Eating Back Earned Calories
goldyray1
Posts: 64 Member
What happens if you don't eat back the earned calories you get when you exercise. I would think that would make you lose weight faster. Please educate me. Thank you!!!!!
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Replies
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You would lose weight faster, but the issue is that you could actually end up severely undereating, because you need a certain number of base calories just to keep you alive. If you are exercising and not eating some or all of those extra calories (or your calorie budget doesn't account for exercise), a lot of really unpleasant stuff can start to happen over time - fatigue, hair loss, brittle nails, loss of cycles if you're female, etc. Your body will start slowing down or stopping the nonessential stuff, which can really do a number on your quality of life. Your body would rather hold onto the fat stores if it can, especially if it seems like there's not enough food available. There's a couple of threads floating around here on some of the really severe things that can happen, some of which can be life threatening.5
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What kind of deficit is your goal before exercise?
How many exercise calories are you talking about?
Perhaps a good approach is to log meticulously, try to hit your target (or very close) every day and/or balance it out over several days or a week. Eat your exercise calories. Then observe the results. You can adjust your goal or what percentage of your exercise calories you eat back. Since they're all estimates, they may or may not fit in your personal real world.
Losing weight fast isn't the goal. The goal is losing the right amount of weight at a reasonable and healthy rate. How fast did you ask MFP to have you losing? Five hundred calories per day deficit is about a pound a week. You didn't gain the weight quickly; don't take it off too quickly.2 -
Truly, I did gain nearly 30 pounds in about 3 month period of time. Prednisone will cause you to eat constantly. I may not know how to work Fitness Pal. I have not posted any exercises yet. I am going by my Garmin Vivosmart. My Garmin connect is linked to Fitness Pal. I am just learning how to do this. I have done forgot from the first time I was on here. I just let Fitness Pal come up with all those figures. I work att a desk all day so I said I was Sedentary. It is true, I had Covid in November and I still feel the effects of the 'tiredness' even now. I do Yoga here at home usually about an hour each night. Haven't gotten on the treadmill yet. I walk on my breaks at work and a little at lunch. That is about all that I know to do. I do stay under or at the amount of calories that is afforded to me each day.
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Truly, I did gain nearly 30 pounds in about 3 month period of time. Prednisone will cause you to eat constantly. I may not know how to work Fitness Pal. I have not posted any exercises yet. I am going by my Garmin Vivosmart. My Garmin connect is linked to Fitness Pal. I am just learning how to do this. I have done forgot from the first time I was on here. I just let Fitness Pal come up with all those figures. I work att a desk all day so I said I was Sedentary. It is true, I had Covid in November and I still feel the effects of the 'tiredness' even now. I do Yoga here at home usually about an hour each night. Haven't gotten on the treadmill yet. I walk on my breaks at work and a little at lunch. That is about all that I know to do. I do stay under or at the amount of calories that is afforded to me each day.
Using the Garmin is one way to track your exercise calories. I use mine the same way and it will adjust the number of calories I am given each day - if you look at your diary there will be a line toward the bottom saying how many "extra" calories you have been given that day. If you are eating those calories but still not losing any weight, you could try eating only half of them, or there might be another issue with how you're logging - if you're measuring correctly how much you eat (it can be easy to eat more than you mean to, especially if you are measuring by volume and not weight), or if the entries you're using in the database are incorrect. It takes time to learn but that's OK! If you make a change, it's a good idea to let it settle for a few weeks so you can really see its effects, before you make another change.
I am sorry you're still feeling sick. I know a couple of people this has happened to and it is very difficult. I hope you're feeling better soon!0 -
I usually eat back 25% of the calories MFP says I have used....this allows for some error and keeps me motivated to exercise more and not feel hungry....I have lost over 100 pounds in 22 months and I will be 70.... good luck!8
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Truly, I did gain nearly 30 pounds in about 3 month period of time. Prednisone will cause you to eat constantly. I may not know how to work Fitness Pal. I have not posted any exercises yet. I am going by my Garmin Vivosmart. My Garmin connect is linked to Fitness Pal. I am just learning how to do this. I have done forgot from the first time I was on here. I just let Fitness Pal come up with all those figures. I work att a desk all day so I said I was Sedentary. It is true, I had Covid in November and I still feel the effects of the 'tiredness' even now. I do Yoga here at home usually about an hour each night. Haven't gotten on the treadmill yet. I walk on my breaks at work and a little at lunch. That is about all that I know to do. I do stay under or at the amount of calories that is afforded to me each day.
