Lightly active or active?

TeaBea

cocobot2013 wrote: »

But I'm never sure on how many calories I've actually burned to log in? And I don't want to guess and overestimate! The treadmill usually is 260 but that's the only number I know of.. but should I switch it to active now instead and work with those calories? And just see how that goes without adding in exercise calories of any sort yet?

Just because you don't have an exact figure is not a good reason to pick zero.

Zero certainly isn't a closer estimate than the number on the treadmill.

ilovesweeties

Hi,
I am also 5 9, trying to maintain on >2500/day (but I weigh a good bit more than you). I get what you mean though, its hard to imagine you can eat that much after cutting calories for so long! We are lucky girls though, being tall, means we have a lot of calories to play with. I try to enjoy them and understand that while I worked hard to get the weight off, the game now is just keeping it off, not trying to my lowest number on the scale! I have a sedentary office job, but I walk at least 10,000 steps/day and I run three times a week as well.

If you really are interested in what your burn is, you could try a FitBit or some other wristband. I get that they are a bit of financial outlay, but I get piece of mind from knowing a bit better what my burn is. I had the Flex while I was losing and have had the Charge HR for my first couple of months maintenance. I had been eating at ~250/day less than what FitBit says I burn, and I seemed to be losing at roughly that rate (like I said, I am trying to maintain, but that much food it taking a while to get my head around).

Good luck!

cocobot2013

I'm thankful for being tall for that reason too lol! I love food so much, I don't think I could do it if I was 5 ft and under... Lol, but thank you for the advice! It is hard to up calories and play around with them after having a set calorie range for so long.. (not complaining about more food though lol) its mainly a mind thing for me I think.. I still think adding more each day will result immediately in weight gain lol but how accurate would you say your fitbit is though? I gotten one months back but I was still losing so I ended up giving it away, completely forgot that once I got to a certain weight I needed to switch to maintenance lol

Cynthiamr2015

Active and you are doing GREAT. Keep up the good work!

ilovesweeties

cocobot2013 wrote: »

but how accurate would you say your fitbit is though?

I definitely wouldn't live or die by the quality of my FitBit data! It's just a fancier way of guessing, really. However, I've estimated my TDEE with an online calculator and FitBit bit tallies up with it, perhaps giving me a little more than TDEE would.

As I said, I have still been losing, despite aiming to maintain- I've dropped 4-5 lbs since I started maintenance (10 weeks ago). My logging tells me I have been at an average 250/day deficit compared to my FitBit burn for that time... so the weight loss is roughly equal to what FitBit would predict!

As everyone else in the thread (and elsewhere) says, there is a little trial and error involved and a your weight might go up by a pound or two as you add calories. We need to remember there is no way all those lbs can come back overnight! I like maintenance aim of being able to eat as much as possible at a stable weight- seems like a great reward for the hard work of losing. So perhaps taking a deep breath and accepting a gain of a pound or two in the short term is really worth it for a healthy, happy relationship with food, where you can choose and enjoy the food you want and know you are doing a good thing for body and mind. At least that is what I am trying to tell myself!

segacs

Reading through the responses here, I'd say you should set it to active, log your activity and eat back those exercise calories on top of that, AND set your goal to gain ~10lbs or so. You're underweight and need to gain back some weight for your health.

Also, it seems to me like you might be overdoing it on the cardio. Too much is not better for you. Maybe cut back on some of the cardio workouts and integrate some strength training instead? That's a good way to ensure that more of your gain will be muscle as opposed to fat.

nxd10

See how it goes. Everyone is different. I set myself to active because that's what everything said I should be, but then wasn't losing until I went to lightly active.

Also, do invest in a fitbit zip. I got mine for $39 on ebay. It just does steps. It syncs with MFP and you can eat back your calories. You may be using more than you think.

(I was under 130 at 5'10" when I was in my teens - not because I tried, but because I just moved a lot. I got up to 150 by the time I was in my 20's and that became my stable adult weight - and what I am now. Bodies change.)

cocobot2013

I've really considered getting a fitbit again, if I do should I keep it at lightly active and then add in what the fitbit says? I've been eating a bit more through the week and not so much one specific day, I'm trying to learn moderation, not binge and restrict! Its hard because I've done it the other way for months and months, but I feel like easing up and learning moderation will be better long term to keep this weight off! And about my health, I really don't feel bad usually, some days I'm extremely hungrier for no reason but I eat every few hours and I never skip meals, I eat when I'm hungry and sometimes still eat my snack or whatever when I don't feel hungry! I also increased my weights a little bit! Thank you for the responses!

segacs

cocobot2013 wrote: »

I'm trying to learn moderation, not binge and restrict! Its hard because I've done it the other way for months and months, but I feel like easing up and learning moderation will be better long term to keep this weight off!

Yes, this! Exactly!

As for determining the exact number, any caculator number -- on MFP, on IIFYM, on Fitbit -- will just be a guess. Take your best guess, try eating that for 4-6 weeks, and then if you're losing weight, adjust upwards. If you're gaining too much, adjust downwards. Trial and error.

cocobot2013

Should I first only eat half back of what it says? I think I'm gonna buy a fitbit this week! Do I include all calories burned for the day as well? I'm also curious if I workout in the afternoon, I dont wanna eat too much extra for breakfast and lunch incase my burn isn't what i thought it'd b

cocobot2013

** how do you plan your food for the day if you do afternoon workouts?

heybales

After a couple days it's pretty easy to know what the workouts burn and how much more you'll get to eat. So you eat a tad more prior perhaps to ensure you get a really strong workout, and then perhaps some afterwards if no meal close by, or if there is a meal - bigger dinner or snack before bed.

