Think I've been doing MFP all wrong...oops! Anyone else?

I eat most of em back and still lose slowly. I need to because I get so hungry, I would binge if I didn't. I think slow loss is better for me because I've been able to maintain my losses at each stage. MFP is set up so you should eat exercise calories back. Just make sure you are weighing everything you eat and that your exercise calories are correct.

The MFP plan is that you eat back your exercise calories. But, since it's impossible to be completely accurate on number of calories burned through exercise, you might want to only eat a percentage of them back if you are not losing when eating them all.

The problem is usually under estimating food intake and over estimating calorie burn. That's the reason to leave some exercise calories on the table. Most of us can't be so accurate that we can eat them all back.

^^^^^This^^^^^

Plus, with 20 lbs to lose, 2lbs / week is a little aggressive. Change the goals. Eat more food.

You are already leaving "calories on the table" because its set at a deficeit. I think as long as you arnt over estimating the calories burnt from exercise you are fine to eat them back. Just relax and lose the weight at a steady pace!

^^^ This ^^^

Re calculate your #'s read these. You should only be losing about 1lb a week with only 20 to go.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/931670-bmr-and-tdee-explained-for-those-needing-a-guide

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

I was getting a little frustrated because the weight wasn't coming off as fast as I would like. I feel really dumb admitting this but I think it's because I'm eating back most of the calories I burn. I'm only allowed 1200 calories a day to lose I think 2 lbs a week. Well that hasn't been happening. It just dawned on me the other day that in order to actually lose weight more aggressively I need to leave some calories "on the table" at the end of the day. Have you been in the same boat? Am I right or wrong? Looking for some thoughts on your experiences with this.

Thanks!

It's not that you have been doing MFP wrong, it is the result of your unreasonable expectations. I hope you will take the advice that has already been posted.

I too realized that by eating all that I burned thru exercise, I was getting no where, in spite of religiously logging food/exercise and being conservative with the estimates. I'm now limiting my cal intake to my BMR(1400) plus half of exercise. This should result in 1/2 pound/week loss.

I think the problem is that my actual BMR is less than the calculated value, because my lifestyle(retired)is very sedendary indeed, except for when I am exercising(cycling and light gym workout daily)

There do seem to be some confusing querks in the 'goal' section of MFP. One is "Calories Burned from normal daily activity," seemingly stuck at 1740 for me. This is a confusing and worthless #. How does MFP know that before I've entered my daily activity? I might decide to stay in bed all day, in which case it would be around 1400.

One does have to apply some common sense and adjust the fixed/calculated numbers when appropriate.

Set your goal to lose 1 pound a week. Eat back *some* of your exercise calories.

There do seem to be some confusing querks in the 'goal' section of MFP. One is "Calories Burned from normal daily activity," seemingly stuck at 1740 for me. This is a confusing and worthless #. How does MFP know that before I've entered my daily activity? I might decide to stay in bed all day, in which case it would be around 1400.

One does have to apply some common sense and adjust the fixed/calculated numbers when appropriate.

Because it is an average of what you can reasonably expect to burn on a daily basis doing regular things like walking to the car, sitting, brushing your teeth, prepping food and you job (you picked the average daily activity level) plus your BMR.
You are correct, some days you'll burn less. Then there will be other days you burn more. MFP doesn't "know", it is an average, an estimate. Even on those below average days you'll burn more than your BMR.

dont listen to anyone to tell you to eat your calories back - ever. whats the point? of course you wont be losing any weight! take a glass of water, remove 2oz of water (calories burned) and MFP tells you, you can eat those 2oz back?

The point is, the calories the MFP sets for you DOES NOT INCLUDE EXERCISE. It is estimating your amount of needed calories based just on ordinary daily activities not including exercise. Then when you choose 'I want to lose 2 pounds per week' that will deduct 1,000 calories from that number, which is way too much of a deficit for the OP (unless you have more than 75 pounds to lose).

Talk about misinformation!!

The problem is people overestimate their calorie burn and underestimate the calories in the food they eat. So if you run and think you burn 300 and eat back 300, but you really only burned 250 and ate back 350, that's going to be a problem. Pair that with the fact that most prepackaged foods estimate servings to look lower calorie. (ie, "about 2 servings" is really 2.3 servings)

gosh there's so much misinformation on this thread among the right information that it's hard for someone who hasn't been successful to pick out whats right and wrong lol

ok first of all, you haven't stated what your goals are. if you dont care about retaining muscle because you're really just want to lose weight, then it doesn't matter how many lbs you lose. only people who want to look aesthetic should really care about losing a .lb a week.

dont listen to anyone to tell you to eat your calories back - ever. whats the point? of course you wont be losing any weight! take a glass of water, remove 2oz of water (calories burned) and MFP tells you, you can eat those 2oz back?

you're hungry because well, you're on a deficit! lol

anyway - figure out what your TDEE is and go with that - not MFP numbers as they are not entirely correct - and almost never correct when it comes to calories burned.

Speaking of misinformation.


From Scott, MFP staff member

"April 15, 2013 2:32 pm
Hello,

The net calorie system cannot be disabled and we caution our users to not use work arounds. If you are accurately recording food entries and caloric expenditure when exercising then the deficit built into your goal will allow you to lose up to two pounds a week which is what is considered a safe rate of weight loss. Additionally users are more likely to build better habits and not stray from their plan if the program is not overly severe(such as having an additional thousand calorie a day deficit in some instances).

We set your nutritional target in Net Calories which we define as:

Calories Consumed (Food) - Calories Burned (Exercise) = Net Calories

What that means is that if you exercise, you will be able to eat more for that day. For example, if your Net Calorie goal is 2000 calories, one way to meet that goal is to eat 2,500 calories of food, but then burn 500 calories through exercise.

Think of your Net Calories like a daily budget of calories to spend. You spend them by eating, and you earn more calories to eat by exercising.

Through repetition you will get an idea for how many calories you will probably burn at the gym and most likely start planning your day and meals around those extra calories that your workout will garner.

This system promotes slow and steady and is very successful when used.

Regards,
Scott
MyFitnessPal Staff"

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/959693-disable-calorie-adjustments-from-exercise


I have also found that TDEE and MFP are pretty much the same. I don't find MFP off.

I was getting a little frustrated because the weight wasn't coming off as fast as I would like. I feel really dumb admitting this but I think it's because I'm eating back most of the calories I burn. I'm only allowed 1200 calories a day to lose I think 2 lbs a week. Well that hasn't been happening. It just dawned on me the other day that in order to actually lose weight more aggressively I need to leave some calories "on the table" at the end of the day. Have you been in the same boat? Am I right or wrong? Looking for some thoughts on your experiences with this.

Thanks!

You're doing it wrong, but not in the way you think you are.

You don't have enough weight to lose to aim for two pounds a week. That setting is for those who have 75 or more pounds to lose.

You should aim for one pound a week at absolute most, probably a half pound a week would be better.

I was getting a little frustrated because the weight wasn't coming off as fast as I would like. I feel really dumb admitting this but I think it's because I'm eating back most of the calories I burn. I'm only allowed 1200 calories a day to lose I think 2 lbs a week. Well that hasn't been happening. It just dawned on me the other day that in order to actually lose weight more aggressively I need to leave some calories "on the table" at the end of the day. Have you been in the same boat? Am I right or wrong? Looking for some thoughts on your experiences with this.

Thanks!

You're doing it wrong, but not in the way you think you are.

You don't have enough weight to lose to aim for two pounds a week. That setting is for those who have 75 or more pounds to lose.

You should aim for one pound a week at absolute most, probably a half pound a week would be better.

Exactly this.