Eating Exercise Cals Slowing Your Weight loss? Read This.

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  • Beth720
    Beth720 Posts: 661 Member
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    way over my head

    THIS! My head hurts from trying to understand it! I HATE math!!
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
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    way over my head

    THIS! My head hurts from trying to understand it! I HATE math!!

    I hope you at least got something from it - the math wasn't supposed to be the main point, not really, anyways. The main point was the 5 main reasons why eating your exercise calories would cause your weight loss to slow/stop. So if this happens, you should check and make sure that you're not overestimating exercise calories, underestimating what you eat, that you realistically set your normal daily activity level when you set your goals, and that you're not someone whose normal daily activity is so low that MFP doesn't give you the full deficit that you set as your goal. If all of that seems okay, then you might be dealing with a medical issue or you may just have a metabolism that's different from the norm, which would be causing your "normal daily calories burned" as estimated by MFP to be inaccurate.
  • KarenBorter
    KarenBorter Posts: 1,157 Member
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    Thanks for doing this ... I am posting so I can reference it in my topics so I can find it easily!
  • Amandac6772
    Amandac6772 Posts: 1,311 Member
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    Well done! When I follow those rules I can see a 4/10th of a lb drop almost daily. Now is every day the same, no, but on my good days when I do the work and the live the plan it works like magic.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    good post AB. I agree with everything on here.

    for the record, I'm the "Banks1850" that posted the link listed above. While the math can be a bit confusing, anyone who wishes a more personalized explanation and/or a chat about it., can PM (personal message, or MFP email) me. I set up a chat link a long time ago and the room is still available, so when ever there is a need we can set up a time for a chat session and I (and I'm sure AB as well and anyone else) can log in and answer any specific questions you may have. The science, while still in a relatively early stage of it's life cycle, is pretty solid and based on proven concepts in anatomy and physiology.

    Don't be bashful, trust me, I've heard just about every question there is on weight loss, there are no dumb questions except for questions unasked.
  • arewethereyet
    arewethereyet Posts: 18,702 Member
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    I think the only one you forgot was that MFP dont deduct your resting calories from the exercise one's. So if your resting for 24 hours at 1500 but you exercise for an hour and burn 500 then 1/24th of the 1500 is already counted (haven't got a calculator handy to work that out...lol). So you should never eat back ALL of them anyhow.

    This is absolutely correct and anybody that doesn't like it and insists that they need to eat back every single calorie is fooling themselves.

    If somebody burns, say, just 100 calories in an hour, doing some chore and insists they will eat those 100 calories back, they are not doing themselves any favours, because although they burned 100, what would have been their resting calorie burn had they sat in front of the TV and not moved? Possibly around 60 calories, therefore, they only really burned an extra 40 and if they want to insist on eating their exercise calories, it should only be those extra 40 and not the full-blown 100.

    Very, very, good point!

    Here is my thought process for the "eating every exercise calorie" theory. Throughout the day I now walk from the back of the parking lot, put 2 big bags of dog food in the cart 1st thing, walk the perimeter of the store PRIOR to any other purchase, take the stairs everywhere, walk a lot more than I ever did before..........all lifestyle changes that I do NOT log each and every day. I figure if my HRM says 350 for my hour on the ellip, I will eat those back because I am underestimating what I need to begin with.

    Just my thoughts on the subject
    (I have lost and kept off 35 pounds or so in this fashion. I am trying to lose the last few now!)
  • arewethereyet
    arewethereyet Posts: 18,702 Member
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    good post AB. I agree with everything on here.

    for the record, I'm the "Banks1850" that posted the link listed above. While the math can be a bit confusing, anyone who wishes a more personalized explanation and/or a chat about it., can PM (personal message, or MFP email) me. I set up a chat link a long time ago and the room is still available, so when ever there is a need we can set up a time for a chat session and I (and I'm sure AB as well and anyone else) can log in and answer any specific questions you may have. The science, while still in a relatively early stage of it's life cycle, is pretty solid and based on proven concepts in anatomy and physiology.

    Don't be bashful, trust me, I've heard just about every question there is on weight loss, there are no dumb questions except for questions unasked.

    Your a good man Banksy!
  • cardigirl
    cardigirl Posts: 492 Member
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    MFP matches the machines at my gym...but people's metabolism (and effort) can vary.


    And MFP is lower than the machines at my gym. Isn't that funny?

    Such a science, this estimating calorie burn. :laugh:
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
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    I think the only one you forgot was that MFP dont deduct your resting calories from the exercise one's. So if your resting for 24 hours at 1500 but you exercise for an hour and burn 500 then 1/24th of the 1500 is already counted (haven't got a calculator handy to work that out...lol). So you should never eat back ALL of them anyhow.

    This is absolutely correct and anybody that doesn't like it and insists that they need to eat back every single calorie is fooling themselves.

    If somebody burns, say, just 100 calories in an hour, doing some chore and insists they will eat those 100 calories back, they are not doing themselves any favours, because although they burned 100, what would have been their resting calorie burn had they sat in front of the TV and not moved? Possibly around 60 calories, therefore, they only really burned an extra 40 and if they want to insist on eating their exercise calories, it should only be those extra 40 and not the full-blown 100.

    Very, very, good point!

    Here is my thought process for the "eating every exercise calorie" theory. Throughout the day I now walk from the back of the parking lot, put 2 big bags of dog food in the cart 1st thing, walk the perimeter of the store PRIOR to any other purchase, take the stairs everywhere, walk a lot more than I ever did before..........all lifestyle changes that I do NOT log each and every day. I figure if my HRM says 350 for my hour on the ellip, I will eat those back because I am underestimating what I need to begin with.

    Just my thoughts on the subject
    (I have lost and kept off 35 pounds or so in this fashion. I am trying to lose the last few now!)

    That's fantastic that it's working for you! :smile: Your approach would work for someone who consistently does all that extra little stuff that bumps their "normal daily calories burned" above what MFP is estimating. Everyone has to figure out what works for them, though, because for me, I find that unless I'm busy, then I'll just barely burn what MFP says I will burn for my "normal daily calories," (if even that much) given my relatively sedentary lifestyle (apart from workouts). Some days are busier, and like you said, I don't log all the extra "busy day" calories - so in those cases I could probably eat all my exercise calories and not worry about it, but other days I really do have to take into account the "normal burn" portion of my exercise time. Everyone has a different approach, and I would rather underestimate my exercise calories a little bit than consistently overestimate them. I feel like I'm eating more than enough, I'm losing weight steadily, so this is what seems to work for me.
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
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    good post AB. I agree with everything on here.

    for the record, I'm the "Banks1850" that posted the link listed above. While the math can be a bit confusing, anyone who wishes a more personalized explanation and/or a chat about it., can PM (personal message, or MFP email) me. I set up a chat link a long time ago and the room is still available, so when ever there is a need we can set up a time for a chat session and I (and I'm sure AB as well and anyone else) can log in and answer any specific questions you may have. The science, while still in a relatively early stage of it's life cycle, is pretty solid and based on proven concepts in anatomy and physiology.

    Don't be bashful, trust me, I've heard just about every question there is on weight loss, there are no dumb questions except for questions unasked.

    Thanks for giving my post the Banks seal of approval! :happy:

