Weight loss desired net calories not working

pcs0snq
pcs0snq Posts: 10 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Newly retired and focused on my health. I'm an electrical engineer so my day was in an office not manual labor.

I have used MapMyFitness and loged my bicycle rides and walks for 4 years. I just installed MyFitnessPal and for a week now and carefully logged everything that went down the pie hole with no weight loss with a net calorie for 7 days of 7,590. Sould be 2 lbs from what I read.

I started riding and walking harder and longer 3 weeks ago. I ride 15 miles a day avg 14-15 mph and walk 3 miles maybe 3-4 days a week. 102 miles last week (12,000 calories) and on target for 110 miles this week. (14,000 calories).

MFP said my base Calorie/day is 2460
I read 3500 calories pos net = 1 lb.

I weight 240 and I'm 5' 9". 64 years old male
Weight is mostly abdominal

I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or the MFP 2460 is wrong or what.
Maybe a week is not long enough to see change?

Please help if you can. :D

Replies

  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    Weight loss isn't linear. Give it three weeks before you panic. Also, how are you logging everything? Do you weigh, eyeball, or measure, or go by package information? The most common newbie error is eyeballing instead of weighing.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    Your net is calories eaten less exercise calories. My guess is that the calories you are logging via exercise are overstated and thus you are eating too much. This is what can happen with the net method:

    Calories eaten: 2500
    Exercise calories: 250 for a walk (let's say this is reasonable for this particular walk)
    Net: 2250

    Calories eaten: 3000
    Exercise calories: 750 for the same walk as above (overstated)
    Net: 2250

    See how you can get the same net but overeat in one situation and not the other?

    How are you getting your exercise calorie figures?
  • pcs0snq
    pcs0snq Posts: 10 Member

    quiksylver296 wrote: »
    Do you use a food scale to weigh what you

    Yes I do and I use it
  • pcs0snq
    pcs0snq Posts: 10 Member
    rheddmobile wrote: »
    Weight loss isn't linear. Give it three weeks before you panic. Also, how are you logging everything? Do you weigh, eyeball, or measure, or go by package information? The most common newbie error is eyeballing instead of weighing.
    I weight myself when I wake up for the day.
    For the loose or food that is not in a measured portion I use a digital weight scale. Lots of food is listed in odd weights if at all for what it is, but I'm like 80% confident in the actual calories logged from weight.
    Thanks

  • pcs0snq
    pcs0snq Posts: 10 Member
    jemhh wrote: »
    Your net is calories eaten less exercise calories. My guess is that the calories you are logging via exercise are overstated and thus you are eating too much.

    How are you getting your exercise calorie figures?
    I'm using Map My Fitness
    It has the identical bio info for me as MFP and it is calculating and sending the exercise calories to My Fitness Pal after every workout.

    These apps are from the same Company and play together pretty well I thought.
    I will look into how I can verify my workout calories
    Thanks
  • pcs0snq
    pcs0snq Posts: 10 Member
    I did some checking on the exercise calories that MapMyFitness calculates as suggested by gem jj.
    This morning I rode 15.3 miles. 15 mph avg 62 min
    MapMyFitness said 1506 calories

    I used three web based calculations for the same workout
    1- 874
    2-1204
    3-1190

    Not sure why these algorithms vary so much?

  • MySweetLavinia
    MySweetLavinia Posts: 90 Member
    If you've recently upped your exercise level, you might also be retaining more water than usual. I would give it a month, and if still no change then look at lowering calories or eating back less of your exercise calories.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    pcs0snq wrote: »
    I did some checking on the exercise calories that MapMyFitness calculates as suggested by gem jj.
    This morning I rode 15.3 miles. 15 mph avg 62 min
    MapMyFitness said 1506 calories

    I used three web based calculations for the same workout
    1- 874
    2-1204
    3-1190

    Not sure why these algorithms vary so much?

    There are a few cyclists who post regularly. I'll tag one to see if he can help you figure out what a reasonable calorie burn for your ride might be.

    @sijomial?
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    @jemhh
    You rang? :wink:

    Wow - those numbers are high!
    What kind of cycling? On or off road makes a big difference.

    I'm a road cyclist (5'9 & 169lbs).
    Roughly speaking 500 - 600 cals an hour is my long distance 16 or 17mph burn rate.
    (Net calories, excluding BMR)

    Your weight will make a difference of course - especially if the numbers are gross not net calories, but you also have to have the fitness to produce the power to burn those calories.

    1000 cals an hour (net) you would be a good club rider, like a friend of mine who does 24hr races (440 miles is his best).

    Strava and Garmin gives pretty reasonable estimates for me verified against a power meter.
    MyFitnessPal estimates are very exaggerated for me and my style of cycling.

    If you can get to a gym where they have power meter equipped trainers you would get a much better idea.
  • pcs0snq
    pcs0snq Posts: 10 Member
    Ok good feedback and thanks
    1- Give it some more time.
    2- The MapMyFitness exercise calories is high by ~50%
  • Heather4448
    Heather4448 Posts: 908 Member
    Are you using mapmyfitness -and- logging your exercise on MFP?
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    pcs0snq wrote: »
    rheddmobile wrote: »
    Weight loss isn't linear. Give it three weeks before you panic. Also, how are you logging everything? Do you weigh, eyeball, or measure, or go by package information? The most common newbie error is eyeballing instead of weighing.
    I weight myself when I wake up for the day.
    For the loose or food that is not in a measured portion I use a digital weight scale. Lots of food is listed in odd weights if at all for what it is, but I'm like 80% confident in the actual calories logged from weight.
    Thanks
    Weigh the prepackaged food as well as these weights can be as much as +/-20% off the listed weight.

    Weigh everything that cannot be poured.
  • allyphoe
    allyphoe Posts: 618 Member
    You're an engineer; this is a problem that can be solved with Excel. Track your weight change (smoothed or raw), your intake, and your presumed exercise burn. Once you have a month or three of data, use that to calculate what your maintenance calories are, both TDEE (including intentional exercise) and NEAT (excluding intentional exercise). Once you know those numbers, you know how much you can eat to lose weight.
  • pcs0snq
    pcs0snq Posts: 10 Member
    Heather4448 wrote: »
    Are you using mapmyfitness -and- logging your exercise on MFP?
    Yes and no
    The MapMyFitness exercises are automatically sent to MyFitnessPal, so not really logging exercise in MFP.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    As has already been identified. MMF overestimates by at least double...

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