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Don't add eat exercise calories
Replies
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FOR OP ONLY - I think it is, at present, good to not eat back her excercise calories.
I say this because she was not losing weight eating them back and now is losing weight not eating them back.
What this probably means is that her intake is actually greater than she thinks and so not eating them back compensates for this - which is fine.
It doesn't matter if your counting is inaccurate if you compensate for this in another way eg not eating back exercise calories.
Counting is just a tool, after all - so if using it this way works for OP, ie she loses at appropriate rate, then keep doing it like this.
However, it is not good blanket advice to just be applied willy nilly to everyone else.7 -
I would also add.. if you have not done so already get your Active Metabolic Test done if you are the member of a decent gym along with talking to a nutritionist. The two combined with a good app to track zones can also make a big difference. The nutritionist will give you a breakdown of fat/protein/carb which really helped me.0
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I don't log my exercise or add back the calories. I try to eat 1,200 calories per day plus exercise to try to lose weight. Its fine if you want to remain the same weight, but if you want to lose you need to decrease calories and exercise to burn calories.gofaster01 wrote: »I wasn't loosing weight at first then I stopped adding my exercise calories to my goal calories. I still exercise but I don't add the extra calories to my intake and I lost 9 pounds.
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I don't log my exercise or add back the calories. I try to eat 1,200 calories per day plus exercise to try to lose weight. Its fine if you want to remain the same weight, but if you want to lose you need to decrease calories and exercise to burn calories.gofaster01 wrote: »I wasn't loosing weight at first then I stopped adding my exercise calories to my goal calories. I still exercise but I don't add the extra calories to my intake and I lost 9 pounds.
The way MFP is set up your 1200 calories is to lose weight BEFORE exercise. Not eating those calories back at that amount means it's likely you're underfueling your body and causing more harm than good.
I lost 60+ pounds eating back 50-75% of what my Fitbit gave me.8 -
I don't log my exercise or add back the calories. I try to eat 1,200 calories per day plus exercise to try to lose weight. Its fine if you want to remain the same weight, but if you want to lose you need to decrease calories and exercise to burn calories.gofaster01 wrote: »I wasn't loosing weight at first then I stopped adding my exercise calories to my goal calories. I still exercise but I don't add the extra calories to my intake and I lost 9 pounds.
A calorie deficit is already built into your calorie goal if you're using MFP to calculate it. You wouldn't remain the same weight if your logging was accurate and you ate back your calories burned (providing the calories burned is also accurate). Exercise is also not necessary for weight loss. Worth noting that if you're on a 1200 calorie diet and not eating back any calories you are actually netting below the recommended guidelines for a woman and this could have short and long term health consequences.
As suggested by @paperpudding OP is likely overestimating food intake.
I eat almost all of my exercise calories daily, and I am losing 1lb per week and have been for the last 6 months.5 -
gofaster01 wrote: »I wasn't loosing weight at first then I stopped adding my exercise calories to my goal calories. I still exercise but I don't add the extra calories to my intake and I lost 9 pounds.
If I did this I might die, or get some sort of health issue. I'm 6' and MFP has me at a base of 1500 calories. I exercise roughly 2.5 hours per day between my hobbies.
The trick I've found for myself is that the calorie burns on MFP's calculator are usually over estimated, so I don't eat back all of the calories. Depends on the activity but I try to estimate what my "real" calorie burn was, and this seems to work for me.2 -
Would this advice apply if I just let my Fitbit count steps only as a calorie burn and ate only 50 to 75% ofthat? Or should I log my actual exercise plus steps? I kinda view it as double dipping.0
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newheavensearth wrote: »Would this advice apply if I just let my Fitbit count steps only as a calorie burn and ate only 50 to 75% ofthat? Or should I log my actual exercise plus steps? I kinda view it as double dipping.
It's not double-dipping. If you log exercise in MFP, it will ask for the time you exercised so it can overwrite the same time frame on Fitbit. But it's actually best to let Fitbit handle your exercise, especially if you have a HR-based one.2 -
I don't log my exercise or add back the calories. I try to eat 1,200 calories per day plus exercise to try to lose weight. Its fine if you want to remain the same weight, but if you want to lose you need to decrease calories and exercise to burn calories.gofaster01 wrote: »I wasn't loosing weight at first then I stopped adding my exercise calories to my goal calories. I still exercise but I don't add the extra calories to my intake and I lost 9 pounds.
1200 + exercise is not your maintenance calories......no where near it unless you are elderly AND very petite. 1200 and zero exercise is the deficit. Adding exercise means increasing the deficit.
Exercise isn't a requirement for weight loss (after all some people aren't physically able). Exercise & weight loss are great if you can manage that.....but not fueling workouts means it's more likely your body is going to use existing lean muscle mass for fuel.
