Does my fitness pal really work?

eblackk17
eblackk17 Posts: 25
in Health and Weight Loss
i was just curious about the calories you earn from excercise,allot of people told me to eat those back and on diffrent forums people told me to never eat those back,but i also was told that the calories you burn from excercise on mfp are highly exaggerated and you really didnt burn that many calories for instance i took a 50 miniutes walk at 3,3 mph with and 3,0 incline and it has me burning 423 calories is that number false if so how many calories did i burn and should you trust that the calories mfp has you burning should you eat those back?

Replies

  • Rayman79
    Rayman79 Posts: 2,009 Member
    The calorie burn estimates can be a little high, so you need to take that into consideration.

    What I would suggest is eat back the amount of calories you are allowed. Do this for about two weeks and see if your weight changes, if you don't lose any weight then try eating back only half of your exercise calories for a couple of weeks and seeing what your body does then.

    If you have set your account up for a moderate weight loss target and LOG ACCURATELY you will soon get a picture of what calorie level you need to maintain or lose weight.

    Optional reading for more detailed info ;): The calorie count is often high (with MFP and with HRMs) because they don't subtract your BMR calorie expenditure from your total calorie burn. ie if you were sitting on the couch instead of walking on the treadmill you would have still burned close to 100 cals from just living. Therefore your NET calorie burn - which you should technically eat back - is probably closer to 350.
  • Railr0aderTony
    Railr0aderTony Posts: 6,803 Member
    First, Congrats on a great walk. Now as far as exercise calories, the way MFP is set up is to eat them back. Are the Calories on MFP exagerated? some of them but how can they know how many calories that you burn? Age, gender, weight and heart rate all play a role into how many calories you are burning at a given time. I would suggest you buy a Heart Rate Monitor to get a closer estimate. Or if you do not want to play the whole eat back calories game, Figure out your TDEE and eat TDEE - 20%

    Here , if you read through this it will explain much more about how this all works.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet

    Again great job on your walk and commitment.
  • David_AUS
    David_AUS Posts: 298 Member
    I am more here to see responses.
  • dortilolma
    dortilolma Posts: 103 Member
    MFP does seem to be on the high end of estimations. Some people had reccomeneded using a heart rate monitor so I got one recently and now I use it as a guideline for calories burned.
    This is only my second day back on MFP but I'll be doing another weigh in next week to see if this system is working.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    MFP pal exercise calories are based on a range of calories that could be burned. Often times when you have 5 people doing the same exercise there are 5 different amounts of calories burned...

    Why? well because nobody is the same, one might be in better shape (burns less), one might be heavier (more calories) etc.

    As for eating them back yes...esp if you are below the minimum amount for your gender 1200 for females, 1800 for males.

    The goal with MFP is to eat the net amount of calories you are given. That is so you fuel your next workout. I often suggest people eat back 50-75% of the calories. MFP has given you a calorie goal to lose the amount of weight you want already. IE if you want to lose 1lb a week MFP gave you a deficet of 500 calories a day already to do that so the exercise is a bonus. Eat them...:drinker:
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    My Fitness Pal really works. I've been on here for more than 3 years using the MFP formula. I lost weight eating back my exercise calories and I've maintained now for almost 3 years eating back the calories. Try eating them back and if that doesn't work, then reduce the percentage that you eat back until you get the results you're looking for.

    Lots of people prefer TDEE method but that doesn't work for me, since my activity levels are not consistent. I'd have to calculate a new TDEE every day because one day I'll be super active and the next day I'll be a couch potato. It's just easier for me to do the MFP formula (mine's set to sedentary because I sit on my butt all day when I'm not out hiking or running) and then eat back pretty much all the calories I burn.

    Good luck!
  • albionjen
    albionjen Posts: 86 Member
    I eat back my exercise calories and it has worked fine for me. However, MFP website calorie burns are way over for me. I use a heart rate monitor and that gives maybe only half of the MFP estimate!

    At the beginning I had a lot to lose so had MFP set to net about 1300kcal with activity that was around 1500kcal. Now I have it set to net 1500kcal meaning I actually have around 1800kcal per day on average since I am also more active now, working out for 45-90mins 6 days a week. I am 137lb and female, so calorie target will obviously be higher if you weigh more or are male.

    Although you didn't ask about this, I suggest you change the settings manually to allow more protein and less carbs. I found that with the initial settting if I didn't exercise my protein was below the recommended amount for a woman. So, I changed to 45% carb, 30% fat, 25% protein. Other people go even higher on the protein, but this setting seemed like a good balance to me. It also helped meals feel more satisfying!
  • Hybrice
    Hybrice Posts: 117 Member
    My biggest tip would be really get involved in the community, post on the forum and add friends in your area! I can't tell you how many times I've lost the will and been bolstered by the support of everyone on here. You really won't find a nicer, less judgmental and more supportive community on the internet!

    And yes, it works. I've lost over 1 stone in a month sticking to my diet. As long as you:
    - Add your current weight to your profile
    - Let MFP calculate your goal Kcal intake
    - Log everything that passes your lips (Accurately!)

