Advice Please

nmmom2

I would like some advice on how I am doing. I am using Heybales Excel Sheet and tracking measurements. I have seen success in measurements, but not weight. I have MFP set at sedentary even though I do 90 minutes strength training and approx. 237 minutes cardio (usually walking) per week. That is conservative. I have a really hard time meeting my carb and protein macros and end up going over on fat and sugar. (I have a bad sweet tooth). Here are my stats so far:

Ht: 5’6”
January Start Wt: 174lbs TDEE: 2102
March Current Wt: 172.5 TDEE: 2159
4 Inches Lost off waist
3 inches off thighs
4 inches off hips

jerilynconn

Those are some excellent inches lost in only two months! Measurements/getting smaller is more important than the scale.

So, if mfp is set to sedentary- are you eating the amount the spreadsheet says? Or what mfp says?

Also, why do you have 2 different tdee's listed?

nmmom2

saranharm wrote: »

Those are some excellent inches lost in only two months! Measurements/getting smaller is more important than the scale.

So, if mfp is set to sedentary- are you eating the amount the spreadsheet says? Or what mfp says?

Also, why do you have 2 different tdee's listed?

I am using what Heybales Spreadsheet calculates for my TDEE and I manually enter that as my Calorie Goal in MFP. I also set my Macros in MFP to 40/30/30.

I do log my exercise into MFP and try to eat back some of my exercise calories, but I am having a hard time eating that many.

I try to weigh/measurements every couple weeks and look at the number of minutes of exercise I logged for the week. I then recalculate my TDEE on the spreadsheet. That's the reason there are two different TDEE's.

heybales

Ok, that's probably the problem.

To use MFP as designed - meaning logging exercise and eating back those calories - you must also start with activity level that is honest to the non-exercise part of the day.
And then with the emphasis the group has - take a reasonable deficit.

But you are attempting to do TDEE method - which includes exercise in the estimate already.

So you are doubling up on exercise calories being eaten basically, the pre-planned ones are spread throughout the week, and the actual ones on the day it's done with however many you manage to eat - no wonder hard to eat them.

Too many calories. And considering you sound like you set eating goal to TDEE - you should not lose weight anyway.

MFP settings don't matter if you manually enter an eating goal - but you also can't log exercise calories for eating back.
For logging exercise - just make a wall post of what you did. Check out my profile page for example.

So you are kind of doing an activity tracker average TDEE method - past week exercise time is used for future week estimate.

That's ok if the time spent doing that doesn't bother you - some have fun with numbers and stats and it they enjoy doing it, keeps them focused. Also can help with seasonal changes and to workout changes. I'd suggest 2 week rolling average though, skipping non-normal weeks like sick or vacation or helping others and missing workouts.

But looking at those TDEE estimates - 15% would be about 1830 calories if you are no longer on a reset and actually attempting to lose fat.

But I'd confirm you have been eating high enough for long enough to have a healthy full burning body back.

Then you can actually use on the Progress tab the TDEE calculator on the far right, if food logging is accurate as can be.

nmmom2

heybales wrote: »

Ok, that's probably the problem.

To use MFP as designed - meaning logging exercise and eating back those calories - you must also start with activity level that is honest to the non-exercise part of the day.
And then with the emphasis the group has - take a reasonable deficit.

But you are attempting to do TDEE method - which includes exercise in the estimate already.

So you are doubling up on exercise calories being eaten basically, the pre-planned ones are spread throughout the week, and the actual ones on the day it's done with however many you manage to eat - no wonder hard to eat them.

Too many calories. And considering you sound like you set eating goal to TDEE - you should not lose weight anyway.

MFP settings don't matter if you manually enter an eating goal - but you also can't log exercise calories for eating back.
For logging exercise - just make a wall post of what you did. Check out my profile page for example.

So you are kind of doing an activity tracker average TDEE method - past week exercise time is used for future week estimate.

That's ok if the time spent doing that doesn't bother you - some have fun with numbers and stats and it they enjoy doing it, keeps them focused. Also can help with seasonal changes and to workout changes. I'd suggest 2 week rolling average though, skipping non-normal weeks like sick or vacation or helping others and missing workouts.

