calorie estimation

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marioana99
marioana99 Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Why is myfitnesspal estimate such a low calorie burn? I am a 5'0'' female, 122 lb and it estimates 1400 per day, although I set it up to have 5 workouts a week. I know from previous years that when I workout 5 times a week I have a daily burn of 1800 calories...

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  • lilacinfinity
    lilacinfinity Posts: 283 Member
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    You still have to log the exercise. What you put in is just your goal to acheive - you don't get the credit for it until you actually do it and log it.

    Also, if you've selected any weight loss goal, it will have taken calories off your daily total to acheive that desired loss.
  • marioana99
    marioana99 Posts: 5 Member
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    I do strength training, so that doesn't add only when you do your exercise, it adds every day because your metabolism increases. An myfitnesspal says Calories Burned From Normal Daily Activity 1,480 cal/day, Net Calories Consumed* Your Daily Goal 1,400 cal/day, the deficit is 80 calories and Projected Weight Loss is 0.2 lbs/week. All this I think is wrong, it should say Calories Burned From Normal Daily Activity 1,800 cal/day ....
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    What did you set your activity level to. Calories burned from normal daily activity doesn't take into account any exercise. Your goal that you set with workouts, is just to encourage you to achieve that goal. It doesn't have anything to do with your Normal Daily Activity calorie burn (a workout isn't normal daily activity). I don't see your normal daily activity calorie burn being 1800 for your height and weight (again would depend on your activity level outside of exercise). I say this because mine is about 1890 and I'm 5'4.5" @ 171lbs.

    Since you mostly do strength training, you might benefit from using the TDEE method.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/976981-welcome-to-mfp-don-t-worry-there-s-cliff-notes?hl=welcome+to+MFP
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    the "workouts per week" do not affect the claoires -they are only used as a separate exercise goal in the diary.

    For more baseline calories you would need to dial in a higher activity level.

    The science says your metabolic rate is largely a function of your lean body mass, RMR for your stats about 1200 cals +/- 10%. Strength training can increase muscle mass and help, but that's accounted for in the math if you use appropriate formula.
  • marioana99
    marioana99 Posts: 5 Member
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    I am using the Katch-McArdle formula BMR = 370 + (21.6 x LBM) Where LBM = [total weight (kg) x (100 - bodyfat %)]/100, and I multiply with 1.4 as i am fairly sedentary but I workout 5 days per week. The result is 1755 calories per day, at 122 lb and 26% body fat. I used that in the past and I lost weight at 1400 calories per day, so it is accurate.
  • lilacinfinity
    lilacinfinity Posts: 283 Member
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    So what have you input into MFP? If you've put sedentary it uses a multiplier of 1.2, rather than your 1.4. The idea is that you then log your exercise when you do it.

    OR increase your activity factor to lightly active or active (1.375 and 1.5 respectively I believe) and don't log the exercise.

    This is the way MFP works.

    If you want MFP to give you a defined calorie deficit, select 1/2lb per week (any more than this is unrealistic at your current weight) and it will reduce your daily calories to give you that deficit.
    If you'd rather do it your own way, select maintenence and work to whatever deficit/surplus you like

    Also make sure you've converted your lb to kg correctly for your Katch-McArdle formula- 122lb is 55kg.
  • smerkord
    smerkord Posts: 101 Member
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    If you want to go to a web site where you can calculate TDEE. http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ is a website I have used and seen others on MFP use. If you fill it all out, it will estimate the amount of calories you burn based on age, gender, activity level , weight, etc. You can then manually set your calories on MFP instead of letting it do the estimation, but then don't factor in what calories you burn. If you want to track the minutes just manually put in that you burned one calorie.
  • Sjenny5891
    Sjenny5891 Posts: 717 Member
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    Why is myfitnesspal estimate such a low calorie burn? I am a 5'0'' female, 122 lb and it estimates 1400 per day, although I set it up to have 5 workouts a week. I know from previous years that when I workout 5 times a week I have a daily burn of 1800 calories...

    It depends on how you have it set up. I am 5'3" and weigh 115lb. Each Activity level only adds an average of 100 calories a day for me at Maintnance. IE set to maintain Sedentary gives me 1480 calories...... Lightly active is 1590..... Active is 1710.... I believe that is more based on the JOB you do not the exercise you do.

    Like the others said, You still have to log your exercise and should eat back half of it..... or at least enough to NET 1200 calories a day.
  • marioana99
    marioana99 Posts: 5 Member
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    ok, i got it...I will just set my goal calorie wise and then I won't log cardio exercises...

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