Still very confused

Bill617

This is my third time using myfitnesspal and I am as confused now as I was the first time three years ago. I am a 65 year old male and when I fill out my profile I considered myself to be sedentary because I sit on my butt much of the day. However on most days I spend a few hours working in the garage, home repair, gardening, shoveling snow or helping take care of my daughter's livestock. Should the time spent doing those tasks count that as "exercise"? Also I do not understand why I should spend the time burning calories exercising when I just turn around eat that many more calories. Just doesn't make a lot of sense if one does "exercise" and then has to replace those calories by eating more. Why not just sit on the couch and eat just the number of calories suggested? I am posting this in both the food and exercise forums since I am unsure which one it should be in. Thanks,

SergeantSausage

Exercise for health, bro.

Eat for weight loss.

psuLemon

Honestly, if you do a lot of yard/garage work, it may be beneficial to set your account to lightly active and not worry about exercise calories. It's all a little trial and error. So pick one setting, track your calories daily and if you aren't losing at the rate you should be, adjust. But with 170 lbs to lose, right now, you have room for error.

Another approach is set your account to sedentary and if you are hungry, eat an extra 200 calories (it's pretty much what your increase will be with going to lightly active).

malibu927

Your activity level includes everything you do on a day-to-day basis, i.e. work, errands, caring for children or animals, so those should generally not be counted as exercise. It does make it sound like you aren't truly sedentary, though.

Since MFP gives you your goal without considering exercise, those calories should be eaten back to ensure you're remaining in a proper deficit and consuming enough nutrients to fuel your body. However, it's suggested to only eat back 50-75% of those calories to account for overestimation of burns.

af_wife2004

How many calories a day (on average) are you eating? I like this website to give me a general census on where I should be http://www.scientificpsychic.com/health/count-calories.html Their numbers have always worked better for me than this website. (enter your current weight to see how many calories you need to maintain your weight, and then enter your desired weight to see where your goal should be.) MFP says I should be at 1200 cal per day. I just end up with no weight loss and raging headaches. When I shoot for 1500-1600, I lose at a steady rate and feel better.