Help with calories

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MasterFarCaster
MasterFarCaster Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, I am new to all this. I am 145, 5'10 male, and I am somewhat of an endurance athlete. I added today's exercise to the log (85 minutes of spinning very vigorously and hiking 4-5 miles), and it tells me I need between 3000-3500 calories. How accurate are these websites? My doctor is asking me to make sure I am eating enough. Thanks.

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  • MasterFarCaster
    MasterFarCaster Posts: 5 Member
    Options
    Hi, I am new to all this. I am 145, 5'10 male, and I am somewhat of an endurance athlete. I added today's exercise to the log (85 minutes of spinning very vigorously and hiking 4-5 miles), and it tells me I need between 3000-3500 calories. How accurate are these websites? My doctor is asking me to make sure I am eating enough. Thanks.

    nobody knows? :( The thing today says about 3350
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    Do you wear an HRM to get your calorie burn or go by MFP #s? The HRM will be more accurate. MFP if I understand correctly is more of a general estimation.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    Hi, I am new to all this. I am 145, 5'10 male, and I am somewhat of an endurance athlete. I added today's exercise to the log (85 minutes of spinning very vigorously and hiking 4-5 miles), and it tells me I need between 3000-3500 calories. How accurate are these websites? My doctor is asking me to make sure I am eating enough. Thanks.

    nobody knows? :( The thing today says about 3350

    It's a good starting point. Follow the advice for a few weeks. If you see yourself gaining when you should be losing, eat a little less. If you see yourself losing when you should be gaining, eat a little more.

    Some trial and error is a necessary part of all this. Everything is an estimate (TDEE, BMR, cals eaten, cals burned, etc etc), so it takes some time to find the sweet spot for most people.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    Do you wear an HRM to get your calorie burn or go by MFP #s? The HRM will be more accurate. MFP if I understand correctly is more of a general estimation.
    Not always.
  • MasterFarCaster
    MasterFarCaster Posts: 5 Member
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    Thanks so much. Yes, I wear a Polar HR monitor, f-150 sometimes. It says I burn more than the site when I spin at 255-275 watts or run at 7-8 mph. The bike itself I use says 1500, the hr monitor says 1200-1300, site says ~1100. I was just curious how accurate these things were. Thanks all so much!!

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