Calorie allowance doesn't change

tuxmomoftoo

My daily calorie allowance doesn't change regardless of the deficit I choose. It's 1200. I am 5', 138#, 42 yo. I walk on the treadmill 6 days a week and am also confused about sedentary/lightly active settings and whether or not I should be eating back my exercise calories.

Help!

MissusMoon

This is because you have VERY little weight to lose. MFP will not recommend you eat below 1200, ever. Typically it's a good idea to set your profile to sedentary and eat back 25-75% of your exercise calories.

tuxmomoftoo

My starting weight was 165 so I've lost 27# and it's never changed from 1200. Why wouldn't I set it at lightly active?

ogtmama

It's hard when you're short (i am too). I personally eat my 1200, then work out and only eat back approximately a quarter of the exercise calories back and make up a little extra deficit that way.

b3achy

So, the calculator I use (https://tdeecalculator.net/result.php?s=imperial&age=42&g=female&lbs=138&in=60&act=1.2&bf=&f=1), says that with a sedentary lifestyle for your height, weight, age, you should be around 1450 calories to maintain. Typically, to lose 1 pound a week, you subtract 500 calories per day (based on 3500 calories for 1 pound / 7 days per week = 500 calories per day); however, that puts you at 950 which is well below the daily recommended minimum for women, which is 1200. So MFP is never going to say less than 1200 if you are female, even though technically that is higher than you need to lose 1 pound a week. So in this case, you probably should eat at 1200, but you may want to try to work in enough exercise to make up the difference if you want to lose 1 pound a week (which technically should be about 250 calories / day of exercise). Normally, with MFP you can eat back your exercise calories since it calculates your cutting calories as if you were sedentary, but you are at the lower limit, so you will have to deal with it differently.

So, eating at 1200 you can only lose 1/2 pound a week since it's only a 250 calorie deficit rather than a 500 calorie deficit. But since you shouldn't eat less than 1200 / day, that's why I say you may want to make your exercise calories go toward trying to get up to a pound a week (which would be about 250 calories / day of exercise) rather than eating them back. But if you are okay with losing 1/2 pound a week instead of 1 pound a week, then eat back your exercise calories.

It all depends on your goals. I hope that helps somewhat.

BTW, I actually estimate my exercise calories burned per week, and then divide by 7 days, to get my daily extra calories. I rarely use these estimates on the calculators because they often seem a bit high for me. For example, if I think I can burn 1400 calories a week with exercise, then I estimate an extra 200 calories per day. I prefer to have a normalized / standard amount of calories per day rather than rollercoastering on the days I exercise. I might eat a bit more than the standard if I have an extra strenuous workout, but for the most part I try to keep things pretty level. But that is just personal preference, and you can do whatever you want/like.

tuxmomoftoo

Alright, I think this makes sense to me. So, if my exercise calories average 250 a day according to my Charge HR and I eat my 1200 calories a day, but not eat back the exercise, then I'd lose 1lb a week. Right?

Distinguishing between sedentary and lightly active doesn't have to do with the amount of exercise? I'm a stay at home mom...so mostly housework and errands.

tuxmomoftoo

One more question. Is my Fitbit calorie adjustment strictly exercise? If the adjustment was 250 is that my exercise calorie amount?

b3achy

BTW, I ran your numbers in the calculator at the link above. 167# at sedentary is 1596 to maintain; 138# at light activity is 1660 to maintain. You need over 1700 to see the calculator change for deficit since 1700 - 500 = 1200.

tuxmomoftoo wrote: »

Alright, I think this makes sense to me. So, if my exercise calories average 250 a day according to my Charge HR and I eat my 1200 calories a day, but not eat back the exercise, then I'd lose 1lb a week. Right?

That's sounds about right. Of course everyone is different, but numbers-wise that is right.

tuxmomoftoo wrote: »

One more question. Is my Fitbit calorie adjustment strictly exercise? If the adjustment was 250 is that my exercise calorie amount?

I don't have a clue about fitbits since I don't have one. Hopefully someone else can answer this for you.

tuxmomoftoo

Thank you so much, B3achy!! You have been a great help!