Do you up your caloric intake when working out?
stricklee11
Posts: 218 Member
MFP has set my daily calorie goal to 1,550 to lose 1 pound a week. Starting today, I will be working out 3 days a week and wanted to know if I should continue to eat 1,550 calories on those days. I will be doing cardio with a bit of strength training.
0
Replies
-
log your exercise and eat back a portion, if not all of the calories burnt.4
-
No you shouldn't continue with 1550, that's not how MFP is geared to work. Your calorie deficit is already included in your calorie goal, but your exercise is not. Depending on how much you're burning with exercise you could end up netting less than the recommended amount.
2 -
Edited because I misunderstood how MyFitnessPal calculates things; haven't used the MFP calculator alone in awhile, forgot how it can be different than other similar calculators.1
-
MFP doesn’t include exercise when it calculates your goal. So that 1550 is for 1lb per week without exercise. When you exercise you should eat some, if not all the extra you get so that your deficit doesn’t get to large.
Some people like to play it safe and start with only eating 50% and then adjusting up or down based on actual results in 4-6 weeks.
Now since you are just starting exercise you might see the scale go up a bit at first. Don’t let it freak you out. This is water retention for muscle repair and only temporary.
I lost all my weight (over 100lbs) eating my MFP calorie goal + exercise/adjustment calories.4 -
tinkerbellang83 wrote: »No you shouldn't continue with 1550, that's not how MFP is geared to work. Your calorie deficit is already included in your calorie goal, but your exercise is not. Depending on how much you're burning with exercise you could end up netting less than the recommended amount.
Thanks for posting this image. I will use the formula to calculate how much to eat on my work out days.
Now on the days I work out, would that mean I am "lightly active" or "active"?0 -
ladystrick11 wrote: »MFP has set my daily calorie goal to 1,550 to lose 1 pound a week. Starting today, I will be working out 3 days a week and wanted to know if I should continue to eat 1,550 calories on those days. I will be doing cardio with a bit of strength training.
Like others have already said, most of us only eat back a portion of the exercise calories MFP calculates... 50% -ish
And, if you are doing strenth training and want to log the calories you burn, you can find them under cardio when you “select exercise type”. If you log strength training under “strength” it doesn’t say you’ve burned any calories.0 -
ladystrick11 wrote: »tinkerbellang83 wrote: »No you shouldn't continue with 1550, that's not how MFP is geared to work. Your calorie deficit is already included in your calorie goal, but your exercise is not. Depending on how much you're burning with exercise you could end up netting less than the recommended amount.
Thanks for posting this image. I will use the formula to calculate how much to eat on my work out days.
Now on the days I work out, would that mean I am "lightly active" or "active"?
Your Activity Level stays the same on MFP. That is your base daily activity before exercise. Just set that once and leave it, you don't have to play with it on a daily basis.
Log your purposeful exercise and eat the calories given. Log food. Weigh yourself. Use the numbers for 4-8 weeks to get a good set of data. Adjust according to results at the end of that period of testing.2 -
cmriverside wrote: »ladystrick11 wrote: »tinkerbellang83 wrote: »No you shouldn't continue with 1550, that's not how MFP is geared to work. Your calorie deficit is already included in your calorie goal, but your exercise is not. Depending on how much you're burning with exercise you could end up netting less than the recommended amount.
Thanks for posting this image. I will use the formula to calculate how much to eat on my work out days.
Now on the days I work out, would that mean I am "lightly active" or "active"?
Your Activity Level stays the same on MFP. That is your base daily activity before exercise. Just set that once and leave it, you don't have to play with it on a daily basis.
Log your purposeful exercise and eat the calories given. Log food. Weigh yourself. Use the numbers for 4-8 weeks to get a good set of data. Adjust according to results at the end of that period of testing.
I have read that MFP is too generous with the amount of calories burned by exercising. That's why instead of logging the exercise, I was going to just calculate how many calories to eat manually (I.E. not change my goal in MFP). I guess that would be a more convoluted way of doing it though.0 -
ladystrick11 wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »ladystrick11 wrote: »tinkerbellang83 wrote: »No you shouldn't continue with 1550, that's not how MFP is geared to work. Your calorie deficit is already included in your calorie goal, but your exercise is not. Depending on how much you're burning with exercise you could end up netting less than the recommended amount.
Thanks for posting this image. I will use the formula to calculate how much to eat on my work out days.
Now on the days I work out, would that mean I am "lightly active" or "active"?
Your Activity Level stays the same on MFP. That is your base daily activity before exercise. Just set that once and leave it, you don't have to play with it on a daily basis.
Log your purposeful exercise and eat the calories given. Log food. Weigh yourself. Use the numbers for 4-8 weeks to get a good set of data. Adjust according to results at the end of that period of testing.
