Do you log your exercise in MFP?

shanna5
shanna5 Posts: 69
edited September 24 in Fitness and Exercise
I stopped logging my calories burned for my exercise b/c I didnt like how MFP changed the calories, carbs, ect. I wanted to keep it at my calories that I should be eating for the day, regardless of if I exercised or not. After reading and reading (and stressing) about eating back your calories, I guess I get why MFP does that.

So, what to you think - is it really beneficial to log them into your food diary....or keep track of calories burned elsewhere (I have a calendar that I write my daily exercise on)?

Replies

  • Alyssa215
    Alyssa215 Posts: 8 Member
    I would say that you should be aware of how many calories you are burning so as to avoid putting your body into starvation mode. If you are aiming for 1200 calories, and consume 1200 calories, but burn 500 calories doing exercise, then you have only consumed a net 700 calories, which may not be enough for your body.

    If your exercise is light and won't put you under this limit, then I wouldn't sweat it, but I find it beneficial to log it all.
  • sarahs440
    sarahs440 Posts: 405
    Ok I am glad I am not the only one actually stressing about this. I have read so many threads on this and I am getting so many different answers. I have decided that since I only started a week ago, I am going to NOT eat my excersice cals. It seems to me that when people hit their plateau is when they needed to add the calories. So for the first month or two I wont be eating them back, but I will try very hard to meet my goal without excersice. I know that calories are very important but with all the thread and opinions I have seen, I decided I needed to do what was best for me and for now I fell I have a plan. I was seriously stressed ab out this!! I never know what to believe!!! Good luck to you!
  • sarahs440
    sarahs440 Posts: 405
    Oh and p.s. I do still log the excersice because it keeps me motivated and I like to see it! I just mentally subtract the number.
  • Celo24
    Celo24 Posts: 566 Member
    I stopped logging my calories burned for my exercise b/c I didnt like how MFP changed the calories, carbs, ect. I wanted to keep it at my calories that I should be eating for the day, regardless of if I exercised or not. After reading and reading (and stressing) about eating back your calories, I guess I get why MFP does that.

    So, what to you think - is it really beneficial to log them into your food diary....or keep track of calories burned elsewhere (I have a calendar that I write my daily exercise on)?

    Log them. To truly benefit from the tools MFP gives you, you need to use them all. I am a big proponent of eating your exercise calories (click the link in my signature to read my opinion) and if you don't log your exercise, it would make it very difficult to track where you stand every day. Good luck with everything and let me know if I can be of help!
  • mideon_696
    mideon_696 Posts: 770 Member
    you want a total deficit of about 400-500 per day really to drop the pounds.

    eating 1200-1300 or whatever is already a defincit of 400-500....so if you go and burn another 500...

    see where im going with this?
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
    I log it and I eat all my exercise calories. It hasn't slowed my weight loss one bit. The only thing that prevents me from losing is not eating enough and not exercising.
  • adriangoddard
    adriangoddard Posts: 25
    So is it better to eat your exercise calories or not? I haven't been eating mine, but then my food intake is almost spot on what I need to eat each day.
  • KTNemo
    KTNemo Posts: 100
    Here are two helpful things to read, the first:

    http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

    And this thread:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/189647-what-s-the-point-of-exercising?page=3

    I think it's important to know that by not eating your exercise calories, you are adding to the 500 calorie deficit that MFP has already built in for you. So if you burn 500 calories, you are in actuality burning 1000 calories. If you are only eating 1200, and not eating your exercise calories, you are asking your body to run off of 700 calories. If you are burning 700 calories/workout (like I do) then you are asking your body to run off of 500 calories. This is the quickest way to send your body into starvation mode! Make sure you are eating enough to fuel your workouts and your body throughout the day!
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
    you want a total deficit of about 400-500 per day really to drop the pounds.

    eating 1200-1300 or whatever is already a defincit of 400-500....so if you go and burn another 500...

    see where im going with this?

    You'll lose weight faster? Because chances are you won't. Or if you do, it won't happen for long and you won't be healthy.

