exercise calories explained

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  • CM9178
    CM9178 Posts: 1,265 Member
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    700 calories more a week averages 100 calories a day. If you have a deficit, 100 calories a day is not going to cause you to gain or not loose.
    Ok you are taking it too literal. I have no idea how many calories per day would be figured as burned for someone that is supposedly "highly active". It would depend on the person. I just threw 350 calories out there as an example. It could be 500, 1000 calories per day. Who knows.
  • targosz33
    targosz33 Posts: 2
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    I have a fitbit and is syncs all my calorie burning activity straight oi myfitnesspal, it re caluculates my calories for the day, is this the same thing? My basis calories for the day is 1200 then if i do any exercise it adds calories on.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    700 calories more a week averages 100 calories a day. If you have a deficit, 100 calories a day is not going to cause you to gain or not loose.
    Ok you are taking it too literal. I have no idea how many calories per day would be figured as burned for someone that is supposedly "highly active". It would depend on the person. I just threw 350 calories out there as an example. It could be 500, 1000 calories per day. Who knows.

    If you select an appropriate activity level based on your typical lifestlye, it'll all balance out.

    Like you said, life happens and some days you sit on the couch all day. Some days you chase your kids around the park for 4 hours. If you base your activity level on an average day, then everything will balance out over time... the days when you're less active than normal will balance out the days you are more active than normal. If they don't balance out, then you picked the wrong activity level for your typical day.

    As for cals...

    Here are the numbers for me to maintain (to establish a starting point for conversation)...
    sedentary: 2090 cals daily
    lightly active: 2260 cals daily
    moderately active: 2420 cals daily
    highly active: 2590 cals daily.

    So you pick an activity setting that most appropriately matches your typical daily lifestyle. Say for the sake of conversation that's moderately active. Your goal is 2420 cals daily. Tomorrow you are sick so you lay around the house all day. That 2420 will be a surplus for that day. But next week work is crazy or you take your dogs for a hike or whatever else... that 2420 will be a deficit. So the surplus from when you are sick balances out the deficit from when you hiked with your dogs.

    If you pick an honest and reasonable activity level based on a reasonably typical day, all the ebbs and flows will balance out.


    .
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    I really thought I was clear on this before. I do log my execise every time I do it and I was eating the calories back (most of the time). I have reached my weight loss goal, and now I would like to lower my body fat. If I eat my exercie calories, is that mean I do not burn fat, I burn calories I eat only? I was just about to post a topic when I saw this post...

    Apples and oranges.

    Eating back cals (or not) comes down to maintaining a healthy deficit. A deficit will lead to weight loss. Weight loss is a part of fat loss (with muscle retention being the other part).

    Fat loss is about a calorie deficit (for weight loss) combined with sufficient protein intake and adequate strength training (for muscle retention).
  • mmimmi1
    mmimmi1 Posts: 49 Member
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    700 calories more a week averages 100 calories a day. If you have a deficit, 100 calories a day is not going to cause you to gain or not loose.
    Ok you are taking it too literal. I have no idea how many calories per day would be figured as burned for someone that is supposedly "highly active". It would depend on the person. I just threw 350 calories out there as an example. It could be 500, 1000 calories per day. Who knows.

    If you want to be that accurate, you should wear a heart rate monitor 24 hours a day. I used your example, to average it. If you are that active to have extra 1000 calories per or more per day really you can rest 2 days a week. Actually most intense exersise programs recommend a day or 2 of rest. That does not mean you are not highly active. The average per day is not going to be that significant to cause you not to loose in the long run, it's not an exact science and you can't be 100% accurate. MFP tells you to eat 1300 calories per day ...most of the time you can't eat exactly 1300 on the dot, you are going to be a few over or under, in which case MFP tells you that you either are not eating enough calories which if it's 10 calories less it's not going to throw you in starvation mode, and if you are 100 over you are still going to loose weight. My goal is to be accurate and I would rather log under my exercise calories, just to be safe, but you can't be that accurate. MFP is that same, it uses averages and estimates, more like a guideline that an exact science.
  • mmimmi1
    mmimmi1 Posts: 49 Member
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    I really thought I was clear on this before. I do log my execise every time I do it and I was eating the calories back (most of the time). I have reached my weight loss goal, and now I would like to lower my body fat. If I eat my exercie calories, is that mean I do not burn fat, I burn calories I eat only? I was just about to post a topic when I saw this post...

    Apples and oranges.

    Eating back cals (or not) comes down to maintaining a healthy deficit. A deficit will lead to weight loss. Weight loss is a part of fat loss (with muscle retention being the other part).

    Fat loss is about a calorie deficit (for weight loss) combined with sufficient protein intake and adequate strength training (for muscle retention).

    Got it ... protein+weight training ... and maintain a calories deficit! :bigsmile:
  • alexisdc
    alexisdc Posts: 117 Member
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    Doing the Bumpty dance! Thanks for taking time to do this!!
  • wareagle8706
    wareagle8706 Posts: 1,090 Member
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    bump to read later
  • bakemma
    bakemma Posts: 161 Member
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    Very helpful. Thanks for taking out the time! :)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Agree to disagree... moving along....
    If you are set to Highly active and you sit at home all day and do nothing that day, how are you NOT overestimating calories burned?

    Then you are not highly active and will eat too much then gain weight. Like Cwolfman said, it's up to the individual to set their level appropriately.

    There are very few absolutes in life.
    I don't mean sit home all day every day - I mean life happens - sometimes you aren't going to be highly active every single day - even if that is what you are typically.

    Consistency is the key. If you aren't consistent, your formula is flawed...but one day out of many isn't going to make or break you. I pretty much sit on my *kitten* on Sundays and am no where near moderately active (very close to my TDEE)...but I'm active enough over the course of the other 6 days to make up for it. This is what everyone is telling you...it averages out if you're not mired in the minutia of a single day.

    Roughly moderate active TDEE is my overall lifestyle...it averages out so long as I'm sticking to that life style most of the time...yeah...if I break my neck or something I might have to switch things up to compensate.
  • aeg176
    aeg176 Posts: 171 Member
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    great post! it covers everything. thank you!
  • Fuzzith
    Fuzzith Posts: 6 Member
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    bump :wink:
  • KatieHPhoto
    KatieHPhoto Posts: 37 Member
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    So after eating well throughout the day and exercising, my net is normally around the 600 mark daily, which means I'm under-eating? :S

    Eating back the calories burnt will seem like I'm over-eating...

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    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Nutrition Facts For Foods
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    So after eating well throughout the day and exercising, my net is normally around the 600 mark daily, which means I'm under-eating? :S

    Eating back the calories burnt will seem like I'm over-eating...

    Taken at face value, yes you're under eating. How does 600 cals seem like sufficient fuel for everything you ask your body to do? Digest food, pump blood, breath, clean the house, run errands, work, exercise, etc etc etc.
  • RTDice
    RTDice Posts: 193 Member
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    bump
  • happpyhappyjoyjoy
    happpyhappyjoyjoy Posts: 44 Member
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    Bump
  • YamRector
    YamRector Posts: 74 Member
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    bump
  • pauliuuus
    pauliuuus Posts: 1
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  • christyrivers
    christyrivers Posts: 15
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    Makes total sense. Thank you for taking the time to explain it!
  • changing4life
    changing4life Posts: 193 Member
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    save for later!!!

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