Can someone help? I dont understand how few calories I get from exercise

mel2382016
mel2382016 Posts: 13 Member
edited November 20 in Getting Started
I have 21000 steps today. Walked about 9 miles. MFP is giving me 166 exercise calories. That seems very low?

Replies

  • erienneb66
    erienneb66 Posts: 88 Member
    What is your daily activity level set to? Walking can burn extra calories but it really isn't all that much. Especially if you have it set to active or lightly active, the adjustment wouldn't be all that high. How many steps do you do on an average day?
  • mel2382016
    mel2382016 Posts: 13 Member
    I have it set to lightly active. Typically I get 10-14k a day with exercise.but have been trying to get to 20k more often. I move when I walk -12 min miles.
  • CyberTone
    CyberTone Posts: 7,337 Member
    Your Diary shows that today was the first day you have earned Calories from exercise. Is this the first day you have synced a tracker? If so, what brand and model of tracker did you sync? It may take one full day from midnight to midnight depending on your tracker to get a true Calorie adjustment. Many brands of tracker do the final sync at 11:59pm. Also, many trackers only sync once an hour or have settings that only sync when forced to sync.

    You will need to provide more information about your particular situation before better advice can be given.
  • Out_of_Bubblegum
    Out_of_Bubblegum Posts: 2,220 Member
    Not sure if you're using a step counter or not... if manually entering the walk, MFP is usually based on walking speed over time.. so if you are doing 9 miles... 3 MPH x 3 hours should give you considerably more calories than 166.

    BTW - here is a really good resource for calculating cals burned on a walk to give you an idea of what you should be getting... and you CAN get a lot of calories burned by walking, especially at higher speeds. it just takes time.

    https://www.verywell.com/walking-calories-burned-by-miles-3887154
  • CyberTone
    CyberTone Posts: 7,337 Member
    mel2382016 wrote: »
    I have it set to lightly active. Typically I get 10-14k a day with exercise.but have been trying to get to 20k more often. I move when I walk -12 min miles.

    I ran a Printable Report which shows you have a Garmin Connect synced. Many days you have zero Garmin adjustments, or negative adjustments. A possibility you are not seeing adjustments for that many steps could also be that you do not have the MFP time zone set to the same Garmin time zone. Check that.
  • mel2382016
    mel2382016 Posts: 13 Member
    I have a Garmin Vivo fit. I was playing around with the MFP settings and had it set to calorie deficit and found that to be very un-motivating. That is why its not showing for many days.
    I use Map my walk so I can track miles and speed when I am out walking. The Garmin typically short changes my walks for example 2 miles on MMW will show as 1.4 miles on the Garmin.
    One of my walks for example was 4.22 mile and I completed it in 55 mins. MMW says I burned 1200 calories which I am sure is highly exaggerated.
    I am not new to weight loss, I have lost over a 100 now, just really trying to figure out how to get the last 15 pounds off.
  • kt90gurl
    kt90gurl Posts: 37 Member
    The recommended amount of steps a day is 10,000 so from what I gather you don't get many calories unless you go over that. That's how my Fitbit works anyway and I have it set to lightly active, it also depends on how heavy you are to start with and I think it tracks periods where you are walking without stopping which burns more than the odd step here and there.
  • CyberTone
    CyberTone Posts: 7,337 Member
    mel2382016 wrote: »
    I have a Garmin Vivo fit. I was playing around with the MFP settings and had it set to calorie deficit and found that to be very un-motivating. That is why its not showing for many days.
    I use Map my walk so I can track miles and speed when I am out walking. The Garmin typically short changes my walks for example 2 miles on MMW will show as 1.4 miles on the Garmin.
    One of my walks for example was 4.22 mile and I completed it in 55 mins. MMW says I burned 1200 calories which I am sure is highly exaggerated.
    I am not new to weight loss, I have lost over a 100 now, just really trying to figure out how to get the last 15 pounds off.

