Why is myfitnesspal adding calories??

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AshleyClark122
AshleyClark122 Posts: 23 Member
edited February 2015 in Health and Weight Loss
I am on a 1200 diet, I eat good, for I am a Susie home-maker and so I know what goes into all my food. I also walk on the treatmill 3 times a day for about 15 minutes +/- each time at #2 for warmup, and then do interval walking at #3 and #4. I also get about 7000 to 8000 steps a day.

After I log in what I ate for the day, it increases my 1200 count calorie to about 1300/1400 and tells me that I earned 418 calories for exercise today. What does this mean??

I am new to all this and have no clue. Could someone please advise as to what is going on??
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Replies

  • higgins8283801
    higgins8283801 Posts: 844 Member
    edited February 2015
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    You earn back calories from exercise you do. Mfp works with you eating them back because your 1200 goal is based as if you do no exercise. So you eat 1200 and burned 418..that makes your net intake at 782. To get your net of 1200 at the end of the day you would need to eat them back. However, most recommend only eating back half.
  • AshleyClark122
    AshleyClark122 Posts: 23 Member
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    Thank you for the reply. That is kind of silly in a way. Maybe I will not log in my exercise. Will that help keep the intake at 1200 or less??
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    if you dont want to eat them back... just dont eat them back. lots of people don't.
  • Adc7225
    Adc7225 Posts: 1,318 Member
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    Yes, but you need to remember that food is fuel and your body needs that in order to function optimally. You can not eat the exercise calories back but you might be surprised by your results if you eat back about 1/2 of them (that is the general idea, to allow for discrepancies in the exercise calories that MFP calculates).
  • K8cain
    K8cain Posts: 14 Member
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    When I work out I usually burn around 400+ calories....I only record that I worked out enough for 200 calories....It gives me a little wiggle room on work out days when I tend to be hungrier but I don't allow myself to eat ALL my workout calories.
  • Aemely
    Aemely Posts: 694 Member
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    Listen to your body. When I don't eat back exercise calories, I can get lightheaded, dizzy, and generally pissed off at life. If you feel perfectly fine and satiated, perhaps you don't need to eat back your exercise calories. :smiley: That being said, I don't count walking around at work, etc., just intentional exercise.

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  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    AshleyClark122 wrote: »
    Thank you for the reply. That is kind of silly in a way. Maybe I will not log in my exercise. Will that help keep the intake at 1200 or less??

    Why in the world would you want to eat less than 1200 calories?
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,624 Member
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    AshleyClark122 wrote: »
    Thank you for the reply. That is kind of silly in a way. Maybe I will not log in my exercise. Will that help keep the intake at 1200 or less??
    If you don't log it then you'd still be netting less than your goal... and creating an unnecessarily larger deficit. Eating the exercise calories.
  • j6o4
    j6o4 Posts: 871 Member
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    Usually people who don't eat back their exercise calories are people who are doing the tdee method which accounts for their exercise calories in their caloric goal.
  • higgins8283801
    higgins8283801 Posts: 844 Member
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    AshleyClark122 wrote: »
    Thank you for the reply. That is kind of silly in a way. Maybe I will not log in my exercise. Will that help keep the intake at 1200 or less??

    you do not want your intake to be less than 1200. You cannot count the 1200 calories prior to exercise as intake, because you burned some off. You will not be using MFP the way it was intended if you intake 1200, exercise and NOT eat them back. If you do not want to eat back exercise calories, then you need to account for your activity in your deficit by changing your activity level.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    The winner gets to eat the most and still lose.
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
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    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    The winner gets to eat the most and still lose.
    Amen!! My goal is to eat as many calories as I can and still lose. And that's exactly what I've done for the past three years, reached goal weight, dropped several sizes as the fat and inches have come off, and I'm in better shape in my 40s that I was in my 30s.

