MFP says I burned 1557 calories wtf?

MFP estimates on exercise do tend to be a bit high for most people. Start with eating back about 50% of those cals and see what your results are over several weeks. You do want to eat enough to fuel your activity and provide your body with enough nutrition (macros and micros) and making sure you are eating enough that you don't wake up one day feeling exhausted, weak, and hungry. Finding the best balance can take some time. If you really aren't hungry today, there is nothing wrong with leaving them once in a while, but if you wake up really hungry tomorrow, you can eat some of the extra then. You can look at it as a weekly total rather than each day. Keep a few notes in your journal about how you are feeling each day and look for trends over time. You will figure out what works for you, but do be patient. The process takes a while to work.

Yes. MFP estimates are high. For me, fitbit usually cuts calorie burn down 30-40% versus MFP. ??? I don't exercise that much so don't worry about it. Hours walking your dog ? That's awesome !

You are carrying around 100 pounds of extra weight. That makes a huge difference in calories burned even in a low intensity exercise when spread over several hours. Grab a 40 pound bag of dog food and carry it around for a while while you go for a walk. You are carrying more than twice that in extra weight while walking around.

I have been walking my dog for probably the last week about 5 miles straight a day (I take her on a really big block ) and I don't activate my FitBit to monitor my exercise, it automatically registers after 15 minutes and the walk is usually an hour and a half to two hours - depending on how much she wants to stop and sniff. I think the most my FitBit says I've burned is around 550, but MFP only transfers over about 450 of those calories, and I still only eat about half of those back. For measurements, I'm 6'1.75" and 188

Nikion901 wrote: »

Well ... you were out that long, but you weren't constantly walking at steady pace ... it was stop and go with the dog, shop, eat lunch, etc. .... Don't eat any of those calories back. For one, the estimate is probably based on a steady rate walk and not what you actually did. For another, you ate 2000 calories so you were plenty nourished. And finally, you have 100 pounds to lose ... you need to be in a deficit to lose weight. .... Not to be mean or anything, just saying this so you don't think you must stuff yourself with extra food when you are not hungry.

MFP already sets you in a deficit without exercise. Not eating at least some of those calories back could be a problem.

Like others said, OP, you should eat some back, but definitely not all. Ideally you want to make sure you're netting at least 1500 calories. One day under isn't a big deal, especially with an inflated burn like that, but don't make it a habit.

Sounds about right, I walked about 9 miles at a very modest pace a few weeks back. I burned about 1100 calories from that.

Good job getting things going! That's awesome When I was 125 overweight, walking was my start. Hours and hours of walking

In my book MFP seriously over-estimates calories, but you still probably burned 1000-ish, to take a wild guess! That being said, I tend to only eat back 20% of what MFP tells me I burned. So in your case, I might eat back about 300 calories at most.

But before you go doing that: did you measure your pace? (I use mapmyrun.com for distance tracking, and estimate time if I haven't done it precisely). We often walk slower than we think we do, so you may be entering in a higher pace than you actually went.

To sum: Eat back 20% of MFP calories, at most. Measure your pace.

Mapalicious wrote: »

malibu927 wrote: »

Nikion901 wrote: »

Well ... you were out that long, but you weren't constantly walking at steady pace ... it was stop and go with the dog, shop, eat lunch, etc. .... Don't eat any of those calories back. For one, the estimate is probably based on a steady rate walk and not what you actually did. For another, you ate 2000 calories so you were plenty nourished. And finally, you have 100 pounds to lose ... you need to be in a deficit to lose weight. .... Not to be mean or anything, just saying this so you don't think you must stuff yourself with extra food when you are not hungry.

MFP already sets you in a deficit without exercise. Not eating at least some of those calories back could be a problem.

Like others said, OP, you should eat some back, but definitely not all. Ideally you want to make sure you're netting at least 1500 calories. One day under isn't a big deal, especially with an inflated burn like that, but don't make it a habit.

Just FYI - I disagree with malibu927. If you've already eaten 2000 calories, you will be a-ok if you don't eat the rest back, I reckon.

It is absolutely possible for someone to be malnourished when overweight. This becomes increasingly important when someone is losing weight. Eating back the exercise calories (a portion of them) is appropriate to reduce the loss of muscle mass (heart is a muscle) and maintain proper body functioning. It may not do harm for the occasional day, but long-term consequences can be serious, so yes, it is appropriate to encourage the OP to eat some back, and to then re-evaluate based on outcome.