Please advise on wether I'm eating too much or too little!

bodie83carla

Thanks guys maybe I'm being too impatient! It was so easy before as I just kept eating till calories on MFP said "0" lol.

StaciMarie1974

Sorry, was away for a bit. Look for where it shows calories burned on prior days. The same # should be used in the in/out area for calories consumed vs calories used. The calories burned # for today is not complete, since the day is not over. This is TDEE (if you average it out over a week or so) based on actual movement rather than trying an online calculator.

Think of a car. If all else is equal, a large car is going to use more gas to get from point A to point B than a small car. The same for a human body. All else being equal, a larger body is going to use more energy to get thru the day than a smaller body. So yes, at 5'1" and 130 pounds your body uses less energy now than it did 3 months ago when you weighed 144. But a 2 week 'stall' is not automatically a sign of a problem.

bodie83carla

StaciMarie1974 wrote: »

Sorry, was away for a bit. Look for where it shows calories burned on prior days. The same # should be used in the in/out area for calories consumed vs calories used. The calories burned # for today is not complete, since the day is not over. This is TDEE (if you average it out over a week or so) based on actual movement rather than trying an online calculator.

Think of a car. If all else is equal, a large car is going to use more gas to get from point A to point B than a small car. The same for a human body. All else being equal, a larger body is going to use more energy to get thru the day than a smaller body. So yes, at 5'1" and 130 pounds your body uses less energy now than it did 3 months ago when you weighed 144. But a 2 week 'stall' is not automatically a sign of a problem.

Hi!

I've added up 7 days of Fitbit "calories out" and divided by 7 - 2078 is the average. Some days I walk around 14,000 steps but always hit 10,000 as an average except the very odd day.

Does this mean my TDEE should be around 2078? What about net calories?

Thanks again for all of your advice!

StaciMarie1974

Yes, sounds like 2078 is your TDEE and based on 10k-14k steps a day, and your height/weight - this is more reasonable.

"Net Calories" is a MFP term and not a factor in real life. Make sure you're eating enough to meet nutritional needs, which for a female not under a doctor's/dietician's care is typically assumed to be 1200 calories per day. Eat enough to feel energetic. If you experience problem signs (low energy, dizziness, headaches, etc.) don't ignore it.

If what you're doing is working, keep it up. If its not, then look for ways to improve accuracy. The key thing to understand though is that in this 'game' you judge results over time. And water weight has a big impact on the # that shows on the scale. In your case, the 14 pounds in 3 months shows it is working even though the last 2 weeks show no loss. In my opinion, as women our monthly cycles have the biggest impact on water weight. So compare your weight today to your weight a month ago. If you're lower now, you're on the right track. Comparing day to day or week to week does not always tell the full story.

"bodie83carla wrote:

Hi!

I've added up 7 days of Fitbit "calories out" and divided by 7 - 2078 is the average. Some days I walk around 14,000 steps but always hit 10,000 as an average except the very odd day.

Does this mean my TDEE should be around 2078? What about net calories?

Thanks again for all of your advice!

psuLemon

bodie83carla wrote: »

StaciMarie1974 wrote: »

Sorry, was away for a bit. Look for where it shows calories burned on prior days. The same # should be used in the in/out area for calories consumed vs calories used. The calories burned # for today is not complete, since the day is not over. This is TDEE (if you average it out over a week or so) based on actual movement rather than trying an online calculator.

Think of a car. If all else is equal, a large car is going to use more gas to get from point A to point B than a small car. The same for a human body. All else being equal, a larger body is going to use more energy to get thru the day than a smaller body. So yes, at 5'1" and 130 pounds your body uses less energy now than it did 3 months ago when you weighed 144. But a 2 week 'stall' is not automatically a sign of a problem.

Hi!

I've added up 7 days of Fitbit "calories out" and divided by 7 - 2078 is the average. Some days I walk around 14,000 steps but always hit 10,000 as an average except the very odd day.

Does this mean my TDEE should be around 2078? What about net calories?

Thanks again for all of your advice!

If the algorithms are correct, then yes your tdee would be almost 2100 calories. Your consumption would have to be less than that. Not net... but total.

bodie83carla

Thanks to both of you! Understanding it a lot more now