Activity level and Calories needed.

heatherwartanyan

Hi all,
According to bodybuilding on calorie intake. With my fitness level I'm highly active. And should be eating around 1600-1700calories. I usually do insanity or something similar. I'm s SAHM so I lead a pretty otherwise lightly active lifestyle. Folding laundry, cleaning house, playing with kids. My question is, Should I put my activity level at the higher active part? Its hard for me to eat 1200+ calories but im sure I need a bunch more. I also do intermittent fasting on some days, and always workout in a fasted state as I fell better that way. Should I just leave it where it's at then add exercise then consume what it says I need after that?
Thanks

LivingtheLeanDream

At the end of the day regardless of what way you set activity level the end result is the same. If you put sedentary and log all your exercise or if you log as active and don't add any exercise...
For me I prefer to be on active as I like to see a consistent figure/TDEE and eat to that amount (or if I wanted to lose, I'd eat at deficit of that)
My Fitbit also adjusts the end figure so on days when I've done more than active level (which happens alot) then it adds even more calories on.

If you are active and it sounds like you are, set it to active. The only exercise you would then log at all would be e.g high intensity training/ interval training/ running.

The main consensus is if you do more than 10000 steps a day you are active.

heatherwartanyan

I really like to see my daily exercise on my feed. It keep me motivated. So I guess if I keep.it as active and i log my exercises I should then eat the remaining amount wich will for sure bring me up. Tgabks

LivingtheLeanDream

as I said log anything other than day to day normal activity... that way you wont be thinking you can eat more than you think you can.

heatherwartanyan

So log in as just active not low. Then log in just my workouts. As for being a mom I guess walking alot around house keeps me moving

heatherwartanyan

So log in as just active not low. Then log in just my workouts. As for being a mom I guess walking alot around house keeps me moving

heatherwartanyan

Or would I put in lightly active then add my exercises? This whole things so confusing

cwolfman13

heatherwartanyan wrote: »

Or would I put in lightly active then add my exercises? This whole things so confusing

if you're using MFP as designed, you don't include exercise activity in your activity level, just your day to day humdrum. you account for exercise activity when you log it and then get those calories to eat back.

the other method used is called TDEE where you do include exercise in your activity level and thus some estimate of those requisite calories would be included in your target.

it's just an equation with the difference being where you account for exercise activity...with MFP you account for it on the *kitten* end...with TDEE you include it in your activity level. if you're including it in your activity level then you would obviously be double dipping if you were to then again log it and eat those calories back.

the two methods are 6 of 1 half dozen of the other if you're doing it right and comparing apples to apples rate of loss goals...

MFP & TDEE to lose 1 Lb per week...

2,000 calories. let's say I exercise for an average of 300 calories per day with exercise...2000 + 300 (eat back) = 2,300 calories

TDEE (includes estimate of exercise in activity level plus all other activity) = 2,800 calories (maintenance)....less 500 calories to lose 1 Lb per week = 2,300 calories.

6 of 1....

LKArgh

If you are going to log exercise, and if you spend most of the day at home, I would log as sedentary. Yes, I know that taking care of kids and doing chores takes time, but still I would not consider this as even lightly active. Not a couch potato obviously, but not active for MFP purposes.

Lovee_Dove7

heatherwartanyan wrote: »

Hi all,
According to bodybuilding on calorie intake. With my fitness level I'm highly active. And should be eating around 1600-1700calories. I usually do insanity or something similar. I'm s SAHM so I lead a pretty otherwise lightly active lifestyle. Folding laundry, cleaning house, playing with kids. My question is, Should I put my activity level at the higher active part? Its hard for me to eat 1200+ calories but im sure I need a bunch more. I also do intermittent fasting on some days, and always workout in a fasted state as I fell better that way. Should I just leave it where it's at then add exercise then consume what it says I need after that?
Thanks

I'm with you, I have to eat at least 1600-1800cals a day, so I make sure to exercise enough to support that. I lose at a rate of 2lbs a week. I lift 3-5 times a week (30min in the early morning), and walk or ride my bike daily.
I am also SAHM and I'm 46yo.

heatherwartanyan

Ok so i put it at light or sedentary and have a caloric need of 1200. So when I log in my exercises say 500 that would give me 1700 calories to eat daily?is that correct?

juggernaut1974

heatherwartanyan wrote: »

Ok so i put it at light or sedentary and have a caloric need of 1200. So when I log in my exercises say 500 that would give me 1700 calories to eat daily?is that correct?

Assuming you've accurately measured your 500 calorie exercise burn, yes.

heatherwartanyan

I use a heart rate monitor I always put in what it says. However, I know my afterburner should be higher since I usually do tabata style and HIIT types of workout.

juggernaut1974

heatherwartanyan wrote: »

I use a heart rate monitor I always put in what it says. However, I know my afterburner should be higher since I usually do tabata style and HIIT types of workout.

I tend not to put too much trust into HRMs or machine readouts...my trial and error results show they tend to overstate calorie burns.

That said, go with it, and monitor your results after several weeks. If it's not matching up to expectations, then make adjustments as necessary.

heatherwartanyan

Thanks. Considering the intensity of my workouts, along with my somewhat active lifestyle I'm going to try around. 1600-1800 I never really cared about calories since I eat really nutrient dense organic whole foods and rarely processed. But since I hit a plateau and seemed to gain some weight. I decided to start tracking my daily intake, onny to find out I wasn't even getting 1200. So I'm going to uptake my healthy fats and add more to my post workout shakes. I found a great calorie bomb shake recipe and I will add egg. Thanks for everyones feed back.