Don’t want to subtract workout calories
Options
Replies
-
yet another article that doesn't actually understand how MFP works and that it does not include exercise in its recommended calorie goal. if you used a TDEE (total daily energy expentiture) calorie recommendation (which i do) - then no i don't eat calories back - but if i were using the MFP ones i would...and wait for it...my number goals come out relatively close to the same (about 50cal difference)11
-
Congratulations, you found someone else who typically knows what he's talking about, but doesn't know how MFP works.
A lot of knowledgeable trainers and fitness influencers are aware of MFP but haven't actually used it for themselves.
You are arguing with people who have been using MFP for years, and have lost a lot of weight with it already, some of us even now in maintenance. I'm not sure why you assume people who aren't active here know how it works better than we do.
If you use TDEE to get your calorie goal - don't eat back your exercise calories separately because they are already included in your calorie goal.
If you use MFP NEAT to get your calorie goal - eat back at least some of your exercise calories because they were not included in the calculations. It IS possible your calorie burns are inflated. Luckily there is no reason to force yourself into an all-or-nothing approach, just eat back some of them. If you really burned 300 calories, and your tracker says you burned 600, eating 0 is just as wrong as eating 600. So splitting the difference makes far more sense than ignoring them entirely.
And ultimately, the proof is in your rate of loss over 6-8 weeks and your fitness performance. If you aren't losing, you're eating too much. If you are losing faster than you expected, you should eat more. It's not rocket surgery.
If you are working out hard and can't lose weight if you eat back any of your exercise calories, that means your food logging is way off and all your numbers are pretty meaningless. Personally, I would rather get them right, but if logging is just your way of staying accountable and you don't really care about what the numbers actually are, than do it however you want. But don't claim the other way is wrong.16 -
tcunbeliever wrote: »Given that MFP does allow you to set your own calorie goals, which you can set based on TDEE if you like, then you can't just assume that everyone using MFP should always eat back their calories and that if they don't they are creating too large of a deficit.
I like to key in 1 for my calorie burn, no matter what MFP says because like any other user entered data, some of the calculated calorie burns are way higher than realistic for someone my size.
Exactly what I'm getting at.0 -
tcunbeliever wrote: »Given that MFP does allow you to set your own calorie goals, which you can set based on TDEE if you like, then you can't just assume that everyone using MFP should always eat back their calories and that if they don't they are creating too large of a deficit.
I like to key in 1 for my calorie burn, no matter what MFP says because like any other user entered data, some of the calculated calorie burns are way higher than realistic for someone my size.
Exactly what I'm getting at.
Yes but that's not exactly what you are saying.
BTW, if you use TDEE - Deficit (assuming you are accounting for activity generally closely, guess what? You are eating back your exercise calories.
29 -
tcunbeliever wrote: »Given that MFP does allow you to set your own calorie goals, which you can set based on TDEE if you like, then you can't just assume that everyone using MFP should always eat back their calories and that if they don't they are creating too large of a deficit.
I like to key in 1 for my calorie burn, no matter what MFP says because like any other user entered data, some of the calculated calorie burns are way higher than realistic for someone my size.
Exactly what I'm getting at.
you are applying a specific scenario (eating based on TDEE) to recommendations writ large (don't eat back exercise calories)8 -
I guess I'd be jealous too if I was starving myself and other people were having good results without suffering.16 -
Besides other comments to the lack of understanding by the writer - they also sadly linked to studies that didn't understand the trackers and how they work and improve things through usage.
To slap a tracker on someone and test a run/cycle workout, or 1 day usage - is flawed thinking for what actually happens in normal usage and the adjustments that happen over a week, and keep adjusting as fitness changes.
Not saying they are dead on - but a whole lot more accurate than 0.
8 -
tcunbeliever wrote: »Given that MFP does allow you to set your own calorie goals, which you can set based on TDEE if you like, then you can't just assume that everyone using MFP should always eat back their calories and that if they don't they are creating too large of a deficit.
I like to key in 1 for my calorie burn, no matter what MFP says because like any other user entered data, some of the calculated calorie burns are way higher than realistic for someone my size.
Exactly what I'm getting at.
It's not what you're getting at... at all. If you use a TDEE calculator, you are getting a different goal than the one MFP gives you. It will be higher because of your exercise level. That is another way to eat back your exercise calories. It may be more or less accurate depending on the person , but it is operating under the same principal, which is that if you exercise more, you need to eat more.
What you are saying is for people to use MFP's calorie goals, which do not include exercise, and then not factor in exercise. You are telling them to eat the same no matter how much exercise they do. That is wrong.16 -
tcunbeliever wrote: »Given that MFP does allow you to set your own calorie goals, which you can set based on TDEE if you like, then you can't just assume that everyone using MFP should always eat back their calories and that if they don't they are creating too large of a deficit.
I like to key in 1 for my calorie burn, no matter what MFP says because like any other user entered data, some of the calculated calorie burns are way higher than realistic for someone my size.
Exactly what I'm getting at.
Except that's not what you said.
Just like it's incorrect to say "No matter where you get your calorie goal from, you MUST eat your exercise calories back", it's incorrect to say "No matter where you get your calorie goal from, you should NOT eat your exercise calories back.
I think most of the responses here have been ridiculously clear on the differences between a TDEE goal and an MFP goal, and how to handle them.11 -
@slimdownt
Please stop posting this.
It's not just inaccurate and irresponsible - it's verging on the stupid.
1) A lot of tools or calculations give perfectly reasonable estimates. Not all estimates are high.
2) Highly unlikely any estimate is so inaccurate it could switch someone from a deficit to a surplus. For someone set to lose 1lb/week the estimate would have to be out by 500+ calories!