    When did you switch MFP goal from losing and did you reset the MFP goal to maintain? If that switch was today, maybe the goal switch is interfering with the adjustment. It is tough for me to tell, because I am just speculating here.
  • mel2382016
    mel2382016 Posts: 13 Member
    it is set to lose 2pounds a week, lightly active. Thanks, I appreciate you trying to help.. Could that be why because I have it set to lose 2 pounds it doesn't want me eating back too many exercise calories? (I am not eating them anyway)
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    well Im 5'6 1/2 and around 171 lbs and for 16,011 steps I earned 619 calories.Im set to lose 0.5lb a week,but Im set to either lightly active or active. if you are getting more than 15000 steps per day then lightly active is set about right.I have a fitbit charge HR and had it for a few years.you are supposed to eat back some of your calories because MFP doesnt count exercise in your calories/deficit thats why it adds exercise calories back.
  • mel2382016
    mel2382016 Posts: 13 Member
    I am 5'5 and 166 at the moment. I am starting to think now its because I have the weight loss set to 2 lbs. I am going to play with that setting.
  • CyberTone
    CyberTone Posts: 7,337 Member
    mel2382016 wrote: »
    it is set to lose 2pounds a week, lightly active. Thanks, I appreciate you trying to help.. Could that be why because I have it set to lose 2 pounds it doesn't want me eating back too many exercise calories? (I am not eating them anyway)

    I would say yes. Two pounds per week loss equates to -1000 Cals per day, bottoming out at 1500 Cals for men, or 1200 Cals for women. With only 15 more pounds to lose though, you should not be aiming for any more than one pound per week loss. Your Daily goal is at 1730. So to earn an adjustment, your total daily energy expenditure would have to exceed 2730 Cals to get any Garmin adjustment.
  • mel2382016
    mel2382016 Posts: 13 Member
    CyberTone wrote: »
    mel2382016 wrote: »
    it is set to lose 2pounds a week, lightly active. Thanks, I appreciate you trying to help.. Could that be why because I have it set to lose 2 pounds it doesn't want me eating back too many exercise calories? (I am not eating them anyway)

    I would say yes. Two pounds per week loss equates to -1000 Cals per day, bottoming out at 1500 Cals for men, or 1200 Cals for women. With only 15 more pounds to lose though, you should not be aiming for any more than one pound per week loss. Your Daily goal is at 1730. So to earn an adjustment, your total daily energy expenditure would have to exceed 2730 Cals to get any Garmin adjustment.

    There was something wrong in my settings, I updated it to lose 1 pound a week, and my daily calories dropped to 1460 and the exercise stayed the same. I don't know why it was saying 1700 to lose 2 pounds a week. Thanks again for taking the time!
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    CyberTone wrote: »
    mel2382016 wrote: »
    it is set to lose 2pounds a week, lightly active. Thanks, I appreciate you trying to help.. Could that be why because I have it set to lose 2 pounds it doesn't want me eating back too many exercise calories? (I am not eating them anyway)

    I would say yes. Two pounds per week loss equates to -1000 Cals per day, bottoming out at 1500 Cals for men, or 1200 Cals for women. With only 15 more pounds to lose though, you should not be aiming for any more than one pound per week loss. Your Daily goal is at 1730. So to earn an adjustment, your total daily energy expenditure would have to exceed 2730 Cals to get any Garmin adjustment.

    with only 15 lbs left she should be aiming for 0.5lb a week,1 lb for that little amount of weight would be too aggressive.not to mention those 15 lbs will take longer to lose.
  • CyberTone
    CyberTone Posts: 7,337 Member
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    CyberTone wrote: »
    mel2382016 wrote: »
    it is set to lose 2pounds a week, lightly active. Thanks, I appreciate you trying to help.. Could that be why because I have it set to lose 2 pounds it doesn't want me eating back too many exercise calories? (I am not eating them anyway)

    I would say yes. Two pounds per week loss equates to -1000 Cals per day, bottoming out at 1500 Cals for men, or 1200 Cals for women. With only 15 more pounds to lose though, you should not be aiming for any more than one pound per week loss. Your Daily goal is at 1730. So to earn an adjustment, your total daily energy expenditure would have to exceed 2730 Cals to get any Garmin adjustment.

    with only 15 lbs left she should be aiming for 0.5lb a week,1 lb for that little amount of weight would be too aggressive.not to mention those 15 lbs will take longer to lose.

