Exercise Calories ... What the heck am I doing wrong??

SammyLynn010
SammyLynn010 Posts: 293 Member
edited September 20 in Fitness and Exercise
So, I guess I am fairly new to MFP. I have logged my food and exercise daily (well minus one day when there was a Mexican Feast Fiasco, haha) ... and now I am worried that I have been calculating the exercise calories wrong and using wrong and that I am going to start gaining weight because of it.

I'm soooo confused!

Replies

  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    Don't worry you are doing fine you are down 5 pounds half way to your goal. The last few pounds typically take longer to loose.
    You will probably not gain weight even if you are over estimating you caloric burn as if you are trying to loose weight MFP will set you up with a deficit.

    If you are going for 1 pound per week you daily deficit would be 500 calories. So even if you over estimate your exercise by 200 calories you will still be in a 300 calorie deficit, it will just take longer than the 1 week to loose 1 pound, nothing to fret over just be aware of it. Keep up the good work.
  • lknorthstar
    lknorthstar Posts: 132 Member
    How do you think you are doing it wrong? When you enter in your exercise calories it will give you more calories that you can eat. It does this because your body should get at least 1200 calories or it will start slowing down your metabolism. So if you burn off some calories MFP will give you those back to eat so your body doesn't do that. At least that is how I have understood it. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

    Good luck!
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    How do you think you are doing it wrong? When you enter in your exercise calories it will give you more calories that you can eat. It does this because your body should get at least 1200 calories or it will start slowing down your metabolism. So if you burn off some calories MFP will give you those back to eat so your body doesn't do that. At least that is how I have understood it. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

    Good luck!

    You are correct in theory but I think she is referring to the fact your body burns lets just say 1.5 calories per minute so over the course of a 60 minute workout you would have to minus off 90 calories from what either the machine or your heart rate monitor shows for calories burned. 60 minutes you would have burned 90 calories sitting on your couch, so the amount of calories "extra" you should eat would be your total minus 90, to get your extra calories burned through exercise. The 90ish would be taking into account in your daily allowance on MFP anyway.
  • lknorthstar
    lknorthstar Posts: 132 Member
    Okay, I see. I am pretty new to all this too! Thanks for the help!
  • SammyLynn010
    SammyLynn010 Posts: 293 Member
    I've been running and totally unsure how many calories I am actually burning. I've been running outside not sure of the speed and such, so I am worried I have been logging too many calories. I guess with your explanation that's okay, it will just take longer... I am just worried I am not doing something right.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories