Just did a little math that really adds up!

eggfooyamyam
eggfooyamyam Posts: 196 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Just did a little math you all might find interesting.

Many of us eat back a portion of our exercise calories. For this scenario I'll say we've decided to eat back 50% of our exercise calories. Exercise calories are extra calories we burn by putting forth unusual effort. So let's say you have burned 500 calories in an hour - based on your heart rate monitor. Great!! You've earned yourself 250 extra food calories. But wait!!! Are you subtracting the calories you would have burned even if your weren't exercising? Most of us burn 80-100 calories an hour doing absolutely nothing. So did we really burn 500 extra calories? No! We burned 400-420 extra calories, which means our 50% extra food calories is not 250, but 200. Not a huge deal? Well, just know that this is a difference of 4-5 lbs a year. For those of us looking to loose a lot of weight, this may not matter so much right now. But those of you struggling with those last 5-10 pounds might find being more fastidious about your calorie counting could make all the difference.

Replies

  • bekah_A_marshall
    bekah_A_marshall Posts: 2 Member
    Ohhhh. So that's my problem. I'm trying to gain weight and really don't exercise like I should.
    Little did I know that what few calories I ate were being burned anyway!!! This sheds a new light on my calorie intake for sure... :grumble:
  • aclockworkblonde
    aclockworkblonde Posts: 21 Member
    I'm pretty wary of eating back all my exercise calories and always try to stay under anyway just because it's so easy to overestimate the calories burned especially if you go by generalized numbers!
  • cardbucfan
    cardbucfan Posts: 10,571 Member
    Which would be why I don't eat back all my exercise calories.
  • Beckilovespizza
    Beckilovespizza Posts: 334 Member
    Thanks for this, I was trying to explain exactly the same thing to my mam earlier today! Makes sense to me :)
  • AMNimlos
    AMNimlos Posts: 34 Member
    I'm not sure that's accurate. Your calorie goal should be 500-1000 calories (1-2 lbs a week) less than your TDEE. If you exercise, then your TDEE goes up by what you burned exercising. So technically you could eat those calories back, because your calorie goal would still be 500-1000 calories less. That's how MFP does the math. It already takes into consideration what you would burn if you weren't exercising. Your exercise calories are above and beyond that.

    However, most people don't burn what they think they do because it's difficult to track them. So it's important to not overestimate your calorie burn in exercise because those extra calories are added back into that 500-1000 calories that you're trying to eliminate in pursuit of weight loss.
  • eggfooyamyam
    eggfooyamyam Posts: 196 Member
    I wasn't aware MFP adjusted accordingly - good to know. Regardless, the math is accurate. If someone is looking for the 'extra' calories they have expended by exercising, they would need to subtract the calories they would burn if they did nothing at all.

    If I burn 2000 calories a day being sedentary and I want to loose 1 lb a week without exercise then I would eat 1500 calories a day, resulting in a 3500 calories deficit for the week = 1lb.

    If I want to loose another pound through exercise, then i need to burn 500 calories extra everyday. if my heart rate monitor informs me that i burned 500 calories in an hour of speed walking, I need to remember that I would have burned 80 calories if I had not gone speed walking but decided to watch TV instead. So I really only burned an extra 420 calories.

    This, of course, does not take into account things like increased metabolism from exercise, or weight lifting which results in more calories burned in the hours after a workout, etc...
  • amandarawr06
    amandarawr06 Posts: 251 Member
    I'm not sure that's accurate. Your calorie goal should be 500-1000 calories (1-2 lbs a week) less than your TDEE. If you exercise, then your TDEE goes up by what you burned exercising. So technically you could eat those calories back, because your calorie goal would still be 500-1000 calories less. That's how MFP does the math. It already takes into consideration what you would burn if you weren't exercising. Your exercise calories are above and beyond that.

    However, most people don't burn what they think they do because it's difficult to track them. So it's important to not overestimate your calorie burn in exercise because those extra calories are added back into that 500-1000 calories that you're trying to eliminate in pursuit of weight loss.

    ^^ This.
  • AMNimlos
    AMNimlos Posts: 34 Member
    I guess you could think of it that way. Or you could just tell MFP that you want to lose 2 lbs a week, then it will adjust your total daily calorie allotment according to that. That way it will deduct the calories so that no matter what you do, you'll lose 2 lbs, and if you exercise you'll be able to eat those calories back (theoretically). Seems a lot easier mentally. I hate math!
  • eggfooyamyam
    eggfooyamyam Posts: 196 Member
    I hate math too, which is why I am having such a hard time wrapping my head around what you're saying. But I think I just figured it out. If I tell MFP I want to loose 2 lbs a week, and I don't commit to any exercise in my 'goals' section, my allotment is 900 calories a day. Which, of course, is insane. It's easier for me to set my calories at 1200, and then through exercise burn and earn the extra deficit. That's just semantics really.

    What I'm not sure about is this: Is MFP really.....

    WAIT WAIT, I just got it!! Hahahaha! I see what your saying! True, that does seem easier. I'm going to try it and see if the numbers game makes a difference. But in the end, it's just six of one, half a dozen of the other. But I do get what your saying now.
  • AMNimlos
    AMNimlos Posts: 34 Member
    I'm surprised MFP would tell you to only eat 900 calories. I would double-check and make sure that you are entering everything correctly.
  • Eleonora91
    Eleonora91 Posts: 688 Member
    I think that if you're tracking your calories with a HRM you're tracking an amount of calories you wouldn't burn otherwise. It's not comprehensive of the calories you'd burn by just doing nothing, it pretty much calculates calories basing on how high you can make your heart reat go. I think that if you wore your HRM while doing nothing it wouldn't show a variation in your heart rate hence wouldn't be able to measure any calorie burn.
    Anyway if you're eating at least at your BMR, you're already eating enough to compensate the calories you burn by doing nothing all day long.
    I hate math too, which is why I am having such a hard time wrapping my head around what you're saying. But I think I just figured it out. If I tell MFP I want to loose 2 lbs a week, and I don't commit to any exercise in my 'goals' section, my allotment is 900 calories a day. Which, of course, is insane. It's easier for me to set my calories at 1200, and then through exercise burn and earn the extra deficit. That's just semantics really.

    Also, this happens to me too. Since my TDEE is 1800 kcals I'd have to eat 800 kcals/day to lose 1 kg/week.
    By eating 1200 I'm having a 600 calories deficit - which is actually enough to make me still lose 1 kg per week, so it's not just all about maths.

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