Cheating on calorie trackers...

[ryanlambert11]

I keep track if my calorie intake and usage using MyFitnessPal and I wanna make sure I'm not cheating on it. I know the body burns calories doing everything and anything but on my app there are four things I keep track of...
Weight training
Cardio
Walking at work because I'm walking from one side of the plant to the other all day
Sleep

I keep track of sleep because for my weight at 6 hours I burn roughly 540 calories. Those four things will keep me at 3500 calories burned a week.

What do you think?

[Mauidude]

I think you have too much time on your hands.

Seriously, I wouldn't worry too much about it. It all depends on your goals and setting up a plan to accomplish them. You can use an online calculator to come up with your basal metabolic rate, add on for your general level of physical activity to get a pretty good estimate of the calories you burn. Personally, I've never seen the need to go the extreme of using a calorie tracker. Nobody on this forum that I know of that has achieved any level of fitness success has used one. I may stand corrected if someone says that they did, I've just never heard of them using one.

Forget the gimmicks and gadgets, just figure out your goals, set up your nutritional plan along with your workout plan that gives you the best chance to achieve those goals.

[Zilla]

If doing such things keeps you motivated, that's fine. Just keep in mind that online calculators and the like are not fool proof or exact. For example- They do not take into account lean body mass and other factors so when one says a certain exercise burns X amount of calories, it could be way off in either direction.

A 6 foot dude with 150 pounds of lean body mass is going to expend energy or calories much different than the 6 foot dude that has 100 pounds of lean body mass.

I wear a heart rate montior when I workout. I started doing this after I kept being told over and over again that lifting alone burns tons of calories while it is being done. What I've found is that is not entirely true. A workout that is your basic single set (s) workout for me burns considerably less calories than if I do super sets with shorter rest periods. The heart rate monitor does not tell me everything, but it does act like a gauge.

So as long as you keep such things in mind and remain flexible within your plan to adjust when it is needed, you should be okay.

[ryanlambert11]

The main reason I use it is for the motivation. Right now I'm afrade that if I dont I will lose site of my goal. Once I have got down what I can and can't eat then I will try to go without. I know these things are not dead on I just didn't want to "cheat" and make myself think I was doing the right thing. I'm 4 weeks into my workout and I'm seeing changes so I know I'm doing something right.

[ianmez]

The way you'll see if you're "cheating" or not is by accurately logging your calorie intake and then evaluating your results over time. If after several weeks the results you're getting don't match the results you're expecting, then you can see that you're either measuring your calorie intake or your calorie expenditure (or both) incorrectly.

[sauron256]

Originally Posted by Mauidude

Nobody on this forum that I know of that has achieved any level of fitness success has used one. I may stand corrected if someone says that they did, I've just never heard of them using one.

Me! I used one extensively during my transformation and still use it every day!

However, I do think the original poster is overthinking things. Shoot for a daily calorie target that might meet your goals (for example, 2000 calories). If, after a few weeks, you aren't getting the results you want, then adjust the goal upwards or downwards.

[Mauidude]

Using it for motivation is fine. Whatever works for you, such as sauron256 did. Everybody has different motivators.

[ross88guy]

If you can keep track of your calorie intake in this way then I have a lot of respect for you as this is something that I cannot do! The professionals will keep track of things in a similar manner but for me what seems to work is to to approach diet with the right knowledge and drive so that 80% of the time I eat the right foods at the right time and in the correct quantities. EVen if I mess up 20% of the time, that 20% keeps me sane and lets me keep chipping away at my fitness goals month after month because I am in it for the long run!


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