If you're already feeling fatigued, then trying to lose fast right now might not be the best strategy: It's likely to *increase* the fatigue, lead you to feel like doing less, maybe decrease your daily life calorie burn and exercise inclination/intensity. I'd suggest that you stick with your calorie goal (or close) for 4-6 weeks, including the Garmin adjustment, see what your average weekly result is, *then* adjust. If you're pre-menopausal, compare body weights at the same relative point in two or more monthly cycles, to calculate average weight change.
I suspect you'll get better results by fueling yourself well enough to begin adding more mild exercise, alongside slow weight loss and good nutrition. Once you are feeling more energized (and empowered by that patient success), you can consider whether losing a little faster is viable. IMO, you're at a stage where it would be good to be gentle with yourself, prioritize health and continuing recovery as #1.
If you're still on the prednisone, or just recently off it, some of the weight can be water retention rather than entirely fat: Prednisone is notorious for that effect. If that's the case, it can decrease over time with a healthy routine, especially if no longer taking the prednisone.
To answer your original question: I agree with others that fast loss isn't universally best. While losing, I estimated my exercise calories carefully, and ate back all of them. The MFP goal settings (x pounds per week loss) take care of a deficit that should result in weight loss (will, for those statistically close to average in calorie expenditure, as most people are).
For many people, a device like your Garmin will provide a very good estimate, certainly a good starting point until you get that 4-6 week real-world results as a comparison.
Some people worry that these devices will overestimate their calorie burn. That *can* happen, but the same worried people seem to ignore the fact that the devices can UNDERestimate calorie burn, also. My Garmin (Vivoactive 3) underestimates my daily calorie needs by hundreds of calories, as compared with careful calorie logging during a year weight loss and 5+ years of maintaining a healthy weight since. If I believed it, I'd lose weight at a dangerously fast rate, when what I need now is to hold weight steady. This big underestimate, like a big overestimate , is very rare thing, but also possible. In your case, with recovery of health in progress still, risking fast loss is possibly more worrisome than it would be for someone without that context.
It's very probable that your Garmin's adjustments to your MFP goal will be reasonable accurate, as a guide to your weight loss.
Best wishes!
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P.S. to the OP, @goldyray1:
I just read your other thread, see that you're around my age (I'm 65), and don't have lots in total to lose. With those facts, plus your recent health challenges, I feel even more strongly that slow loss, and eating your Garmin adjustment to stay close to your MFP goal, is the best bet until you get enough weeks of real-world results to make an evidence-based adjustment in calorie goals (if one even turns out to be needed).
I won't swear it applies to you, but although I feel excellent for an aging woman these days, pretty healthy, one difference I notice from myself in my 20s/30s or so is that I'm a little bit less resilient. Going to extremes (in nearly any way) has more severe consequences than it used to, and it takes me longer to recover from those consequences. That experience is part of the basis for the advice I'm suggesting here.
Moderate calorie deficit for slow loss, gradual increase in exercise to build fitness while keeping daily life energy as high as feasible alongside, good nutrition: That's what I advocate, that's what I did and do myself.
Wishing you much success in health and weight management goals!3 -
Hey Goldyray,
yeah, Pred can be terrible! It also messes with my blood sugar. Glad I only ever had two short run-ins with it. Are you still on it? One of the side effects next to hunger is also water weight gain. Thus there's a good chance that your 30lbs gain is not only fat, but also just water that sticks around, and that will whoosh away once you stop.
With regards to your question on exercising. Not eating exercise calories back can be really bad, depending on how much your eating. Say you eat 1300 calories per day. Then you exercise for around 300.
Cool, now you can eat 1600 calories.
