Calories and weight loss

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leannecnry332
leannecnry332 Posts: 31 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I have bought a garmin vivoactive to help log my steps and swimming etc as I find mfp to be quite inaccurate with the calories burnt. Has anyone else got something like this? Also I'm trying to lose weight and I'm doing the Kayla itsines programme which is like a hiit workout 2-3 times a week then swimming for an hour non stop 2-3 times a week. So how many calories am I supposed to eat my garmin watch says I'm burning between 1800-2000 a day depending on my activity level, this includes your BMR. I use a heart rate monitor for the gym but can't for swimming. Mfp has got me down to eat 1410 calories is this correct?

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  • cityruss
    cityruss Posts: 2,493 Member
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    Track intake accurately, monitor results.

    Adjust calories as needed.

    No one is going to be able to give you an exact amount of calories you need to eat. You should rely on real world data for that.
  • leannecnry332
    leannecnry332 Posts: 31 Member
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    Well I've tried 1200 and 1500 calories an not losing so I'm not sure what to do. I started doing smoothies as they fill me up an I'm logging everything I put in it but still not seeing anything
  • oolou
    oolou Posts: 765 Member
    edited August 2016
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    How long has it been since you started?
  • maryannmack
    maryannmack Posts: 5 Member
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    I have a Garmin vivofit. I think the Calories burned are over estimated but then again, I haven't found any information that is consistent and they vary so much. However, the Garmin seems to be consistent with my exercise and will give me the same results per activity so that's my measure.
    As for mfp calories......mine is 1200 per day and i know if i exceed them by 200+ calories per day, I put weight on. If I stick to 1200 and on occasion, 1000, I can lose 500gm per week. I'm not into exercise so rely on my daily walks of 10,000 steps 3 days per week. Hope this helps a little and good luck....keep it up, sometimes the weight loss takes a couple of weeks before it shows on the scales.
  • leannecnry332
    leannecnry332 Posts: 31 Member
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    I've been doing this for about 4 months but stopped after 2months as I wasn't seeing any results so just got back on it these last couple of weeks ive started doing smoothie meal replacements for breackfast & lunch with nutri bullet and got a garmin watch to help I weigh an log all my food but was unsure on the exercise calories as mfp says I burn 1000 calories swimming for an hour an garmin is roughly 600, I've put down I am active as my job is standing an walking all day then I'm going the gym but I'm just not seeing any results I don't no if I'm not eating enough calories or if I'm eating to many its really confusing. I have tried changing different amounts of calories but not seen any difference
  • capaul42
    capaul42 Posts: 1,390 Member
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    600 for an hour of swimming? That seems a bit high to me.
  • leannecnry332
    leannecnry332 Posts: 31 Member
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    That's nonstop I swim nearly 2 miles so I think it's a bit more accurate than mfp which say 1000 but if I had a hr monitor it would prob be a bit more accurate I'm guessing
  • oolou
    oolou Posts: 765 Member
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    how many calories are you eating a day?
    how much do you want to lose?
    if MFP says 1410 cals, is that to lose one pound a week or two?
    are you eating back your exercise calories? Perhaps ignore these exercise calories for now. Losing weight is mostly about the diet, and the exercise is mostly about fitness.

    City russ is right. The best targets are taken from your own data. If you are logging your calories every day, then after a month you will be able to work out a daily average of how much you've been eating. If after a month you've lost nothing, then that is actually your maintenance calorie intake. And then you'll need to decrease your intake to start losing.
  • SophieSmall95
    SophieSmall95 Posts: 233 Member
    edited August 2016
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    When you were eating 1200 and 1500 calories a day and not losing where you logging accurately? Because this is where most people go long when they say they're unable to lose weight.

