Not logging exercise calories?

Sid1988
Sid1988 Posts: 170 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
MFP has set my daily calorie goal to 1200, I figured this was quite low so I have set it to 1400, but what I have decided to do is to not log my exercise calories and stick to eating 1400 per day.

Has anyone had any success from doing this?

Replies

  • happydaze71
    happydaze71 Posts: 339 Member
    I always log my exercise cals.... I just never EAT my exercise cals.
  • tryclyn
    tryclyn Posts: 2,414 Member
    I've mine set to 2000 and never log exercise.
  • vickthedick
    vickthedick Posts: 136 Member
    I never eat back my calories from exercise. i went from 225 to 114 in a year before putting some back on because I was starting to look questionably weighted.

    While i understand the concept, if you dont have an HRM you have no solid clue of what you are actually burning. The counters on the machines can be off by hundreds of calories. I see it 10 of times a day..."i am not eating over my calories, why am i not losing" and more often than not it is because people are inadvertently going over their calories by eating back their exercise calories
  • StArBeLLa87
    StArBeLLa87 Posts: 1,582 Member
    Yeah I think I'm not gonna log then starting today! I'm just gonna note them in my diary cuz I just upped my calories to a 1000 calorie deficit according to my tdee !
  • cindyjoesousa
    cindyjoesousa Posts: 87 Member
    After losing 86 pounds I hit a plateau for 2 months..I am now not eating back my exercise calories and starting to lose again..
  • albertine58
    albertine58 Posts: 267 Member
    I typically stick to a 1400 calorie goal and it works very well for me. Occasionally I feel like I need an extra snack on days when I work out hard, so I will eat some of my exercise calories if I really need it- or If I have a big event or party where I'm dying to indulge a little.

    For me, MFP sets my calorie goal at 1200 if I enter that I want to lose 2 lbs/week, and I enter that I'm sedentary. But I'm not sedentary! I had to go all the way up to "moderately active" to get to 1400. I'd say I vary between lightly and moderately active, depending on the week. I do lose about 2 lbs per week if I stay around a 1400-1500 average!

    ^ that said, everyone is different. If you're working out extremely hard, you probably need more than 1400 on your workout days, especially if you start to feel tired, drained, or weak. Don't be afraid to play around with it. I lost weight at 1700 cals/day, just more slowly.
  • Sid1988
    Sid1988 Posts: 170 Member
    That's what I figured, the machines are never accurate with the amount of calories we actually burn and I don't want to be logging because of an estimate, I figured to stick to 1400 and not log exercise, that way I know exactly what I am eating rather than it say I burnt 500 calories spinning, eating them back but only to realise I may have only burnt 300.
  • SenseiCole
    SenseiCole Posts: 429 Member
    I am 1200 cals a day, I exercise most day and I do eat back most of them

    my reasons are I think it will make it easier for me to maintain my weight once I get to my goal weight

    I have a heart rate /cals counter which record cals I burn , I know what is going into and out of my body



    anyone can add me
  • SassyCalyGirl
    SassyCalyGirl Posts: 1,932 Member
    the best way to figure out what calories you should be eating-TDEE -20%

    I always log my exercise (without using MFP calculations-so that it doesn't mess up my macros when it adds those cals back) I do NOT eat back burned cals

    I also use an HRM to calculate my burns for better accuracy.
  • TrainerRobin
    TrainerRobin Posts: 509 Member
    Maybe this will help ...

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/TrainerRobin/view/myth-or-fact-calories-in-versus-calories-out-3500-calories-one-pound-and-should-i-eat-my-exercise-calories-62012

    Robin
  • zoodocgirl
    zoodocgirl Posts: 163 Member
    I'm new here - is there a way for me to LOG the exercise in MFP just so I can keep track... but not have it add back the calories/screw with my macros? I figured out my TDEE deficit at am supposed to eat 1700/day, and not planning to eat back exercise calories, but I hate doing the mental math once MFP gets all messed up after I log exercise!
  • RepsnSets
    RepsnSets Posts: 805 Member
    Im at 2149 and dont eat my exercise cals back but I do log them
  • 3laine75
    3laine75 Posts: 3,069 Member
    I'm new here - is there a way for me to LOG the exercise in MFP just so I can keep track... but not have it add back the calories/screw with my macros? I figured out my TDEE deficit at am supposed to eat 1700/day, and not planning to eat back exercise calories, but I hate doing the mental math once MFP gets all messed up after I log exercise!

    Yes, you can make up your own exercise and give it a value of 1 calorie.
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,831 Member
    I always log my exercise cals.... I just never EAT my exercise cals.

    This. I don't exercise enough (yet) to eat them back but I use logging the exercise to encourage myself to do it.
  • vixtris
    vixtris Posts: 688 Member
    depends on how much cals you burn with exercise
  • JJordon
    JJordon Posts: 857 Member
    I set mine to ONE calorie burned. I don't care about estimating the output, just measuring the input, that's they key to my success.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    1400 is not enough if you're not going to log your exercise, unless you don't exercise much. If you're doing 500 calories workouts, 1400 is not going to cut it (although it's what I did at first and did ok, but I increased my calories later).

