Why you over track exercise calories...

I was really concerned with "Net calories burned" awhile ago, realizing that almost half of the calories burned don't really count, as they would have been burned anyways if I were doing nothing but sitting at the computer or watching TV.... So I did a little experiment with this...

Using the shapesense.com calculators, including their net calories burned conversion, I customized all of my exercises to show "Net" calories burned..... what used to be 300, was now only 100... what was 200 was probably only 70 or so, some of my exercises cut down to 50.... There was a huge difference in numbers, and I did notice how this could completely add up to the 3500cals/week I was trying to lose....

The result? I actually gained weight.....!

You see, before, going by gross calories burned and overestimating, well, seeing those numbers add up, I was constantly motivated to get up and move, adding every little thing.... I went from being totally sedentary, to after 15 minutes sitting at the comp, suddenly wondering what I could clean, if there were errands to run, or suddenly just wanting to walk to the corner store or go up and down the stairs a few times... I was on the move!

The moment I started tracking net calories... it was hopelessly discouraging... I'd see other people ending their days with 1100 calories burned, I'd probably have only 150.... It didn't seem worth it, I'd be working as hard as I could, and barely losing anything, as a result, I exercised less and just cut my meals back.... I stayed within my calorie goal, even without the exercise, but I still gained weight.. 7lbs It was the first time since starting this where I was beyond frustrated and just wanted to give up and quit.... I was stressed about the numbers and figures, frustrated that my exercise meant so little....

So yeah, I ended my experiment and went back to what I was doing, when I was losing 1-2lbs a week, I overestimated my calories, and used the MFP calculators, It took awhile to get all that motivation back.... (in my mind figures were still being calculated and I was constantly aware that this wasn't "really" adding up to much) But as I started to lose the weight I gained back, I started being encouraged once more....

I don't know exactly why I gained the weight, I don't know where I went wrong with the calculations, but I do know, is that I was happier, more motivated, losing weight and shaping up when I was exercising the most, and if being that "accurate" and fussy over the calories burned, was going to stress me out and discourage me to the point of wanting to just give up, it's not worth it... Whatever keeps me going... I need whatever morale boost I can possibly get , especially with the health issues I'm going through right now, it's so easy to get discouraged and if it motivates me to give it my all, then it's totally worth it in the end

As for those who I was preaching to about "Net calories burned" before my little experiment.. lol after seeing how down and out I got, the huge drop in numbers and my weight gain, =x lol they aren't even going to try to go there..... But many people have been losing weight on MFP for quite some time now, using their calorie burned estimates..... so if it works, that's what matters right?

True. I figured that I burn ~52 calories an hour based on my BMR (I'm super tiny), so I should subtract 52 calories from my exercise calories per hour of exercise. But nothing is exact.

This is why I've been trying to eat at TDEE and letting my exercise calories be my deficit because nothing is exact when it comes to exercise calories.