    Where you weighing everything? Where you measuring drinks and cooking oils and sauces ect? This is where a lot of people don't realise extra calories are piling on from. They think they're eating 1500 a day but really they're eating 1800+ You have to be careful about that. I'd say 90% of us on here have made this mistake at one point or another, I know I have.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    You're probably eating more than you think.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
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    leannecnry332 wrote: »
    That's nonstop I swim nearly 2 miles so I think it's a bit more accurate than mfp which say 1000 but if I had a hr monitor it would prob be a bit more accurate I'm guessing

    HRM isn't necessarily more accurate. I'd definitely lean towards the 600. For 2000 m, my Garmin which counts pace/laps/distance, gives me about 350. I haven't done a 2 mile swim though.

    Will you open your diary?
  • panterpatryk
    panterpatryk Posts: 1 Member
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    In my mind there are too many factors in your caloric balance to say for sure what is wrong. Most likely you overestimate your excercises, but it could be also because of underestimating intake.

    As oolou said "Losing weight is mostly about the diet, and the exercise is mostly about fitness". I think you should get your first "real world data" by setting cals limit to e.g. 1400 cals and not doing any additional excercises for 2 weeks. Then you will see what happens with your weight. If it goes down you can calculate how many calories you are burining daily. If your weight will be the same as now go down with cals for next 2 weeks.

    When you find your daily burn you can go 500 cals less, start adding excercises and watch if weight loss is constant.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    Garmin's active calories are total calories - BMR calories. Garmin use's a strange algorithm to come up with the calories burned each day which includes an activity level and additional HR method for those that use HR devices. It is convoluted and cumbersome to say the least.

    To even this out better in MFP set this activity level in garmin to 1. The negative adjustment (should you choose to use) will actually be more to an actual calorie burn than what MFP will give.. meaning it is a little more realistic.. For those with Garmin running watches such as as myself it gets even more complicated..

    I recommend that you start trending the calories. Using all the data from both your calories consumed (get those as precise as possible in MFP) and use a portion of your exercise calories to eat back.. No device, no computer data output, etc is ever going to be 100% accurate. But you can use the data to gauge a trend and adjust as needed till you start trending down..

    I also do recommend something like weightgrapher.com. It is amazing to see that you are loosing fat when the scale says you are not. There are many apps and scales that does this. Weightgrapher uses just your data input and no special scale needed.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    leannecnry332 wrote: »
    I've been doing this for about 4 months but stopped after 2months as I wasn't seeing any results so just got back on it these last couple of weeks ive started doing smoothie meal replacements for breackfast & lunch with nutri bullet and got a garmin watch to help I weigh an log all my food but was unsure on the exercise calories as mfp says I burn 1000 calories swimming for an hour an garmin is roughly 600, I've put down I am active as my job is standing an walking all day then I'm going the gym but I'm just not seeing any results I don't no if I'm not eating enough calories or if I'm eating to many its really confusing. I have tried changing different amounts of calories but not seen any difference

    Before I exit out, I want to point out the bold says only a couple of week have you been back to doing this.. I say that you need to stick with a method for alteast 4 weeks in order to find your loosing trend. If you calorie deficit to eat each day according to MFP is XXXX calories then eat that XXXX and log everything as precise as you can.. hands down.. Choose to eat back a small portion of those calories burnt from garmin.. If you are not loosing weight after 3 - 4 weeks of consecutive logging of XXXX calories the % of exercise calories, recheck the logging (make sure all the things you eat likes oils, sauces, condiments, etc are on the diary) and perhaps lower the calories eaten back.

    To find your exact numbers can be trial and error in the very beginning. But choose a method and stick to that for a number of weeks before just changing it because the scale is not trending down. You could be loosing fat and the scale may also be masked by water retention from female times of the month, sodium, hydration and lack there of, muscle repair etc.. (weightgrapher.com will help with this if you want to use the scale for this)
  • shortcdngirl
    shortcdngirl Posts: 56 Member
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    I also have a Garmin vivoactive and personally for me. I ignore what Garmin connect and mfp say. All I am concerned about is how much I am putting into my body. Trackers give only estimates. I find people get obsessive compulsive over numbers. Where most of the time those numbers are wrong. Keep doing what you are doing and Excersise for health not the numbers

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