Thoughts - exercise calories are 'meaningless'?

Yooperm35

http://www.coachcalorie.com/calories-burned-during-exercise-meaningless/

When I think I understand, then I read things like this. I've been gaining and losing the same 3# for 3 months now. I have been eating back my exercise calories. I'm wondering if I should just forget about the calories I burn and eat my TDEE - 10% since I am so close to my goal weight?

TavistockToad

Exercise calories aren't meaningless if you use MFP the way it is set up!

HPLW0705

I set my calories to 1800, log exercises as 1 calorie regardless of how much I burn, and then go from there. I have an HRM so I know exactly how much I'm burning. I honestly feel this is better for me because I feel like I get to eat more. I'm netting between 1200-1350 daily and it's not as hard. I think it's all about how you make it work for you. MFP gives you options, use them...it's set up a certain way, but it's not written in stone that you can't deviate, hence the ability to change your calorie intake around. Do what works for you, if you try it and it doesn't work, try something different.

Yooperm35

Exercise calories aren't meaningless if you use MFP the way it is set up!

However, following MFP 'the way it is set up' has caused my weightloss to stall. Obviously I need to change something

ThoseLittleCats

if u wanna lose more, u cant eat them back..

JesterMFP

That article isn't about MFP & exercise calories, it's about how most of the calories you burn are through your every day living, and the fact that you can't rely on exercise to lose weight if you aren't also controlling your diet, and that by building muscle you can burn more calories at rest.

The way MFP works is that it gives you a calorie goal with a built in deficit. You don't need to burn extra through exercise. Exercising and not eating those calories back could give you too large of a deficit.

In your situation, perhaps you are over-estimating the calories you are burning through exercise and/or under-estimating the calories you are consuming and/or your metabolic rate is slower than calculators (such as the one MFP uses) predict.

ETA: Ok, looking at your diary, it looks like you're barely eating back your exercise calories anyway, and sometimes not even netting your goal, so I don't think exercise calories are the issue for you.

ilmb87

Exercise calories aren't meaningless if you use MFP the way it is set up!

However, following MFP 'the way it is set up' has caused my weightloss to stall. Obviously I need to change something

1) Do you weigh everything you eat?
2) How do you calculate calories burned (heat monitor, machine, MFP, etc.)?

You might not have been losing weight because you were either overestimating burn or underestimating food.

TavistockToad

Exercise calories aren't meaningless if you use MFP the way it is set up!

However, following MFP 'the way it is set up' has caused my weightloss to stall. Obviously I need to change something

You net around 1000 cals.

You aren't hitting your net calorie goal, so you're not using MFP the way it is set up.

Yooperm35

Exercise calories aren't meaningless if you use MFP the way it is set up!

However, following MFP 'the way it is set up' has caused my weightloss to stall. Obviously I need to change something

1) Do you weigh everything you eat?
2) How do you calculate calories burned (heat monitor, machine, MFP, etc.)?

You might not have been losing weight because you were either overestimating burn or underestimating food.

1) Yes, I weight EVERYTHING using an electronic food scale
2) I use a Polar FT4 HRM to calculate calories burn.

Yooperm35

Exercise calories aren't meaningless if you use MFP the way it is set up!

However, following MFP 'the way it is set up' has caused my weightloss to stall. Obviously I need to change something

You net around 1000 cals.

You aren't hitting your net calorie goal, so you're not using MFP the way it is set up.

But I changed my MFP goal to 1350 (it should be 1200) because I do try to eat back my exercise calories. It's for my own tracking. So if you add in the 150 calories I added on, I'm really netting 1200

Zumaria1

Not sure what your height and weight are, but could be as you are near your goal, you are close to what your weight should be, and your body is comfortable at the size you are. Maybe eating at maintenance calories for a few weeks, then start eating at a calorie deficit again, to jump start the last bit of weight to lose.

beattie1

if u wanna lose more, u cant eat them back..

This is incorrect. People who have lost the most eat at least half their exercise calories back. People who stall say this.