Real Number of Calories Burned...does anyone know?

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  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,973 Member
    The main thing is to be consistent with your mechanism for approximating expenditure, and use that to inform how you account for it. If you're always using the same tool you've at least got consistent ambiguity.If you always use the same method and you lose weight, then that's fine. If the loss isn't at the rate you expect then adjust the approximation up or down.
    This. If one is going to use a machine's readouts for their calorie counting, then make sure to consistently use THAT SAME MACHINE because calibrations of similar ones could be entirely different.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • cnickolem
    cnickolem Posts: 15
    Thanks
  • cnickolem
    cnickolem Posts: 15
    I'm new to this and I don't understand why it adds back calories after you've exercised to burn them off in the first place. I stopped adding my exerise so it won't add any back because eating back what I've earned I don't think it will help me too lose, maybe i'm wrong. Any advice?

    MFP has your deficit already included. Making it bigger is bad for a variety of reasons, especially if you chose the maximum loss per week (2 lbs). Fatigue and muscle loss are the big ones. I ate back every single exercise calorie when I was losing weight. It does work if you follow the program and log accurately.


    Thanks, I've got 30lbs to lose so anything to help is great.
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    I've just totally been winging it the last 3 years and 4 months.
  • beastmode_kitty
    beastmode_kitty Posts: 844 Member
    I used to use a HRM, it broke, and I decided not to replace it. I just eat at a caloric deficit and lift heavy weights. Tried and true method.
  • sappy42
    sappy42 Posts: 65 Member
    The reason why it adds calories in is that MFP already calculates your calories based on how much you want to lose, so if you do cardio and do not eat back any of the calories its putting your body at an even bigger deficit and can become unhealthy. I would never recommend eating back the full amount, but half is generally a safe method.

    What if MFP sets you at 1200, tho? Before I started reading the forums, I just used the app and it set me at 1200 calls, which is the lowest we should go before your metabolism gets messed up right? If I don't eat back my exercise cals, that puts me at less than 1200. But then I see a lot of folks only eating back half? Where does that leave me? I've been consistently losing a lb a week but info like this confuses me...should I not eat back all the cals or should I change to more cals and only eat half back?
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
    MFP calories for cardio are spot-on for me. Whatever that's worth.


    Or at least, I've always eaten back every last one and my results have been in line with what I would expect.

    The same. I find MFP's entries to be very accurate. Since I calculate my maintenance intake and thus set goals off of past results, there is effectively zero error in the exercise entries for me.

    You can in fact get exact values for calories in hindsight. The scale tells you exactly how many calories you burned once scale date is reconciled with calorie data.
  • cnickolem
    cnickolem Posts: 15
    I'm new to this and I don't understand why it adds back calories after you've exercised to burn them off in the first place. I stopped adding my exerise so it won't add any back because eating back what I've earned I don't think it will help me too lose, maybe i'm wrong. Any advice?

    You're wrong. The deficit is already built in to the program. MFP is set up so that you're eating to your calorie goal and you're exercising for fitness. Eating the calories back ensures that your deficit isn't doesn't become too large and unsafe

    Thanks, I have been eating back those calories and I've actually noticed a difference in how I felt not eating them before compared to now.
  • JennyHollyHansen
    JennyHollyHansen Posts: 40
    For me, I think of exercise and eating as two separate acts. I think the machines add way more calories burned than what we have earned to motivate us to use the machine more.

    I also know that I can not lose weight by working out, I can only tone my muscle which will improve my shape.

    I eat to lose weight and I work out to tone my muscles.

    I do not add calories to my diet for working out. It seems it would be counter intuitive to lose weight to add more calories to lose our weight. Most of us on this site are in no danger of starving for not adding more calories after a work out.
  • jenniferock
    jenniferock Posts: 1
    How could one count the number burnt calories.. :huh:
    I am using the device Plank360 which burn more calories than sit-ups or crunches because they recruit muscles in the legs, arms, and rear too. It's truly the ultimate total-body toner!
    :smile:
  • SKME2013
    SKME2013 Posts: 704 Member
    Heart rate monitor strap with sports watch, that allows you to test your personal fitness and your VO2max gives you probably the most accurate numbers. I have got the Polar RCX5 with heart rate monitor and pretty much trust the results. I have tested this over some time by eating all of my exercise calories back and I did not gain weight, in fact I lost ever so slightly.
    Stef.

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