I have read that MFP is too generous with the amount of calories burned by exercising. That's why instead of logging the exercise, I was going to just calculate how many calories to eat manually (I.E. not change my goal in MFP). I guess that would be a more convoluted way of doing it though.
If you don't want to add exercise calories then use Scooby.com and get your TDEE instead, and take your deficit from that figure.0 -
ladystrick11 wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »ladystrick11 wrote: »tinkerbellang83 wrote: »No you shouldn't continue with 1550, that's not how MFP is geared to work. Your calorie deficit is already included in your calorie goal, but your exercise is not. Depending on how much you're burning with exercise you could end up netting less than the recommended amount.
Thanks for posting this image. I will use the formula to calculate how much to eat on my work out days.
Now on the days I work out, would that mean I am "lightly active" or "active"?
Your Activity Level stays the same on MFP. That is your base daily activity before exercise. Just set that once and leave it, you don't have to play with it on a daily basis.
Log your purposeful exercise and eat the calories given. Log food. Weigh yourself. Use the numbers for 4-8 weeks to get a good set of data. Adjust according to results at the end of that period of testing.
I have read that MFP is too generous with the amount of calories burned by exercising. That's why instead of logging the exercise, I was going to just calculate how many calories to eat manually (I.E. not change my goal in MFP). I guess that would be a more convoluted way of doing it though.
MFP exercise calories can be a little on the generous side - particularly for those things where you need to designate whether it was moderate/vigorous/etc.
You can choose to eat a % of the mfp exercise calories (say 50%), or you can use other calculators and manually enter the number of calories burned (although most other calculators are also based on the same formulas).
I’d suggest just using the MFP estimates, eating 50% and making the necessary adjustments in 4-6 weeks (eat more if you’re losing faster than expected, less if you’re losing more slowly).
2 -
MFP might be generous on the calories burned, but I've been following their recommendations and staying within limits and lost a ton of weight, at one point being nearly too thin. My goal was 125 pounds and a size four and I actually had to eat more to keep from going down to a size 2 and 120 pounds or less. So the calories burned can't be THAT generous. I imagine they're in the ballpark.1
-
I will also add, though, that weight training (which I do 20-30 minutes of 3-4 days a week) will cause you to burn more calories, so perhaps that is why I lost more weight than expected.1
-
^^ @kerrylkatriviera is probably very honest as to what constitures "vigorous effort" and etc.
Ive seen so many people on my list who are like "but i did everything right" and are posting burns of 400 for house cleaning followed by 250 for yoga.
Its a self reported exhersion, and i think thats where a lot of people struggle.4 -
I do alot of training, I ditched my car so I cycle 16 miles a day to and from work on top of swimming twice a week, running twice a week (total 10-12 miles for the week), two Body pump classes and two or three gym sessions
If I don't eat back my exercise calories I find I get dizzy, light headed and wake up with zero energy the following morning.
To be safe I rarely eat back all of my exercise calories,
Sunday I had 1450 calories as my basic allowance, and I burnt approx 1080 calories between running a 10k and swimming 750m. My diary showed I could eat 2530 calories that day, I had breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks and it totalled 1850 calories. I wasn't hungry so I left it at that. Yesterday I burnt 950 calories, but I ate 2100 calories in my meals and snacks as I was more hungry than I was on Sunday.
So Sunday I was 600 calories under, yesterday I was 250 calories under even though I did similar workouts.
I go by what my body needs and I plan a variety of snacks to top myself up if needed (fruit, hard boiled eggs, hummus, nuts etc)1 -
StephSuter2508 wrote: »I do alot of training, I ditched my car so I cycle 16 miles a day to and from work on top of swimming twice a week, running twice a week (total 10-12 miles for the week), two Body pump classes and two or three gym sessions
If I don't eat back my exercise calories I find I get dizzy, light headed and wake up with zero energy the following morning.
Do you eat 30-60 minutes prior to the start of your work out? Or do you eat afterwards?0 -
TavistockToad wrote: »ladystrick11 wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »ladystrick11 wrote: »tinkerbellang83 wrote: »No you shouldn't continue with 1550, that's not how MFP is geared to work. Your calorie deficit is already included in your calorie goal, but your exercise is not. Depending on how much you're burning with exercise you could end up netting less than the recommended amount.
Thanks for posting this image. I will use the formula to calculate how much to eat on my work out days.
Now on the days I work out, would that mean I am "lightly active" or "active"?
Your Activity Level stays the same on MFP. That is your base daily activity before exercise. Just set that once and leave it, you don't have to play with it on a daily basis.
Log your purposeful exercise and eat the calories given. Log food. Weigh yourself. Use the numbers for 4-8 weeks to get a good set of data. Adjust according to results at the end of that period of testing.
