Exercise cal
mejaneucoconut
Posts: 19 Member
Hi I'm supposed to eat around 1450 Cals. But hitting around 1350. With exercise my cal burn is around 4000 -4500. Am I supposed to eat back my exercise cal. Because I'm not losing weight and I am strict about carbs. My nutrition shows low on most things like fat, sugar, carbs because of exercising. So what's going on. I'm so confused and frustrated already. It's supposed to be easier at the beginning to lose weight and I'm having no success.
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Replies
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Yes. MFP is designed so that if you ate the calorie target of 1450 calories that you were given, you would lose weight even if you did not lift one finger to exercise. Therefore, if you DO exercise, the program is designed with the intention that you eat the calories you earn through that. By not eating back exercise calories you're creating an even bigger deficit, which can be very unhealthy, potentially causing physical problems, muscle loss, and so on (caveat being that MFP and gym machines generally severely overestimate what you burn so it is advisable to eat back only50-75% of exercise calories if you're going by MFP or machine estimates of what you burn).
Additionally when you add new or increase the intensity of exercise, your muscles will retain water for cushioning and repair so if you're new to that much exercise in addition to basically accidentally under-eating via exercise, it really is no surprise that you're not showing progress...1 -
Ok that all makes sense, thank you. But my question then why should I be exercising if those calories have to be eaten? How do you create a calorie deficit and lose weight if you are supposed to eat back those calories? Im so confused. When does my body start losing weight? So yesterday I was to eat 1460 cal. I fell asleep and didn't get my last snack and only ate 1293 plus 1774 cal from exercise = 1941 remaining. So I am expected to eat part of those remaining cal? I would have to eat all the time. I walked for about 70 min and burned about 850 cal. and did a little weight lifting. I have a fitbit and I believe it is pretty accurate but it always shows higher cal. burn than the MFP and exercise machine. Sorry to be so thick headed but I want to know the right way to do this. Also heart rate, I was thinking that I should be keeping it about 135-140 while working out to burn fat which is what I want to lose weight right? but my fitbit is showing fat burn at a lower heart rate around 110 - 130 I think. What is best to lose fat and weight? I hope I'm not being too much of a pest asking all of this. I thought it was simple, just eat right and exercise and I would lose weight. I tell myself, "I can do that right? " but I'm getting nowhere. Thank you for your help and advise.0
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mejaneucoconut wrote: »Ok that all makes sense, thank you. But my question then why should I be exercising if those calories have to be eaten? How do you create a calorie deficit and lose weight if you are supposed to eat back those calories? Im so confused. When does my body start losing weight? So yesterday I was to eat 1460 cal. I fell asleep and didn't get my last snack and only ate 1293 plus 1774 cal from exercise = 1941 remaining. So I am expected to eat part of those remaining cal? I would have to eat all the time. I walked for about 70 min and burned about 850 cal. and did a little weight lifting. I have a fitbit and I believe it is pretty accurate but it always shows higher cal. burn than the MFP and exercise machine. Sorry to be so thick headed but I want to know the right way to do this. Also heart rate, I was thinking that I should be keeping it about 135-140 while working out to burn fat which is what I want to lose weight right? but my fitbit is showing fat burn at a lower heart rate around 110 - 130 I think. What is best to lose fat and weight? I hope I'm not being too much of a pest asking all of this. I thought it was simple, just eat right and exercise and I would lose weight. I tell myself, "I can do that right? " but I'm getting nowhere. Thank you for your help and advise.
Hi
First, I think your calorie counts are way, way off. Walking 70 minutes would probably burn about half of 850, and a little weight lifting burns under 100.
Second, don't use your heart rate monitor to track calorie burns for weight lifting. It doesn't work for that.
Third, yes, your plus/minus calculation is theoretically correct: 1450+exercise calories - food calories = 1450, but it just won't work with those exaggerated exercise numbers you are getting.
I would ditch the fitbit and enter your exercise manually. If you know you walked 70 minutes, enter that. If you know you lifted for 30 min, enter that...
LG0 -
The calories MFP assigns to you are already at a deficit. When you work out, you make that deficit even greater. Exercise is about fitness, not weight loss. It may make it easier to earn a deficit on days where you are feeling hungry, or celebrating, ect...but it's the calories that will lead to a loss.
I wouldn't stress about "when"...If you follow MFP, you WILL lose weight. No fitbit or machine or database is going to be 100% accurate, which is why most people on here only recommend eating back a portion of the exercise calories.
As for HR, I aim for the 160s when I'm working out and I'm losing weight...Like I said...exercise is about fitness...not fat loss.0 -
mejaneucoconut wrote: »Ok that all makes sense, thank you. But my question then why should I be exercising if those calories have to be eaten? How do you create a calorie deficit and lose weight if you are supposed to eat back those calories? Im so confused. When does my body start losing weight? So yesterday I was to eat 1460 cal. I fell asleep and didn't get my last snack and only ate 1293 plus 1774 cal from exercise = 1941 remaining. So I am expected to eat part of those remaining cal? I would have to eat all the time. I walked for about 70 min and burned about 850 cal. and did a little weight lifting. I have a fitbit and I believe it is pretty accurate but it always shows higher cal. burn than the MFP and exercise machine. Sorry to be so thick headed but I want to know the right way to do this. Also heart rate, I was thinking that I should be keeping it about 135-140 while working out to burn fat which is what I want to lose weight right? but my fitbit is showing fat burn at a lower heart rate around 110 - 130 I think. What is best to lose fat and weight? I hope I'm not being too much of a pest asking all of this. I thought it was simple, just eat right and exercise and I would lose weight. I tell myself, "I can do that right? " but I'm getting nowhere. Thank you for your help and advise.
MFP gave you a calorie deficit with ZERO exercise built in. Not everyone can or will exercise. This is why you eat exercise calories....to keep the deficit from becoming too large. Really large deficits make it hard for your body to support existing lean muscle mass.
850 calories for a 1 hour walk is highly unlikely. This is why many people eat back half of their calories. Increase from 50% if you are losing weight faster than expected.
http://walking.about.com/library/cal/uccalc1.htm
Calorie deficit is burning fat. Heart rate is more about your fitness level.0 -
Hi. I'm responding bc I started 3 weeks ago and I was very frustrated at first, too. I lost weight the first week, but the second I gained (cycle-related I think, but also other things), and now the third week, I feel like I have adjusted and learned some things and am losing again.
When I was discouraged, I posted here and I got a lot of advice and encouragement that really helped me so I wanted to share what I was told here. I have about 10-15 pounds that I want to lose, and people said with this little (doesn't feel little to me but it's not like 50 pounds), I have to be patient and go for losing .5 to 1 pound a week. They also advised me to eat back 25-50% of my exercise calories. I have started doing that this week and I do think it helps. I was getting really over-hungry and that just leads to trouble. Also, I was told to focus on foods that make me feel satisfied and full, and to eat a lot of protein for satiety. This has helped. You can friend me and look at my food diary if you want.
But I think the fitbit calculations for exercise that you have done are not right, or at least not compatible with mfp. I don't think that walking for 70 min and doing some weights equals 1900 cal! I wouldn't use the fitbit for the exercise calories -- I'd use the mfp calculations. If I type in walking moderately for 70 min on mfp, it's less than 300 calories burned. I wonder if fitbit is combining your daily calorie basic needs (say, around 1600 or 2000 or whatever) and then adding the exercise calories (300 or so) and that is how it's coming up with 1900.
Anyway, I would go ahead and use fitbit if you want for other things, but for the purposes of measuring what you eat, don't use any of those calculations in mfp. Just type in your exercise using the mfp app, and eat back 25-50% of those cals. So, if you are eating around 1450 cal and walked for 70 min, you'd only eat 150 cal more, if that. I don't count exercise at all if it's walking. I only do it when I do a crazy hard spinning class or spend an hour sweating at the gym.
I wouldn't worry too much about your heart rate... I mean.. at this point, just get the exercise in, and try to break a sweat, and eat healthfully and within your limit and you will lose weight. Did this help?
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To burn 1774 calories in one day from exercise is an INSANE amount of exercise. If it is straight cardio at a moderate to high intensity, you're talking probably 2.5 hours of exercise at least.
If you're doing that every day consistently, you're going to find yourself overtrained and/or burned out pretty quickly.
There's no way that walking for 70 minutes burned 850 calories. Just using MFPs calculator, you would have to weigh 255 lbs and sustain a 4.5 mph pace to get that calorie burn in 70 minutes. It may not be the most accurate calculator out there, but based on the experience I've had, I'd say it's awfully close.
I don't know how much you weigh, but at my size and fitness level (I can run a sub 8min/mile pace over a 5K and can probably sustain a 9min/mile pace for a 10K) I can tell you that WALKING at 4.5 mph for more than 10 minutes is difficult. You're right on the edge of jogging at that point.
I typically burn about 450 calories RUNNING for 30 minutes. That would be 900 over an hour. There's just no way you're burning 850 in 70 minutes of walking.
That's at least part of the equation as to why your results aren't matching expectations. There may be other issues also, but this is a big factor.
