Remove exercise calories
colindp
Posts: 23 Member
Is it possible to prevent any calorie gains made exercising being added to your total available, the temptation to use some is too great seeing them there?
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Replies
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If you're using MFP as it's intended, you're meant to eat them - the calorie goal you've been given doesn't include exercise, MFP uses the NEAT (BMR+Calories burned in normal daily activity) method of calculation, unlike other sites that use TDEE (BMR + Daily Activity + Exercise).
There is a possibility that the calorie burn from MFP/any synced device is not as accurate as it should be, but it's more accurate than zero, most people recommend starting with 50% of them and you then adjust based on your data after 4-6 weeks - losing more than expected = eat more, losing less than expected = eat less.
You can only turn them off in Premium.
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I believe you can do it with the paid version of the app. You can also change the calculated number of cals burned to 1 when entering the exercise (though that may be harder to do if you're workouts/exercise is coming from a synced app/device).0
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This would be a time when succumbing to temptation is the right thing to do. That’s why mfp has you add them and then tells you to eat them.4
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If you exercise more, your body burns more calories, which means you need to eat more to maintain the deficit you have set to hit the rate of loss you have set. So you are supposed to eat them back (or a reasonable percentage of them if you feel they are inflated). You aren't supposed to ignore them.
You can turn them off in premium (which I have done), but that's only recommended if you calculate your goals on a TDEE basis, user a specific calculator or other measures, that takes into account your exercise level. I use tdeecalculator.net to get my goals. But if you are only using MFP, you should eat them back.1 -
You are supposed to eat them... that is why they are there. Calorie deficit is already set into the App. Prolonged workouts without eating more is not going to be successful long term HEALTHY approach. The 'garmin daily adjustment' is often wrong... and can be removed if desired. Easy/mellow cardio is often burning 40-60% from fat during aerobic work, those calories can be ignored to some extent because upset your daily energy/bloodsugar/glycogen storage as much. If based on your research/knowledge the cal burn isn't right for the activity - you can edit it after.
Not eating back calories from significant amount of working out (mainly if regularly/everyday) is dabbling well into the grey area of between healthy eating...and an eating disorders. Muscle recovery - Immune system - hormones
- metabolism... can all start getting off in similar ways. IMHO1 -
Easiest thing to do is don’t log the exercise until the very very end of the day. Or don’t log exercise calories at all. I’m always nervous I’m over estimating calories burned exercising and I feel like I’m eating too much when they are factored in.2
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bighoopattitude wrote: »Easiest thing to do is don’t log the exercise until the very very end of the day. Or don’t log exercise calories at all. I’m always nervous I’m over estimating calories burned exercising and I feel like I’m eating too much when they are factored in.
Then maybe eat part of them (say, 50% or so) on a routine basis, and monitor results for 4-6 weeks, then adjust based on experience?
Zero is an exercise calorie estimate that's guaranteed to be wrong.
If someone is targeting really slow loss for their current size, and does only a little exercise that isn't very intense, it's probably fine to let that increase the deficit (while keeping an eye on actual loss rate over time, of course).
If someone is targeting a really aggressive weight loss rate (which 2 pounds a week would be for a large fraction of people), and doing quite a lot of exercise (few hundred calories most days, say), then it would be a pretty bad idea IMO not to eat any of them. Losing too fast risks fatigue, weakness, and maybe worse health consequences - perhaps occurring suddenly/unexpectedly; or leads to giving up, because it's unsustainable, and most weight loss is a long term proposition (permanent, if you want to maintain a healthy weight after losing).
In between those extremes is a judgement call . . . but come goal weight, we do need to eat back exercise calories somehow, or we'll keep losing. Maybe practice estimating them now? Just a thought . . . .
Best wishes!
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Also, you should not be hungry while losing weight. If you are making smart food choices you will never be hungry. Some days there are times where I have to force myself to eat more.0
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Is it possible to prevent any calorie gains made exercising being added to your total available, the temptation to use some is too great seeing them there?
I wish it were possible to turn them off in the basic version of the app. I never pay any attention to the calorie burn estimates from exercise because they are usually wildly inaccurate. I never automatically eat back calories based on incorrect information. I log my food and my weight and make adjustments as necessary.2 -
SchweddyGirl wrote: »Also, you should not be hungry while losing weight. If you are making smart food choices you will never be hungry. Some days there are times where I have to force myself to eat more.
Welllll, maybe.
It can take some people time and experimentation to dial in satiation. For sure, I'd recommend more diary review (looking for what patterns relate to more hunger vs. less), and experimentation, if someone is hungry. But reading posts here, it seems like some people are just more likely to sense hunger than others, even with objectively pretty smart food choices.
I eat a pretty nutritious diet, and I'm lucky enough to be one of the people who's figured out how to feel full and happy most of the time on appropriate calories, which it sounds like you are, too: Good stuff! I can't imagine having to force myself to eat enough, though, even at maintenance calories. That's always very easy, for me: Food is good!
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SchweddyGirl wrote: »Also, you should not be hungry while losing weight. If you are making smart food choices you will never be hungry. Some days there are times where I have to force myself to eat more.
Welllll, maybe.
It can take some people time and experimentation to dial in satiation. For sure, I'd recommend more diary review (looking for what patterns relate to more hunger vs. less), and experimentation, if someone is hungry. But reading posts here, it seems like some people are just more likely to sense hunger than others, even with objectively pretty smart food choices.
I eat a pretty nutritious diet, and I'm lucky enough to be one of the people who's figured out how to feel full and happy most of the time on appropriate calories, which it sounds like you are, too: Good stuff! I can't imagine having to force myself to eat enough, though, even at maintenance calories. That's always very easy, for me: Food is good!
Well I mean exactly what you have just said. Smart food choices are all conditional to the individual. I feel sated when I load my day with vegetables and high fiber. Some feel full on protein. Others high fats.
Also, when I say that I force myself to eat food...I do. It isn't that I don't eat a lot of food. For example, yesterday I topped out around 1375 calories...but couldn't finish some of the snacks I had with me because I ate so much. I literally eat 5 meals a day...your typically breakfast/lunch/dinner and two pretty big snacks (mostly veggies...I like veggies).0 -
bighoopattitude wrote: »Easiest thing to do is don’t log the exercise until the very very end of the day. Or don’t log exercise calories at all. I’m always nervous I’m over estimating calories burned exercising and I feel like I’m eating too much when they are factored in.
Then maybe eat part of them (say, 50% or so) on a routine basis, and monitor results for 4-6 weeks, then adjust based on experience?
Zero is an exercise calorie estimate that's guaranteed to be wrong.
If someone is targeting really slow loss for their current size, and does only a little exercise that isn't very intense, it's probably fine to let that increase the deficit (while keeping an eye on actual loss rate over time, of course).
If someone is targeting a really aggressive weight loss rate (which 2 pounds a week would be for a large fraction of people), and doing quite a lot of exercise (few hundred calories most days, say), then it would be a pretty bad idea IMO not to eat any of them. Losing too fast risks fatigue, weakness, and maybe worse health consequences - perhaps occurring suddenly/unexpectedly; or leads to giving up, because it's unsustainable, and most weight loss is a long term proposition (permanent, if you want to maintain a healthy weight after losing).
In between those extremes is a judgement call . . . but come goal weight, we do need to eat back exercise calories somehow, or we'll keep losing. Maybe practice estimating them now? Just a thought . . . .
Best wishes!
It def depends on weight loss goals, you’re totally right. In my case it works for me because I’m already in maintenance. I’ve been in maintenance for years. I’m trying to push that final threshold so I can go from slim and healthy to skinny and healthy. In order to maintain it I need to get used to eating much less than I am currently forever or I’ll just gain it. I like ‘tricking’ myself into thinking I’m eating more than I am. For example, when I first started running I lived in the country and I was running on a neighbourhood horse track. I didn’t know horse tracks are 800 m and high school tracks are only 400 m. I kicked everyone’s *kitten* on track day and it’s all because I worked harder and UNDER estimated my exercise, not over estimated or equally estimated. If I equally estimated and I had a bad day I could have lost.
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SchweddyGirl wrote: »SchweddyGirl wrote: »Also, you should not be hungry while losing weight. If you are making smart food choices you will never be hungry. Some days there are times where I have to force myself to eat more.
Welllll, maybe.
It can take some people time and experimentation to dial in satiation. For sure, I'd recommend more diary review (looking for what patterns relate to more hunger vs. less), and experimentation, if someone is hungry. But reading posts here, it seems like some people are just more likely to sense hunger than others, even with objectively pretty smart food choices.
I eat a pretty nutritious diet, and I'm lucky enough to be one of the people who's figured out how to feel full and happy most of the time on appropriate calories, which it sounds like you are, too: Good stuff! I can't imagine having to force myself to eat enough, though, even at maintenance calories. That's always very easy, for me: Food is good!
Well I mean exactly what you have just said. Smart food choices are all conditional to the individual. I feel sated when I load my day with vegetables and high fiber. Some feel full on protein. Others high fats.
Also, when I say that I force myself to eat food...I do. It isn't that I don't eat a lot of food. For example, yesterday I topped out around 1375 calories...but couldn't finish some of the snacks I had with me because I ate so much. I literally eat 5 meals a day...your typically breakfast/lunch/dinner and two pretty big snacks (mostly veggies...I like veggies).
My point was that some people may have a bigger struggle with hunger (maybe only a few, I dunno), or different experiences with satiation. I've seen people around here say they learned that they needed to accept a certain manageable amount of hunger to lose weight, even after attempting to find a more satisfying way of eating. I have no reason to disbelieve them (or to disbelieve you, about your experience).
It's irrelevant except as chit-chat, but I ate 2,112 calories yesterday, wasn't really hungry, but it would've been super easy to eat more, comfortably, without forcing. (I'm in maintenance overall, but that was intentionally a slight deficit.) I like veggies, too.
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SchweddyGirl wrote: »SchweddyGirl wrote: »Also, you should not be hungry while losing weight. If you are making smart food choices you will never be hungry. Some days there are times where I have to force myself to eat more.
Welllll, maybe.
It can take some people time and experimentation to dial in satiation. For sure, I'd recommend more diary review (looking for what patterns relate to more hunger vs. less), and experimentation, if someone is hungry. But reading posts here, it seems like some people are just more likely to sense hunger than others, even with objectively pretty smart food choices.
I eat a pretty nutritious diet, and I'm lucky enough to be one of the people who's figured out how to feel full and happy most of the time on appropriate calories, which it sounds like you are, too: Good stuff! I can't imagine having to force myself to eat enough, though, even at maintenance calories. That's always very easy, for me: Food is good!
Well I mean exactly what you have just said. Smart food choices are all conditional to the individual. I feel sated when I load my day with vegetables and high fiber. Some feel full on protein. Others high fats.
Also, when I say that I force myself to eat food...I do. It isn't that I don't eat a lot of food. For example, yesterday I topped out around 1375 calories...but couldn't finish some of the snacks I had with me because I ate so much. I literally eat 5 meals a day...your typically breakfast/lunch/dinner and two pretty big snacks (mostly veggies...I like veggies).
My point was that some people may have a bigger struggle with hunger (maybe only a few, I dunno), or different experiences with satiation. I've seen people around here say they learned that they needed to accept a certain manageable amount of hunger to lose weight, even after attempting to find a more satisfying way of eating. I have no reason to disbelieve them (or to disbelieve you, about your experience).
It's irrelevant except as chit-chat, but I ate 2,112 calories yesterday, wasn't really hungry, but it would've been super easy to eat more, comfortably, without forcing. (I'm in maintenance overall, but that was intentionally a slight deficit.) I like veggies, too.
I am still losing lol, the only time I eat 2100 calories is on HM days...which one will be this Saturday. Pizza anyone?0 -
SchweddyGirl wrote: »Also, you should not be hungry while losing weight. If you are making smart food choices you will never be hungry. Some days there are times where I have to force myself to eat more.
I’m going to second @AnnPT77 here. This isn’t an absolute. Making smart food choices doesn’t automatically negate hunger. Satiety is an incredibly individual thing - from what foods (in what quantities) a person finds satiation, to the way types of exercise affect hunger (some find strength training to spike hunger; some find the same with high intensity work; some find it with long duration moderate work-none are universal), some people have no appetite if they don’t exercise, some are more hungry, climate, stress, etc.
I don’t do well being hungry. I have a good idea what I find satiating. I make good food choices. Often times (based on a lot of the factors above) I have consumed all of my calories for the day-in good choices that I know are satiating for me-and yet, I’m still hungry.
It happens. I’m super happy that you’ve found a way that you are never hungry ever and that works out to the exact right calories for you all the time. That’s awesome.
But it’s not universal. And I would hate for someone to think that they are doing something wrong/not making good choices just because they are hungry. Sometimes there are options and changes they could try. Sometimes there aren’t (or they are already at the best possible options And it’s just not enough).
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Is it possible to prevent any calorie gains made exercising being added to your total available, the temptation to use some is too great seeing them there?
I wish it were possible to turn them off in the basic version of the app. I never pay any attention to the calorie burn estimates from exercise because they are usually wildly inaccurate. I never automatically eat back calories based on incorrect information. I log my food and my weight and make adjustments as necessary.
You dont have to use the default estimates. If they are inacurate for you, then you can change them based off of your observations. But if you are choosing 0 as the number of calories you burned from exercise, that is certainly incorrect information.
Saying that someone should eat the same amount of calories regardless of their exercise level is just as nonsensical as saying that people should eat the same amount of their calories regardless of their stats. But just you wouldn't tell a 300 pound person and 150 pound person to eat the same amount of calories, we shouldn't for people of different exercise levels.2
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