    Don't sell yourself short by thinking eating as little as possible is the way to go - you want to eat the MOST you can while still being in a deficit. Food is fuel!
  • AshleyClark122
    AshleyClark122 Posts: 23 Member
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    ceoverturf wrote: »
    AshleyClark122 wrote: »
    Thank you for the reply. That is kind of silly in a way. Maybe I will not log in my exercise. Will that help keep the intake at 1200 or less??

    Why in the world would you want to eat less than 1200 calories?

    I am not eating less than 1200, it was just a figure of speech so to speak.

  • AshleyClark122
    AshleyClark122 Posts: 23 Member
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    j6o4 wrote: »
    Usually people who don't eat back their exercise calories are people who are doing the tdee method which accounts for their exercise calories in their caloric goal.

    What is the tdee method??
  • AshleyClark122
    AshleyClark122 Posts: 23 Member
    edited February 2015
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    higgins8283801 wrote: »
    AshleyClark122 wrote: »
    Thank you for the reply. That is kind of silly in a way. Maybe I will not log in my exercise. Will that help keep the intake at 1200 or less??

    you do not want your intake to be less than 1200. You cannot count the 1200 calories prior to exercise as intake, because you burned some off. You will not be using MFP the way it was intended if you intake 1200, exercise and NOT eat them back. If you do not want to eat back exercise calories, then you need to account for your activity in your deficit by changing your activity level.

    So another words, I have this 1200 cal diet so to speak. I burn off say 200 calories, and then I have to make up those calories by eating more. Is this a correct example?? Otherwise I have to lessen my activity level that I listed that I did for the day. Is this also correct??
  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
    edited February 2015
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    AshleyClark122 wrote: »
    ceoverturf wrote: »
    AshleyClark122 wrote: »
    Thank you for the reply. That is kind of silly in a way. Maybe I will not log in my exercise. Will that help keep the intake at 1200 or less??

    Why in the world would you want to eat less than 1200 calories?

    I am not eating less than 1200, it was just a figure of speech so to speak.


    When you exercise and you only eat 1200 calories a day you eat less

    So you feed your body with around the 1200 in food. You burn ( exercise) 500 calories this means you provided your body with only 700 calories.

    Not really a lot, dont you think?

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  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,598 Member
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    If you don't want MFP adding those calories automatically, you can list the exercises by typing them out in your "notes" section on the exercises page to keep track of what you did and how long you did it.
  • Aemely
    Aemely Posts: 694 Member
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    AshleyClark122 wrote: »
    So another words, I have this 1200 cal diet so to speak. I burn off say 200 calories, and then I have to make up those calories by eating more. Is this a correct example?? Otherwise I have to lessen my activity level that I listed that I did for the day. Is this also correct??

    Yes, that is correct. Since most people overestimate exercise calories burned and underestimate calories consumed, some people on MFP say to only eat back some (half or more) of the calories. I eat them pretty much all back, but you can adjust that over time depending on if you are losing and how you are feeling.
  • AshleyClark122
    AshleyClark122 Posts: 23 Member
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    TheOwlhouseDesigns wrote: »
    AshleyClark122 wrote: »
    ceoverturf wrote: »
    AshleyClark122 wrote: »
    Thank you for the reply. That is kind of silly in a way. Maybe I will not log in my exercise. Will that help keep the intake at 1200 or less??

    Why in the world would you want to eat less than 1200 calories?

    I am not eating less than 1200, it was just a figure of speech so to speak.


    When you exercise and you only eat 1200 calories a day you eat less

    So you feed your body with around the 1200 in food. You burn ( exercise) 500 calories this means you provided your body with only 700 calories.

    Not really a lot, dont you think?

    Okay. Now I understand. It took a while to get it. Thanks for clearing it up for me.
  • AshleyClark122
    AshleyClark122 Posts: 23 Member
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    gothchiq wrote: »
    If you don't want MFP adding those calories automatically, you can list the exercises by typing them out in your "notes" section on the exercises page to keep track of what you did and how long you did it.

    I think I will do both and see how it goes. Thanks for the tip!!

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