    If you do all of the above it's mathematically impossible not to lose weight.
  • swimnwalk
    swimnwalk Posts: 6
    When I work out at 5.5 km an hour with changing inclines I get 180 calories for half an hour according to the machine. Or 150 for half an hour with a steady incline at 3.5 mile per hour according to my HRM (different treadmill - one is in miles, one in km, hence I reference both). I find MFP values high for me. I do not worry about whether it is accurate or not though as I just aim for 1500 calories a day in food. Some days I exceed that, especially if I have a very active day. If my body tells me it is hungry (for real) I will listen to it and eat. Any deficit from exercise I consider a bonus. Not saying that's the right or wrong way to do it, it's just what I do and I am no expert.
  • TomZot
    TomZot Posts: 165 Member
    Works for me.

    You may have to adjust the calorie totals...I either verify the total with another format (my Garmin, etc. -- I log the lowest total), an on-line calculator, or just log fewer minutes of exercise than I actually did. For example, I always log my 1-hr spin class at 50 minutes.

    I eat back the exercise calories.

    Your mileage may vary.
  • jraymond
    jraymond Posts: 25 Member
    I worked with a well-know women's weight loss doctor to successfully lose 20 lbs. She did not subscribe to the eating back your calories idea at all--as for claims such as Weight Watchers makes and you will see a warning from MFP pop up that you could be in danger of putting your body in starvation mode and slowing your metabolism, my doctor said that was largely bunk--you have to be on a very, very low calorie diet for that to happen. If you are eating at least 1,000 calories a day, it shouldn't be a problem. No, I would pay absolutely no attention to # of calories burned or recommendations for how many more calories to eat on here. I use MFP successfully to log absolutely everything I put in my mouth and because I am small (5' and petite), my doctors agree that I should be eating 1100 calories a day. For 7 weeks, I ate 1100 calories per day and did not exercise. I neither gained nor lost weight, so we can assume that is my approx BMR. So, to lose weight, I eat 1100 calories a day and use a heart rate monitor to burn and additional 600 calories, 6 days a week--3,500 calories is 1 pound of fat--for 1 lb of weight loss per week. MFP keeps warning me not to eat below 1200 calories--but you have to individualize it. Get a doctor involved. It is a great tool, but do not eat according to its recommendations! There is no way it can estimate calorie burn or recommend calories intake with anything like the accuracy you need to lose weight safely. I would not be just overweight, but obese, if I ate the calories MFP recommends!:smile:
  • jraymond
    jraymond Posts: 25 Member
    Yes, from my experience, using a heart rate monitor is the best available technology and far more accurate than MFP. It does make a difference. If you are trying to lose weight, you definately want a calorie deficit--my doctor does not subscribe to the eat back your calories idea and what she recommends works for me. Eat to you individual BMR--you can calculate this but then you have to adjust because the calculation does not know your % body fat--and since fat does not burn calories, you need to experiment and make adjustments. Through trial and error, I found (with my Dr.) that eating 1100 calories a day and not exercising, caused me to maintain my weight--neither losing or gaining. So, that is the baseline. From there, always eat that--no more, no less--and create a calorie deficit by exercising to burn 3,500 calories per week (1 lb of fat per week). The trick is finding your BMR--your baseline--and of course the motivation to get in the dreaded exercise and stay within your calorie limit. This is a good plan because, as you exercise and lift weights to build lean muscle, you are increasing your metabolism and the lean muscle you are building will increase your resting calorie burn. So, you will have to make adjustments as you go along. If after exercising and lifting weights for a while, you may want to revisit the baseline or BMR and increase it. It will not be something dramatic overnight--it will happen very gradually. So, just revisit it after you have been exercising and buiding muscle for a while.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    MFP has worked for me (as my ticker indicates), but its exercise database can be inaccurate. I use a Garmin Edge 800 bike computer/HRM, with Firstbeat's technology for estimating energy expenditure.[1] Yesterday I did a 25-mile bike ride in 90 minutes (and 27 seconds), so average speed of 16.7 mph. My Edge 800 estimated that I burned 775 calories. MFP's database estimates 1288, so I would need to log only 60% of MFP to get the actual (or at least, fairly accurate) burn. If I had logged MFP's estimate, I would have had a 200-calorie surplus yesterday rather than a 300-calorie deficit.

    On the other hand, MFP's estimate for running agrees pretty closely with my Garmin Forerunner 620, which also uses Firstbeat technology.

    [1] For details: http://www.firstbeat.com/consumers/firstbeat-intelligence-in-heart-rate-monitors#energyexpenditure
  • PinkCupcakes84
    PinkCupcakes84 Posts: 235 Member
    I say that it does but I just joined ww and I love it. I'm still on here but don't track food here. One site/ program is not for all and will work for all. Overall I still recommend this site.
  • slimbettie
    slimbettie Posts: 686 Member
    MFP works! Believe it.
    Regarding exercise calories. I would say get a HRM and go with that, not the database on the website. Depending on your personal choice you can eat back anything from half to all your exercise calories. The calorie deficit for you to lose the weight is already worked into the calories you get each day, therefore you can eat back all you exercise calories.
  • mommyrunning
    mommyrunning Posts: 495 Member
    I think it's important to also consider the signals your body is sending you. If you are hungry (not just tired or bored but actually hungry) then eat back the calories but if you aren't hungry don't. I am pregnant and had my calories set to maintenance. Several days a week I was going over by 200-400 calories but didn't gain any weight for 4 weeks which tells me my body is burning those calories and I can afford to eat a little more so I adjusted my goals. As some others said after a few weeks see where you are at weight wise and look back at your #'s to see if it lines up.

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