Logging daily activities?

Now I am confused....according to the daily food log after I exercise it does add those calories to my daily caloric intake and since I do my exercise after work I am then strggling in the evening to take in 600-700 calories before bedtime because of the exercise adjustment. So my question is do I stick with my recommended 1200 calories only or do I make up the calories burned during exercise? Any help would be appreciated.

If you know that you're going to exercise in the evening, go ahead and eat a bit more throughout the day. It may happen that you occasionally don't get to work out because something comes up, but that's OK unless it happens a lot.

Or, if you exercise in the evening, you could log it the following morning and thereby eat the calories the next day.

Everything averages out over a week or so, anyway. You can arrange things as you like with that in mind.

Now I am confused....according to the daily food log after I exercise it does add those calories to my daily caloric intake and since I do my exercise after work I am then strggling in the evening to take in 600-700 calories before bedtime because of the exercise adjustment. So my question is do I stick with my recommended 1200 calories only or do I make up the calories burned during exercise? Any help would be appreciated.

lots of people are saying that you should eat back those burned calories and somehow magically youll lose even more weight

there are many posts on this subject but ,personally, Im not entirely convinced and am in two minds on this subject, especially given some huge burned calories count on some of the exercises listed in database

The accuracy of the calories burned database is a separate issue...

But the idea that you'll lose weight if you eat back your burned calories is valid. That's because the original calorie allowance is already set for weight loss (assuming you've set your activity level accurately.)

If I'd maintain without exercise at 1700, and I tell MFP that I want to lose 1 lb a week, it will tell me to eat 1200 a day. If I exercise and burn 300 calories, then I could - and possibly should - eat 300 more calories. It does one no good to starve themselves. Slow and steady wins the race.

I also wanted to share something my friend who is a nutritionist explained to me since I was complaining about not losing any weight. I have been training for a half marathon and running 20-30 miles a week and my calorie goal was 1200 a day. I was logging my runs and the calories burned which on some days would total over 600 cals. My mistake was that I was then eating 1800 calories on a day like that because I thought that the 600 burned allowed me to eat that much more. I guess my point is that even if you log your activities and exercises it is not an automatic "ok" to eat away those burned calories. Of course it is important to fuel your body before and after strenuous exercises but the snack should be something small...not 600 calories worth I hope this helps at least helps somebody understand the benefits (or downsides) of logging activity on this site.

hi there,
there are lots of misconceptions about a need to eat back your burned calories/
Could you tell us what did your nutritionist ,as a qualified person, say about eating away your burned calories?

thanks

She told me that just because I burned 600 calories or so, running 7 miles, didn't mean I should go and eat an extra 600 calories that day just because I burned those in theory. If I wanted to lose weight I should stick to my 1200-1300 goal daily even if I workout...not eat around 2000 calories just because I ran that day. I was eating my burned calories and working out like crazy since I am training for a half marathon and was remaining the same weight. After 7 weeks of training, I hadn't lost or gained a single pound. I didn't know any better...I thought I could eat all that extra food because I was so active. Not true. She told me that a small carb snack before working out and a lean protein after my workout (I weight train as well) would give me the nutrition and energy I needed for my workout. This would only be an additional 100-200 calories added to my daily amount for my "workout snacks"...not an extra 600+ cals like I had been eating. Her plan for me is to keep my daily goal in the 1200-1300 range and to not increase my intake even if I workout. My body should still get the fuel it needs and I won't have to stay frustrated that I am not experiencing any weight loss or body shape changes. I hope this helped explain things a little bit more.

thanks kasgill,
I appreciate you taking time to explain.
it is just logical what you wrote but there are still many people who are convinced that we MUST eat back all the calories that we burn by exercising.
go and figure

Wow, I feel like a total under-achiever of a house-keeper (I am one). :laugh:

There is a level of honesty - brutal honesty - that I know for me I have to maintain or I might as well not do any of this - I own that piece. Tonight, I had to bar-scan the baby's cookies - I can't believe I ate one of the darn things and at least it was only one, but I knew if I didn't log it, the part of me that keeps score would hold it against me. That holds true for activity too. I invested in a Fit Bit - mainly, this way yeah - if I cleaned my house or whatever (yeah right) or vacuumed, yes, I get credit for the movement, I get credit for the steps. If I am climbing stairs, it knows that I have moved from one level to another. That way - my extra effort - the things I go out of my way to squeeze into my already full day like concerted efforts to go for walk or 15 minutes devoted to going up and down 4 flights of stairs for the sake of exercise - that's the stuff I can count.

In the end though it's my own internal housekeeping I have to be responsible for I guess. Worrying about anyone else's isn't going to get me very far - although for me I have a bigger problem with "exercise envy" than anything else.

i agree with the OP in the sense that sometimes people overcompensate by logging cleaning or work in addition to a light active/active lifestyle. However i didn't come here to worry about others, i came here for myself. And personally i dont log any activity done outside a gym (sometimes i'll log calisthenics)

I also wanted to share something my friend who is a nutritionist explained to me since I was complaining about not losing any weight. I have been training for a half marathon and running 20-30 miles a week and my calorie goal was 1200 a day. I was logging my runs and the calories burned which on some days would total over 600 cals. My mistake was that I was then eating 1800 calories on a day like that because I thought that the 600 burned allowed me to eat that much more. I guess my point is that even if you log your activities and exercises it is not an automatic "ok" to eat away those burned calories. Of course it is important to fuel your body before and after strenuous exercises but the snack should be something small...not 600 calories worth I hope this helps at least helps somebody understand the benefits (or downsides) of logging activity on this site.

hi there,
there are lots of misconceptions about a need to eat back your burned calories/
Could you tell us what did your nutritionist ,as a qualified person, say about eating away your burned calories?

thanks

She told me that just because I burned 600 calories or so, running 7 miles, didn't mean I should go and eat an extra 600 calories that day just because I burned those in theory. If I wanted to lose weight I should stick to my 1200-1300 goal daily even if I workout...not eat around 2000 calories just because I ran that day. I was eating my burned calories and working out like crazy since I am training for a half marathon and was remaining the same weight. After 7 weeks of training, I hadn't lost or gained a single pound. I didn't know any better...I thought I could eat all that extra food because I was so active. Not true. She told me that a small carb snack before working out and a lean protein after my workout (I weight train as well) would give me the nutrition and energy I needed for my workout. This would only be an additional 100-200 calories added to my daily amount for my "workout snacks"...not an extra 600+ cals like I had been eating. Her plan for me is to keep my daily goal in the 1200-1300 range and to not increase my intake even if I workout. My body should still get the fuel it needs and I won't have to stay frustrated that I am not experiencing any weight loss or body shape changes. I hope this helped explain things a little bit more.

How is that working for you? Do you feel like you have the energy to do the training you're doing? Are you losing weight?

Well to put it quite simply...it is working! I was getting very discouraged because I had not lost a single pound in 7 weeks of training for my half marathon and eating back my burned calories bc I thought I could. Needless to say, I started to only eat 100 or so more calories than my original goal of 1200 on days I workout (which is usually 6 days a week) and I have lost 3 pounds in 4 days. I know my weight loss won't continue at this rate but waiting over 2 months to see any change on the scale was certainly testing my patience. I do know that I will not go back to eating more calories just because I worked out a bunch. I am still able to run 4-7 miles right now without any problem that would be contributed to not eating enough.

Personally I set my activity to Sedentary because I sit at my desk 8-10 hours/day. I lounge around a lot also, watching movies or hockey.

I do laundry every other week, dishes daily, cleaning weekly, rough cleaning monthly, run around with my neice/nephews a couple hours 3-4x week, walk around and move more frequently than before, and have sex more often. But don't log any of that because to me it's considered normal activity. In the event I'm trying to maintain but losing/gaining I'll adjust my activity level/eating/etc as needed but only count what I do at the gym or walks I go to burn calories. If I go for a leisurely walk around to clear my head but don't get my heart rate up I don't log it.

I also don't measure my food just take the best guess I can for anything that isn't in individual servings. If I cook a pound of beef and spread it out over 4 meals, I count each meal as .25 lbs even though I'm sure some fluctuate. Others would measure the food and keep everything as accurate as possible.

It's a personal choice, if someone logs things that's cool and doesn't impact me in any way. As long as they keep track in a way that works for them and are happy with their results more power to them.

If the activity is something I do during the normal course of my day, like doing dishes or sweeping, then no, I don't log it. But if I do a marathon cleaning session, like vacuuming every square inch of my house (basement, ground floor, upstairs, furniture, etc), then I will log it since it's not something I do every day.

this is same for me

Now I am confused....according to the daily food log after I exercise it does add those calories to my daily caloric intake and since I do my exercise after work I am then strggling in the evening to take in 600-700 calories before bedtime because of the exercise adjustment. So my question is do I stick with my recommended 1200 calories only or do I make up the calories burned during exercise? Any help would be appreciated.

If you are using MFP to calulate your daily calorie allowance, then it assumes that you will add, and eat, extra calories when you exercise. The numbers work out so that you still have a calorie deficit to allow you to lose weight even if y0ou eat all of those exrcise cals. Of course this assumes that you are logging food and exercise fairly accurately.
Really though, the only way to know what works for your particular situation is to pick one method, try it out for a month and see how you react.

I have a pedometer that I wear on the days that I will be doing extra things at work, like building, packing, taping and stacking numerous boxes, plus lots of extra walking back and forth through our warehouse as well as other heavy manual labor. Normally in the off season, I am at my desk mostly so I have my activity level set at the lowest level. After the "bad" days, like today, I just add the extra calories from the pedometer and consider the rest bonus. (My arms don't feel that way tonight btw lol!) I also use the pedometer when my husband and I go for our nightly brisk walks. It's actually pretty interesting on a super busy day at work, how many miles you can walk! Today was 2 1/2 miles and that didn't count all the other stuff that my body is yelling at me about right now. ;-)

I log things that are different to my normal. I don't clean every single day. I have added cleaning twice i think, today I should due to I have spent a lot longer and worked a lot harder at it. But won't bother. Know a person whom was so obese they were to ashamed to walk outside. Their daily activity didn't even include housework.
Oneday they walked outside and did a lap of the clothes line, in a week the weight started to drop. For some of us that won't make a difference cos our bodies are use to it. This person upped the laps, and is now healthy and also thin. So, i think you add whatever your body isn't use to. Bit like if I was doing my strength training, body adjusts to weights so you need to up it. I don't think logging housework is a cheats way unless they are doing the same thing everyday and there is no intensity! I make the housework harder, to make myself work harder!