Accurate excersize calories

kennedar
kennedar Posts: 306 Member
edited September 21 in Food and Nutrition
Hey everyone

I have a question. I know that it is not possible to be completely accurate with how many calories you are burning without a HRT, but buying one is not in the budget right now. The calories burned are hugely different between MFP and what the machine says (by about 200 calories) so I am going with which one is lower. My question is, how much faith do you guys put in the machine calorie counts? If the machine says I burned 520 calories, plus I walked for 25 minutes with the dog, should I eat all 630 calories? Or should I assume that the machine may have been skewed and not eat everything?

Replies

  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
    I wouldn 't eat all of it, since in my experience BOTH MFP and the gym machines overestimate exercise calories burned. (I use a bodybugg type device to measure my calorie burn). Even then, it's still an estimate, so I aim to eat 50-75% of my exercise calories, but if I have a day where I'm super hungry, I'll listen to my body and eat a little extra.
  • kennedar
    kennedar Posts: 306 Member
    Thanks! Thats what I needed to hear! I am craving some cereal, but I am not actually hungry! I have already eaten 50% of my exercise calories, so I am not going to eat anymore.
  • LaChanchita
    LaChanchita Posts: 32
    I dont eat any of my burnt off calories..... I act like as if they never exsisted..... I have 2000 cals, I work off say 500 with a jog.....I dont eat those cals back to fufill the 2000.

    So I eat my 2000 cals, and do all my excersise......what ever I burn off, I dont replace by eating my cals back to 2000, it like voids all the hard work of working......well thats for me.....everyone is very different.
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
    I dont eat any of my burnt off calories..... I act like as if they never exsisted..... I have 2000 cals, I work off say 500 with a jog.....I dont eat those cals back to fufill the 2000.

    So I eat my 2000 cals, and do all my excersise......what ever I burn off, I dont replace by eating my cals back to 2000, it like voids all the hard work of working......well thats for me.....everyone is very different.

    The idea behind MFP is that the deficit to lose your goal loss per week is calculated BEFORE any exercise is added in, so the exercise is like bonus calories that you can eat and still maintain the same deficit to lose the weight. The reason many people don't lose the same weight when they eat back most/all exercise calories is a few reasons:

    1) They overestimate exercise calories
    2) They underestimate calories eaten
    3) Their calories are set at 1200 which doesn't give everyone a big enough deficit to reach their goal (since MFP won't go below 1200 calories)

    Everyone has to figure out what works for them, but if you understand what your deficit is and you are accurately measuring your exercise calories and calories consumed, then you should have no trouble eating back exercise calories and still maintaining the same deficit.

    I would be careful if you have heavy exercise days - if you don't eat any exercise calories back, you may find yourself low on energy. I'm not saying you need to eat them all back (I don't) but make sure you listen to your body and eat more if you need to.
  • bonniecameron68
    bonniecameron68 Posts: 16
    I wouldn't trust the equipment at the gym, it is an estimate, and when you put in your weight it is not very accurate either because not everyone who has the same body compostion. I didn't realize how many people stayed below their extra calories from workouts, I have not come close to consuming the amount of calories allowed on my extreme workout days which can total over 2600 calories some days!! But you do need to eat after a hard workout, fruit is really the best to eat within an hour of working out to restore energy to your muscles. I was thinking of getting my VO2 tested at my local training facility, apparently it will give an acurate reading of how many calories you need to consume to lose weight. Happy Fitness!!
  • mreed911
    mreed911 Posts: 25
    (since MFP won't go below 1200 calories)

    Not true. You can MANUALLY set it below 1200 but you have to manually calculate it. For instance, my BMR is 3300, so my doctor recommended 1500 under, I set my calories manually to 1800.

    On another note, he explained the "eat back your exercise calories" piece - it makes exercise a reward when you don't really want to do it for any other reason. Rather than "jogging off what I ate," exercising allows me to eat more if I want to. I'm training myself not to think in terms of "must eat every calorie!" but in a sense that's close to true, as you don't want your body to go into starvation mode. I think the advice of eating back some of your calories is good, but you should listen to your body.

    You won't get thin if you burn out, and stressing out over it will burn you out. If you eat all of them one day and half another, the average is 75%. It all works out in the wash.

    -- MIke
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
    (since MFP won't go below 1200 calories)

    Not true. You can MANUALLY set it below 1200 but you have to manually calculate it. For instance, my BMR is 3300, so my doctor recommended 1500 under, I set my calories manually to 1800.

    You're right - you can manually set it below 1200, but that's not generally recommended, since 1200 cals is considered the minimum healthy calorie intake even for someone trying to lose weight. There may be exceptions under doctor supervision, but this is the general rule, so MFP won't automatically set it below 1200 - you have to force it.
  • LaChanchita
    LaChanchita Posts: 32
    I dont eat any of my burnt off calories..... I act like as if they never exsisted..... I have 2000 cals, I work off say 500 with a jog.....I dont eat those cals back to fufill the 2000.

    So I eat my 2000 cals, and do all my excersise......what ever I burn off, I dont replace by eating my cals back to 2000, it like voids all the hard work of working......well thats for me.....everyone is very different.

    The idea behind MFP is that the deficit to lose your goal loss per week is calculated BEFORE any exercise is added in, so the exercise is like bonus calories that you can eat and still maintain the same deficit to lose the weight. The reason many people don't lose the same weight when they eat back most/all exercise calories is a few reasons:

    1) They overestimate exercise calories
    2) They underestimate calories eaten
    3) Their calories are set at 1200 which doesn't give everyone a big enough deficit to reach their goal (since MFP won't go below 1200 calories)

    Everyone has to figure out what works for them, but if you understand what your deficit is and you are accurately measuring your exercise calories and calories consumed, then you should have no trouble eating back exercise calories and still maintaining the same deficit.

    I would be careful if you have heavy exercise days - if you don't eat any exercise calories back, you may find yourself low on energy. I'm not saying you need to eat them all back (I don't) but make sure you listen to your body and eat more if you need to.

    You ROCK!!!! thank you so much for clearing it up for me.... I guess it was all the guilt that I had 2000 calories to eat, and that was that, and that excersise was extra.... you know what i mean??

    muah Accountant boi!! xxoo ♥
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