is mfp wrong??

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  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
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    By and large, MFP's calories are correct.

    I have a real issue with counting exercise calories, though - especially with how they are "added back in" to your daily target. When you create your MFP profile and tell it your stats AND your exercise level (sedentary, active, etc), you have already "built in" your exercise calories to your daily target. To go and then do what you said you were going to do anyway, and earn bonus calories for it seems particularly stupid. It negates the entire point of MFP, which is fat loss because if you follow that logic you will only maintain.

    My advice: NEVER EAT BACK YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES.

    Happy New Year.

    Please ignore the quoted text, it is incorrect.
  • dave4d
    dave4d Posts: 1,155 Member
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    When searching for a food in the database, it is a good idea to either look for the number of confirmations, or check the stats with what is on the label from the food you are eating. Some entries are incorrect, or only correct in other countries, but don't match the label on what I'm eating. Some people will input their own recipes, so those numbers are only correct for the recipe that it was put in for. For example, I put in a recipe for "Molten Lava cake" that is made with protein powder, and egg whites, but if you make a different recipe for molten lava cake, and search for molten lava cake, inputting mine, instead of real molten lava cake, your numbers will be way off.

    I've even had to watch the bar code scanner, as it is not always accurate. I had cinnamon rolls the other day, that I scanned with the barcode scanner, but the calories ended up being half of what the box told me.
  • fightininggirl
    fightininggirl Posts: 792 Member
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    the problem I have is MFP doesn't list my work out so I have to use race walking when I log in. for whatever reason they do not do 1 mile walking on their log which is silly.
  • sevsmom
    sevsmom Posts: 1,172 Member
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    The food calories are generally correct. . .especially if you see it confirmed by several users. They probably all looked at the same food labels or did the math off the same food labels.

    As for the exercise calories. . .I have found that early on, when i was at my highest weight, the numbers worked OK for me. But now that I've been at this awhile and my fitness has improved, I rely solely on my HRM (and I usually subtract about 10-15% from that number as well). It seems to work for me that way.

    Don't stop logging. Jut realize that some things are more reliable than others and you have to pay close attention to find out what will work for you.

    Good luck in 2013!!
  • Tedebearduff
    Tedebearduff Posts: 1,155 Member
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    iv been reading a few people saying the mfp calories arnt right and the exercise trackers calories are far off,is this right ? should i stop logging in my exercise? thankyou :)

    It's a estimate more or less. The food calories I am unsure of to be honest.

    The only way to log your exercise calories is to get a heart rate monitor, Now I use to think I was burning 200 calories for my work outs ... it's really been more like 600-800 same with the eliptical I accodring to the machine I would burn 400 calories my HRM tells me it's 700 and change... I've only been using the HRM since I got it at chirstmas but I love the thing
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
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    This is just a guide, a tool. Unless you are hooked up to some sort of indirect calorimetry (still not 100% accuarte) all of this is just an estimate. Continue to log, and youll start to see a pattern emerge where you can look at the bigger picture within weeks and months. Focus on what works for you and change what doesnt. Just think of MFP as a motivating tool.
  • arewethereyet
    arewethereyet Posts: 18,702 Member
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    the problem I have is MFP doesn't list my work out so I have to use race walking when I log in. for whatever reason they do not do 1 mile walking on their log which is silly.

    I noticed that but a mile is not just a mile. If you walk that mile in 20 minutes, you are going 3.5 if you do it in 13 minutes 2.5 or something like that. So the calorie burn for 1 mile is different depending on the speed.

    So when I walk the dog fast for a mile, in 15 minutes I log it as 3.5 mph walking dog.

    The best way to know your calorie burn is with a heart rate monitor.

    Unfortunately, I didn't use mine for so long it died:frown:

    Keep on walkin!:flowerforyou:
  • joyfuljoy65
    joyfuljoy65 Posts: 317 Member
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    I have also set my activity level as sedentary (I am an office worker) and a 1lb week weight loss; and I very rarely add back any exercise unless it is unordinary, just try to eat just below or at the calories calculated. I have checked a lot of the calories in products with other sources (eg packaging, previous weight loss plans) and they are usually quite correct in mfp. Sometimes there are more than one option, and I look for the one with the most confirmations and that matches any other info available.

    I have found following this, that the weight loss this time has been the easiest ever to lose - I have found that portion size has been my downfall in the past - now I am weighing my food. Also there is no point in cheating by not entering food I have eaten - it is only myself that I am fooling!

    So I would say that mfp is a great tool to help lose weight, I have recommended it to others.
  • lilpoindexter
    lilpoindexter Posts: 1,122 Member
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    MFP cals are generous...For example the treadmill says I burned 500 cal in 45 minutes...mfp says its 750 cals. I compensate by putting in whatever time = 500 call.
  • naticksdonna
    naticksdonna Posts: 192 Member
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    By and large, MFP's calories are correct.

    I have a real issue with counting exercise calories, though - especially with how they are "added back in" to your daily target. When you create your MFP profile and tell it your stats AND your exercise level (sedentary, active, etc), you have already "built in" your exercise calories to your daily target. To go and then do what you said you were going to do anyway, and earn bonus calories for it seems particularly stupid. It negates the entire point of MFP, which is fat loss because if you follow that logic you will only maintain.

    My advice: NEVER EAT BACK YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES.

    This!!
    Happy New Year.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    By and large, MFP's calories are correct.

