Do you count your "exercise calories"?
Options
Replies
-
I'm going to be a total newbie ... how do I ensure my minimums are set properly? Does the default in MFP reflect those totals?You should watch your proteins and fats .. achieve your minimum at least and make sure your minimums are set properly (eg 0.8-1g protein per lb LBM and 0.35g fat per lb bodyweight)
Yes. Are you hitting your protein and fat goals most days?
I agree--the way you describe your diet, it sounds like it might be way too low in protein and fat. That is probably more of an issue than eating back exercise calories.0 -
AlexisMichele93 wrote: »I have my goal set to 1lb/week. At 5"8 and 205 lbs I was given about 1700 calories. I work out for about an hour 3-4 days a week but it's nothing extreme. I'll bike a little and lift some weights and do the planking challenge. I estimate, without an HRM and being slightly suspicious of the machines that count your calories, that I burn about 200-300, probably closer to 200. So light exercise. That bumps my deficit to about 800, give or take, and is closer to 1.5 lbs/week. Is this acceptable or should I eat back mine as well? I have 40 lbs to lose and then was going to reexamine to see about upping my strength training and such for better toning, but I do want to start lightly building muscle now as I lose the weight. I've felt comfortable with my diet and exercise routine so far and have only logged exercise I was unsure about (horseback riding). I'm only a few weeks in so still learning.
You're probably fine not eating all back right now, but if your goal is asthetic and muscle retention (yes not muscle building), your exercise calories will become more important. At an 800 calorie deficit, it will be difficult to retain muscle mass and pretty much ensure that you will see zero to minimal gains (including noob gains) due to the size of the deficit, IHMO. Also, muscle building is extremely difficult, takes a pretty on point diet, and dedication in the gym to put only a few pounds per month on......for guys, it's exponentially more difficult for women. Lightly building muscle is pretty much what happens for everyone because it's so hard to do.0 -
I use the TDEE - 20% method for cutting, so no, I don't eat back exercise calories. Exercise has already been baked into the total number of allotted calories for the day.0
-
Yeah I just want toning I guess is the proper jargon? I won't have a flat stomach or noticeable muscles, as I'll probably stop at around size 6 pants. I just want to be slimmer but not... flabby? But not built or athletic either. Lol I guess I'll let it be for now and if I'm not looking how I'd like I'll make my changes from there. Thank you!
Is TDEE - 500 (per lb/week) the standard for MFP? My exact goal is 1,680 cals which happens to be 2,100 - 20%, but it could be I actually have a slightly higher TDEE than I thought.0 -
AlexisMichele93 wrote: »Yeah I just want toning I guess is the proper jargon? I won't have a flat stomach or noticeable muscles, as I'll probably stop at around size 6 pants. I just want to be slimmer but not... flabby? But not built or athletic either. Lol I guess I'll let it be for now and if I'm not looking how I'd like I'll make my changes from there. Thank you!
Is TDEE - 500 (per lb/week) the standard for MFP? My exact goal is 1,680 cals which happens to be 2,100 - 20%, but it could be I actually have a slightly higher TDEE than I thought.
I wouldn't say that there is a standard per week with MFP. There's so many of us here with so many different goals.
Don't worry about becoming "built or athletic" either. That doesn't happen on accident.0 -
azulvioleta6 wrote: »
Yes. Are you hitting your protein and fat goals most days?
I agree--the way you describe your diet, it sounds like it might be way too low in protein and fat. That is probably more of an issue than eating back exercise calories.
Yea, I hit the protein goal daily (the whey I'm using has 25 grams protein in each shake, then whatever meat I have for dinner). I do go over on fat grams suggested by MFP more often than I'd like as I like oily dressings and cheese with dinner
Exercise wise, it's not an insane amount, but the past week was:
Sunday: Piloxing Barre class; 1 hr
Monday: UpperCut class; 30 mins - Basketball w/ friends; 1 hr
Wednesday: Zumba class; 1 hr - PiYo class; 1 hr
Thursday: Butts & Guts class; 45 mins
Friday: Zumba class; 1 hr
Saturday: Piloxing Barre class; 1 hr
Sunday: 5 mile walk @ 4mph
Nothing crazy intense, but enough to make me sore - decent mix of strength and cardio. Pretty strict on logging my food. I do weigh/measure most things and the things I don't, I feel I over-estimate instead of under-estimate when I add them. I try not to eat all my exercise calories, just been kind of using them as a buffer.
