Why doesn't MFP subtract your "regular" burn from activites?

ha.

when excercise is only an hour or two - i don't think it matters since it's only like 70cal/hr (for me) but it bothers me when someone is doing something "easy" for like 6 hours and then i think it ads up.

my HRM ~only~ gives calorie burns based on the rise in HR, so doesn't include basal.

Considering your regular burn is part of most calorie calculations, why doesn't it subtract the number?

Sloppy design, I guess. Easier to just give a one size fits all figure and not take into account things like weight and what your regular burn would be anyway.

I have a HRM and manually remove regular burn for anything over an hour.

HMM! That's interesting! How do you tell if your Heart Rate Monitor accounts for your BMR?

If it's not in the full user manual, which it should be, consult the manufacturers website.

I was wondering the same thing when I first started. I didn't get a clear answer on whether or not you should "eat back" the full amount... So I just decided not to think about it. I eat back my calories if I feel like it. I'm often over anyway, so it's not like I made a special choice to eat them back. If I do make an active decision to eat them back, I might not eat all of them back. That's not really so much because I'm worried about eating more than I burned, but rather because I was probably over the day before and I'd like to even it up some. (I focus on weekly totals, rather than daily...) But some people do choose to only eat back a portion (50-80%) of their exercise calories for this reason. On average, accounting for all the overs and unders, I probably eat back 100% of mine, and I haven't seen it negatively impact my loss. In fact, I've lost way more than I "should" have according to MFP. So I think it's just one of things you have to play with and see what works for you. I honestly wouldn't recommend stressing out about it, though. Eat back what MFP says you're entitled to. If you're not losing fast enough, then maybe cut back and only eat a portion of them. But either way, just realize this isn't an exact science. If something doesn't work for you, then it's okay to change it up later.

Isn't MFP already calculating your "regular" activities with a general number when you answered your daily activity level at the time you fill out your profile information?

When you go to Settings > Update diet/fitness profile, you'll see you can pick one of the followings:

How would you describe your normal daily activities?
Sedentary: Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)
Lightly Active: Spend a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. nurse, salesman)
Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. waitress, mailman)
Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)

With the answer you pick, MFP will use a number as your "regular" burn and along with how many lbs are you wanting to lose per week will give you your Goal Calories with a deficit that already has deducted the "regular" activities burn.

Now, this is far from being accurate, which means, MFP could be way off your true "regular" burn. So the best way is to use any devices that you can carry with you to find out how many calories you burn through out the day.

Isn't MFP already calculating your "regular" activities with a general number when you answered your daily activity level at the time you fill out your profile information?

Yes it is.

But this topic is about the fact that BMR is not taken off exercise calories.

I guess i am confused by what you mean. the way i understood it was based off the way it is set up if you are at or below your calories then you will do at least as well as well what you set it up to be... ( for me two pounds a week loss). So why would it matter if the BMR was calculated in exercise.

For exact RMR and BMR you are going to need something more precise than an online tool. I use the program as a calorie guide and a trainer watch with a heart rate monitor for precise calorie burn.

I would think that under estimating workout burn and over estimating food calories would promote a bigger shock and get people to make a serious life change.

Considering your regular burn is part of most calorie calculations, why doesn't it subtract the number?

Like, if I usually burn 100 calories per hour, why doesn't it subtract that from the 600 calories per hour I burn doing hard exercise? Is there some reason for this or am I not understanding it correctly?

The last calorie counting program I used would just alter your mets for the amount of time spent exercising (instead of 1.2, it would boost it up to 6.2 for an hour, or whatever) ... but MFP doesn't seem to account for the usual burn at all.

why not do the math yourself?

I wouldn't worry about it. Maybe they are giving you credit of the afterburn. When you exercise you will continue to burn calories at a faster rate for a few hours. The tecnicality on that would get to the best math wizzes, so it's easier to just leave it alone. It works the way it is, so no need to fix a not broken wheel.

Best wishes