    I have a real issue with counting exercise calories, though - especially with how they are "added back in" to your daily target. When you create your MFP profile and tell it your stats AND your exercise level (sedentary, active, etc), you have already "built in" your exercise calories to your daily target. To go and then do what you said you were going to do anyway, and earn bonus calories for it seems particularly stupid. It negates the entire point of MFP, which is fat loss because if you follow that logic you will only maintain.

    My advice: NEVER EAT BACK YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES.

    Happy New Year.

    That really depends. I always eat back my exercise calories and eat to my net goal...that is the way MFP is set up. I'm not maintaining, I'm losing about 1.5 Lbs per week. If I didn't eat back my exercise calories, my net calories would be below my BMR...eating to BMR is necessary for overall organ function. I would agree that if you're active or very active and set up that way then you wouldn't eat them back...but I think most people who eat them back are set up as sedentary and then they go run a few miles or something, which is outside of their profile. In that case, it makes absolute sense to log exercise calories and eat them back.
  • lilteeraw
    lilteeraw Posts: 261
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    Get an HRM if you are so concerned :P
  • NCchar130
    NCchar130 Posts: 955 Member
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    Anything you use for exercise calories whether HRM, machine totals at the gym, or online calculators isn't going be exactly accurate. I've read so many posts here from people urging others to always eat them back versus the other side who never eat them back.

    I for one have had success eating them back. I don't wear an HRM, I rely either on machine totals or MFP estimates. I would say those numbers must be close to accurate for me as I have lost weight steadily.

    If you try eating them back (whatever method you use to estimate the calories burned) and plateau, you may want to eat only half of them or none of them back. If it ends up working well for you, as it did me, then eat them if you want to.
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
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    By and large, MFP's calories are correct.

    I have a real issue with counting exercise calories, though - especially with how they are "added back in" to your daily target. When you create your MFP profile and tell it your stats AND your exercise level (sedentary, active, etc), you have already "built in" your exercise calories to your daily target. To go and then do what you said you were going to do anyway, and earn bonus calories for it seems particularly stupid. It negates the entire point of MFP, which is fat loss because if you follow that logic you will only maintain.

    My advice: NEVER EAT BACK YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES.

    Happy New Year.
    No, that's not how MFP works. When you set up, following MFP's instructions, your activity level does not include any planned exercise, but just your normal daily activities associated with work & home life. That is why you're supposed to log exercise and eat those calories. A lot of people choose to customise their goal by working out their TDEE including all exercise, but this is a different method from the one that MFP uses.

    OP - MFP's exercise calorie estimations can be fairly inaccurate. For the most part, I've found that MFP underestimates most of my calorie burns (at least when compared to my heart rate monitor). Other people find that MFP overestimates. If you are following MFP's method though (and haven't customised your goal based on TDEE) then you would want to at least eat some of those calories back, as you will of course be burning something during exercise. The best thing to do is choose what proportion you're going to eat back, do this for a few weeks, and see if you lose as expected. If not, you can adjust your intake.
  • Amberonamission
    Amberonamission Posts: 836 Member
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    I don't get why people make it so complicated. I do what mfp suggests and I lose. I start thinking my way is better, I gain. The exercise estimates and my hrm are never further than 70 cal apart. This site works. Trust it for a while and see.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    I don't get why people make it so complicated.

    MFP is unique in that it expects you to eat back exercise calories because the model it uses doesn't include it.

    This complicates things rather horrendously because pretty much every TDEE tool outside of MFP will include an exercise factor.

    I agree with you that people who use MFP to estimate their intake (in other words, those of you who do not customize your intake values) should just follow MFP and monitor results and adjust.


    But the above is why people are complicating it. This is especially true when someone using MFP's default settings goes to talk to their trainer or their RD/etc. The people who are unfamiliar with MFP's mechanics will always say "don't eat back exercise calories" because outside of MFP, that's the correct answer.
  • Amberonamission
    Amberonamission Posts: 836 Member
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    I don't get why people make it so complicated.

    MFP is unique in that it expects you to eat back exercise calories because the model it uses doesn't include it.

    This complicates things rather horrendously because pretty much every TDEE tool outside of MFP will include an exercise factor.

    I agree with you that people who use MFP to estimate their intake (in other words, those of you who do not customize your intake values) should just follow MFP and monitor results and adjust.


    But the above is why people are complicating it. This is especially true when someone using MFP's default settings goes to talk to their trainer or their RD/etc. The people who are unfamiliar with MFP's mechanics will always say "don't eat back exercise calories" because outside of MFP, that's the correct answer.
    I don't understand the tdee thing or many of the other abbreviations people use here. I just put in my weight, set it to sedentary and that I want to lose 2 lbs a week. Bam, loss.
  • sharonloraine
    sharonloraine Posts: 69 Member
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    bump
  • yourenotmine
    yourenotmine Posts: 645 Member
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    Meh, sometimes it's right, sometimes it's wrong. I think it pretty much evens out.

    If I think that a calorie burn was overestimated, I might eat some but not all of the extra calories MFP assigns me. Just my way of keeping things simple.
  • MaraDiaz
    MaraDiaz Posts: 4,604 Member
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    There was a recent study that showed even good heart rate monitors can be off by a very large percentage, especially for women.

    At this point I record the exercise and put 1 calorie burned.

    Then if I feel like I need to eat some back I do it and deal with MFP thinking I went over on calories. I just don't trust my HRM, much less any website to tell me what I burned.

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