Exercise Calories why I don't use them.

Jon4189 · May 15

Hi,

I don't believe my exercise calories, they are estimates and I turn my off for weight loss in MFP. I cycle and it can say I burned 400 calories to 600 calories for the same ride, at the same watts. I know on days that I ride I can add a few more calories, but no where near what the exercise was. Who I am:

57 year old Male, 209 lbs, 6 foot 2 - my daily calories should be around ~2400 « Colorado State University Calories Needs »

I am going to get back down to 180 lbs, I want to lose 1-2 lbs a week on average.

I set my daily calories at 1700. This should give me 700 calories a day short of my daily needs, which is 7*700 is 4900 short, a lbs of fat is 3500 calories, so I should be losing ~1.5 lbs a week.

I ride about 6 hours a week, at about 350 calories an hour. That gives me about 2100 extra shortage a week.

I log very honestly I am only lying to myself. I am good to the calories consumed goal 13 out of 14 days, but I have days that I go over goal by 300-500, because I enjoy some ice cream.

I started back in MFP on April 11th 2025, at ~217 I am at ~210 today (5/15/2025). So on average I am about 1.5 lbs a week, I was as low as 208, and as high as 219 during this time. But the trend is the right direction and everything is tracking as the numbers say.

If I was eating to my exercise calories, I would be eating additional 2000 calories a week. I would still be losing weight but not at the rate I want to.

That is how I work with exercise calories.

Thoughts?

Jon

cmriverside · May 15

You have 30 pounds left to lose.

Do what you feel is right.

Everyone has to figure this out on their own. If you start feeling fatigued or cranky or start finding it hard to stick to, then you'll know you need to eat a little more. Not 1000 calories per day more, but maybe a couple hundred.

The last 20ish pounds are difficult, no way around that. Expecting to lose 1-2 pounds per week is fine now, but at some point in the not-that-distant-future you're going to find that expectation hard to fulfill.

The closer to the goal, the more important the numbers become, both food and exercise.

Jon4189 · May 15

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48611624#Comment_48611624

It does get harder this is my third time doing this on MFP, I get to my goal and then I stop weighing myself, and I stop tracking, and 2 years later I am back to where I was. I completely agree with your comments, it gets harder the closer you get to ideal BMI.

It does feel good, and I haven't had those cranky days yet. But they will come.

I don't have an end date this time, once i hit 180 I am going to use these forums to check in and have accountability to myself. I need to keep going once I hit my goal, and just set other goals.

Thanks for the comments!

Retroguy2000 · May 15

I partially agree with your methodology, OP.

You're right to be tracking your CI and your weight change, and from there estimating your TDEE. That's more valuable than any online calculator plus whatever devices estimate your workout calories. So long as your CO remains fairly consistent, this is the way.

I also fundamentally disagree with the theory of adding 100% of workout calories to be potentially eaten back, for several reasons I've detailed in the past. However, it's not 0% either, which is sort of what you're indirectly promoting. IMO, best to be very conservative with workout estimates, e.g. assuming you can eat back 50%.

You might say, but then I'd be losing weight more slowly. Not necessarily. You chose an arbitrary CI goal of 1,700 and adding back 0% of workout calories. You could have set an arbitrary CI goal of 1,500 plus eating back 50% of workout calories, and it would end up similar. It's just accounting preferences at the end of the day. What's most important is tracking your CI and weight, and other metrics if applicable such as strength progression, body measurements, etc.

AnnPT77 · May 15

You do you. As long as your weight changes stay in a sensible range, and the trend is as you intend, you're gold.

You mention exercise calories being estimated as a consideration. True. But every single bleepin' number we use in this process is an estimate, including our food logs no matter how meticulously we log. Fortunately, we don't need perfect estimates of any of the variables, just workably close estimates.

The best estimate of total personal calorie needs (TDEE) total comes from many-multi-week experience, not from any calculator or fitness tracker. (Women of the relevant age/stage should look at it in context of monthly cycles.)

I wouldn't do it the way you do, personally. I mean: I didn't, and don't. I lost about 50 pounds back in 2015-16, with the loss rate quite predictable once I estimated my actual maintenance calorie needs from my own experiential data.

Because my exercise is seasonal and weather-dependent, I've used MFP's "add exercise calories separately" method from the very beginning. I make an effort to estimate exercise calories carefully, using various methods, and pick the method I think is most reasonable for each exercise type.

Doing that, my weight loss was predictable, and 9+ years of maintenance have been predictable, too. That included a phase of ultra-slowly and quite painlessly re-losing around 10ish pounds that crept on in the first 4 years of maintenance (predictably from my behavior, BTW), with a tiny deficit of 100-150 calories on average for around a year. I've also had multiple times in there when I couldn't exercise at all for up to several weeks because of illness, injury, surgical recovery, etc. Body weight stayed predictable.

Since my weight changes have stayed in a sensible range (after that initial effort to find personalized calorie needs), the trend is predictable, and I readily reach my goals if I stick with the right process, I figure I'm also gold.

Different methods are gold for different people.

Honestly, either the TDEE method - eating the same number of calories every day, having included a reasonable allowance for average exercise - or the MFP "add exercise separately" method can work fine. One or the other will suit different people: Also fine.

What I think is a bad plan is adopting a base calorie goal for aggressively fast loss, then stacking an intense exercise program on top of that, with no allowance for exercise calories at all in any way.

Why? Because really fast loss increases health risks, potentially severely so at the extreme. The definition of "too fast" depends on current body weight, health history, other sources of stress in one's life, and more.

Also a bad plan: One that doesn't achieve one's sensible goals. (I do think "risk your health" is worse, for quite a few people, compared to "don't reach goals".)

Sounds like you're doing fine. No need for others to follow your methods, though. They can do whatever's most sensible and helpful for them, IMO.

tomcustombuilder · May 15

I also dont eat back exercise calories. I go off of a weekly calorie amount and my exercise program is consistent so no need to log it.

When i first got on this site I reviewed what my calories would be if I ate back and they were way too high so for people that eat back and don't lose that is most likely the culprit and what to look closer at.

it seems like everybody has their own way of doing it. Some people are successful with eating back. Some people are successful with eating 50% back and some just use TDEE and are perfectly fine so it really comes down to trying whatever you think is going to be your best approach And if it is then stick with it.

tomcustombuilder · May 15

rms62003 · May 15

I don't use the exercise calories either - from MFP or from Garmin (have a Garmin watch, and go by calorie stuff in there.)

I wonder about the 'exercise calories' that MFP posts! I did a 5 mile hike on Saturday along with my usual Saturday stuff, and had 19,000 steps total for the day. MFP told me that my 19,000 steps was a '-54' calorie burn.

And, Tuesday I did a couple of workouts, also got ~19,000 steps and had a '+40' calorie burn. Yesterday, however, no workout and mostly a sendentary day, only 4600 steps, but got 62 calories burned????

samgettingfit25 · May 15

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48611997#Comment_48611997

@rms62003 I don't use a Garmin but I have my Apple Watch connected to MFP. What MFP is doing is comparing its estimate of your calorie burn for the day (based on your stats, stated activity level, and any logged exercise) to your Garmin's estimate of your total burn. So a -54 indicates your Garmin TDEE for the day is a little lower than your MFP estimate. The day when you saw a positive adjustment meant your Garmin estimate was a little higher. Really, that's pretty close, the margin of error for logging food is likely higher than 54 calories for the day.

I tend to see small positive adjustments on days when I don't log exercise, so it doesn't surprise me that you saw a 62-calorie adjustment on your sedentary day. It just means you moved around a little more than your activity multiplier. If you chose sedentary on MFP, it just multiplies your BMR by a number that is associated with a sedentary lifestyle. In reality you might move more or less than that. I think if your adjustments are within 100 calories, you probably picked the right activity level. The main problem I've noticed is MFP doesn't always sync with my watch. Sometimes it will go days with no sync, then start syncing again. I don't know why it does that, I ended up just choosing an activity level close to my Apple Watch TDEE. If I start seeing larger adjustments (on days when one appears), I will reconsider my activity level setting, especially if my weight loss stalls. (Touching wood since it hasn't happened yet).

sidargundogans7238 · May 15

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10938871/exercise-calories-why-i-dont-use-them

Depends on the equipment younuse for exercise tracking.

A heart sensor and a proper watch would be super close to show the real calories burned. If you cycle you need to look for a pedalling sensir as well. If you can not get the fancy part, you must get yourself a Garmin, Suunto, Polar or Coros. Apple Watch, Fitbit, Amazfit, Huawei, etc. those would disappoint you. Those are watches. The brands I mentioned are trackers. They are designed for the athletes or people who take exercising seriously.

I only use Strava and I find adding exercise calories burnt satisfactory, it makes me feel good, reminds me that I did my very best to reach my goal. 100-200 calories miscalculated are not worth ignoring all the hard work I did during the day.

But if you can manage to work a plan your way, go ahead. Your plan makes sense but I believe it is hard to maintain.

yirara · May 16

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48612231#Comment_48612231

Also the best equipment only guesses if used out of the box, and most people are not fit enough nor able to set up devices properly to reflect their unique physiology. Heartrate does not equal calorie burn, but can be an approximation for certain things. Provided the device is properly set up. Even the often quoted and debunked 220-age has a roughly +/-12 bpm deviation from the calculated value (and 15-20 for older people). If someone calculates 160, then 148-172 fall within this one standard deviation, and all would give totally different calorie burns on a device. Still about 30% of a population have a much different number, and hence totally different calculated burns.

Jon4189 · May 16

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48612250#Comment_48612250

I use my Garmin Bike computer and I wear a heart strap, I also have a power meter. So I should be pretty actuate. I also ride the same area, it is a state park with paved paths and roads. So I know all the paths I have ridden over 100K miles in my life and probable 70% in that area.

Jon4189 · May 16

Agreed, I think it is an indictor of effort, but I try and listen to my body, and if I need more fuel/food, I make sure I take 50% or less and make it protein packed so that I can help build muscle.

PAV8888 · May 17

Any consistent logging strategy of both calories in and out can be compared to actual results and an error delta / percentage error can be estimated against the consistent logging strategy.

And it really will be just an approximate error estimate because deficits and loss tend to be dynamic to a degree. So even with consistent logging the error rate will still be fluctuation a bit.

But just like with hand grenades… close enough is good enough.

If I was eating to my exercise calories, I would be eating additional 2000 calories a week. I would still be losing weight but not at the rate I want to.

and I haven't had those cranky days yet. But they will come.

This is your third go around, right?

What are you doing different this time as compared to the previous times?

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

I recall back 10 years ago that I too was getting cranky while losing at the higher end of what turned out to be an average of 1 and 1/2 lb a week during my first year of logging on MFP.

But then I figured out that since I wanted to still be around in 10 years… it wasn't a race. There is no end date!

Because I was not planning on making any changes—other than the ones that would be, inevitably, applied by external circumstances—ever!
Or at the very least till a good 5+ years after finishing weight loss. (Of course I've made changes. We make adjustments all the time. But intent and mindset matter and contribute to how we react.)

With no end in sight, spending my time losing weight while hanging on for dear life and being cranky made no sense!

But seeking sustainable loss rates? Seeking habits that I could continue into maintenance? Trying to strategize how I could maximize the time I would spend at reduced weight even if things went sideways in the end and I ended up regaining everything? That the sort of stuff made sense to me!

So now I am 10 years closer to the (inevitable) end date. But not because I've stopped managing my weight!

