Posts: 1,630 Member
    I know it's a cardinal sin here, but I don't add back in my exercise because, short of using a heart rate monitor, there's no decent way to calculate the calories involved. I can do a full-body workout 2 days in a row that are identical on paper, but have vastly different calorie-burning potential depending on the effort I put into them (yes, even using machines - the numbers they give you are meaningless).

    If I ran marathons I'd care. But doing an hour long class or weight-lifting session? Pointless.

    Everything we do here is an estimation. Even if you weight your food to the gram, there will be varying amounts of water (or fat, or protein, or carbs) in 1 piece of chicken (or plum, or banana) compared to another making those weights approximations.

    If adding back in your exercise calories is screwing up your calorie estimates, just stop.

    +1 It's all estimates.

    Here's an example. I have a favorite machine in the gym that I've been using for a while. Numbers seem right. Then one day it showed me that I only burned 180 calories on a 45 min elliptical at 70% Max heart rate. I said hmm maybe I'm tired or I entered my age and information wrong.

    Next day I went back on the machine and made sure that I entered the information correctly. The calories burned rate was all wrong again. I stopped my workout and jumped on the machine next to me. Numbers were being calculated fine. You just don't know what calibration these machines are getting or not getting. I trust my HRM more. I also don't worry about that eating back stuff. I just try to eat what I need over my BMR without getting hungry and tired.