    If you weren't implying faster weight loss with that comment, don't be vague.
  • shanna5
    shanna5 Posts: 69
    Ok I am glad I am not the only one actually stressing about this. I have read so many threads on this and I am getting so many different answers. I have decided that since I only started a week ago, I am going to NOT eat my excersice cals. It seems to me that when people hit their plateau is when they needed to add the calories. So for the first month or two I wont be eating them back, but I will try very hard to meet my goal without excersice. I know that calories are very important but with all the thread and opinions I have seen, I decided I needed to do what was best for me and for now I fell I have a plan. I was seriously stressed ab out this!! I never know what to believe!!! Good luck to you!

    Good to hear there's "others" out there that are stressing! Sad thing is, I hit my plateau like 4 months ago and still haven't figured things out for myself. So, that's great that you have a plan for yourself! I've been doing some looking online and get drastically different numbers, so...I just dont know anymore! Good luck to you, too!
  • adriangoddard
    adriangoddard Posts: 25
    you want a total deficit of about 400-500 per day really to drop the pounds.

    eating 1200-1300 or whatever is already a defincit of 400-500....so if you go and burn another 500...

    see where im going with this?

    Thats pretty close to what I have left each day if I exercise, so I am guessing thats good :)
  • WifeMomDVM
    WifeMomDVM Posts: 1,025 Member
    Don't stress - just eat your exercise calories and don't worry about it. I'm losing 1-2 lbs a week and I eat my exercise calories and sometimes.... EGADS... I even GO OVER my daily caloric allotment (with or without exercise) and am still toning up and losing inches and the number on the scale is falling. You want to be healthy, remember? :flowerforyou:
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
    you want a total deficit of about 400-500 per day really to drop the pounds.

    eating 1200-1300 or whatever is already a defincit of 400-500....so if you go and burn another 500...

    see where im going with this?

    Thats pretty close to what I have left each day if I exercise, so I am guessing thats good :)

    No, it's not good. 500 calories isn't nearly enough for your body to function properly. Even my toddlers need at least 1000 net calories per day!
  • WifeMomDVM
    WifeMomDVM Posts: 1,025 Member
    you want a total deficit of about 400-500 per day really to drop the pounds.

    eating 1200-1300 or whatever is already a defincit of 400-500....so if you go and burn another 500...

    see where im going with this?

    Thats pretty close to what I have left each day if I exercise, so I am guessing thats good :)

    You don't want to have 400-500 green calories left in your food diary. You want your food diary to be close to zero as possible every day. The poster is trying to say that you need a 400-500 calorie deficit to lose weight from your BMR (basal metabolic rate) + whatever you burn and eat back. Again MFP does this for you when you enter your stats and how much weight you want to lose.

    Again, eat your exercise calories and don't stress people!!!! (It's just not healthy!)
  • Celo24
    Celo24 Posts: 566 Member
    you want a total deficit of about 400-500 per day really to drop the pounds.

    eating 1200-1300 or whatever is already a defincit of 400-500....so if you go and burn another 500...

    see where im going with this?

    Thats pretty close to what I have left each day if I exercise, so I am guessing thats good :)

    NO!! MFP already builds in a deficit so if you are 500 short of your target and MFP already factored in a 500 calorie deficit, you are actually 1000 calories short. That is generally WAY too few calories for most people. Read this:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/188509-my-take-on-exercise-calories-please-read-if-you-are-new

    A lot of people have told me it really helped clear things up for them.
  • adriangoddard
    adriangoddard Posts: 25
    you want a total deficit of about 400-500 per day really to drop the pounds.

    eating 1200-1300 or whatever is already a defincit of 400-500....so if you go and burn another 500...

    see where im going with this?

    Thats pretty close to what I have left each day if I exercise, so I am guessing thats good :)

    No, it's not good. 500 calories isn't nearly enough for your body to function properly. Even my toddlers need at least 1000 net calories per day!


    Sorry, I should have clarified that... I am eating around 1450-1550 cal a day - I should be eating 1520 each day, but after exercise I have a net of between 1000-1200
  • adriangoddard
    adriangoddard Posts: 25
    OK, just read Celo24's link... .now that makes it all clear - thanks :smile:
  • Angela4Health
    Angela4Health Posts: 1,319 Member
    I log my exercise daily and I eat my extra calories. Sometimes I exercise longer just to get those extra calories. :)
  • BryanAir
    BryanAir Posts: 434
    I log my exercise because I like to be able to run reports showing how many Calories and how much time I exercised. Everything seems to blur together for me regarding exercise, so when I feel like taking a rest day I like to be able to run a report and see the last time I rested.
  • KaelaFrost
    KaelaFrost Posts: 15 Member
    Oh and p.s. I do still log the excersice because it keeps me motivated and I like to see it! I just mentally subtract the number.

    I log mine.. I don't look at the numbers too much but I am anal about keeping track of everything because that's just me.. and MFP
    makes that way easier then writing it down everyday.. I'm well aware that the numbers can make it depressing to a point.
    I generally exercise last thing of the day.. once the kids are in bed and it's quiet so I can be on the wii..
  • mideon_696
    mideon_696 Posts: 770 Member
    you want a total deficit of about 400-500 per day really to drop the pounds.

    eating 1200-1300 or whatever is already a defincit of 400-500....so if you go and burn another 500...

    see where im going with this?

    Thats pretty close to what I have left each day if I exercise, so I am guessing thats good :)

    You don't want to have 400-500 green calories left in your food diary. You want your food diary to be close to zero as possible every day. The poster is trying to say that you need a 400-500 calorie deficit to lose weight from your BMR (basal metabolic rate) + whatever you burn and eat back. Again MFP does this for you when you enter your stats and how much weight you want to lose.

    Again, eat your exercise calories and don't stress people!!!! (It's just not healthy!)


    Glad someone understood...lol. jeez.

    I'll add to what i said...
    you want a TOTAL deficit of 400-500 for weight loss.

    so if you eat 1200(being your deficit), then exercise to burn 500 more, you have to eat another 500 to maintain that 500 deficit...

    if you are someone who likes to go nuts with thier exercise, burning awesome numbers like 1000 from a big session, then guess what, you should be eating 2200 that day. no more, no less...2200 - 1000(exercise) = 1200...NET. The NET figure is the important one. Not the gross.
  • jaysvw
    jaysvw Posts: 11 Member
    One thing though, do not use MFP's exercise calorie numbers! They are way off! I did 45min on a stair climber and MFP says 600+ calories burned. Yea, maybe if I was 700lbs. My suggestion would be to use the numbers off the machines that at least ask for your weight and and log 3/4 of the number it gives you when you are done.
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
    I stopped logging my calories burned for my exercise b/c I didnt like how MFP changed the calories, carbs, ect. I wanted to keep it at my calories that I should be eating for the day, regardless of if I exercised or not. After reading and reading (and stressing) about eating back your calories, I guess I get why MFP does that.

    So, what to you think - is it really beneficial to log them into your food diary....or keep track of calories burned elsewhere (I have a calendar that I write my daily exercise on)?

    I personally do NOT log my exercise. I know that I lose weight at an acceptable pace when I eat between 1500-1600 calories per day, whether I workout or not, because that's what I ate when I went from 191 pounds down to 128. Therefore I changed my goals manually to reflect that. I also changed the macro goals because I furiously disagree with such high carbs and fat with very low protein. I eat 40% carbs, 35% protein, and 25% fat. This is what consistently has worked for me. In fact, when I was actually doing MFP's plan with their designated values of things, I was hungry and moody and not getting much results. So I switched back to what I knew was right for my body all along and just stopped logging workouts so it wouldn't change my food log automatically. It's working great as I am already down 2 inches in my waist this year and nearly 7 pounds. For me that's great since I am at that last little bit of body fat that needs to go. :flowerforyou:
  • adriangoddard
    adriangoddard Posts: 25
    One thing though, do not use MFP's exercise calorie numbers! They are way off! I did 45min on a stair climber and MFP says 600+ calories burned. Yea, maybe if I was 700lbs. My suggestion would be to use the numbers off the machines that at least ask for your weight and and log 3/4 of the number it gives you when you are done.

    I use a HRM that connects to my treadmill and have actually noticed that the MFP numbers for the pace and time are less than what my treadmill says that I have burned by between 60-80 cals.

    I generally use the MFP numbers though as I have heard that these HRM's that connect to your treadmill can only be around 95% accurate.
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