I don't add my exercise on my diary on purpose.

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LeastIGotChicken
LeastIGotChicken Posts: 6 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm new to MFP and started my journey around three weeks ago, so far down 12 pounds. I purposefully do not add exercise onto my diary, despite exercising for 45m-1h every other day. My reason for doing this is that I don't feel like I want to eat more in a day just because I exercised that day. I also haven't seen anywhere else recommend you increase your calories by the amount you burnt in exercise. Admitedly I'm new and am willing to listen why I'm wrong. Thanks.
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Replies

  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p1
  • LeastIGotChicken
    LeastIGotChicken Posts: 6 Member
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    vespiquenn wrote: »
    MFP is designed for you to eat a portion of your exercise calories back. So depending on how many additional calories you are adding through exercise, you might be setting yourself up for weakness and increased muscle loss. What are your stats, how much do you eat daily, and how much do you burn through exercise?

    I'm 5ft8 male 280lbs since last weigh. Eating around 1700 calories. Not great at working out calories burnt but online trackers tell me around 600-800 calories burnt in exercise.
  • vespiquenn
    vespiquenn Posts: 1,455 Member
    edited June 2016
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    LeastIGotChicken wrote: »
    vespiquenn wrote: »
    MFP is designed for you to eat a portion of your exercise calories back. So depending on how many additional calories you are adding through exercise, you might be setting yourself up for weakness and increased muscle loss. What are your stats, how much do you eat daily, and how much do you burn through exercise?

    I'm 5ft8 male 280lbs since last weigh. Eating around 1700 calories. Not great at working out calories burnt but online trackers tell me around 600-800 calories burnt in exercise.

    Most people eat about 50-80% of their exercise calories back due to inaccuracies in machines and activity counters. I definitely suggest doing so because you're netting way below what a male should be eating a day. Assuming you are burning 600, you are netting only 1100 calories. A male should at least be at 1500.

  • LeastIGotChicken
    LeastIGotChicken Posts: 6 Member
    edited June 2016
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    vespiquenn wrote: »
    LeastIGotChicken wrote: »
    vespiquenn wrote: »
    MFP is designed for you to eat a portion of your exercise calories back. So depending on how many additional calories you are adding through exercise, you might be setting yourself up for weakness and increased muscle loss. What are your stats, how much do you eat daily, and how much do you burn through exercise?

    I'm 5ft8 male 280lbs since last weigh. Eating around 1700 calories. Not great at working out calories burnt but online trackers tell me around 600-800 calories burnt in exercise.

    Most people eat about 50-80% of their exercise calories back due to inaccuracies in machines and activity counters. I definitely suggest doing so because you're netting way below what a male should be eating a day. Assuming you are burning 600, you are netting only 1100 calories. A male should at least be at 1500.

    Thanks, unfortunately the thing I struggle with most is going to fast, and the fear of overeating. Although It sounds as if it's a pretty bad mistake to not eat at least 50% of my calories burnt so I'll try to do that from now.
  • ericatoday
    ericatoday Posts: 454 Member
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    Just because you log them doesnt mean you have to eat them. I eat my normal 1200 cals even if i burn 500 calories so by the end of the day ill still have those 500 cals left over. You dont have to eat them back
  • veganbaum
    veganbaum Posts: 1,865 Member
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    Everyone's covered it, but I'll just add that other calculators usually work from TDEE, which does include your exercise, it just includes it up front. MFP works off of the NEAT method, so your calories are calculated without any exercise until you add it after you've done it. So other calculators usually do increase your calories by the amount you exercise, you just don't see it the same way you do on MFP. It's important to fuel your body appropriately.
  • SugarySweetheart
    SugarySweetheart Posts: 154 Member
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    I always add my exercise except normal daily living, such as walking, house cleaning, etc. I never eat my exercise calories!
    I don't want to maintain, I WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT! But do whatever YOU need to do to keep on track. B)
  • Annahbananas
    Annahbananas Posts: 284 Member
    edited June 2016
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    I don't have a choice. My Fitbit puts it in there...and I like that. It's a satisfying feeling seeing how much I possibly burnt

    With that said, I never eat into my exercise calories burnt
  • lauraesh0384
    lauraesh0384 Posts: 463 Member
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    I personally eat back the majority of my exercise calories because I've found my body responds best to that and allows changes to happen. If my deficit is too big then it'll pump the brakes and release that weight when it's good and ready.
  • mrslmdm
    mrslmdm Posts: 5 Member
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    LeastIGotChicken wrote: »
    I'm new to MFP also, been a month, I'm logging everything and not seeing results, so I like that idea, thank you
  • Hearts_2015
    Hearts_2015 Posts: 12,031 Member
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    ericatoday wrote: »
    Just because you log them doesn't mean you have to eat them. I eat my normal 1200 cals even if i burn 500 calories so by the end of the day ill still have those 500 cals left over. You dont have to eat them back
    @ericatoday
    What you've shared as advice leaves you eating only 700 cals for your body to run on each day! That's very little to expect your body to stay healthy at.

    You're correct you don't have to eat them back but eating at 1200 cals you likely might want to consider rethinking your own plan for your energy and health's sake.

    Think of it as driving a car on fumes.. it doesn't run as well and it will run out gas just as any of do if we don't fuel properly but continue to workout.
  • DonT58
    DonT58 Posts: 23 Member
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    I didn't add exercise in on my first round with MFP. I had bad knees and was loosing weight so I could get a hernia repair then both knee replacements. I was riding the bike an average of 30 minutes a day. My weight loss tracked almost exactly my calorie deficit without adding in the bike. I got the work done and it's all fine. I'm tracking my activity with the fitbit dashboard and extra calories are showing up in MFP but there's no way I'm going to take those extra calories. Also my treadmill work is on an incline and I take my fitbit off when I ride the bike. Once I learned the right way to eat I can't bring myself to take in more calories than I need just for the sake of doing it. I don't even want to eat that much - I just ignore the exercise. My food-exercise net has been less than 400 calories a day. I think it must be BS, I just got back on MFP (I didn't bother counting when I was doing my surgeries or rehab) and would love to see the kind of weight loss those numbers indicate - that would be like 3 or 4 pounds a week.
  • DonT58
    DonT58 Posts: 23 Member
    edited June 2016
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    FWIW - I'm 6-3 and was 281 when I started MFP. My first calorie goal was 1710 calories which would help me lose two pounds a week. As I lost weight I adjusted that number to continue the weight 2 lb loss and it worked great. But I started having problems when my calorie intake got below 1450 - I just had to each more so I adjusted for 1.5 lbs of weight loss per week. It was amazing how well everything tracked with adding in exercise. Maybe as my exercise routines increase in intensity (I'm going to start pushing up to my cardio range HR soon) I'll need to add in more calories based on exercise.
    Good luck and like others have mentions carefully count calories - weigh and measure everything. We have a portable scale we take with us when we go out to eat.
  • Colt1835
    Colt1835 Posts: 447 Member
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    ericatoday wrote: »
    Just because you log them doesnt mean you have to eat them. I eat my normal 1200 cals even if i burn 500 calories so by the end of the day ill still have those 500 cals left over. You dont have to eat them back

    I did this same thing for about 3 weeks and I'm 6'1" and was 240 pounds at the time. Some days I would burn 800-900 calories. I found it easy and I never felt weak. I did it at my own risk though. I would never tell someone else they should try it. I'll admit it was dumb for me to do it, but I got great results.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    ericatoday wrote: »
    Just because you log them doesnt mean you have to eat them. I eat my normal 1200 cals even if i burn 500 calories so by the end of the day ill still have those 500 cals left over. You dont have to eat them back

    This is por advice because you burn extra energy and a portion of those exercise calories are meant to refuel you.

    Erica, if your daily goal is 1200 , you burn 500, that means you are netting 700 calories a day, and setting yourself up to lose muscle mass because you'll lose too quickly.

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