If you're interested an estimate for your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) or maintenance is here: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/4 -
newheavensearth wrote: »Would this advice apply if I just let my Fitbit count steps only as a calorie burn and ate only 50 to 75% ofthat? Or should I log my actual exercise plus steps? I kinda view it as double dipping.
Your Fitbit should theoretically give you a calorie adjustment based on your activity level in MFP if you have it synced, for example I have my MFP account set to Lightly Active and my tracker gives me a negative or postive adjustment based on my total steps for the day. So if I only did 5000 steps it might not give me any additional calories, if I did 10000 it will give me a positive calorie adjustment for the extra 5000 steps I did, if I did 3000 steps I would get a negative calorie adjustment and my calorie goal would be reduced for that day. So it's not really double dipping. It would be double dipping if you don't have it synced and already accounted for your steps in your activity level in MFP.
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newheavensearth wrote: »Would this advice apply if I just let my Fitbit count steps only as a calorie burn and ate only 50 to 75% ofthat? Or should I log my actual exercise plus steps? I kinda view it as double dipping.
It's not double-dipping. If you log exercise in MFP, it will ask for the time you exercised so it can overwrite the same time frame on Fitbit. But it's actually best to let Fitbit handle your exercise, especially if you have a HR-based one.
Yes I am using the HR model, so I feel that's pretty reliable. Thanks for the response!1 -
tinkerbellang83 wrote: »newheavensearth wrote: »Would this advice apply if I just let my Fitbit count steps only as a calorie burn and ate only 50 to 75% ofthat? Or should I log my actual exercise plus steps? I kinda view it as double dipping.
Your Fitbit should theoretically give you a calorie adjustment based on your activity level in MFP if you have it synced, for example I have my MFP account set to Lightly Active and my tracker gives me a negative or postive adjustment based on my total steps for the day. So if I only did 5000 steps it might not give me any additional calories, if I did 10000 it will give me a positive calorie adjustment for the extra 5000 steps I did, if I did 3000 steps I would get a negative calorie adjustment and my calorie goal would be reduced for that day. So it's not really double dipping. It would be double dipping if you don't have it synced and already accounted for your steps in your activity level in MFP.
I sync it throughout the day to keep the calories correct and the step count current. Thank you!1 -
newheavensearth wrote: »newheavensearth wrote: »Would this advice apply if I just let my Fitbit count steps only as a calorie burn and ate only 50 to 75% ofthat? Or should I log my actual exercise plus steps? I kinda view it as double dipping.
It's not double-dipping. If you log exercise in MFP, it will ask for the time you exercised so it can overwrite the same time frame on Fitbit. But it's actually best to let Fitbit handle your exercise, especially if you have a HR-based one.
Yes I am using the HR model, so I feel that's pretty reliable. Thanks for the response!
If it's for walking, your heart rate doesn't increase reliability of calorie estimates.0 -
NorthCascades wrote: »newheavensearth wrote: »newheavensearth wrote: »Would this advice apply if I just let my Fitbit count steps only as a calorie burn and ate only 50 to 75% ofthat? Or should I log my actual exercise plus steps? I kinda view it as double dipping.
It's not double-dipping. If you log exercise in MFP, it will ask for the time you exercised so it can overwrite the same time frame on Fitbit. But it's actually best to let Fitbit handle your exercise, especially if you have a HR-based one.
Yes I am using the HR model, so I feel that's pretty reliable. Thanks for the response!
If it's for walking, your heart rate doesn't increase reliability of calorie estimates.
Likely more reliable than the MFP database though.0 -
EbonyDahlia wrote: »NorthCascades wrote: »This is bad advice.
It's not bad advice. I have a target of 1450. I get an extra 300 a day on average for exercise. If I eat 1750 I don't lose weight. If I eat 1450 I do lose weight. It's quite ok NOT to eat your exercise calories unless you are working out really hard and eating very little and have a massive deficit.
A 300 calorie burn generally means I was working out pretty hard (that's ~ a 3.5-4 mile run for a non-obese female). I'm with Blitzia on this: I think the problem is with people over-estimating their burns (the 'intense yoga session' or 'I waddled around the grocery store for some extra minutes and my Fitbit says I burned a kazillion calories extra today' folks).
It's a 2.5-3 mile run. for "a non-obese female" And 25-40 minutes isn't "working out pretty hard"
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stanmann571 wrote: »EbonyDahlia wrote: »NorthCascades wrote: »This is bad advice.
It's not bad advice. I have a target of 1450. I get an extra 300 a day on average for exercise. If I eat 1750 I don't lose weight. If I eat 1450 I do lose weight. It's quite ok NOT to eat your exercise calories unless you are working out really hard and eating very little and have a massive deficit.
A 300 calorie burn generally means I was working out pretty hard (that's ~ a 3.5-4 mile run for a non-obese female). I'm with Blitzia on this: I think the problem is with people over-estimating their burns (the 'intense yoga session' or 'I waddled around the grocery store for some extra minutes and my Fitbit says I burned a kazillion calories extra today' folks).