Gained 4 lbs this week haha.
0 -
You should be accounting for exercise somewhere...particularly if your'e training hard you want to make sure you're fueling that activity and more importantly, recovery from that activity.
Just as an example, I ride 80ish miles pretty much every week...sometimes more. On top of that, I do some lifting...if I didn't account for that activity somewhere, my performance would be for *kitten* and I'd likely have some injury issues and most definitely recovery issues.
As per the MFP method, exercise is accounted for on the *kitten* end of the equation when you do it and log it and get those calories to "eat back". Other calculators include your exercise in your activity level and thus an estimate of those calorie requirements are already included in your calorie goals.
There are inherent problems with either method...first and foremost, people are for *kitten* when it comes to accurately logging their intake...people are generally inconsistent and also just not accurate when it comes down to the serving size of X vs what they actually log. This is why weighing and measuring are so important when you're calorie counting.
Beyond that, people using the MFP method tend to overestimate their calorie burns from exercise because they're overestimating their level of effort and putting all of their faith and trust into some database, calculator, machine, or other device to give them a proper calorie burn. Bottom line, estimating calorie burn is tough and most people just flat out aren't conservative enough in their estimates.
In that same regard, many people who utilize the TDEE method have difficulty determining activity level...many people overestimate because, for example, the descriptor will say 6 hours vigorous per week...so they pick that because they work out 6 hours per week...but not all of that time is at a "vigorous" effort...and really, outside of being an athlete or training specifically for some kind of competitive event, the average Joe/Jane isn't doing anything vigorous...at least not sustained.
The bottom line is that all of these calculators are just reasonably good starting points...they aren't gospel...and there are all kinds of other inherent pitfalls to calorie counting...so really, you just need to make adjustments as per your real world results.0 -
Yeah I was just wondering which calculation MFP uses to determine what your deficit should be. Not that I'm uncomfortable with mine, it's actually great. I was just curious.
Yes I will not be going for muscles but knowing I will be okay on my deficit for just toning my arms and legs is good to hear. I wanted to be sure I wasn't under fueling myself even if it is for a small goal (weight loss).
0 -
I count my "exercise calories" when I "exercise" but that's because that's how I have set my "activity level". I also "count" my "exercise calories" at far less than most "calculators". For example, my "runs" only count for around "70" "calories" per "mile".0
-
AlexisMichele93 wrote: »Yeah I was just wondering which calculation MFP uses to determine what your deficit should be. Not that I'm uncomfortable with mine, it's actually great. I was just curious.
Yes I will not be going for muscles but knowing I will be okay on my deficit for just toning my arms and legs is good to hear. I wanted to be sure I wasn't under fueling myself even if it is for a small goal (weight loss).
MFP uses the NEAT method (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) whereby your calorie goals are derived from your stats and non exercise daily activity. As such, exercise is an unaccounted for activity....now if someone is just burning a handful of calories going for a walk or something, this isn't all that big of a deal...if someone is training hard and burning 100s and 100s of calories, not accounting for exercise can create enormous problems because not only is there a huge deficit already built in, but all of the exercise is making it even bigger...this isn't always optimal given that your body has some basic energy (calorie) requirements just for existing and maintaining bodily functions.
When people under-eat and over-exercise, they're not giving themselves the energy required simply to function properly, let alone recover and repair the body. There are loads of posts with people losing their hair, losing periods, losing fingernails, etc because of exactly this...under-feeding and over-training.