Also, don't ever trust calorie counts on machines. They're notorious for being way off. A big offender is the ARC trainer. It counts at least 100 calories too high. It's a great workout. Awesome workout... just don't trust the count.0 -
Thank you. I have been using my fitbit and I weigh about 287 right now and am 5'6" and 44 yrs old and I have been nearly running. But I am willing to except that my calorie burn isn't that high and the 3500 -4500 was for the whole day. Everyone is saying to eat more calories and that exercise won't make a difference in my weight loss. I don't know if I can eat more without higher calorie foods which scares me. I eat slightly higher protein and lower carbs and lower to even fat as pertains to the % that are suggested.0
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mejaneucoconut wrote: »Thank you. I have been using my fitbit and I weigh about 287 right now and am 5'6" and 44 yrs old and I have been nearly running. But I am willing to except that my calorie burn isn't that high and the 3500 -4500 was for the whole day. Everyone is saying to eat more calories and that exercise won't make a difference in my weight loss. I don't know if I can eat more without higher calorie foods which scares me. I eat slightly higher protein and lower carbs and lower to even fat as pertains to the % that are suggested.
If the 3,500-4,000 is for your whole day, be cautious about deciding how many to eat back. Your MFP goal already includes the calories you burn through daily life and you don't want to begin double-dipping.0 -
mejaneucoconut wrote: »Thank you. I have been using my fitbit and I weigh about 287 right now and am 5'6" and 44 yrs old and I have been nearly running. But I am willing to except that my calorie burn isn't that high and the 3500 -4500 was for the whole day. Everyone is saying to eat more calories and that exercise won't make a difference in my weight loss. I don't know if I can eat more without higher calorie foods which scares me. I eat slightly higher protein and lower carbs and lower to even fat as pertains to the % that are suggested.
If you are eating lower carb, you should be eating higher fat. Nuts, nut butters, avocado, olive oil, eggs, full fat dairy. Nothing wrong with calorie dense foods, in fact many of them pack a whole lot of nutrition.
Exercise is for fitness. To me this is a lifestyle change too. I've lost weight and regained when I thought being more active wasn't necessary anymore. We should all be active for a lifetime.0 -
janejellyroll wrote: »mejaneucoconut wrote: »Thank you. I have been using my fitbit and I weigh about 287 right now and am 5'6" and 44 yrs old and I have been nearly running. But I am willing to except that my calorie burn isn't that high and the 3500 -4500 was for the whole day. Everyone is saying to eat more calories and that exercise won't make a difference in my weight loss. I don't know if I can eat more without higher calorie foods which scares me. I eat slightly higher protein and lower carbs and lower to even fat as pertains to the % that are suggested.
If the 3,500-4,000 is for your whole day, be cautious about deciding how many to eat back. Your MFP goal already includes the calories you burn through daily life and you don't want to begin double-dipping.
OK wait a minute. How do you figure you r daily burn is 3500-4500 ? Where did you get that number ?
I also use fitbit BUT i only use it to make sure I get my 10 000 steps in everyday and I do not enter any of them in MFP. (I obviously did not synch my fitbit to MFP on purpose to avoid that exact thing) I figure the steps I take in a day are part of a normal healthy life and not a reason to eat more. It's working for me. Hope that helps in any way. Head up young person
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KrystinaMTL wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »mejaneucoconut wrote: »Thank you. I have been using my fitbit and I weigh about 287 right now and am 5'6" and 44 yrs old and I have been nearly running. But I am willing to except that my calorie burn isn't that high and the 3500 -4500 was for the whole day. Everyone is saying to eat more calories and that exercise won't make a difference in my weight loss. I don't know if I can eat more without higher calorie foods which scares me. I eat slightly higher protein and lower carbs and lower to even fat as pertains to the % that are suggested.
If the 3,500-4,000 is for your whole day, be cautious about deciding how many to eat back. Your MFP goal already includes the calories you burn through daily life and you don't want to begin double-dipping.
OK wait a minute. How do you figure you r daily burn is 3500-4500 ? Where did you get that number ?