If you don't eat them back then this is equivalent of only eating 1000 calories as the exercise uses up calories. I don't know how big your deficit is and how much you eat, but this way you could end up in seriously low calorie territory. Several things can happen here:
* you burn relatively more muscle. You're already a bit older, right? It's not easy to build muscle, and the older you get the more difficult it becomes. Having a good set of muscles also promotes bone strength. You don't want to lose bone mass.
* you'll be short of nutrients. Your body needs sufficient food! Hair loss and ugly nails might just be the most visible marks of this
* And not to forget: it might be just too much for you and you end up binging.
I'd suggest to for now eat back a percentage of your exercise calories. Maybe half? then evaluate if you lose weight at an ok rate, or too fast. Then eat back more.2 -
I was on prednisone for nearly six months. I have been off of them for a week now. I have rheumatoid arthritis and I think I have found some medication that works good enough to where I don't need the prednisone anymore. I hope so. While I was on it, I was eating anything and everything. I know I ate way too much so therefore I imagine most of mine is just plain fat.
I am in pretty good condition otherwise. Most of my friends are in their 40 and 50's and I seem to have more stamina than they do. I do Yoga for Seniors so I am pretty limber. But I can tell that I have slowed down quite a bit. Since I have cut my calorie intake down to 1200 calories a day, I really don't eat that much at one sitting.
Today we had a birthday party and instead of eating lunch I ate a half of a hot fudge sundae (that is what they wanted instead of birthday cake) I know that probably was not a good idea but I did it.
I appreciate everyone's help and wish everyone good luck with their goals too. Being overweight is not fun. .3 -
So along these lines, I have a question. With the exercise I did today, I am still in a negative calorie situation. Should I be eating more? These are my numbers:
Goal - 1,330
Food - 1271
Exercise - 1524
Net - 253
Should I at least eat the rest of the -253, or should I be eating more?
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tdsimoes67 wrote: »So along these lines, I have a question. With the exercise I did today, I am still in a negative calorie situation. Should I be eating more? These are my numbers:
Goal - 1,330
Food - 1271
Exercise - 1524
Net - 253
Should I at least eat the rest of the -253, or should I be eating more?
You should eat goal plus exercise (1330+1524=2854) if the exercise number is accurate. You ate 1271, so you have 1583 left to eat.0 -
tdsimoes67 wrote: »So along these lines, I have a question. With the exercise I did today, I am still in a negative calorie situation. Should I be eating more? These are my numbers:
Goal - 1,330
Food - 1271
Exercise - 1524
Net - 253
Should I at least eat the rest of the -253, or should I be eating more?
Was the exercise estimate from a fitness tracker synchronized to MFP, or did you log exercise manually? If logged manually, what was the exercise (type & time)?
If I'm correctly interpreting what you wrote, and the exercise estimate is correct, you should eat more. Your goal (1330) includes a calorie deficit for weight loss (assuming you told MFP you want to lose weight in your profile). On a day with no exercise, you should eat close to 1330.
When you exercise, to keep the same weight loss rate (same deficit), you would eat back an accurate estimate of the exercise calories *in addition* to your goal calories. If 1524 is accurate for exercise, today you should eat 1330 + 1524, which is 2854, or eat close to the total.
I asked where the exercise estimate came from, because that's a very high number for exercise calories. It's not impossible, but it's quite unusual. There are some challenges involved in estimating exercise accurately, a learning curve, which is why I'm asking what the exercise was, and how it was estimated.
It would also help to know your age, height, current weight and what your daily life activity (job/home chores) is like.
