300 out, so 300 in?

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TTeBri
TTeBri Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi Community! Back to MFP again. This time I’m staying until I get ‘er done! This time I’m also exercising and started logging that in the diary.

Question is, after a 40 minute walk/run on the treadmill tonight, I logged it in the diary. It showed 300 calories spent, but then it added 300 calories to my allowed daily 1200. This seems counterproductive to me. Is this for weight maintenance rather than loss? Do I ignore it and stick with my 1200?

Thanks for any input! (And sorry if I’ve posted this three times now, but I keep pressing “done” instead of “post” and not sure if it actually entered or not. Doh!

Replies

  • TTeBri
    TTeBri Posts: 4 Member
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    Thank you! I did find the 300 calories spent in the MFP exercise log itself, but I’ll be more aware of those differences. When you speak of “banking” the extra calories, is there something on the food diary section that actually takes note of that for you, or I should just keep those extras as a mental note to use later?
  • Susieq_1994
    Susieq_1994 Posts: 5,361 Member
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    TTeBri wrote: »
    Thank you! I did find the 300 calories spent in the MFP exercise log itself, but I’ll be more aware of those differences. When you speak of “banking” the extra calories, is there something on the food diary section that actually takes note of that for you, or I should just keep those extras as a mental note to use later?

    If you head over to the reports section and click on "net calories" it will show you your last seven days of intake and you can sort of calculate your extra banked calories from there. The phone app reports section is a bit more helpful, since it shows your weekly average and calories left for the week, but either one works in a pinch. :)
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
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    Do you think MFP is programmed to trick people into staying fat?
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,015 Member
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    https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/en/portal/articles/410332-how-does-myfitnesspal-calculate-my-initial-goals-
  • EatingAndKnitting
    EatingAndKnitting Posts: 531 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    Do you think MFP is programmed to trick people into staying fat?

    This is what I've always wondered for 5 years now.

    iezvbcukn1my.jpg
  • tess5036
    tess5036 Posts: 942 Member
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    Susieq_1994 wrote: »
    TTeBri wrote: »
    Thank you! I did find the 300 calories spent in the MFP exercise log itself, but I’ll be more aware of those differences. When you speak of “banking” the extra calories, is there something on the food diary section that actually takes note of that for you, or I should just keep those extras as a mental note to use later?

    If you head over to the reports section and click on "net calories" it will show you your last seven days of intake and you can sort of calculate your extra banked calories from there. The phone app reports section is a bit more helpful, since it shows your weekly average and calories left for the week, but either one works in a pinch. :)

    Where is the reports section
  • wackyfunster
    wackyfunster Posts: 944 Member
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    You need to track your weight daily IMO. There is no accurate way to estimate caloric expenditures from exercise. Even with a high-end HRM calibrated for age/weight/gender there is a +/- 50% margin of error (for females, tends to be slightly better for males), so you may have burned 150 calories, or 450 calories, and that is assuming a calibrated/accurate HRM. Just plugging in X type of exercise for Y minutes without heart-rate data is going to be even more inaccurate. The scale is the final source of truth.
  • Susieq_1994
    Susieq_1994 Posts: 5,361 Member
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    tess5036 wrote: »
    Susieq_1994 wrote: »
    TTeBri wrote: »
    Thank you! I did find the 300 calories spent in the MFP exercise log itself, but I’ll be more aware of those differences. When you speak of “banking” the extra calories, is there something on the food diary section that actually takes note of that for you, or I should just keep those extras as a mental note to use later?

    If you head over to the reports section and click on "net calories" it will show you your last seven days of intake and you can sort of calculate your extra banked calories from there. The phone app reports section is a bit more helpful, since it shows your weekly average and calories left for the week, but either one works in a pinch. :)

    Where is the reports section

    On the website, it's at the top of the page in the line that has the buttons "My Home", "Food", "Exercise", and then "Reports". On my Android tablet app, it's in the list of options on the left side, labeled as "Nutrition" with a picture of a pie chart. You can see your calories, macros, and nutrients for either the current day or the current week, and also press the arrows on either side to see previous days/weeks or future days/weeks.

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