I also use fitbit BUT i only use it to make sure I get my 10 000 steps in everyday and I do not enter any of them in MFP. (I obviously did not synch my fitbit to MFP on purpose to avoid that exact thing) I figure the steps I take in a day are part of a normal healthy life and not a reason to eat more. It's working for me. Hope that helps in any way. Head up young person
If someone chooses to sync their Fitbit with MFP, they should begin getting an adjustment only when their activity becomes *more* than what the activity level they entered would estimate. So you wouldn't get any activity adjustment for the steps that are part of your normal life (that is, those estimated by your activity level), the adjustments only kick in when you move more than that.0 -
Sounds like you are having issues with your fitbit calculation - look around at some of the other threads about fitbit there have been several about the calculation not working right and there is a fix but I don't remember what it is. When you look at your fitbit dashboard does it really say your daily burn is 3,500 - 4,000? That sounds really high. Do you have the settings on your fitbit right?0
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KrystinaMTL wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »mejaneucoconut wrote: »Thank you. I have been using my fitbit and I weigh about 287 right now and am 5'6" and 44 yrs old and I have been nearly running. But I am willing to except that my calorie burn isn't that high and the 3500 -4500 was for the whole day. Everyone is saying to eat more calories and that exercise won't make a difference in my weight loss. I don't know if I can eat more without higher calorie foods which scares me. I eat slightly higher protein and lower carbs and lower to even fat as pertains to the % that are suggested.
If the 3,500-4,000 is for your whole day, be cautious about deciding how many to eat back. Your MFP goal already includes the calories you burn through daily life and you don't want to begin double-dipping.
OK wait a minute. How do you figure you r daily burn is 3500-4500 ? Where did you get that number ?
I also use fitbit BUT i only use it to make sure I get my 10 000 steps in everyday and I do not enter any of them in MFP. (I obviously did not synch my fitbit to MFP on purpose to avoid that exact thing) I figure the steps I take in a day are part of a normal healthy life and not a reason to eat more. It's working for me. Hope that helps in any way. Head up young personSounds like you are having issues with your fitbit calculation - look around at some of the other threads about fitbit there have been several about the calculation not working right and there is a fix but I don't remember what it is. When you look at your fitbit dashboard does it really say your daily burn is 3,500 - 4,000? That sounds really high. Do you have the settings on your fitbit right?
Did you all miss the part where she said she currently weighs 287 pounds? 3500 kcal is not an unreasonable TDEE for a moderately active person who weighs 287 lbs. 4000 sounds a bit high, unless she's very active.0 -
janejellyroll wrote: »KrystinaMTL wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »mejaneucoconut wrote: »Thank you. I have been using my fitbit and I weigh about 287 right now and am 5'6" and 44 yrs old and I have been nearly running. But I am willing to except that my calorie burn isn't that high and the 3500 -4500 was for the whole day. Everyone is saying to eat more calories and that exercise won't make a difference in my weight loss. I don't know if I can eat more without higher calorie foods which scares me. I eat slightly higher protein and lower carbs and lower to even fat as pertains to the % that are suggested.
If the 3,500-4,000 is for your whole day, be cautious about deciding how many to eat back. Your MFP goal already includes the calories you burn through daily life and you don't want to begin double-dipping.
OK wait a minute. How do you figure you r daily burn is 3500-4500 ? Where did you get that number ?
I also use fitbit BUT i only use it to make sure I get my 10 000 steps in everyday and I do not enter any of them in MFP. (I obviously did not synch my fitbit to MFP on purpose to avoid that exact thing) I figure the steps I take in a day are part of a normal healthy life and not a reason to eat more. It's working for me. Hope that helps in any way. Head up young person
If someone chooses to sync their Fitbit with MFP, they should begin getting an adjustment only when their activity becomes *more* than what the activity level they entered would estimate. So you wouldn't get any activity adjustment for the steps that are part of your normal life (that is, those estimated by your activity level), the adjustments only kick in when you move more than that.
This^
You set your activity level in MFP to match your actual lifestyle (enable negative adjustments too). Then the FitBit adjusts compared to the activity level you signed up for. This prevents the huge swings, unless you did something out of the ordinary.0 -
mejaneucoconut wrote: »Hi I'm supposed to eat around 1450 Cals. But hitting around 1350. With exercise my cal burn is around 4000 -4500. Am I supposed to eat back my exercise cal. Because I'm not losing weight and I am strict about carbs. My nutrition shows low on most things like fat, sugar, carbs because of exercising. So what's going on. I'm so confused and frustrated already. It's supposed to be easier at the beginning to lose weight and I'm having no success.