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The exercise is from my Fitbit which I have syncing to MFP. I did 3- 40 minute sessions throughout the day and then an hour and a half walk later in the afternoon, which gave me just over 30K steps in total. I am 53, 5'4", weight is 193 and while I do have a sedentary job where I sit a lot, I also do a lot of daily walking at home with videos. I average about 100K steps per week doing walking videos and outside walks with about 125K overall steps during the week. (I log everything)1
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tdsimoes67 wrote: »The exercise is from my Fitbit which I have syncing to MFP. I did 3- 40 minute sessions throughout the day and then an hour and a half walk later in the afternoon, which gave me just over 30K steps in total. I am 53, 5'4", weight is 193 and while I do have a sedentary job where I sit a lot, I also do a lot of daily walking at home with videos. I average about 100K steps per week doing walking videos and outside walks with about 125K overall steps during the week. (I log everything)
Under the circumstances, I'd suggest you eat the majority of the 2854, at least 2000+ total, so at least another 750-800 today. If you're pretty full, have something non-filling like nuts, peanut butter, etc. Even a treat food would be OK. If tomorrow will be a lighter day activity-wise, you can carry over some calories to eat tomorrow. Eating 1271 while burning 2854 (which is plausible given what you did, certainly well over 2000) - that would be undereating pretty significantly, IMO. It may feel OK for a while, but it tends to catch up with a person, make the longer term harder to sustain. Kept up, that extreme can even create health risks, plus issues like thinning hair, fatigue, etc. No one needs that!
Any meaningful amount of weight loss is going to take weeks to months, at least. IMO, it's better to think about making it easy/sustainable (but still make steady progress) vs. trying to lose as fast as possible. Because of temporarily derails and such, "losing fast" as a strategy can actually result in it taking longer to get to goal weight, vs. chipping away steadily at it in a more moderate way.
(FWIW: I started out not far from where you are now. I was 59, 183, 5'5". I'd been around that weight or higher for around 30 years by then. That was early 2015. By sometime in 2016, I was at a healthy weight, and I've been at a healthy weight since, 124-point-something pounds today. It's not true for everyone, but for me, using the months of (pretty steady) weight loss to figure out sustainable habits, a happy eating and exercise routine that was doable and I could imagine keeping up forever, was pretty vital to staying at a healthy weight long term after loss. YMMV.)
Best wishes for success!4 -
Totals 943 106 32 35 1,542 41
Your Daily Goal 3,204 401 107 160 2,300 120
Remaining 2,261 295 75 125 758 79
Calories
kcal
Carbs
g
Fat
g
Protein
g
Sodium
mg
Sugar
g
*You've earned 2,004 extra calories from exercise today
Where does the daily goal 3204 come from?????? I logged in 20 minutes on the treadmill and that was all.0 -
Totals 943 106 32 35 1,542 41
Your Daily Goal 3,204 401 107 160 2,300 120
Remaining 2,261 295 75 125 758 79
Calories
kcal
Carbs
g
Fat
g
Protein
g
Sodium
mg
Sugar
g
*You've earned 2,004 extra calories from exercise today
Where does the daily goal 3204 come from?????? I logged in 20 minutes on the treadmill and that was all.
What else did you do today (not just exercise, chores and things)? How many total calories does your fitness tracker (I think you have a Garmin?) say you burned today?0 -
I really don’t think exercise calories are created equally!...if I swim or tread water for 30 minutes and someone else same age,sex,height etc swims laps for 30 minutes I think that person would burn more calories than I do!...the same with water jogging....I jog in the pool for 30 minutes but another person putting a little more effort or speed than I do would burn more calories....this is why I do not eat most of my exercise calories back....I do drink Zero Gatorade while I swim and I eat a protein bar after a swim or Greek yogurt....I hate to think after almost two years that I should have been eating more....if I had eaten more I don’t think I would have lost 100+ pounds....although I did no exercise the first year!...help!.....
I started at 350 lbs and now weigh 246.... I am 69 and I am 5’8” and large framed...I have my calorie goal set to lose 1 1/2 lbs a week...does this all sound right?0 -
conniewilkins56 wrote: »I really don’t think exercise calories are created equally!...if I swim or tread water for 30 minutes and someone else same age,sex,height etc swims laps for 30 minutes I think that person would burn more calories than I do!...the same with water jogging....I jog in the pool for 30 minutes but another person putting a little more effort or speed than I do would burn more calories....
