Why is myfitnesspal adding calories??
AshleyClark122
Posts: 23 Member
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??
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
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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.0
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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??0
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if you dont want to eat them back... just dont eat them back. lots of people don't.0
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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).0
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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.0
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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.
That being said, I don't count walking around at work, etc., just intentional exercise.
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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?0 -
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.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??
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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.0
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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.
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The winner gets to eat the most and still lose.0
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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.Liftng4Lis wrote: »The winner gets to eat the most and still lose.
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!
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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.
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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??0 -
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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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.0
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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.0 -
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.0 -
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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.
So according to what the food section is telling I need to eat 114 calories during the next half hour, I go to bed at 9pm, so that it basically keeps my cal count at 1200.0 -
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.
Why?
You can adjust the calorie count of any exercise by clicking on it. Sensible people will adjust the MFP calorie to 50-75% of estimated burn and eat them back. People who don't require a sensible, sane and safe approach to long term weight reduction may choose to log exercise as 1 calorie
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AshleyClark122 wrote: »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.
So according to what the food section is telling I need to eat 114 calories during the next half hour, I go to bed at 9pm, so that it basically keeps my cal count at 1200.
That's not much ...it's a banana or 20g dark chocolate or packet of crisps or slice of toast or a glass of cava
Or you eat them later in the week0 -
AshleyClark122 wrote: »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.
So according to what the food section is telling I need to eat 114 calories during the next half hour, I go to bed at 9pm, so that it basically keeps my cal count at 1200.
That's not much ...it's a banana or 20g dark chocolate or packet of crisps or slice of toast or a glass of cava
Or you eat them later in the week
It makes sense. A body needs at least 1200 to operate properly. One does exercise and looses some, then has to get the intake back up to 1200. I am just not use to eating that much. I am still full from the tossed salad and home made milkshake I had for dinner.0 -
Eat more dense foods
avocado, almonds peanut butter etc
pre-plan a day before helps me. I know what i eat the next day and i eat 1/4 to half back of my exercise on top.
burned calories are most of the time over estimated and logging your food is mostly under estimated. You never can get that 100%
So i log my food for the next day after my dinner. Sit down take 5 minutes and log everything for the next day around my calorie goal. ( so without burned calories)
The next day i tweak ( the right weight etc.) And add my burned calories
From those calories i eat back a 1/4
Works perfect for me and i get the right nutrition to keep this body going, while i lose weight. 0 -
Thank you !! I will have to try that. I plan ahead of what to fix for dinner the next night, as we do not eat fast food, no restaurants, and no junk food. The closest to junk food we get is a tropical trail mix. Usually I even make my own energy bars. Peanut butter is, almonds I cannot chew, and I have never tried avocado's. Cool !!0
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I think eating them all back is a smarter move as well, as long as you use the correct entries. Meaning just because you were on that treadmill for 45 minutes doesn't automatically make it vigorous... go by your actual energy levels during the exercise or use what the machine spits out. This is a good way to see if the overall consumption shoudl be reduced since you're looking at average intake.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.
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Eating them back makes sense, because, okay, example: Let's say you tell MFP you want to lose 1 pound per week. MFP will give you a calorie goal that's based on a 500 calorie deficit from your normal daily life without exercise. If you then burn more calories via exercise, you want to maintain that 500-calorie deficit by eating back the extra calories you burned during your workout.
Otherwise, you're creating too big a deficit, and that causes all sorts of problems -- harder to maintain and sustain, potential loss of muscle along with fat, easier to yo-yo and gain back the weight, nutritional deficiencies, feeling tired and hungry, headaches, hair loss, etc.
The only exception is that when you log exercise, sometimes MFP overestimates how many calories you burn. So you might want to eat back, say, only 50-75% of those exercise calories instead of 100% of them, and then see how well you're doing.0 -
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.
Why?
You can adjust the calorie count of any exercise by clicking on it. Sensible people will adjust the MFP calorie to 50-75% of estimated burn and eat them back. People who don't require a sensible, sane and safe approach to long term weight reduction may choose to log exercise as 1 calorie
May want to educate yourself a bit more on the forums. Is that really the only reason you've seen for people logging exercise as 1 calorie?
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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.
Why?
You can adjust the calorie count of any exercise by clicking on it. Sensible people will adjust the MFP calorie to 50-75% of estimated burn and eat them back. People who don't require a sensible, sane and safe approach to long term weight reduction may choose to log exercise as 1 calorie
May want to educate yourself a bit more on the forums. Is that really the only reason you've seen for people logging exercise as 1 calorie?
Nope, weight training often goes down as 1 cal too due to the low burn...but I chose not to be overly specific in order to not confuse with irrelevant details. Do you have an issue with that?0
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