logging calories burned

Depends - have your weight loss expectations worked out? If yes, then don't change a thing.
If you have been losing too fast then log your strength training, be aware that strength training doesn't actually burn a lot of calories though so won't make a huge difference.

EPK1071 wrote: »

And I have been on goal of a pound a week until recently where I have hit a plateau.

Change your Workout and the plateau will be short. Personally, I plateaued for 3 months...Talked to a Trainer about it. They recommended a change in my routine, and I lost 3lbs in the first 10 days after changing up some things.

It depends on your body and what your goal is. My goal is to build some muscle and lose fat. I track my lifting calories burned. I find I need to eat for those. I just use the generic strength training under cardio. It comes in less than my routine. If I don't eat, then I feel terrible.

I was also told to change your routine up. I change my routine every 6-8 weeks. Always see a weight drop in the first couple of weeks.

My walking and running, I log but I consider them a bonus. Unless I've done a lot in the last couple of days. Then I'll eat extra. Yesterday I took the kids sledding 2 hours, ran intervals, took them ice skating today and still lifted. So I'm eating extra today.

My legs are so going to hurt tomorrow.

The word terrible was not a very good choice. Let me clarify....

If I don't eat the calories I expend lifting (or close to it), my energy level drops and I'm starving the next day.

So on days I lift, I'll eat a few extra carbs and make sure I hit my calorie goal. If I do that, then on the days I don't lift I eat at or just under my goal fairly easily.

In Feb I was able to lose fat and gain muscle so the scale didn't move, but the tape measure did.

About every week or two I'll have a cheat meal depending on how active I've been. I try and save them for a fun meal with the kids.

I love good bread! I don't eat it much anymore though.

Here is the scientific reason for doing a cheat meal.

Cheat meals, also called re-feed days/meals, will actually help you lose weight while you are cutting but keep your muscle gains. This applies if you are trying to lose fat while maintaining your muscle gain.

When your body is in a calorie deficit several things happen. Your body slows down your metabolism, hunger is going to increase (especially with working out a lot), and your body will sacrifice your muscle to fuel itself. Keeping the fat as a back up. Muscle always goes first.

There are also other things going on at a chemical level, but this would turn into a paper then. Basically your levels of certain nutrients are going to be drained by working out. The body will interpret these conditions as lean times, so it does the above things to protect it.

The reason I do extra carbs is to restore glycogen levels in my body, there are other things going on to with the thyroid which is helped by this again paper territory. This also gives me a few hundred extra calories. By doing a re-feed meal every week, your tricking your body that it is not lean times, giving it energy and restoring nutrients. I do re-feed meals before lifting.

Whether you do a re-feed day or meal depends on where you are. I do a meal, because that's all I need right now. Don't go crazy. I aim for 100-200 extra calories.

EPK1071 wrote: »

I have been using MFP for 3.5 months so far and I have only been logging my biking, yoga, elipitical and treadmill in my diary. I have also been using a Fitbit Flex for my daily steps. I have not been tracking for my strength training with and without weights. Should I?

You can learn more in MFP's Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

Your Fitbit is already tracking step-based activity for you. Non-step exercise can be logged either in Fitbit or in MFP—never both. It'll take trial & error to find which you prefer.

Exercise logged in MFP overwrites your Fitbit burn during that time.