Sure, all other things being equal, doing an exercise at a higher intensity (such as swimming faster) burns more calories per minute than doing that same thing at lower intensity (such as swimming more slowly). There's some random variation between individuals, but two people of the same sex, age, size, body fat percent, doing the same activity at the same intensity/speed for the same amount of time, are going to burn *approximately* the same number of calories.this is why I do not eat most of my exercise calories back....I do drink Zero Gatorade while I swim and I eat a protein bar after a swim or Greek yogurt....I hate to think after almost two years that I should have been eating more....if I had eaten more I don’t think I would have lost 100+ pounds....although I did no exercise the first year!...help!.....
If you've been losing weight so far at a sensible, sustainable, satisfying rate, I'm sure things are fine.
The truly important thing is not whether to eat back exercise calories or not, as such. That's just an accounting problem. The truly important thing is to lose at a reasonable, sensible rate (for one's current size), in actual practice.
Both of the women to whom I gave suggestions earlier in this thread seem to be pretty new to this, or at least newly back at it after a break. In that scenario, I think the smart thing to do is to "play by the rules" in MFP terms, until one has enough personal experience data to use that to make adjustments. That means believing one's fitness tracker and reasonably careful food logging for a few weeks, eating back exercise as per MFP's design, until that personal data accumulates. Losing too fast can create health risks. "Too fast" has a different definition at different body sizes. Neither of the two women earlier in the thread have as much to lose as you've lost already, which suggests that a relatively slower loss rate would be less risky.
I admit, I'm inclined to err on the side of caution, at our age (I'm 65). Personally, I'm not as resilient to extremes as I was when I was 20-something. I accidentally lost weight too fast when I started on MFP (because MFP underestimates my calorie needs). I felt great, not hungry, until I hit a wall: I was suddenly weak and fatigued. Even though I corrected quickly as soon as I realized, it took multiple weeks to recover. I feel lucky that there weren't worse health consequences, in my case (may've been a little hair thinning, too, which I don't need at this stage, either). No one needs to go through that, let alone worse!
To me, for someone starting out, conservatism means believing MFP's science-based estimates to start, as they're about averages in the population. Most people are close to average, so MFP's estimate ends up being reasonably close. With careful logging, following MFP will usually yield something close to the target weight loss rate. If it doesn't, if it ends up being a bit high or low after one accumulates enough personal data to know, then one can adjust.
Since you've already lost an impressive amount of weight, I'm assuming you have a decent handle on your actual weight loss rate, in practice. If that's sensible and satisfying, you should be fine.
I started at 350 lbs and now weigh 246.... I am 69 and I am 5’8” and large framed...I have my calorie goal set to lose 1 1/2 lbs a week...does this all sound right?
Many people here think it's sensible and sustainable to target loss of 0.5%-1% of current weight per week, preferably toward the lower end of that unless there are special circumstances, to keep health risks reasonable, and to keep the process sustainable long enough to lose a meaningful total amount. (When very close to goal, say within 20-25 pounds, even slower could be better)
At your current weight, that would be about a pound and a quarter to just under two pounds and a half per week, preferably closer to the one and a quarter. If your actual weight loss rate, when you stick with your pound and a half a week goal, actually ends up being around a pound and a half on average over multiple weeks, that sounds pretty perfect at this point.
All of this is just my opinion, though.
Best wishes!6 -
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conniewilkins56 wrote: »I really don’t think exercise calories are created equally!...if I swim or tread water for 30 minutes and someone else same age,sex,height etc swims laps for 30 minutes I think that person would burn more calories than I do!...the same with water jogging....I jog in the pool for 30 minutes but another person putting a little more effort or speed than I do would burn more calories....this is why I do not eat most of my exercise calories back....I do drink Zero Gatorade while I swim and I eat a protein bar after a swim or Greek yogurt....I hate to think after almost two years that I should have been eating more....if I had eaten more I don’t think I would have lost 100+ pounds....although I did no exercise the first year!...help!.....
I started at 350 lbs and now weigh 246.... I am 69 and I am 5’8” and large framed...I have my calorie goal set to lose 1 1/2 lbs a week...does this all sound right?
If you’ve lost 100 pounds in a year and you are healthy and happy with the way things are going, teach me!
Sounds like you’re definitely doing something right.4 -
corinasue1143 wrote: »conniewilkins56 wrote: »I really don’t think exercise calories are created equally!...if I swim or tread water for 30 minutes and someone else same age,sex,height etc swims laps for 30 minutes I think that person would burn more calories than I do!...the same with water jogging....I jog in the pool for 30 minutes but another person putting a little more effort or speed than I do would burn more calories....this is why I do not eat most of my exercise calories back....I do drink Zero Gatorade while I swim and I eat a protein bar after a swim or Greek yogurt....I hate to think after almost two years that I should have been eating more....if I had eaten more I don’t think I would have lost 100+ pounds....although I did no exercise the first year!...help!.....
I started at 350 lbs and now weigh 246.... I am 69 and I am 5’8” and large framed...I have my calorie goal set to lose 1 1/2 lbs a week...does this all sound right?
If you’ve lost 100 pounds in a year "aand you are healthy and happy with the way things are going, teach me!
Sounds like you’re definitely doing something right.
"almost two years" per the post you quoted1 -
I've recently switched over to MFP after losing 30 lbs on Noom. As a comparison, Noom added back half of the exercise calories I earned to my daily budget. Im not suggesting you do that. Im too new to all of this to give you advice. Simply sharing information. Im still trying to sort out if MFP is counting my exercise calories accurately from my Apple Watch. Seems like I need to log my runs separately....0
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jlperrotta1345 wrote: »I've recently switched over to MFP after losing 30 lbs on Noom. As a comparison, Noom added back half of the exercise calories I earned to my daily budget. Im not suggesting you do that. Im too new to all of this to give you advice. Simply sharing information. Im still trying to sort out if MFP is counting my exercise calories accurately from my Apple Watch. Seems like I need to log my runs separately....
It is not - search posts for Apple issues.2 -
I think my Garmin just calculates everything. I don't log in any exercises I do. I think that is what got me so confused before.0
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I think my Garmin just calculates everything. I don't log in any exercises I do. I think that is what got me so confused before.
As long as your realize a calculation is an estimate and not a measurement.
Your Garmin when linked is informing MFP of your true activity level, daily extra and exercise all together, with a full day calorie burn figure.
MFP had estimated a daily burn (and from that an eating goal) based only on your activity level you guessed from 4 possibles that accounted for no exercise at all.
If you had given MFP an exact matching activity level from the start - there would be no adjustment at all, your eating level would be different - and you'd likely have no question as to what is going on - you'd just eat to goal.
Both are trying to teach a life lesson regarding weight management.
You do more you can eat more.
You do less you sure better eat less.
In a diet a tad less in either case.
It's the "tad less" part that is messing you up like many do, because all they've seen are articles and hear about people doing extreme diets to lose it fast.
Never hearing the rest of the story - doing it again the next year because they actually failed, like 80% fail.
Don't be a bad stat - listen to the advice given.5 -
I think my Garmin just calculates everything. I don't log in any exercises I do. I think that is what got me so confused before.
As long as your realize a calculation is an estimate and not a measurement.
Your Garmin when linked is informing MFP of your true activity level, daily extra and exercise all together, with a full day calorie burn figure.
MFP had estimated a daily burn (and from that an eating goal) based only on your activity level you guessed from 4 possibles that accounted for no exercise at all.
If you had given MFP an exact matching activity level from the start - there would be no adjustment at all, your eating level would be different - and you'd likely have no question as to what is going on - you'd just eat to goal.
Both are trying to teach a life lesson regarding weight management.
You do more you can eat more.
You do less you sure better eat less.
In a diet a tad less in either case.
It's the "tad less" part that is messing you up like many do, because all they've seen are articles and hear about people doing extreme diets to lose it fast.
Never hearing the rest of the story - doing it again the next year because they actually failed, like 80% fail.
Don't be a bad stat - listen to the advice given.
I was looking around the app for my Garmin and came across this explanation: This example is for today.Adjust for Activity
Your overall calorie goal is adjusted based on the active calories you’ve burned. This gives you an “adjusted goal” that accounts for the credit you receive for these extra burned calories.
1,200 Calorie Goal + 996 Active Calories Burned = 2,196 Adjusted Goal.
The Calorie Countdown
Once you have determined a MyFitnessPal calorie goal, we’ll help you track how many daily calories you are above or below your goal based on today’s food intake. The formula is adjusted goal - calories consumed = calories remaining.
2,196 Adjusted Goal – 913 Calories Consumed = 1,283 Calories Remaining.
I don't put down any exercises. I just go by my calories and do as much exercise as I can. Like I have said before, while at work between my morning break and afternoon breaks, I can put in a mile of walking. Of course when I get home, I work in the garden, run errands, housework etc.
The way Garmin is calculating, does it make any sense?
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I think my Garmin just calculates everything. I don't log in any exercises I do. I think that is what got me so confused before.
As long as your realize a calculation is an estimate and not a measurement.
Your Garmin when linked is informing MFP of your true activity level, daily extra and exercise all together, with a full day calorie burn figure.
MFP had estimated a daily burn (and from that an eating goal) based only on your activity level you guessed from 4 possibles that accounted for no exercise at all.
If you had given MFP an exact matching activity level from the start - there would be no adjustment at all, your eating level would be different - and you'd likely have no question as to what is going on - you'd just eat to goal.
Both are trying to teach a life lesson regarding weight management.
You do more you can eat more.
You do less you sure better eat less.
In a diet a tad less in either case.
It's the "tad less" part that is messing you up like many do, because all they've seen are articles and hear about people doing extreme diets to lose it fast.
Never hearing the rest of the story - doing it again the next year because they actually failed, like 80% fail.
Don't be a bad stat - listen to the advice given.
I was looking around the app for my Garmin and came across this explanation: This example is for today.Adjust for Activity
Your overall calorie goal is adjusted based on the active calories you’ve burned. This gives you an “adjusted goal” that accounts for the credit you receive for these extra burned calories.
1,200 Calorie Goal + 996 Active Calories Burned = 2,196 Adjusted Goal.
The Calorie Countdown
Once you have determined a MyFitnessPal calorie goal, we’ll help you track how many daily calories you are above or below your goal based on today’s food intake. The formula is adjusted goal - calories consumed = calories remaining.
2,196 Adjusted Goal – 913 Calories Consumed = 1,283 Calories Remaining.
I don't put down any exercises. I just go by my calories and do as much exercise as I can. Like I have said before, while at work between my morning break and afternoon breaks, I can put in a mile of walking. Of course when I get home, I work in the garden, run errands, housework etc.
The way Garmin is calculating, does it make any sense?
The way it's calculating makes sense.
It still is just an estimate, but it's close to correct for most people (will be correct for average people).
However, you need to have set up your Garmin so it knows your personal details, like age, body weight, etc. Have you set those settings in your Garmin?0 -
I think my Garmin just calculates everything. I don't log in any exercises I do. I think that is what got me so confused before.
As long as your realize a calculation is an estimate and not a measurement.
Your Garmin when linked is informing MFP of your true activity level, daily extra and exercise all together, with a full day calorie burn figure.
MFP had estimated a daily burn (and from that an eating goal) based only on your activity level you guessed from 4 possibles that accounted for no exercise at all.
If you had given MFP an exact matching activity level from the start - there would be no adjustment at all, your eating level would be different - and you'd likely have no question as to what is going on - you'd just eat to goal.
Both are trying to teach a life lesson regarding weight management.
You do more you can eat more.
You do less you sure better eat less.
In a diet a tad less in either case.
It's the "tad less" part that is messing you up like many do, because all they've seen are articles and hear about people doing extreme diets to lose it fast.
Never hearing the rest of the story - doing it again the next year because they actually failed, like 80% fail.
Don't be a bad stat - listen to the advice given.
I was looking around the app for my Garmin and came across this explanation: This example is for today.Adjust for Activity
Your overall calorie goal is adjusted based on the active calories you’ve burned. This gives you an “adjusted goal” that accounts for the credit you receive for these extra burned calories.
1,200 Calorie Goal + 996 Active Calories Burned = 2,196 Adjusted Goal.