    I switched to TDEE-20% today so I don't have to worry about logging my exercise anymore.
  • laele75
    laele75 Posts: 283 Member
    I log them, but I don't eat them back. I aim for my calorie goal. But I am extremely obese and my body can handle a larger deficit without risking starvation mode. As I lose, I am sure this will change, but I see the exercise calories as my safety net. I don't usually use them, but they're there if I need them.
  • melb_alex
    melb_alex Posts: 1,154 Member
    I really only log exercise as my diet is consistent

    I don't like the 'food diary' I don't know what brands items are !!
  • llkilgore
    llkilgore Posts: 1,169 Member
    I am 1200 cals a day, I exercise most day and I do eat back most of them

    my reasons are I think it will make it easier for me to maintain my weight once I get to my goal weight

    I've been in maintenance for over a year and a half and have found that to be true. The larger calorie budget I got from eating back exercise calories made it easier to maintain a "normal" diet as I was losing the weight, by which I mean standard, full sized servings of the full range of foods I expected to eat for the rest of my life. That made for a fairly seamless transition to maintenance when the time came. And as an added bonus, the care I took to maintain as much as possible of my muscle mass resulted in my true maintenance calories being higher than MFP calculates for my size and age. It's a lot easier to carelessly lose muscle as you're losing fat on an aggressively large calorie deficit than it is to regain that lost muscle without also regaining fat. Then you have to lose the fat again to get your BF% down. Why put yourself through that unnecessarily, just to say you lost an extra pound this week? You may well find that you get to the finish line more quickly if you make a higher priority of keeping the muscle you already have.
  • judychicken
    judychicken Posts: 937 Member
    Bump
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member
    Eating 1642, I log my workouts but don't eat back, as my activity is already factored in to my intake.
  • Johlawrence
    Johlawrence Posts: 236 Member
    This STILL confuses the HECK out of me. I set my goals to lose 1 pound a week and put that I am lightly active, as I am a teacher. I am working out 3-5 times a week and burning 250-300 cals per workout, per my HRM. MFP set my calories at 1390. So, do I NET 1390 or have 1390 as my food intake?
  • cathleen73
    cathleen73 Posts: 11 Member
    you eat 1390. if you exercise and log it, it says you can eat more calories. up to you if you do or not. i'm a big girl, so it gives me lots of calories. i try not to go over and ideally end each day with 200 ish but i do log my workouts. so far about 58 days in, i'm down 14.7 pounds.
  • Johlawrence
    Johlawrence Posts: 236 Member
    you eat 1390. if you exercise and log it, it says you can eat more calories. up to you if you do or not. i'm a big girl, so it gives me lots of calories. i try not to go over and ideally end each day with 200 ish but i do log my workouts. so far about 58 days in, i'm down 14.7 pounds.

    You end each day with 200 ish? As in left over from your calorie goal after exercise? I still don't understand if I should NET 1390 or eat 1390. I'm sorry I sound like such an idiot. This just totally baffles me...:ohwell:
  • llkilgore
    llkilgore Posts: 1,169 Member
    This STILL confuses the HECK out of me. I set my goals to lose 1 pound a week and put that I am lightly active, as I am a teacher. I am working out 3-5 times a week and burning 250-300 cals per workout, per my HRM. MFP set my calories at 1390. So, do I NET 1390 or have 1390 as my food intake?

    You net 1390 unless that's your total energy expenditure, including exercise. It may help if you don't think of the exercise calories as "extra." Either they're taken into account when your your base calorie budget is calculated or they're left out of the math at that point and then added separately later. Either way, they count.
  • LaceyAnderson
    LaceyAnderson Posts: 17 Member
    you eat 1390. if you exercise and log it, it says you can eat more calories. up to you if you do or not. i'm a big girl, so it gives me lots of calories. i try not to go over and ideally end each day with 200 ish but i do log my workouts. so far about 58 days in, i'm down 14.7 pounds.

    You end each day with 200 ish? As in left over from your calorie goal after exercise? I still don't understand if I should NET 1390 or eat 1390. I'm sorry I sound like such an idiot. This just totally baffles me...:ohwell:

    You need to net 1390. If you exercise, it's like earning bonus calories so you can eat more. Some people don't eat those extra calories so they can lose weight more quickly by creating an even bigger deficit than the one calculated by MFP.
  • melindasuefritz
    melindasuefritz Posts: 3,509 Member
    u need to log exercise
    and u need to eat more than 1200 cals unles su are 120 ounds
  • cathleen73
    cathleen73 Posts: 11 Member
    the 1390 is saying based on the information you entered and your activity level to lose the amount of weight per week you said you wanted to, eat 1390.

    that's assuming no extra exercise past your normal activity level.

    if you exercise more, it'll now say you can eat more.

    for instance let's say my calorie goal per day is 2000. I can eat up to that calories per day and ideally lose the weight i said i wanted to lose. if i work out for 20 minutes and burn an extra 150 calories..i can eat 150 more and basically keep things the same..
    so you start with 2000 calories + 150 calories earned by exercise=2150 you could eat and still achieve your goals. now if you don't eat the extra 150 and just eat the 2000, you'd just be losing weight faster. bc you worked out 150 more than you had to to lose weight. up to you if you want to eat them or lose faster. I try not to eat all the calories i'm able to bc I like losing faster.. the goal i put in was 1/2 pound a week, but i've been losing closer to 1 pound a week bc i'm not eating quite all my calories.

    you don't want to eat too few, bc you don't want to slow down your metabolism or starve yourself so that you end up throwing off your diet.

    i first focused on eating the right amount of calories per day..now i'm working on making the calories be from the right categories. I try to eat lower fat than the recommended and more protein and keep carbs about the same. I'm never starving. I still eat the foods I enjoy. I just have to eat less of them. If know i'm going out somewhere where I'll eat more, I can work out more to earn more calories.

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