I ran into a similar problem early on when i first starting cutting weight, but it was an easy fix. My friend referred me to IIFYM. Look up an IIFYM calculator on google and fill out the information asked for to the best of your knowledge. It will give you solid numbers to follow and for the more advanced you can tweak those numbers around accordingly. Then all i did after i got my numbers was tracked my calories on here and that was it. I didn't track what i was losing from workouts or anything like that because the calculator itself calculates for that. Also, the biggest problem is starting with a huge caloric deficit right off the bat. When you get your numbers the calculator will give you a maintenance number, meaning if you eat that many calories a day and do whatever amount of working out you say you do you will maintain weight. What i did that worked well was take about 500-700 off of that number for about 1-2 weeks depending on my results and then slowly dropping 100 calories at a time until i was at about a 1000-1200 caloric deficit which my body was ready for. Take it slow is your best option the results will come in time.0 -
Thanks everyone! I really needed the advice. I guess eat more and don't believe my Fitbit for calorie burn.... 0
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If you're not feeling hungry or dragged out, why eat more? Just give it some time and see what kind of loss rate you get after a few weeks. After a while you'll get a sense of how much food and how much exercise produce the results you want. If you're not losing as fast as you'd like, eating more is definitely not going to help your program!0
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mejaneucoconut wrote: »Thank you. I have been using my fitbit and I weigh about 287 right now and am 5'6" and 44 yrs old and I have been nearly running. But I am willing to except that my calorie burn isn't that high and the 3500 -4500 was for the whole day. Everyone is saying to eat more calories and that exercise won't make a difference in my weight loss. I don't know if I can eat more without higher calorie foods which scares me. I eat slightly higher protein and lower carbs and lower to even fat as pertains to the % that are suggested.
If you are truly sustaining a 4 to 4.5 mph for 70 minutes (which is tough unless you have excellent cardio given the weight you stated) then you may indeed be burning that many calories.
Please don't take that the wrong way. With 287 lbs on a 5'6 frame it isn't impossible to have sufficient cardio to sustain that pace by any stretch, it's just that MOST people at that C/V profile would not be able to sustain that. If you are, then bravo! It will certainly help you attain your goals!
If someone is telling you that exercise won't make a difference in your weight loss, they're overstating the facts. Exercise is definitely a smaller factor in weight loss than your diet, but let's say you're supposed to eat 1800 calories per day to lose 2 lbs per week. If you consistently burn an additional 300 calories per day, then you actually need to eat 2100 calories to get to the net 1800. So, exercise can definitely have a positive impact on your weight loss journey.
It did for me. I'd invite you to check this post: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10221638/what-a-difference-365-days-can-make
The key though is having a somewhat accurate calorie burn count. Lifting weights CAN have a decent calorie burn, but no matter how hard I push it, even if I'm in the gym lifting for an hour, I won't count more than 100-150 calories as my burn. HRMs are only close to accurate on cardio. They are notoriously wrong on weight lifting counts. They're just not built for that.
Keep pushing, and keep getting great support. Just work really hard to understand proper calorie counts, and don't give up if you have even an entire two week period where weight doesn't come off. It's math. Eventually, it HAS to come off if you are at a healthy deficit.
Enjoy the journey! Blessings!0 -
A good exercise calculator that works for walking and running, and is in line with peer reviewed studies on the calorie burns of the two.
exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs.html
If you are burning 4000 calories a day, I'd eat more. Though when at a heavier weight you can use more fat for energy, you still need to refuel your body and get your nutrition in. Burning that fat off doesn't provide you with any vitamins, protein, or carbs to replenish, it simply gives you fuel to burn.
Many professionals suggest that for most people, your weight loss goal should be no more than 1% of your body weight per week. At your current weight, that is a daily deficit near 1,400 calories. But if you are actually burning 4000 calories, that means you should at a minimum be eating 2,600 calories.
Use the human scale to adjust for error in your Fitbit or other exercise calorie burns. If you are losing too fast, you can eat more or just enter a smaller percentage of your exercise calories.
And keep in mind that weight loss will not be linear, as you will have swings in water and carb (glycogen) retention, even more with females. Even stress levels can affect hormones and impact weight changes. Just play it safe, find goals you can live with, and win the long term race.0 -
Thank you, I appreciate the insight. My fitness pal recalculated my food goal and I am trying to meet that higher goal. It isn't as easy as one might think. MFP said about 1750 cals. is that acceptable do you think?0
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Don't eat back your calories. What the heck. Log in your workouts. When walking, try another app., (Map my walk is one that is good to use.) I've ran a half marathon and didn't burn 4,000 calories! Your fit bit may be off. Make sure you are drinking enough water to "flush" your system, and keep doing what you did in the past. At our age, the weight doesn't just fly off, and make sure you are accountable for what you put in your mouth. It's great in theory to be able to "eat back" your calories burned, but in this instance, I don't think your calorie burn is as great as it is reading. If I am walking my dog at a moderate pace for 70 minutes I am only burning about 330 calories. In the MFP app I'd only burn 3,300 calories walking for 700 minutes. With other apps you can find different calorie calculations. You may have to uninstall, and reinstall this app. I've had to before because it tweaked the information.0
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