The Calorie Countdown
Once you have determined a MyFitnessPal calorie goal, we’ll help you track how many daily calories you are above or below your goal based on today’s food intake. The formula is adjusted goal - calories consumed = calories remaining.
2,196 Adjusted Goal – 913 Calories Consumed = 1,283 Calories Remaining.
I don't put down any exercises. I just go by my calories and do as much exercise as I can. Like I have said before, while at work between my morning break and afternoon breaks, I can put in a mile of walking. Of course when I get home, I work in the garden, run errands, housework etc.
The way Garmin is calculating, does it make any sense?
The way it's calculating makes sense.
It still is just an estimate, but it's close to correct for most people (will be correct for average people).
However, you need to have set up your Garmin so it knows your personal details, like age, body weight, etc. Have you set those settings in your Garmin?
Yes I have. I told it that I was sedentary. Would that describe me? I hardly do any exercise at all. Or at least nothing regular. Hoping I can change that.0 -
I think my Garmin just calculates everything. I don't log in any exercises I do. I think that is what got me so confused before.
As long as your realize a calculation is an estimate and not a measurement.
Your Garmin when linked is informing MFP of your true activity level, daily extra and exercise all together, with a full day calorie burn figure.
MFP had estimated a daily burn (and from that an eating goal) based only on your activity level you guessed from 4 possibles that accounted for no exercise at all.
If you had given MFP an exact matching activity level from the start - there would be no adjustment at all, your eating level would be different - and you'd likely have no question as to what is going on - you'd just eat to goal.
Both are trying to teach a life lesson regarding weight management.
You do more you can eat more.
You do less you sure better eat less.
In a diet a tad less in either case.
It's the "tad less" part that is messing you up like many do, because all they've seen are articles and hear about people doing extreme diets to lose it fast.
Never hearing the rest of the story - doing it again the next year because they actually failed, like 80% fail.
Don't be a bad stat - listen to the advice given.
I was looking around the app for my Garmin and came across this explanation: This example is for today.Adjust for Activity
Your overall calorie goal is adjusted based on the active calories you’ve burned. This gives you an “adjusted goal” that accounts for the credit you receive for these extra burned calories.
1,200 Calorie Goal + 996 Active Calories Burned = 2,196 Adjusted Goal.
The Calorie Countdown
Once you have determined a MyFitnessPal calorie goal, we’ll help you track how many daily calories you are above or below your goal based on today’s food intake. The formula is adjusted goal - calories consumed = calories remaining.
2,196 Adjusted Goal – 913 Calories Consumed = 1,283 Calories Remaining.
I don't put down any exercises. I just go by my calories and do as much exercise as I can. Like I have said before, while at work between my morning break and afternoon breaks, I can put in a mile of walking. Of course when I get home, I work in the garden, run errands, housework etc.
The way Garmin is calculating, does it make any sense?
The way it's calculating makes sense.
It still is just an estimate, but it's close to correct for most people (will be correct for average people).
However, you need to have set up your Garmin so it knows your personal details, like age, body weight, etc. Have you set those settings in your Garmin?
Yes I have. I told it that I was sedentary. Would that describe me? I hardly do any exercise at all. Or at least nothing regular. Hoping I can change that.
Garmin? Not MFP?
Garmin has an "activity class", but not an activity setting of "sedentary", as far as I know. I'm talking about Garmin. I have a different Garmin model than you do, so I can't tell you exactly how to look at the "User Settings" or "User Profile". But there should be a place, via your Garmin watch, or via the Garmin Connect app, to tell Garmin your birth date, height, weight, and gender. That's what I'm asking about, the settings in your Garmin. Are those setting accurate in your Garmin, either via your wrist-based device, or via the Garmin Connect app?
Those settings help Garmin do a better job of estimating the calories you burn during the day. If those settings are incorrect, the data Garmin sends to MFP is likely to be less accurate, which will make your calorie adjustment less accurate.
(Activity class is a setting in the Garmin user profile settings, at least for some of their devices. It's a numeric value, and does relate to how many times per week you exercise, but since the values for it are numbers, "sedentary" is not a possible setting . . . at least not on the Garmin device I use.)1
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