Stupid (?) question: logging activity vs normal activity

mortuseon_

Hi,

I was wondering when to log activity, and when it is considered part of my daily activity level accounted for by the MFP goal. I log running workouts, for example, although I told MFP I'd be working out 3x/week. Does that mean I shouldn't log them? Similarly, I went for a long (2.5hrs) walk today, which is more than twice what I'd normally walk in a day. Is it therefore worth logging the 'extra' 1.5hrs or so, or does walking, regardless of length, still fall within the 'lightly active' bracket?

Sorry for the stupid questions. Just want to make sure I'm doing things accurately.

Thanks!

snickerscharlie

What do you currently have your MFP activity level set on?

mortuseon_

It's currently on 'lightly active', as I normally walk for at least an hour about 5 times a week as part of my daily activity. I did slightly increase my calorie intake manually, though (from 1340 to 1500), because I think it will be easier to sustain, at least for now. Not sure if that complicates things.

mortuseon_

bump!

Ready2Rock206

MFP doesn't do anything with those workouts you told it you would do. You can say you plan to work out 1 time a week or 100 - it would have no affect on the numbers because MFP assumes you add exercise separate. Now if you're also counting the runs in your lightly active selection then that's where you'd have to decide to log extra or not. That's not the way MFP is designed but you're free to use it however works best for you.

mortuseon_

Ready2Rock206 wrote: »

MFP doesn't do anything with those workouts you told it you would do. You can say you plan to work out 1 time a week or 100 - it would have no affect on the numbers because MFP assumes you add exercise separate. Now if you're also counting the runs in your lightly active selection then that's where you'd have to decide to log extra or not. That's not the way MFP is designed but you're free to use it however works best for you.

Thank you, that's helpful!

AnnPT77

That you told MFP you'd work out 3x per week is irrelevant. MFP only uses the "exercise X times a week for Y minutes" to show you your progress against your self-assigned goals on the exercise diary page. That setting has zero effect on how many calories it will suggest you eat.

The "activity level" setting is the one that affects your calorie recommendation.

I'd suggest using MFP as designed: When you start out, set your "activity level" based on your life outside of intentional exercise - things like your job, routine chores around the house, that sort of thing. Then, use the MFP exercise diary to log any intentional exercise (and perhaps really-major extra unusual work, like if you hand-dig a new vegetable bed for 3 hours or something like that, that is non-recurring).

Eat close to your calorie goal every day, including eating back at least some of the exercise calories. (People worry about the MFP exercise database over-stating calories, so many folks suggest eating back 50% to start.) Stay on this course for 4 weeks or so, being reasonably consistent.

Then, evaluate your actual results.

Ignore the first couple of weeks: Many people see an unusual result at first due to changes in water weight and average digestive system contents. If you're a pre-menopausal woman, you might need to go for 6 weeks (total) to get really good data, since water weight changes due to monthly cycles can make things look odd temporarily.

Compare the average loss per week of the later weeks to your weight loss goal in MFP. If you lost more than your goal, eat more (increase your activity level setting, eat back a higher percentage of your exercise calories, or simply manually set your goal calories to a higher number. If you lost 3 pounds when you targeted losing 2 per week, eat about 500 calories more daily (because 3500 calories is roughly a pound). If you lost less than your target rate, reduce your activity level, or eat back a smaller percentage of your exercise.

There's not a lot of point, IMO, in over-thinking the settings up front. They're just a starting point. Just pick something reasonable, and evaluate results.

Your own results are a much better predictor of your weight loss than any calculator. The calculators are based on the averages from studies of large groups of people, but people vary a little around that group average. Also, the calculators rely on estimating inputs like "activity level", and your food & exercise logging are themselves estimates (no matter how accurate you are - though more accurate estimating is helpful).

In your specific case, I'd log the running, and the extra walking (since the latter was non-trivial).

mortuseon_

@AnnPT77 Thank you for the patient and comprehensive reply, it helps a lot

Jordan_Demelo77

You have to set it based off your lifestyle when you are not excersicing. I could excersice a lot but mostly I am at school or on my computer so I set it to not very active and then add in my excersices I do

snickerscharlie

As I have a desk job, I have my activity level set at sedentary. This assures that I don't unknowingly exceed the amount of calories needed in order to maintain my weight goals.

Any purposeful exercise either gets accounted for by my Fitbit if it's step-based, or entered manually by me as it occurs. For me, this is the most accurate method.