I have read that MFP is too generous with the amount of calories burned by exercising. That's why instead of logging the exercise, I was going to just calculate how many calories to eat manually (I.E. not change my goal in MFP). I guess that would be a more convoluted way of doing it though.
If you don't want to add exercise calories then use Scooby.com and get your TDEE instead, and take your deficit from that figure.
TDEE question: I used both Scooby and TDEE calculator.net to calculate my TDEE. Scooby doesn't seem to take into account my body fat percentage in making the calculations. When I change it, it doesn't change the amount. However TDEE calculator cuts about 300 calories from my TDEE level once I enter my body fat percentage. Not sure which one I should follow.0 -
ladystrick11 wrote: »Do you eat 30-60 minutes prior to the start of your work out? Or do you eat afterwards?
I usually have a snack an hour before a work out and then I will eat dinner after, I find I vomit easily if I exert myself with a full stomach so I always eat my main meal after training, but everyone is different, I don't mind eating at 9pm if I have a late class but for some people this would be an issue
0 -
TavistockToad wrote: »ladystrick11 wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »ladystrick11 wrote: »tinkerbellang83 wrote: »No you shouldn't continue with 1550, that's not how MFP is geared to work. Your calorie deficit is already included in your calorie goal, but your exercise is not. Depending on how much you're burning with exercise you could end up netting less than the recommended amount.
Thanks for posting this image. I will use the formula to calculate how much to eat on my work out days.
Now on the days I work out, would that mean I am "lightly active" or "active"?
Your Activity Level stays the same on MFP. That is your base daily activity before exercise. Just set that once and leave it, you don't have to play with it on a daily basis.
Log your purposeful exercise and eat the calories given. Log food. Weigh yourself. Use the numbers for 4-8 weeks to get a good set of data. Adjust according to results at the end of that period of testing.
I have read that MFP is too generous with the amount of calories burned by exercising. That's why instead of logging the exercise, I was going to just calculate how many calories to eat manually (I.E. not change my goal in MFP). I guess that would be a more convoluted way of doing it though.
If you don't want to add exercise calories then use Scooby.com and get your TDEE instead, and take your deficit from that figure.
TDEE question: I used both Scooby and TDEE calculator.net to calculate my TDEE. Scooby doesn't seem to take into account my body fat percentage in making the calculations. When I change it, it doesn't change the amount. However TDEE calculator cuts about 300 calories from my TDEE level once I enter my body fat percentage. Not sure which one I should follow.
With Scooby’s calculator make sure you are changing the formula used. Not all formulas use BF% in the calculation. Katch-McArdle and Cunningham use the amount of lean mass you have in the calculation. The other 2 formulas do not.
edit: Just ran both using the Katch formula and the result:
Scooby: 2218
Calculator.net : 2214
Make sure you are picking comparable activity levels. Scooby’s calculator only wants you to think about exercise that gets your HR up to 65% of your maximum which I have found lines up with what other calculators consider intense exercise.1 -
TavistockToad wrote: »ladystrick11 wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »ladystrick11 wrote: »tinkerbellang83 wrote: »No you shouldn't continue with 1550, that's not how MFP is geared to work. Your calorie deficit is already included in your calorie goal, but your exercise is not. Depending on how much you're burning with exercise you could end up netting less than the recommended amount.
Thanks for posting this image. I will use the formula to calculate how much to eat on my work out days.
Now on the days I work out, would that mean I am "lightly active" or "active"?
Your Activity Level stays the same on MFP. That is your base daily activity before exercise. Just set that once and leave it, you don't have to play with it on a daily basis.
Log your purposeful exercise and eat the calories given. Log food. Weigh yourself. Use the numbers for 4-8 weeks to get a good set of data. Adjust according to results at the end of that period of testing.
I have read that MFP is too generous with the amount of calories burned by exercising. That's why instead of logging the exercise, I was going to just calculate how many calories to eat manually (I.E. not change my goal in MFP). I guess that would be a more convoluted way of doing it though.
If you don't want to add exercise calories then use Scooby.com and get your TDEE instead, and take your deficit from that figure.
TDEE question: I used both Scooby and TDEE calculator.net to calculate my TDEE. Scooby doesn't seem to take into account my body fat percentage in making the calculations. When I change it, it doesn't change the amount. However TDEE calculator cuts about 300 calories from my TDEE level once I enter my body fat percentage. Not sure which one I should follow.
Pick one, stick with it for 6 weeks, tweak based on what the scales do after that.0 -
It depends on what kind of exercise you are doing, how much you will want to eat back. For walking and running, MFP is good as the formula is simple. I eat 100% of those calories. For something like calisthenics or aerobics the intensity of the exercise matters, same with stationary bike, so I'll be more cautious in eating back calories.0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.3K Introduce Yourself
- 43.4K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 387 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.4K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 897 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.2K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions