[Closed] My Fitness Pal

My girfriend uses it.

Personally I think it looks like a faff.

Cook all your food from scratch and weigh yourself to see what it's doing to you. I hear bamboo has pretty much **** all nutritional content so you could start by eating a lot of that.

I use it and don't find it a fact at all. I've lost just under 9 kilos over the last 5 months and id have struggled to do that without using a food diary.

I use it, from time to time, it's quite shocking how many calories are in wholemeal wraps.

I also use it from time to time to give me a rough idea of what I am troughing. After an initial mild faffage period, setting up meals, building up recent foods etc, it's a piece of piss to use.

I am interested in it to see what the fat/protein/carb split of my intake is.

How much protein in a bag of Cadbury's Whisper bites for example?

9.49 grams

I guess it's that whole "do I really know how much I'm eating" thing

I've always found it difficult to lose weight, have modified my diet recently and I think I've dropped a couple of lbs but because I don't own any scales at the moment I don't know really!

I've used to to loose 8kg towards the end of last year. I now use it every now and then just to regulate things. The calories burnt, I find, are fairly accurate for me (unlike Livestrong).

What do you eat at the moment?

We can help.

Ive been using it for the past month and have lost over half a stone. Previous routine of exercise and "sensible eating" were having some modest results - 3-4lbs since New Year.

MFP allowed me to quickly see what was stuffed with sugar and / or fat.

Haven't really made any radical changes to my diet - still have beer / wine etc, but am now more aware of what I eat vs what I burn.

Dont find it too much faff. I think it would be if you want to be super accurate about everything - I use it as an approximation, a guide if you like.

Try it.

ETA -

I guess it's that whole "do I really know how much I'm eating" thing

I found it's that whole "do I really know [s]how much[/s] [b]what's in what[/b] I'm eating" thing

Thanks: just signed up on the basis of this thread.
Another thing to waste time on.

Apparently I still have 800 calories left to eat today, where did I put the number for the chippy?

where did I put the number for the chippy?

Maybe they are on Twitter?

Yeti, I have a strict gluten free diet (coeliac).

I try to avoid many GF substitute foods as they tend to be loaded with sugar and additives to make them taste anything like acceptable. Occasionally I have a GF pitta bread or a bacon butty with Genius bread (weekend treat).

I don't generally eat dairy any more, I used to be a cheese and Cadburys Giant Buttons fanatic, but I was advised by my doctor that a diet high in dairy could be making my Crohns worse, so I stopped eating it and switched to almond/soy milk. I think maybe the couple of lbs lost so far may just be from cutting out cheese and chocolate 😳

I can't tolerate legumes really in any quantity which is a shame because I quite like lentils and beans and hummus and stuff like that....can only have small amounts of them.

Never liked Lagoons myself either.

rkk01 - Member

> I guess it's that whole "do I really know how much I'm eating" thing
I found it's that whole "do I really [s]know[/s] [s]how much [b]what's in [/b][/s] care what I'm eating" thing

I started using My Fitness Pal in March 2010, at the time I weighed 135kg, by October 2010 I was down to 88kg which was well in the BMI healthy zone for my height without looking too skinny.

It's gone up about 10kg since late 2011 due to lots of travel for work and lack of exercise so have started again on My Fitness pal this week.

MFP works for me better than fad diets. Not a fag once you get used to it and stops you eating unnecessary stuff. Plus shocking to find out how many calories in a costa flat white and millionaires shortbread!

Basic diet common sense and very easy to use. GFI

Does two hours of MTB really burn 1,200 calories, though? Seems a tad high to me, and throws the whole thing out if it's not accurate.

Apparently I still have 800 calories left to eat today, where did I put the number for the chippy?

cronometer.com, is very good if you want something clean and basic to journal diet/exercise and show some trends.

I found it's that whole "do I really know how much what's in care what I'm eating" thing

druidh - never used to care much about what I was eating (* wouldn't use "worry", as I dont), but the more I've looked in to food, the more I've realised how much sh!t goes in...

"healthy" Jordans muesli this am - 20g sugar, 10g fat!

Does two hours of MTB really burn 1,200 calories, though? Seems a tad high to me, and throws the whole thing out if it's not accurate.

I would have thought that was an understimate...!
Normally reckon on 700-1000 cals per hour for mtb

I've used MFP for a couple of months (on a recommendation from my housemate) and found it really useful. The big thing for me was portion control - just stopping to weigh out how much food I was eating (and realizing how MUCH I was getting through each meal) has really helped.

