Polar calories adjustment

Annemariezonderma
Annemariezonderma Posts: 45 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey,

When I started here on mfp three weeks ago, I learned I needed to calculate my tdee and my bmr... So I've been working on some of those numbers, and here are mine summed up;
Tdee: 2350
Bmr: 1990
To lose fat: 1850 calories

Now I basically know I need to eat at least 1990 calories a day due to my bmr.
And to lose weight I also should eat 1990 calories because I read it's not good to eat less than your bmr calories...

OK. So far so good?

Now I have a Polar activity tracker (...) and today I've burned over 3000 calories. Let me check... Yes, 3550 calories, even though it was only a day of existing for me. (yes, I had a recital this morning, so I did stress out a little bit... But this afternoon I went to my parents-in-law. Lots of sitting in a chair.)

So it's a 'calorie adjustment' of +1000 calories. Isn't that a bit too much?

Thanks in advance!

Replies

  • Annemariezonderma
    Annemariezonderma Posts: 45 Member
    Ok, I will try the search option first next time.
    I found this
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/43538121
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    edited April 2019
    "When I started here on mfp three weeks ago, I learned I needed to calculate my tdee and my bmr."

    Where did you get that idea as it's not true.
    This site estimates your BMR for you and then multiplies that by your activity setting but it excludes exercise so it's not calculating TDEE.


    ["Tdee: 2350
    Bmr: 1990
    To lose fat: 1850 calories"

    No - to lose fat you need to eat any number less than your (actual) TDEE. I think you mean to lose 1lb/week you need to take off 500 cals but that rate of loss isn't compulsory.


    How is your tracker calculating calories? If HR is involved then stress would elevate the number out of line with reality.
    If movement - are you a fidgety person? Play the banjo while wearing your tracker on your wrist? :wink:

    I burn 3500 on days when I cycle for two hours or more and am generally pretty active, seems unlikely your TDEE estimate would be so far out.

    Would question the value of using your tracker at all if it's so far from probable reality.
    What does using it (potentially) gain you?
  • Annemariezonderma
    Annemariezonderma Posts: 45 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    Where did you get that idea as it's not true.
    This site estimates your BMR for you and then multiplies that by your activity setting but it excludes exercise so it's not calculating TDEE.
    Hm, on the Dutch forum they were all talking about bmr and tdee ... But I get what you're saying. Thanks for the clarification!

    sijomial wrote: »
    No - to lose fat you need to eat any number less than your (actual) TDEE. I think you mean to lose 1lb/week you need to take off 500 cals but that rate of loss isn't compulsory.
    Oh, I meant to lose 1lb/week indeed.

    sijomial wrote: »
    How is your tracker calculating calories? If HR is involved then stress would elevate the number out of line with reality.
    If movement - are you a fidgety person? Play the banjo while wearing your tracker on your wrist? :wink:

    I burn 3500 on days when I cycle for two hours or more and am generally pretty active, seems unlikely your TDEE estimate would be so far out.
    HR is involved; I think I might be a stressy person. And I do play the violin for maybe 15-30minutes a day, but only in first position and without vibrato, so not much movement going on there yet.
    sijomial wrote: »
    Would question the value of using your tracker at all if it's so far from probable reality.
    What does using it (potentially) gain you?
    Yes, I'm actually trying this tracker out for a couple of weeks. This is my first week. I hope to find out if it does something (good?) for me; is it helpful to track my steps (does it motivate me to walk more for example?), is it useful for tracking burned calories (in case of ins / outs, which will be difficult now I guess; although today seems to be a rather normal day), I would like to find out what it does when I use it while biking or swimming (if I even dare to go to the swimming pool)... something like that.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    It's definitely worth experimenting.
    Even if it just encourages more movement then that's only a good thing.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,269 Member
    Annemariezonderma wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    Where did you get that idea as it's not true.
    This site estimates your BMR for you and then multiplies that by your activity setting but it excludes exercise so it's not calculating TDEE.
    Hm, on the Dutch forum they were all talking about bmr and tdee ... But I get what you're saying. Thanks for the clarification!

    sijomial wrote: »
    No - to lose fat you need to eat any number less than your (actual) TDEE. I think you mean to lose 1lb/week you need to take off 500 cals but that rate of loss isn't compulsory.
    Oh, I meant to lose 1lb/week indeed.

    sijomial wrote: »
    How is your tracker calculating calories? If HR is involved then stress would elevate the number out of line with reality.
    If movement - are you a fidgety person? Play the banjo while wearing your tracker on your wrist? :wink:

    I burn 3500 on days when I cycle for two hours or more and am generally pretty active, seems unlikely your TDEE estimate would be so far out.
    HR is involved; I think I might be a stressy person. And I do play the violin for maybe 15-30minutes a day, but only in first position and without vibrato, so not much movement going on there yet.
    sijomial wrote: »
    Would question the value of using your tracker at all if it's so far from probable reality.
    What does using it (potentially) gain you?
    Yes, I'm actually trying this tracker out for a couple of weeks. This is my first week. I hope to find out if it does something (good?) for me; is it helpful to track my steps (does it motivate me to walk more for example?), is it useful for tracking burned calories (in case of ins / outs, which will be difficult now I guess; although today seems to be a rather normal day), I would like to find out what it does when I use it while biking or swimming (if I even dare to go to the swimming pool)... something like that.

    And two weeks may have some limitations: Some trackers "learn" their users, and get a bit more accurate after they settle in, allegedly.
  • melissafeagins
    melissafeagins Posts: 1,421 Member
    Annemariezonderma wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    Where did you get that idea as it's not true.
    This site estimates your BMR for you and then multiplies that by your activity setting but it excludes exercise so it's not calculating TDEE.
    Hm, on the Dutch forum they were all talking about bmr and tdee ... But I get what you're saying. Thanks for the clarification!

    sijomial wrote: »
    No - to lose fat you need to eat any number less than your (actual) TDEE. I think you mean to lose 1lb/week you need to take off 500 cals but that rate of loss isn't compulsory.
    Oh, I meant to lose 1lb/week indeed.

    sijomial wrote: »
    How is your tracker calculating calories? If HR is involved then stress would elevate the number out of line with reality.
    If movement - are you a fidgety person? Play the banjo while wearing your tracker on your wrist? :wink:

    I burn 3500 on days when I cycle for two hours or more and am generally pretty active, seems unlikely your TDEE estimate would be so far out.
    HR is involved; I think I might be a stressy person. And I do play the violin for maybe 15-30minutes a day, but only in first position and without vibrato, so not much movement going on there yet.
    sijomial wrote: »
    Would question the value of using your tracker at all if it's so far from probable reality.
    What does using it (potentially) gain you?
    Yes, I'm actually trying this tracker out for a couple of weeks. This is my first week. I hope to find out if it does something (good?) for me; is it helpful to track my steps (does it motivate me to walk more for example?), is it useful for tracking burned calories (in case of ins / outs, which will be difficult now I guess; although today seems to be a rather normal day), I would like to find out what it does when I use it while biking or swimming (if I even dare to go to the swimming pool)... something like that.

    Is your tracker on your bow hand? If it is switch it or take it off altogether. I don't wear my tracker when I play flute.
  • Annemariezonderma
    Annemariezonderma Posts: 45 Member
    @melissafeagins no it's on my left hand. But since I'm quite a beginner there's not really much movement going on there... I will check if the calories go up while playing today though...

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