Question about exercise and calories?

Options
mbeberniss
mbeberniss Posts: 10 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
If I am wanting to lose 75+ pounds should I log my exercise or not? Here is why I am asking, when I log my exercise it allows me more calories, etc...I feel like I shouldn't go over what it initially said when I am trying to lose so much weight. If I don't log my exercise then it doesn't change the calories and I feel like I am being "honest." Help?!?

Replies

  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,831 Member
    Options
    You can do what I do when I'm doing exercise. Set the calories burned to 1 no matter how much you do.
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    Options
    You can log your exercise, and you can eat those calories. It really depends on how you feel, how much of a deficit you are in, and if you are calculating your burns correctly. If you aren't doing high-intensity workouts, and if you aren't hungry, you could not eat those calories back. Save them for a day when your hunger increases, and there will be those days. I found that when I first started, I wasn't as hungry as I get now. I think it has to do with the amount of fat stored in our bodies and how your body can use it as fuel. As you lose that layer of fat, your body wants more of the fuel to come from food.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    Options
    Are you using MFP method or TDEE?

    If you are using MFP then you need to make sure that you always NET the calories that it gives you. So if MFP says you need 1500 to lose one pound per week, and you burn 300 then you need to eat 1800 - 300 = 1500 net calories.. < the only caveat with this method is that most calorie burn estimates are off, so you should only eat back half of the calories burned. So in above example you would eat 1650 - 150 burned = 1500 net calories.

    If you are doing TDEE method then you do not eat back exercise calories.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    Options
    If you aren't reasonably fit, you aren't going to be burning much. And over-eating exercise calories is one of the most common problems on MFP.

    Be very, very careful if you're going down this path. And don't even think about using numbers off of an HRM until you're already reasonably fit.

    My $0.02....
  • meritage4
    meritage4 Posts: 1,441 Member
    Options
    I'd log your exercise-then you have a record of it-but only eat back 1/2 the exercise calories. And wishing you well on your weight loss journey.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    Options
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    Are you using MFP method or TDEE?

    If you are using MFP then you need to make sure that you always NET the calories that it gives you. So if MFP says you need 1500 to lose one pound per week, and you burn 300 then you need to eat 1800 - 300 = 1500 net calories.. < the only caveat with this method is that most calorie burn estimates are off, so you should only eat back half of the calories burned. So in above example you would eat 1650 - 150 burned = 1500 net calories.

    If you are doing TDEE method then you do not eat back exercise calories.
    This, although experiment with the calories that you eat back. When I did net method I had to eat back all of the logged calories, and I still lost 5lbs that month. Which was more than I wanted to lose. I used a calorie estimate from an external calculator that generally gives me a good estimate for my needs and that isn't a standard drop-down.
  • DianePK
    DianePK Posts: 122 Member
    Options
    I just stick to the set amount of calories without exercise, but make sure I also track my exercise.
  • Sarawannabe149
    Sarawannabe149 Posts: 12
    Options
    How bout you track your calories and enter your exercise after your calories are down to 0. That way you can track your exercise w/o eatting your calories back.
  • mikedidomenico
    mikedidomenico Posts: 1 Member
    Options
    Your still staying under your allowance to lose weight with the exercise .
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
    Options
    What NDJ says. It sounds like you are using net calories so you have the option to eatback calories and as pointed out the importnat point is to make sure the burn is accurate and not overestimated. Its then up to you how much of those you eat back.

    If you are hungry then i would eat back 50% of them and see if you still lose weight and are happy. If you arent hungry, then up to you whether you eat them back or not. The point is using the MFP method then those calories are there to be eaten if you wish.

Categories