    And yes, I'm more than happy to help people look at their specific situations via MFP email. Never tried the chat room but I suppose if the timing works that might be a possibility as well.
  • jbuffan218
    jbuffan218 Posts: 275 Member
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    I am sure I fall into one of these catagories, just not sure which one.
    Your explanation was greatly needed and very clear.
    I HATE math, so thank you for doing the work :blushing:
  • MayLan
    MayLan Posts: 1,523 Member
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    Nice post! Really puts everything into perspective! I think it's about trying out what works for your body, and as you said, seeing if we are moving "extra" for our daily activities on one day.
  • Fit4Penny
    Fit4Penny Posts: 75 Member
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    This is great information to have. Unfortunately for me, I fall into #4 :mad:
  • KimuraCarter
    KimuraCarter Posts: 16
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    Thanks for the info!
  • KarenBorter
    KarenBorter Posts: 1,157 Member
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    Okay I actually copied and pasted this to an email to reference later. I got my HRM yesterday and tomorrow I am going to put it on as soon as I get up and estimate what my "resting" calories are throughout the day. I weighed myself today and neither gained or lost and I find it odd that I would hit a Plateau 16 days in. The only way to explain it is calories. So, I will do this tomorrow, record the calories from the time I wake up until the time I get to the gym. I really DO the same thing M-F so it should be accurate to withing 5% +/- ... then start my normal exercise. I will use the equations and see if my calories are correct and go from there. It may be that I have to up my base calories ... Have I mentioned that I hate math?
  • sanura
    sanura Posts: 459 Member
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    thanks for the time and effort to make this so clear!!! we appreciate it!
  • Cytherea
    Cytherea Posts: 515 Member
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    Thanks for this really awesome post. I'm awful at math and I understood it perfectly!!

    I've always been a bit wary of the exercise calories, because while I know and get why you should eat them back, it worries me that the number burned is inaccurate! I generally exercise on the treadmill or my Wii and it gives you the cals burned, so I input that on here and manually fill in those calories that the machine gives me (both machines know my age/weight), but you never can be completely sure that they are accurate. So while I do try to eat them back, I usually don't eat ALL of them back because like you said, if the numbers aren't accurate, it IS going to slow/hurt your weight loss!

    My question is, regarding the hrm- how do we know that THAT is accurate?? It is just another machine calculating calories burned in a different way. Why do we trust it? (I don't have one and definitely can't afford one, but just in case I can in the future)
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
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    Okay I actually copied and pasted this to an email to reference later. I got my HRM yesterday and tomorrow I am going to put it on as soon as I get up and estimate what my "resting" calories are throughout the day. I weighed myself today and neither gained or lost and I find it odd that I would hit a Plateau 16 days in. The only way to explain it is calories. So, I will do this tomorrow, record the calories from the time I wake up until the time I get to the gym. I really DO the same thing M-F so it should be accurate to withing 5% +/- ... then start my normal exercise. I will use the equations and see if my calories are correct and go from there. It may be that I have to up my base calories ... Have I mentioned that I hate math?

    I would not recommend using your HRM to estimate your resting calories. They are not designed for this purpose and will not likely be accurate. They're designed to be accurate only during constant exercise, not casual or resting activity. If you invest in a bodybugg, these are designed to be worn all day and estimate resting/casual calories burned, but even it has a +/- 10% error margin. HRM's margin of error would be even higher, and it's generally just not recommended to use HRMs that way.
  • KarenBorter
    KarenBorter Posts: 1,157 Member
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    hmmm okay ... then I will just do the calcs for exercise calories then using MFP's estimates.
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
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    My question is, regarding the hrm- how do we know that THAT is accurate?? It is just another machine calculating calories burned in a different way. Why do we trust it? (I don't have one and definitely can't afford one, but just in case I can in the future)

    Well, HRMs are designed to work by monitoring our heart rate, and then it uses a formula based on weight, age, and gender (I think) to estimate calories burned based on your heart rate during the workout. I don't know for sure, but I would imagine these are tested against very scientific and very expensive machines that analyze and estimate calories burned. I'm not a scientist, so i can't tell you how they know *that* is accurate, but on the BodyMedia Fit website (an alternative to a HRM that I use), it says their product is tested against the $40,000 portable oxygen analyzer, which is the "gold standard" for measuring calories.

    If you ever do invest in one, make sure you do your research - some (ex. chest-strap HRMs) are more accurate than others (ex. wrist-monitors).

    Personally, I know my BodyMedia Fit is accurate because it can pretty closely predicting the weight I lose based on the calories it says I burned and the calorie intake I track here on MFP.

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