    Agree. At about 15 lbs or slightly more is when someone should switch to a rate loss slower than one pound. One half pound per week loss would be safer, and would help to minimize the amount of lean mass loss.
  • mel2382016
    mel2382016 Posts: 13 Member
    Thank you both, I was on a plateau since Feb and have broken it now since joining MFP, guess I am over ambitious. :)
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    edited July 2017
    CyberTone wrote: »
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    CyberTone wrote: »
    mel2382016 wrote: »
    it is set to lose 2pounds a week, lightly active. Thanks, I appreciate you trying to help.. Could that be why because I have it set to lose 2 pounds it doesn't want me eating back too many exercise calories? (I am not eating them anyway)

    I would say yes. Two pounds per week loss equates to -1000 Cals per day, bottoming out at 1500 Cals for men, or 1200 Cals for women. With only 15 more pounds to lose though, you should not be aiming for any more than one pound per week loss. Your Daily goal is at 1730. So to earn an adjustment, your total daily energy expenditure would have to exceed 2730 Cals to get any Garmin adjustment.

    with only 15 lbs left she should be aiming for 0.5lb a week,1 lb for that little amount of weight would be too aggressive.not to mention those 15 lbs will take longer to lose.

    Agree. At about 15 lbs or slightly more is when someone should switch to a rate loss slower than one pound. One half pound per week loss would be safer, and would help to minimize the amount of lean mass loss.

    yeah,anything less than 20-25 is supposed to be 0.5lb/week. I mean of course other people who have more than that to lose can go with the lower number if they choose to.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    mel2382016 wrote: »
    I have 21000 steps today. Walked about 9 miles. MFP is giving me 166 exercise calories. That seems very low?

    Your weight in pounds * miles walked * 0.3 -> approximate net calorie burn from walking. The 166 does seem a bit low...
  • allyphoe
    allyphoe Posts: 618 Member
    mel2382016 wrote: »
    One of my walks for example was 4.22 mile and I completed it in 55 mins. MMW says I burned 1200 calories which I am sure is highly exaggerated.

    Yeah, something is definitely off there. I use MapMyRun for combined run-walk of about that distance and time, and it gives me 438 calories, treating the whole distance as a run. My Excel file, which uses the per-mile, per-pound formula, and distinguishes between running and walking, gives me 360.

    Using your weight, I get 385.
  • Richl85
    Richl85 Posts: 5 Member
    mel2382016 wrote: »
    I have a Garmin Vivo fit. I was playing around with the MFP settings and had it set to calorie deficit and found that to be very un-motivating. That is why its not showing for many days.
    I use Map my walk so I can track miles and speed when I am out walking. The Garmin typically short changes my walks for example 2 miles on MMW will show as 1.4 miles on the Garmin.
    One of my walks for example was 4.22 mile and I completed it in 55 mins. MMW says I burned 1200 calories which I am sure is highly exaggerated.
    I am not new to weight loss, I have lost over a 100 now, just really trying to figure out how to get the last 15 pounds off.

    You can adjust your stride length to fix this in your Garmin. It is guessing the distance based on steps, so your stride is longer than it thinks. I had the opposite problem with running in my Garmin, once I adjusted the stride length it was dead on for distance.
  • mel2382016
    mel2382016 Posts: 13 Member
    Thanks I will try that
  • macchiatto
    macchiatto Posts: 2,890 Member
    edited July 2017
    166 seems super low to me! I'm 5'7" and 131 lbs and I usually get a good 300 exercise calories even from around 10k steps/day. (I definitely don't eat all my exercise calories though.)
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