To the contrary, the end date has probably been pushed back a tiny bit because I am still within the 22.8 to 26 bmi range (23.8 this morning)… a bit more than 10 years after I first joined MFP. In December of 2013, before I started trying to "move a little bit more", I was well into Class III obesity (bmi 44+)

And, yes, for me, BMI numbers are entirely consistent with the corresponding adiposity levels! ;-)

Jon4189 · July 21

I wanted to give everyone an update, I am still ignoring my exercise calories, and it is still working for me. I am losing about 1.5 lbs a week on average since April 12th, I have gone from 217 to 196. I am really happy. I am half way to my first goal of 180 lbs.

I did just did a Garmin Report on Calories remaining based on exercise for May, June and July:

As you can see it's a lot, considering 3500 is about a pound. Being a mathematician that is about 23 lbs alone. I have only lost 21 lbs?!? I also weight everything in my calories down to the gram. I am a scientist at heart. Here is my net calories per MFP:

And here is Calories Burned:

Most of these Calories are from two sources, Garmin for Bike rides and steps from my Garmin watch.

I think the reason for the differences are these factors:

Food calories are an estimation based on burning food
- FDA requires it to be +/- 30%
- Heating or Cooking for can change it's calories by a lot
  - Heat a celery stalk and it can increase it's caloric intake by 3X
- Everyone's metabolism is different.
Calories from steps and bike rides are over estimated
- Heart rate is a good judge of work but caffeine can change it as well
- Even with a power meter, we know the energy but we don't know how many calories of fat get burned. How much muscle gets created….
Your body will slow down your metabolism when you exercise during other time periods to conserve fuel (aka fat).

Doing just a little math I can see how easy it to be under stated food, and over stating exercise.

In short what I suggest to people, is see what works for you! We are all different, and what we eat and how our bodies process it are different.

Here is my weight over time as well:

My current running 30 day average is 1.40 lbs per week, and my over all progress is 1.47 lbs per week. I am slowing down, which is expected, less mass for every exercise, and I have increased my exercise.

I feel much leaner and but better in everyway! I am not done yet! (Not that I am going to be done monitoring). Once I get to a happy weight which I suspect will be in the 170's. I will still be here weighing myself daily. So I don't gain without me knowing then ignoring the scale.

Thanks for the support!

Jon

nossmf · July 21

Sounds like you are not taking into account hydration levels, which can easily account for the 2lb difference you noted.

Retroguy2000 · July 21

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48695973#Comment_48695973

Thanks for the detailed update. As I said earlier in the thread, this is the way. You're tracking your input calories and you're tracking your weight change, and adjusting as needed. That's better than any calculator estimate of your TDEE.

It looks to me like the data shows you must be eating back some exercise calories?

Looking at your charts posted, you are averaging about 1,600-1,700 CI? And losing 1.4 pounds, which implies a deficit of 700 and therefore a TDEE of 2,300-2,400. That's barely above sedentary level on sailrabbit's TDEE calculator, despite all the exercise you're doing.

What I mean is, if your CI is 1,600 that can be framed as:

"My goal is 1,200 and I eat back all my [400] exercise calories, thus proving we do get 100% credit for exercise calories."

or

"My goal is 1,600 and I eat back none of my [400] exercise calories, thus proving we should ignore exercise calories."

The reality is, it's somewhere in the middle.

Jon4189 · July 21

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48696136#Comment_48696136

Agreed, I am averaging around 1,600 calories, and days I ride hard between 1,800 and 1,900…. I have read a lot of studies saying that exercise doesn't make you lose weight, and I see it before my eyes. Exercise makes me feel better, eating less makes me lose weight!

Retroguy2000 · July 21

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48696154#Comment_48696154

Are you not lifting? You only mention cycling. Lifting will help preserve muscle mass during weight loss, and improve body comp.

Jon4189 · July 21

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48696171#Comment_48696171

I don't do lifting, I do squats and a lot of core exercises. I have kept my strength, but I do body resistance exercises, like push ups and crunches, etc….

Exercise Calories why I don't use them.

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