But like I said before...it can be tricky...you have to be pretty meticulous.0 -
AlexisMichele93 wrote: »Yeah I was just wondering which calculation MFP uses to determine what your deficit should be. Not that I'm uncomfortable with mine, it's actually great. I was just curious.
Yes I will not be going for muscles but knowing I will be okay on my deficit for just toning my arms and legs is good to hear. I wanted to be sure I wasn't under fueling myself even if it is for a small goal (weight loss).
The deficit is based in part by "I want to lose XX pounds per week." MFPs lowest minimum (before exercise...activity level is not the same thing) is 1200. When a young person has that number, it's always a little suspicious.
You're comfortable....it sounds like you put in reasonable goals. That's not always the case.0 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »AlexisMichele93 wrote: »Yeah I was just wondering which calculation MFP uses to determine what your deficit should be. Not that I'm uncomfortable with mine, it's actually great. I was just curious.
Yes I will not be going for muscles but knowing I will be okay on my deficit for just toning my arms and legs is good to hear. I wanted to be sure I wasn't under fueling myself even if it is for a small goal (weight loss).
MFP uses the NEAT method (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) whereby your calorie goals are derived from your stats and non exercise daily activity. As such, exercise is an unaccounted for activity....now if someone is just burning a handful of calories going for a walk or something, this isn't all that big of a deal...if someone is training hard and burning 100s and 100s of calories, not accounting for exercise can create enormous problems because not only is there a huge deficit already built in, but all of the exercise is making it even bigger...this isn't always optimal given that your body has some basic energy (calorie) requirements just for existing and maintaining bodily functions.
When people under-eat and over-exercise, they're not giving themselves the energy required simply to function properly, let alone recover and repair the body.
Thanks! I didn't think I was overdoing it with my personal exercise which is why I wasn't recording it but I wanted to be sure after reading some of the replies here. I'm a biochemist and with it comes knowing about basic nutrition needed for those biochemical processes, but I'm by no means well versed in nutrition as a whole so I wanted to ask the more experienced! I would eat it back if I ever dipped below 1200 as I know my body couldn't sustain off of that, but 1300 is pretty close so I didn't want to step too far down.
0 -
MFP adds exercise calories to whatever it has calculated for normal activity. If I exercise two hours, it is going to record 200 extra calories because I normally burn 100 calories per hour doing nothing and those 100 calories are also included in the calories burned for an activity. Then there are errors in the number of calories estimated for exercise, since it doesn't take into account the terrain, etc. So I don't eat my whole allowance after exercise, but I do eat more on exercise days than I do on other days.0
-
ok I am new here. Do I eat them or not?
I have a fitbit but not set up to sync. looks like I can just log exercise manually so I guess I will do that. If I should eat my earned calories that is cool, but it seems like it would be a lot.0 -
thinkthinnert wrote: »ok I am new here. Do I eat them or not?
I have a fitbit but not set up to sync. looks like I can just log exercise manually so I guess I will do that. If I should eat my earned calories that is cool, but it seems like it would be a lot.
You could do what a lot of people do . . . eat back a portion of them. I eat about 75% of them. MFP is set up to eat back exercise calories. It isn't eating them back that is the problem -- it's over-estimated calorie burns when you log exercise.
0 -
Thanks everyone, for the feedback. Guess I'll keep chugging along and re-evaluate in a few weeks, then tweak if necessary.0
-
Should I just not count the "exercise calories" and see if that helps?
It really depends on what kind of exercise you're doing and the accuracy of how you're counting. As a general rules, the smaller the deficit, the less important it is, and the more intense & prolonged the exercise, the more important it is.
There are MFPers who nail it pretty accurately, and others who are off by literally 10x - the latter should eat back zero.
So there's no trivial real-world answer to this.
0 -
I do not eat them back but I do log exercise in MFP to keep track of my workouts. I just change the calorie count to "1". For me I don't want to feel I earned eating more because I worked out since it's hard sometimes to really know just how much you burned (unless you use a HRM and figure it out). I'd rather just know that on days I worked out I came in under calories.0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.7K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.8K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 395 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.3K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 960 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions