Setting intake goals

loratliff

Hi all,

I started my MFP journey in May of last year and have since lost 28 pounds AND discovered a true love for running! I'm feeling great and am down to the last ~10 or so pounds I want to lose.

When I first started, I set my activity level at "Sedentary," because it was mostly true. I wasn't working out, but living in NYC, I do still walk more than most so I would eat back some of the calories from logging my steps. This system worked well for me.

When I started running, I kept my activity level at Sedentary and would use a HRM to accurately track the calorie burn. Some days I'd eat calories back, other days I wouldn't simply because I wasn't hungry.

Now that I'm consistently running 3-4 times per week and strength training at least two other days, I'm unsure of what to do. I've calculated my TDEE, etc., but I'm unsure how exercise comes into play with that since people burn calories at a different rate. Should I keep my activity level at Sedentary and add my exercise calories, or if I set my activity level at "Active" are those calories already accounted for?

Any demystifying appreciated!

segacs

If you've been logging and tracking since last May, you should have a fair idea of what your actual (not calculated but observed) TDEE has been based on actual calories consumed and actual rate of weight loss.

If you know that, then you can take that minus 20% and just eat that amount all the time, and not add back your exercise calories.

TimothyFish

When using TDEE-20% (or whatever) as your goal, what you are attempting to do is to average your calories burned across the week. I prefer the MFP method because even though I exercise nearly everyday and ride the same route, I don't exercise at the same intensity and sometimes I ride longer than others. This week, I'm riding my mountain bike because the road bike is broken. My average speed is significantly reduced and so are my calorie burns. If I were setting my goal manually using TDEE, I would be overeating this week.

loratliff

TimothyFish wrote: »

When using TDEE-20% (or whatever) as your goal, what you are attempting to do is to average your calories burned across the week. I prefer the MFP method because even though I exercise nearly everyday and ride the same route, I don't exercise at the same intensity and sometimes I ride longer than others. This week, I'm riding my mountain bike because the road bike is broken. My average speed is significantly reduced and so are my calorie burns. If I were setting my goal manually using TDEE, I would be overeating this week.

Thanks, that's what I was concerned about re: TDEE. I do travel and have weeks where I'm lucky to run 30 minutes, but then weeks where I have a few long runs.

segacs

Yeah, it's really one of those things where it's up to you.

Some people prefer to eat the same amount every day to make it easier to meal plan. Averaging out their burns using the TDEE method works well for those people.

Other people prefer to log exercise separately in order to motivate themselves to exercise, or to keep their calorie deficit consistent on days when they do different amounts of exercise. If that method works well for you, then keep on doing what you're doing. Just log the new exercise the same way you have been with the old exercise.

Be aware that strength training burns far fewer calories than cardio. That's not really the point of doing it; it has other benefits, like helping you preserve lean muscle mass while you lose, and thus tone up. But it won't be enormously impacting your calories.

loratliff

Thank, segacs! I guess you're right that if what's working is working, there's no reason to change it. As you suggest, I usually don't log strength training for calories since running burns so many—strength training is just for lean muscle and injury prevention.