Myfitness pal advice

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ellycotton
ellycotton Posts: 29 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello .

I was wondering , do you go by your TOTAL calorie intake , or NET calorie intake? Because I'm not losing weight . I've been well wishing my calories in my NET intake for the last 3 weeks, thanks to lots of exercise , but those same 3 weeks I've been well over in the TOTAL cals? So I've been eating over my daily allowance but I've been burning it off by exercise ? Or am I totally doing this wrong?

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  • sanfromny
    sanfromny Posts: 770 Member
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    You're overestimating what you are burning so you are not creating the deficit that you think you are.
  • wizzybeth
    wizzybeth Posts: 3,578 Member
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    Hi Elly - good question. Some things to consider:

    1. How accurate is your food logging? You may THINK you are eating x amount of calories but in actuality you may be eating x+a lot more because of inaccurate logging methods (i.e., using wrong - even verified entries can be wrong - data base entries, using measuring cups instead of weighing your food on a digital scale, "eyeballing" portion sizes, etc.)
    2. How faithful is your food logging? Do you log every BLT (bites, licks, and tastes?) Every snack? Every piece of candy, no matter how small or minute?
    3. How accurate is your estimated calorie burn? Some apps, and even MFP, often give an OUTRAGEOUS amount of calories for an exercise. I rarely log more than 400-500 calories burned per day for exercise calories - and really anything over 400 for me better be for something out of the ordinary, like going on a 5+ mile hike or riding my bike for 15 miles or something.
    4. How regular is your weighing in? Do you weigh at approximately the same time of day every time, wearing the same clothing? Have you just had a meal? I try to weigh first thing in the morning before I get dressed, after all my food from the day previous has been digested & before I have anything to eat or drink, and after I go to the bathroom.
    5. How's your sodium intake? If you take in a lot of sodium it can cause water retention, which of course makes it seem like you weigh more.
    6. Is it your time of the month? Yeah, the wonderful curse can mess with the scale too thanks to bloating and water retention.

    All that said I bet your answers will be found in the answers to 1-4. 5 and 6 are kind of a stretch given it's been 3 weeks.
  • ellycotton
    ellycotton Posts: 29 Member
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    I'm using my active minutes on my Fitbit and logging them , I'm highly active so would be surprised if my calorie burn isn't what it is ?
  • Buff_Man
    Buff_Man Posts: 623 Member
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    Mfp calorie estimating for exercise is way out. By 100% sometimes. Google to get an idea of calorie burn for your workout. Stick to the calories required to lose the weight and eat maybe 100-200 calories extra on training days.
  • FitPhillygirl
    FitPhillygirl Posts: 7,124 Member
    edited May 2016
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    ellycotton wrote: »
    I'm using my active minutes on my Fitbit and logging them , I'm highly active so would be surprised if my calorie burn isn't what it is ?

    Be careful when eating back calories from Fitbit as they have been known to overestimate and eating most or all of them back could be putting you over your calorie goal for the day. Here is a good chart that has some helpful weight loss tips:

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  • SueSueDio
    SueSueDio Posts: 4,796 Member
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    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10399104/does-your-fitbit-overestimate-calories-burned#latest

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