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

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  • xmichaelyx
    xmichaelyx Posts: 883 Member
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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: 1,643 Member
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    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.

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