Was at 83kg in January when I started, now down to ~78 🙂

Using a polar hr strap is the only accurate way to tell how many calories you are burning. In a two hour road race, I can burn 1,400 odd so unless you are racing on the mtb or spend an hour climbing solidly, I doubt you'll be hitting near the 1,000 mark in an hour.

Does two hours of MTB really burn 1,200 calories, though? Seems a tad high to me, and throws the whole thing out if it's not accurate.

It just estimated my 52 minutes of "moderate cycling 12-14mph" for my commute as 680-odd calories. Endomondo said 486 so I went with that instead.

Which means I'm still starting the day at -367.
Time for a sausage roll I think.

I doubt you'll be hitting near the 1,000 mark in an hour.

Depends - I suspect some forum members will be hauling [i]considerably[/i] more weight up the hills than you DGOAB. 😀

I just like to add, I never ever log exercise with MFP. It's just, as my portions of cake are, too generous.

I have the base level of calories I am allowed, and working on roughly 100 kcal mile for running and 250 kcal per 10 miles cycling @ 16-18mph-ish, eat more food appropriately. It's not an exact science, but works for me.

I use the Livestrong app equivalent of My Fitness Pal - I think the exercise calorific values are more accurate; they tend to come in closer to that calculated by the Garmin which goes off weight / HR etc.

That said, I'd still be cautious about using exercise calories burnt as an excess when looking at daily intake - if it was wholly correct then theoretically I'd be wasting away - taking yesterday as an example I had a calorie deficit of more than 900...

DirtyG - 'only' is a bit strong... and GrahamS hits the nail on the head...

Men burn on average 25% more calories on a sednetry day than women. I imagine the multiplier is greater as we start moving...

I have the base level of calories I am allowed

MFP put my base level at 1980kcal per day - which was a surprise as whenever I've vaguely tracked calories in the past I've always used the [url= http://www.nhs.uk/chq/pages/1126.aspx?categoryid=51&subcategoryid=165 ]average man needs around 2,500 calories a day[/url] guideline. I didn't realise you had to drop so much to shed some weight - so I guess it has helped me there.

250 kcal per 10 miles cycling @ 16-18mph-ish

That sounds very low to me. It depends on your weight, but [url= http://www.livestrong.com/article/135430-calories-burned-biking-one-mile/ ]this Livestrong article suggests at over 16mph you burn "59 calories per mile if you weigh 190 pounds"[/url]

190lbs!!

I've noticed my Garmin 705 doesn't record any calories when I am freewheeling down a hill. That seems reasonable but it does mean that all these xx calories per km figures are far too simplistic.

MFP put my base level at 1980kcal per day - which was a surprise as whenever I've vaguely tracked calories in the past I've always used the average man needs around 2,500 calories a day guideline. I didn't realise you had to drop so much to shed some weight - so I guess it has helped me there.

I enter all my own targets, which I have got to through trial and error. Use a fairly even split on macros, 40/30/30 or something. Up carb intake if doing lots more exercise.

That sounds very low to me. It depends on your weight, but this Livestrong article suggests at over 16mph you burn "59 calories per mile if you weigh 190 pounds"

Not really. Around 25kcal a mile cycling seems ok to me. Thing is, even if it is a bit under, it evens out all the stuff I eat, like a couple of almonds/apple etc, which I can't be bothered to log. My Garmin HRM seems to roughly tally with it as well.

[IMG] [/IMG]

I think a lot of people vastly overestimate what they are burning when cycling. Hence all the 'I biked 20 miles, had a 14 cakes and some haribo, but am still not losing weight' posts.

190lbs!!

I'm 218lbs 😳

But I have very heavy bones you see...

Garmin 705 doesn't record any calories when I am freewheeling down a hill. That seems reasonable but it does mean that all these xx calories per km figures are far too simplistic.

That's why I used the figure from Endomondo. Don't actually know if it uses height data - but it certainly [i]could[/i] do. Doesn't really matter anyway - my commute is fairly height neutral (291m up, 211m down) and I do it in both directions.

Use a fairly even split on macros, 40/30/30 or something.

"Macros"? Is that carb/fat/protein?
MFP reckons my goal is 55% carb, 30% fat, 15% protein.

Around 25kcal a mile cycling seems ok to me.

I can only assume you weigh [u]considerably[/u] less than me then. 😀

I use my net diary [img] [/img]

It also has an app for iPhone/Android and is easy to use.