If you do the Fitbit - use that best estimate.
Sync with MFP (hope it works if you use the apps only) - let MFP correct it's estimate of daily burn with Fitbit reported daily burn - and eat to your daily goal.

Fitbit is going to be underestimating your daily burn already - so eat all the adjustment that shows up.

And depending on which model - you may need to manually log some workouts on Fitbit anyway to correct for bad estimates of calories burned.

cocobot2013

A nicer snack before bed sounds good but I was gonna get the fitbit charge! Do you only eat back exercise calories or do you include the step tracking calories too??

cocobot2013

I ordered the fitbit charge HR this afternoon!

heybales

cocobot2013 wrote: »

A nicer snack before bed sounds good but I was gonna get the fitbit charge! Do you only eat back exercise calories or do you include the step tracking calories too??

You'll want to read this to understand what is going on. Fitbit is providing a daily burn that includes daily activity and exercise combined.
MFP only estimated daily activity. It is correctly everything with better estimate at once.

Because strictly speaking as to what is happening - the question doesn't have an answer. But you eat the daily goal given on MFP.
And you manually log strength training on Fitbit as Weights. Because HR-based calorie burn is inflated.
If only 15 min lifting 2 x weekly, who cares. If 45 min 6 x weekly - that matters.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10098937/faq-syncing-logging-food-exercise-calorie-adjustments-activity-levels-accuracy

cocobot2013

What do you mean the HR burn is inflated?That all confuses me right now cause I have no idea about a fitbit lol hopefully when it comes in that will answer all my questions about it though! Thank you so much for posting that, it will be really helpful! If I have any questions that go unanswered about it is it alright to ask you for advice on it?

heybales

That FAQ answers questions you may not even think of. That group the FAQ is in is great place for advice and usage and issues and experiences and challenges to get friends on both sites.

The inflated aspect has to do with the fact that the formula that takes HR and calculates calories from it is only valid for steady-state aerobic exercise, same HR for 2-4 min.

I was referring specifically to lifting. Lifting is anaerobic if done correctly, and no where near steady-state - your HR is up and down constantly. But never down to the level that standing resting requires. Therefore inflated for what is really needed.

Like stand or sit and take your pulse right now.
That's the level of HR needed for that much activity, which isn't much.
Now you take that HR between sets of lifting.
It'll never go that low unless you rest for a way long time. The HR is elevated not because of level of effort right then, but recovery from the hard part. But sitting or standing you are burning the same as now sitting or standing, HR is inflated you would say from what is needed for that level of effort.

Like watching a moving and getting scared to death and HR is racing. You aren't burning more calories than just sitting there normally, HR is bad indicator then.

cocobot2013

Should I have just ordered the fitbit charge then? I want the one that's most accurate and easy to use.:( I'm nervous now that I'd eat back too many calories if it increases my burn from getting scared or when I get anxious. Which do you recommend?

segacs

cocobot2013 wrote: »

Should I have just ordered the fitbit charge then? I want the one that's most accurate and easy to use.:( I'm nervous now that I'd eat back too many calories if it increases my burn from getting scared or when I get anxious. Which do you recommend?

I think you have to know what Fitbit is and isn't tracking.

Fitbit Charge won't be any more accurate for lifting than any other Fitbit, because all it can monitor is steps and heart rate. Neither of those things accurately measure calorie burns for things like lifting.

Best with lifting to just estimate really low calorie burns. You don't burn much when lifting anyway, unless you do a ton of it. And that's not the main goal of strength training anyway.

cocobot2013

But just for regular day to day kind of thing I'm nervous that it'll give me more just daily burned calories than just the charge? Because of the heart rate and getting nervous anxious or excited? Also do you set your activity level as sedentary if you add calories from the fitbit?

heybales

HR-based calorie burn is only used for exercise when the HR goes up enough and steps are high enough to indicate that's what is going on.
Plus if you have naturally high or med induced higher HR, after a week it'll see what it calls your resting HR is higher, and then adjust what is going on.

Otherwise the daily slower stuff is step based calorie burn.

And that's the way it should be.


And ditto above comment - when you manually log Weights on Fitbit first time, you might be surprised how little you get compared to cardio, or what was there before you replaced it. Still counts, just not huge.


The MFP activity level used just depends on what you desire and what side effects you can adjust to.

For instance, if set to Sedentary and even your daily life is well above, with exercise even more - then you'll get big calorie adjustments as MFP corrects it's guess of your daily burn, and therefore adjusts your eating level to match.

If you can deal with those adjustments and reach your eating goal - no problem. Or you learn that you'll have easy 400 say to makeup by end of day. Not too hard. During dinner and evening snacks you learn to hit your mark.

Then again, you may want to see daily goal start at more honest higher level to plan your day well with smaller adjustments, so you select higher activity level.

The issue there is at night when your active day basically stops (TV and sleep), say 4 hrs before midnight.
MFP is still estimating hourly calorie burn at higher level which isn't really happening, combined with Fitbit's reported calorie burn up to then.
So if you met eating goal at 8 pm, upon first sync the next day MFP would discover from Fitbit you didn't burn that much final 4 hrs, adjust your eating goal down, and you would have gone over your eating goal.
That amount of difference won't change if the evening routine doesn't change much - so you just learn to be under goal by whatever the difference is. Knowing the next day it'll adjust back down and you'll meet goal.

The negatives of either method can be easily dealt with, and once figured out, you won't even think about it.