Diet question

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Mommyof3greatkids06
Mommyof3greatkids06 Posts: 2 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Can someone please tell me how the calories and excercise work.. if I work out for 30 mins and that burns 330 calories and then I eat later and that's 400 calories doesn't that cancel out my workout. My app says I need 1250 calories a day to lose weight but when I log my excercise my calories go up. Someone please explain this to me I so confused I have been working out e everyday for the last 10 days and coming in under my calorie goal and I have not lost any weight. What am I doing wrong

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  • anubis609
    anubis609 Posts: 3,966 Member
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    Technically, calories you burn are added to your daily calorie goal, so if you burn 330kcal, then you get to eat an additional 330kcal. Be aware that many exercises that state "X calories burned" are only estimates, so you may very well not be burning a full 330kcal.

    You can either choose to turn off logging exercise calories and just stick to the suggested amount to avoid confusion, or only eat some of those exercise calories back.

    My personal belief is that exercise only counts for a very small percentage of actual activity throughout the week (unless you are an extremely active person everyday), so logging exercise is negligible and would be better to just count what you're supposed to be originally eating according to your daily activity.
  • LyndaBSS
    LyndaBSS Posts: 6,964 Member
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    If you haven't already, read the stickies at the top of the getting started forum. Very informative and helpful.
  • ku140
    ku140 Posts: 65 Member
    edited October 2019
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    When you enter in your goal in MFP, it gives you your target amount of calories per day (1250). This is saying, this is how many calories you need each day to meet your goal.

    If you only actually intake 1250 calories, and you burn off say 250, that means you have only have a net of 1000 calories for the day. That's why you will see your daily target increase when you enter exercise calories - to still account for your overall target amount of calories per day to meet your goal.

    If you haven't seen any progress, are you weighing and measuring your food accurately?
  • Mommyof3greatkids06
    Mommyof3greatkids06 Posts: 2 Member
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    Thank you all for your help. The person who asked about my height I'm only 5'1 so yes I'm short lol I just feel like I'm pushing myself everyday and I'm not seeing any progress there's alot I dont understand im new to the fitness world considering I've never had a weight problem before and now that I do its upsetting because it seems like what I'm doing isn't working
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Yes the idea is that exercise should be neutral as regards losing weight.
    The site is trying to reinforce that exercise isn't for weight loss - it's for health and that goal carries on the rest of your life after this weight loss episode is done.

    But I would hazard a guess that as a 5'1 female the chances of you burning 330 net calories in just half an hour are slight. If you tell people what precisely your exercise was you may get some good guidance.

    Is "working out" every day for 10 days a new thing to you?
    A water weight gain that masks fat loss is exceedingly common after taking up exercise.

    "Coming under your calorie goal" - by far the biggest cause of long term failure for results to follow expectations is inaccurate food logging, exercise logging inaccuracy for the vast majority is of an order of magnitude less significant. Note long term, ten days is too short a timeframe to make conclusions.
  • Bookworm1860
    Bookworm1860 Posts: 54 Member
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    Where are you getting the 330 calories burnt from? I'm 5'1" and don't come close to that, more like half that doing cardio. (based on Fitbit or Polar HR monitor)
  • 1proudmommyof3
    1proudmommyof3 Posts: 2 Member
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    The calorie burn is based on what the app says when I log my activities I'm not saying it's accurate and I weigh my food and scan barcodes of my food using the app yes I'm new to this but I'm just going by the info given to me through the app it says I should lose a pound a week but so far I haven't lost anything I'm not to surprised about it I guess I'm just trying to determine the accuracy of it
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    edited October 2019
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    How much weight are you trying to lose? 10 days is likely not long enough to see results, especially if you don’t have much to lose.

    Scanning barcodes doesn’t have anything to do with logging accuracy. It is just a faster way of looking up database entries, which you still need to double check against the label. To log accurately, you need to weigh all of your food.

    Ignore the projected weight loss number. It doesn’t take into account entirely normal things like water weight fluctuation.

    Finally, that 330 calorie burn seems very high. I am just under 5 feet, 115 lb, and I burn roughly 450 calories in an hour of running.
  • 1proudmommyof3
    1proudmommyof3 Posts: 2 Member
    edited October 2019
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    apullum wrote: »
    How much weight are you trying to lose? 10 days is likely not long enough to see results, especially if you don’t have much to lose.

    Scanning barcodes doesn’t have anything to do with logging accuracy. It is just a faster way of looking up database entries, which you still need to double check against the label. To log accurately, you need to weigh all of your food.

    Ignore the projected weight loss number. It doesn’t take into account entirely normal things like water weight fluctuation.

    Finally, that 330 calorie burn seems very high. I am just under 5 feet, 115 lb, and I burn roughly 450 calories in an hour of running.

    I have alot of weight to lose. The earlier 330 calorie burn number was just an example to go along with my question because that's the number the app gave me. I usually do an hour workout I just started zumba I'm on day 10 of my weight loss journey I was just curious mostly about the accuracy of the app is there a way to find out how many calories you burn during a workout that is more accurate I'm very new to all of this and there is alot I dont understand
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    edited October 2019
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    1proudmommyof3 wrote: »
    apullum wrote: »
    How much weight are you trying to lose? 10 days is likely not long enough to see results, especially if you don’t have much to lose.

    Scanning barcodes doesn’t have anything to do with logging accuracy. It is just a faster way of looking up database entries, which you still need to double check against the label. To log accurately, you need to weigh all of your food.

    Ignore the projected weight loss number. It doesn’t take into account entirely normal things like water weight fluctuation.

    Finally, that 330 calorie burn seems very high. I am just under 5 feet, 115 lb, and I burn roughly 450 calories in an hour of running.

    I have alot of weight to lose. The earlier 330 calorie burn number was just an example to go along with my question because that's the number the app gave me. I usually do an hour workout I just started zumba I'm on day 10 of my weight loss journey I was just curious mostly about the accuracy of the app is there a way to find out how many calories you burn during a workout that is more accurate I'm very new to all of this and there is alot I dont understand

    Most people start with half the calorie burn that the app gives them, and adjust from there. Heart rate monitors are more accurate for some types of exercise but nothing is 100% accurate.

    The easiest thing for you to control is weighing all your food, rather than getting too caught up in how exact your exercise calorie burn is. Exercise calories are always estimates.

    If you are new to working out, it is normal to retain water for some time due to muscle inflammation and that can mask fat loss.
  • jsparks4000
    jsparks4000 Posts: 10 Member
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    Did this resolve your issue? Personally I've found MFP estimates of calorie burn to be inaccurate and high. I had to research my main activities and got more accurate formulas.

    In terms of the MFP "exercise for health and cut calories for health"...don't buy that. Most medical Dr.s will tell you exercise is a component of a good weight loss program. And having a goal or social group is a good way to stay motivated.

    Just be aware, MFP, most gym machines and trackers over estimate calorie burn for multiple reasons.

    But you can find accurate estimates if you look...so for example walkng is about .3 x weight per mile while running is about .6 x weight per mile. MFP and Fitbit typically would give you much higher. Biking is Ave watts x 3.6 per hour etc.

    So, the trap is you eat back more cals than you actually burned.

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