There's a whole lot of new users who understate their activity setting, select an inappropriately fast rate of loss and you are compounding that by suggesting people don't account for a perfectly valid energy need of their body.
If you don't like accounting for exercise expenditure this way at least promote a sensible alternative such as using a TDEE calculator.
I'll continue to lose weight while others gain not a problem. Have a good day.
I will continue to recomp just like I have been over the course of the last year tracking calories in MFP. I eat back my exercise calories and I did so the whole time that I lost the 70 pounds before I hit maintenance two years ago. I did it by having an actual understanding of what MFP is expecting people to do, which you clearly do not.20 -
You know - the MFP food database has a lot of inaccuracies in it.
I think I'll log some base calories that probably aren't right, but then everything extra as 0 since I don't trust them anyway.12 -
Silentpadna wrote: »tcunbeliever wrote: »Given that MFP does allow you to set your own calorie goals, which you can set based on TDEE if you like, then you can't just assume that everyone using MFP should always eat back their calories and that if they don't they are creating too large of a deficit.
I like to key in 1 for my calorie burn, no matter what MFP says because like any other user entered data, some of the calculated calorie burns are way higher than realistic for someone my size.
Exactly what I'm getting at.
Yes but that's not exactly what you are saying.
BTW, if you use TDEE - Deficit (assuming you are accounting for activity generally closely, guess what? You are eating back your exercise calories.
I'm hitting "like"...like a hundred more times in my head.7 -
Exactly what I'm getting at.
No you're not. You're making a blanket statement to not eat calories back and posting memes and links to articles that say the same. You are under the assumption that the calories in MFP are TDEE. Unless you set your diary to be TDEE, it is not. If you use the automatic set up in MFP to determine your calories, it will give you a calorie count to reach your goals assuming you do not exercise at all. This means you need to eat additional calories to ensure you are getting proper nutrition and prevent muscle loss.
In my case, when I am training for the Highland Games or training for a long run race, I can eat about 2000 total calories per day and still lose weight because of the intensity of my work outs. If I don't work out at all, I need to keep my calories at about 1450 calories per day to have weight loss. MFP gives me 1447 which is pretty much exactly where it should be. During training, I eat back my calories and still reach my goals. When I take a break from training or am not feeling well, I eat only the calories from MFP. This is exactly the way MFP should work. The danger in putting the higher calorie count in and eating that every day without adjusting it for breaks is overeating and gaining weight.
*Edited because of a spelling error.*9 -
-
ok, I read down this and still didn't get an answer. HOW can I stop MFP from adding bk my exercise calories? The premise is fine, but I don't want it to do it. I LOVE seeing how many calories I burned, but do NOT want it deducted from my daily limit. I'm trying to lose, not maintain. Please don't tell me it's a good thing and why, just tell me how I can stop it w/o disconnecting my fitbit.
0 -
ok, I read down this and still didn't get an answer. HOW can I stop MFP from adding bk my exercise calories? The premise is fine, but I don't want it to do it. I LOVE seeing how many calories I burned, but do NOT want it deducted from my daily limit. I'm trying to lose, not maintain. Please don't tell me it's a good thing and why, just tell me how I can stop it w/o disconnecting my fitbit.
There were a couple of answers on the first page. I can't vouch as to whether they worked then or now because I've never wanted to do that. It sounds like a benefit of Premium is being able to turn off this feature, so you could pay for Premium. If you are manually entering your exercise, you at least used to be able to change the calorie burn, so you could change it to 1 calorie. I don't think you can change your Fitbit adjustment though. You could always open a Help desk ticket and see if there is a free way to make the change.1 -
ok, I read down this and still didn't get an answer. HOW can I stop MFP from adding bk my exercise calories? The premise is fine, but I don't want it to do it. I LOVE seeing how many calories I burned, but do NOT want it deducted from my daily limit. I'm trying to lose, not maintain. Please don't tell me it's a good thing and why, just tell me how I can stop it w/o disconnecting my fitbit.
The bolded means you don't actually understand how it works.
MFP has a deficit built into your eating goal whether you burn base calories it estimated, or you exercised and burned more.
Same deficit.
You would NOT be eating at maintenance.
By premium and tell it not to adjust your eating goal based on workouts added.6 -
You can go to goals, then calories and override the calorie suggestion to enter in your desired calorie goal. You don’t need the premium version to do this.
That’s what I’ve done since I started two years ago.
At the suggestion of my RD, I’ve consistently aimed for a flat calorie goal above the one suggested by MFP, regardless of additional exercise and that’s the number I monitor.
My suggested maintenance calories are 2170. My daily personal goal is 2300, however, I’ve begun intentionally buffering in a high cal day every week or two. I realistically average 2700 per day because otherwise I’d drop below maintenance. So 2300’ish per day with an occasional Whoopee It’s Cookies! or Mexican day.
Really, MFP is simply a tool to use however it works best for you. You have to find the system that does.
But good lord, if I didn’t eat back any exercise calories, I’d be dangerously malnourished. And I don’t think I’m more active than a lot of users here.
BTW, 58 female, SW222 CW 131.2 -
-
@slimdownt
Please stop posting this.
It's not just inaccurate and irresponsible - it's verging on the stupid.
1) A lot of tools or calculations give perfectly reasonable estimates. Not all estimates are high.
2) Highly unlikely any estimate is so inaccurate it could switch someone from a deficit to a surplus. For someone set to lose 1lb/week the estimate would have to be out by 500+ calories!
There's a whole lot of new users who understate their activity setting, select an inappropriately fast rate of loss and you are compounding that by suggesting people don't account for a perfectly valid energy need of their body.
If you don't like accounting for exercise expenditure this way at least promote a sensible alternative such as using a TDEE calculator.
I'll continue to lose weight while others gain not a problem. Have a good day.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
3
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.5K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 392 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
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 926 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions