Understanding MFP and Wii Fit

mnattinger

Hi all,

I was wondering if someone could explain to me the homepage's counter. I'm not quite sure what is meant by the Net column. Also, when I bike the machine I use says that I lose around 400 calories for an hour bike ride at a pretty good resistance, but the counter on MFP says that I burn more, same for yoga and the Wii fit. I want to make sure that I am logging everything correctly. The bike that I use isn't calibrated for my weight, so I'm on the fence about which number to use.

Also, the weights that the Wii fit returns to me aren't always consistent. I have a home scale and a home scale and the Wii fit scale, both often give me different numbers. If I change the clothing option on the Wii fit the second measurement that I take within ten seconds doesn't make sense mathematically. I change from -2 to -3 and the weight swing isn't correct based on the one pound swing. What should I do to get consistent measurements?

Thanks,
Matt

stanvoodoo

Net is the calories less your exercise calories. I always take the lower exercise calories so I don't over eat.

Scales will be different every time you step on them. Where you are standing and the eveness of the floor. Just pick one and make that one your "WEIGH IN" scale.

Make sure you don't go below 1500 min calories for men. If net is less than you may need to eat a bit more. Make sure it is protein based!

You can do it!

mnattinger

What do you mean by 1500 min calories? I was under the impression that I should eat around 1250 to lose weight from the site. If I eat 1500 calories won't that be counterproductive?

bluefox9er

MFP makes an approximate assessment of the calories you need to 'eat'. I am very confused about eating my workout calories. mfp says i should eat 1350 cals a day, and today i worked out 1380 cals. so does that mean i need to eat 1350+1380? to be safe, i try and eat less than 1,400 calories.

the average male needs about 2,500 cals a day to 'function'. effective dieting and calorie counting coupled with good exercise is what causes weight loss, but i personally believe that 1450 cals of food per day id fine, regardless of what mfp says.

you also need to weigh using the SAME scales and position the scales in the SAME spot. According to the scales at my gym, I am about 18 lbs lighter than I actually am.

as for the inaccuracies in your exercise readings, I too found that the gym machines gave very different readings to mfp..mfp seems to be extremley generous with it's ' pre calculated' calorie values for exercise. Invest #40 or so in a heart rate monitor and that will give you a far more accurate figure for the calories you burn in ANY exercise you undertake.

Hope this helps.

mnattinger

So your food intake is around 1450 calories, not your net calorie intake?