How to add workouts and runs without it adding to your total

DustyBawls
DustyBawls Posts: 14 Member
edited November 19 in Getting Started
I don't like how it adds in the calories I burned working out or running to my total numbers. It essentially makes you over eat, instead of maintaining a caloric deficit. Anyone have any tips for preventing it?

Replies

  • 30kgin2017
    30kgin2017 Posts: 228 Member
    Well you can change the value to 1 calorie but MFP is designed for you to eat your exercise calories, the deficit is built into the goal calories already. So you would be losing weight even if you didnt exercise.

    People often say that the numbers are inflated so start by only eating 50% of exercise calories back. Others will change the time entered to get a better calorie estimate i.e. a 30 min run they might enter as 15 or 20 min.
  • Luna3386
    Luna3386 Posts: 888 Member
    Mfp is designed for eating some exercise calories. Your deficit is already built in and isn't affected by exercise calories.

    If you want to go by tdee, however, just manually change exercise calories to 1 after inputting time. Or don't add exercise in at all.
  • thewindandthework
    thewindandthework Posts: 531 Member
    If you don't want to eat into your exercise calories, why do you bother logging the exercise in the first place? Don't log it, problem solved.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    Why would you want to do that?

    Seriously, not only is eating your exercise calories to maintain the appropriate deficit the way MFP is designed to work, but on top of that, adding exercise here has no other value than calories. This isn't an exercise site, it can't keep a map of where you ran, or who you were faster than on a bike, or if you swam with good form. All MFP knows is that you did some kind of exercise and burned some calories.
    DustyBawls wrote: »
    I don't like how it adds in the calories I burned working out or running to my total numbers. It essentially makes you over eat, instead of maintaining a caloric deficit. Anyone have any tips for preventing it?

    Nonsense. You'd have a calorie deficit without doing any exercise at all.

    But if you want to prevent the system from working properly, the easiest way to do what you want is just not add your exercise here in the first place.
  • ContraryMaryMary
    ContraryMaryMary Posts: 1,780 Member
    I know what you mean - and while I do eat most of my exercise calories back, my tip is to enter your exercise right at the end of the day just before you head to bed then you don't have time to eat all those green numbers. My other trick is to not log the full workout - i.e., only log a 30 minute run instead of 45 minutes.
  • MichelleWithMoxie
    MichelleWithMoxie Posts: 1,817 Member
    The premium version allows you to turn off that feature.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    30kgin2017 wrote: »
    Well you can change the value to 1 calorie but MFP is designed for you to eat your exercise calories, the deficit is built into the goal calories already. So you would be losing weight even if you didnt exercise.

    People often say that the numbers are inflated so start by only eating 50% of exercise calories back. Others will change the time entered to get a better calorie estimate i.e. a 30 min run they might enter as 15 or 20 min.

    ^^This
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