But looking at those TDEE estimates - 15% would be about 1830 calories if you are no longer on a reset and actually attempting to lose fat.

But I'd confirm you have been eating high enough for long enough to have a healthy full burning body back.

Then you can actually use on the Progress tab the TDEE calculator on the far right, if food logging is accurate as can be.

Thank you. That makes complete sense. So I went back to the worksheet and took out all exercise minutes. That took my TDEE to 2008. So can I now log my calories and eat them back on MFP?

Sorry still trying to make sense of it all. Thank you for your help.

jerilynconn

You could do that or

Put in original tdee in mfp. When entering exercise cals: manually change to 1 calorie. This is probably more accurate (unless you have a body device, i think) because mfp and/or treadmills can give inflated calories burnt.

nmmom2

saranharm wrote: »

You could do that or

Put in original tdee in mfp. When entering exercise cals: manually change to 1 calorie. This is probably more accurate (unless you have a body device, i think) because mfp and/or treadmills can give inflated calories burnt.

Ok, thank you:)

heybales

nmmom2 wrote: »

heybales wrote: »

Ok, that's probably the problem.

To use MFP as designed - meaning logging exercise and eating back those calories - you must also start with activity level that is honest to the non-exercise part of the day.
And then with the emphasis the group has - take a reasonable deficit.

But you are attempting to do TDEE method - which includes exercise in the estimate already.

So you are doubling up on exercise calories being eaten basically, the pre-planned ones are spread throughout the week, and the actual ones on the day it's done with however many you manage to eat - no wonder hard to eat them.

Too many calories. And considering you sound like you set eating goal to TDEE - you should not lose weight anyway.

MFP settings don't matter if you manually enter an eating goal - but you also can't log exercise calories for eating back.
For logging exercise - just make a wall post of what you did. Check out my profile page for example.

So you are kind of doing an activity tracker average TDEE method - past week exercise time is used for future week estimate.

That's ok if the time spent doing that doesn't bother you - some have fun with numbers and stats and it they enjoy doing it, keeps them focused. Also can help with seasonal changes and to workout changes. I'd suggest 2 week rolling average though, skipping non-normal weeks like sick or vacation or helping others and missing workouts.

But looking at those TDEE estimates - 15% would be about 1830 calories if you are no longer on a reset and actually attempting to lose fat.

But I'd confirm you have been eating high enough for long enough to have a healthy full burning body back.

Then you can actually use on the Progress tab the TDEE calculator on the far right, if food logging is accurate as can be.

Thank you. That makes complete sense. So I went back to the worksheet and took out all exercise minutes. That took my TDEE to 2008. So can I now log my calories and eat them back on MFP?

Sorry still trying to make sense of it all. Thank you for your help.

Remember TDEE means TOTAL Daily energy expended.

If you remove exercise it's no longer TDEE. It's Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) + BMR + TEF (Thermal Effect Food). You could say non-exercise TDEE, but not really TDEE then.

In which case you do want to log exercise when actually done and you'll eat back those calories - then just setup MFP and use it the way it was intended.

Which means starting with the activity level - very few are actually Sedentary per that definition. On days I sit for work and sit around after work - I still am given a positive adjustment based on Fitbit and what I did really do.

So if you have kids or pets or family you are active for in evening - Lightly Active easily. Perhaps more if playing with kids and pets and family above just cooking/cleaning.

Then pick a reasonable weight loss goal, 0.5 lbs per 20-25 lbs to lose. Depends on how much exercise is planned, if little, upper range - if lots, lower range.

Let MFP set your eating goal, and accurately log your exercise and eat those calories back.
And accurate logging means time is correct for intensity done. Like spin class for 45 min should not include 5 min warmup and cooldown and 5 min stretching - that's only 30 min actually doing spin then.
The walking and running entries are right on, if you get the pace correct. Eventually getting the pace up to 3.8 mph before coming back down doesn't mean the 60 min was at 3.8 mph - not if total distance was 3 miles.
That kind of thing.

If you do not want to eat back exercise calories, do as suggested above and change the calculator back to include exercise and true estimate of TDEE.

Oh, suggest just making a wall post for exercise done, unless you truly review your exercise diary and try to obtain to the goals shown, then 1 cal entries make sense. But most I've seen don't use the diary.