It's a 2.5-3 mile run. for "a non-obese female" And 25-40 minutes isn't "working out pretty hard"
how do you know it's not...I can do a 3mile run fairly easy yes...but I couldn't 3 years ago...and I wasn't obese then I weighed the same I do now...4 -
stanmann571 wrote: »EbonyDahlia wrote: »NorthCascades wrote: »This is bad advice.
It's not bad advice. I have a target of 1450. I get an extra 300 a day on average for exercise. If I eat 1750 I don't lose weight. If I eat 1450 I do lose weight. It's quite ok NOT to eat your exercise calories unless you are working out really hard and eating very little and have a massive deficit.
A 300 calorie burn generally means I was working out pretty hard (that's ~ a 3.5-4 mile run for a non-obese female). I'm with Blitzia on this: I think the problem is with people over-estimating their burns (the 'intense yoga session' or 'I waddled around the grocery store for some extra minutes and my Fitbit says I burned a kazillion calories extra today' folks).
It's a 2.5-3 mile run. for "a non-obese female" And 25-40 minutes isn't "working out pretty hard"
how do you know it's not...I can do a 3mile run fairly easy yes...but I couldn't 3 years ago...and I wasn't obese then I weighed the same I do now...
If running 3 miles is working out pretty hard, then that's even more reason to eat those 300 calories.2 -
NorthCascades wrote: »This is bad advice.
It's not bad advice. I have a target of 1450. I get an extra 300 a day on average for exercise. If I eat 1750 I don't lose weight. If I eat 1450 I do lose weight. It's quite ok NOT to eat your exercise calories unless you are working out really hard and eating very little and have a massive deficit.
When someone uses MFP and doesn't lose weight (over time) when eating back exercise calories, that means they are either underestimating Calories In and/or overestimating Calories Out.
MFP uses the NEAT method (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), and as such this system is designed for exercise calories to be eaten back. However, many consider the burns given by MFP to be inflated and only eat a percentage, such as 50%, back.
My FitBit One is far less generous with calories than the MFP database and I comfortably eat 100% of the calories I earn from it back.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p1
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stanmann571 wrote: »EbonyDahlia wrote: »NorthCascades wrote: »This is bad advice.
It's not bad advice. I have a target of 1450. I get an extra 300 a day on average for exercise. If I eat 1750 I don't lose weight. If I eat 1450 I do lose weight. It's quite ok NOT to eat your exercise calories unless you are working out really hard and eating very little and have a massive deficit.
A 300 calorie burn generally means I was working out pretty hard (that's ~ a 3.5-4 mile run for a non-obese female). I'm with Blitzia on this: I think the problem is with people over-estimating their burns (the 'intense yoga session' or 'I waddled around the grocery store for some extra minutes and my Fitbit says I burned a kazillion calories extra today' folks).
It's a 2.5-3 mile run. for "a non-obese female" And 25-40 minutes isn't "working out pretty hard"
I call that a short, easy run, and no reason to eat more. At eight miles running, I eat a little more that day. Between 200-300 calories more. This has not hurt my performance at all. Distance and pace have both been steadily increasing.
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In many cases, I don't feel there is a need to eat back any exercise calories. But in some cases, there is. The key is to know when you actually need to. There is a BIG difference between spending 15 minutes doing a light effort on an elliptical machine that doesn't even cause you to break a sweat, or 3 sets of lifting 10 pound weights and 20 crunches, and thinking you need to eat more to compensate for that...
...and running many miles at a brisk pace, or cycling a long hilly course, or doing some other really intensive exercise for an extended period of time.
On days that I jog for 10 or 15 minutes and then do 8 interval sprints followed by a cool down...I typically don't eat back any exercise calories. However, if I do 3 hour hike with over 1,000 feet in elevation gain...or do a long slow run that is much more than normal for me, I WILL be hungrier and I will eat more. I think you need to learn when your body actually needs more fuel. Eat when it does, but skip the extras when it doesn't.
An extreme example of people sabotaging their weight loss efforts for the sake of being able to justify eating an extra cookie are the threads that I used to see here frequently asking how many calories they burn doing routine house cleaning and other things of that nature. These were real threads!!! I mean, even if you say you are sedentary, I believe that these calculators that estimate daily calories burned assume that you occasionally get out of bed. Trying to add extra food because you went to the effort of showering and dressing yourself is just ridiculous.
Also, I don't believe any of these calorie burn estimates are necessarily accurate...whether from a machine, a fit bit, or from mfp. So I always assume they are too high...I mentally deduct 1/3 automatically in the interest of being conservative...and even then I have no idea if the estimate is close.
Bottom line...listen to your body. If you don't eat back calories, and don't start to get hungrier or lose energy, then you are probably eating the right amount. If that changes, eat back some of it at least on your more active days. On the other hand, if a person isn't losing weight over a period of several weeks...they most likely do NOT need the extra food.
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