I can only assume you weigh considerably less than me then

After I have been for a poo, I imagine I am about 150lb-ish.

It also has an app for iPhone/Android and is easy to use.

MFP has apps for iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Android and Windows phone!

The iPad one is particularly swishy.

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I don't see why only is strong...garmin over estimate calorie burn by around 10-15% iirc. How many calories you burn depends on how hard/much effort you put in so if we were both riding at 20mph but say i'm in zone 5 and you are in zone 3, I'll be burning more calories surely because i'm working harder to maintain that pace?

The other thing to remember though is just because you burnt off say 1,000 calories in an hours ride, you'd have burnt some of those calories anyway.

My basic metabolic rate is something like 1,300 before exercise, with exercise it takes it up to something arond the 2,000mark per day but i have no idea how many calories i consume in a day but doubt that 1,300 would be enough.

I think a lot of people vastly overestimate what they are burning when cycling.

Well from a bit Googling I can understand why!

[url= http://www.livestrong.com/article/429706-the-calories-burned-on-a-bike-by-time-distance/ ]"If you weigh 155 lbs., bicycling 20 mph burns about 61 calories per mile; bicycling 15 mph about [b]49.5 calories per mile[/b];"[/url]

[url= http://www.fitpronutrition.com/main.asp?nID=803 ]"Cycling 16 mph = 945 calories per hour."[/url] ([b]59 calories per mile[/b])

[url= http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/calories_burned.asp?exercise=3 ]"150lbs, 60mins at 14-15.9mph = 660"[/url] (~[b]44 calories per mile[/b])

[url= http://thecaloriecounter.net/calories-burned-cycling/ ]"When you bicycle 14 to 15.9 mph, you burn [b]44 to 61 calories per mile[/b] on average."[/url]

[url= http://davesbikeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2007/09/running-vs-cycling-burning-calories.html ]"if you ride at 15 mph, you burn [b]31 calories per mile[/b]...figures are for an average-size adult (approximately 155 pounds)"[/url]

dirtygirlonabike - Member
I don't see why only is strong...garmin over estimate calorie burn by around 10-15% iirc. How many calories you burn depends on how hard/much effort you put in so if we were both riding at 20mph but say i'm in zone 5 and you are in zone 3, I'll be burning more calories surely because i'm working harder to maintain that pace?

It's also weight dependent.

[url= http://thecaloriecounter.net/calories-burned-cycling/ ]This site[/url] offers the formula:

Calories/hr = [V*W(.0053 + %G/100) + .0083(V^3)]*7.2

Where V is speed, W is bike + rider weight in pounds., and %G is grade in percent. The factors here (0.0053 for friction + rolling resistance and 0.0083 for aerodynamic drag) are not absolute but average.

Rolling resistance eh? What tyres for weight loss?

garmin* over estimate calorie burn by around 10-15% iirc

Why does it? IMO you can't really know for any individual without proper lab testing...

Druidh has made the point I was going to. If weight didn't matter in the calculation of energy used... why would any athletes care about losing it?

I won't even start on discussing what 'type' of calories you're burning 😀

*Other fitness monitors are available.

Something to do with software iirc and polar only having the accurate stuff. Its been ages since i read about it. But i don't log or pay attention to calories burnt when exercising as it isn't going to change how much / what i eat. Even logging my ride stats on training peaks for my coach to see gives me different calorie burn so its pointless imo.

I won't even start on discussing what 'type' of calories you're burning

All systems use an algorithm. Like any other calc of this type it provides a best fit for a population... which is why saying Polar is accurate and others aren't is wrong IMO.

Dave linked to a good article on training zones on his Twitter feed...

Have been using MFP for 6 months now, have lost and maintained a 20lb loss.
My Garmin isn't the most accurate measure for calorie burn for me. if I have ridden I allow myself about half of what I have burnt on the Garmin.

you should buy a power tap to get your wattage, a heart rate monitor that links to your garmin to get your heart rate and power output over the contours of the ride you just did. Then you can plot a graph of your weight/fat% and plot a graph of your calorific food intake and then further seperate the calories down into food groups and subsequent low and high GL/GI food and somehow plot his on a graph. Once you have done that you can buy a gun and shoot your own brain out. Though on the build up don't forget to draw a graph of the price of guns and ammo building up to the event. Maybe you could also plot a graph of which organs are currently in the greatest demand so you have an idea of which organs will go first once your body has been through the autopsy.

wow alex you seem angry are you ok?

so very angry

I think you'd be better off graphing Coffee Drunk versus Misplaced Anger alex.

alex - I think you're missing the opportunity to include a Venn diagram showing how the food you've eaten splits between carbs, fat and protein.

How about a scatter graph of where the individual pieces of your brain may end up.

[img] [/img]

TSY - seriously you must have tri's coming up. How do you have so much time to worry about these things after all the training and work (I assume)?

I think people expect too much (precision) from most gadgets. They are guides (even power meters) not perfection. Use them as tools to help but dont get tied to them. Too much analysis, too little time training/competing doesn;'t make for success.

MFP gave me a shock with calories in M&S salads today - wow, time for a ride! So much for being healthy!!

I think this graph may work

THM - I don't worry about any of this stuff. All I'm bothered about is my body feeling good enough to do the next training sesssion.

Just been looking at the results of my first Tri as it happens... top 4% overall and top 8% for my category.

Good job - so the swim training has been working then!! All those early OW mornings worked out!!

Are you very young - I am trying to get my head around top 4% overall but top 8% for my category?

Well done - just have a little tease earlier. I got anal with swimming a few years back, so its all tongue-in-cheek!

32... I'm in the largest category 30-34. Edit or rather the category with the largest number of fast racers.

If I was under 30 or >35 I'd placed higher in the specific category.

Silly thing is I had a proper day of swim training the week after my first race, going faster already. Main area I need to work on now is my run.

think people expect too much (precision) from most gadgets. They are guides (even power meters) not perfection. Use them as tools to help but dont get tied to them

Correct - and that's how I use them. A useful indicator, but nothing more

However, to take issue with this:

My Garmin isn't the most accurate measure for calorie burn for me. if I have ridden I allow myself about half of what I have burnt on the Garmin

When I got my Edge 500 I read a lot of reports about the HRM function over-estimating calorie consumption.

Sure enough, it was giving a calorie burn about 25% more than my old Polar HRM.

HOWEVER, a quick fiddle on the PC to fine tune the riders details sorted it out. You do need to be very particular with rider weight, age and max / resting heart rates - and change the settings as you change....

Once I had dialled these in the Garmin unit gave out very similar figures to the old Polar one.

ETA - The MFP calorie burn is editable. Just overtype with a more representative figure. Use your own guestimate or use a garmin / Polar estimate as you see fit

HOWEVER, a quick fiddle on the PC to fine tune the riders details sorted it out. You do need to be very particular with rider weight, age and max / resting heart rates - and change the settings as you change....

+1.

Rubitrack links nicely back to Withings so updates the 'Athlete Log' automatically with HR, weight etc which makes that easier as all tracked in one place.

I'm curious to see what split of carbs / fat / protein people are aiming for via MFP et al...

TSY - ok I guessed correctly, you are a young pup!! Funny when I started tri's years ago, the biggest AG was 40-45 ie middle aged men, just hit 40, trying to keep fit, enjoying a bit of bling etc. So the results were often the other way around. Now that tri is more widespread/mainstream/expensive the AG mix seems a lot more balances with more younger people involved. Leaving the old timers to tread the familiar = sprint, olympic, (buy more kit), HIM, IM, had enough => do something else cycle!!!

Well done on your results.

Always use my less-than-perfect Polar to overide MFP calorie estimates.

The Southern Yeti - Member
All systems use an algorithm. Like any other calc of this type it provides a best fit for a population... which is why saying Polar is accurate and others aren't is wrong IMO.

Still, at least we can all agree that consuming fewer calories than we burn through exercise leads to weight loss.

Still, at least we can all agree that consuming fewer calories than we burn through exercise leads to weight loss.

iDon't know about that... I've got a good analogy about a car I could use?

I'm loving being a called a young pup... most of the time I'm told I'm an old git.

Enough about me...

Have I mentioned that I'm set to help in a study for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metablosim this week... first step is a load of testing then they may ask for a food diary and monitor my activity levels.

I use a hrm to get a more accurate approximation of calories burned. I use both run keeper to track routes and mileage and MFP to record calorie requirement and in/output. Both give pretty inaccurate Claire fuselage according to my HRM. But to be fair as long as you only use one source of calorie use it will work out.

Both give pretty inaccurate Claire fuselage according to my HRM.

http://www.damnyouautocorrect.com/

I've been using it for a week or so. I've also lost a bit of fat definitely (belt has got tighter) but I don't have any scales. I only do it roughly based on a best guess with some dishes. I don't have that many illusions about it being mega accurate but I think partly just the act of being aware about what you eat helps a lot.