Settings help

lyns4wilson

I have become really confused over the past few months about the settings for my fitness pal when using the Charge HR 2 and wondered if anyone can set me right?
I'm unsure whether to set MFP activity level at low or lightly active? I work 3 days per week mostly at a desk/seated. I try to get 10000 steps each day. I usually have 2 walks per week that put my steps up to 18000-20000. 3 weeks out of 6 that is my main exercise then the other 3 weeks I go to spin class 2 times per week and 1 combat class on top of the walking as hubbys home from offshore.
Im not sure how much of my exercise calories to eat back, do i enable negative calorie adjustments and what do I set my activity level at?
Im so confused and havent lost weight for 5weeks, just maintained. I have lost 9lbs since January. I have weighed and measured my food so Im guessing i have something wrong on my settings but it's strange that the weight came off to start.
I've been using MFP for 3years and lost 60lbs easily to start then put 19lbs back on which im really struggling to lose now. I didn't have a fitbit when I lost the weight initially and I thought it would help.
Thanks

toxikon

I like to use this TDEE calculator to determine my sedentary TDEE as my baseline: http://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/

Then I just log my exercises as I complete them and eat back about half the calories.

For example, my sedentary TDEE is 1700. I'm eating at a 300 calorie deficit, so I consume 1400 calories. If I'm lazy and don't do much all day, I just eat 1400 calories. If I go for a half hour run, Strava tells me I burned 300 calories. To be safe, I eat back 150 for a total 1550 for the whole day.

Hope that helps.

Maxematics

If your Fitbit is linked to MFP, you really should set yourself as Sedentary, enable negative adjustments, and let Fitbit adjust your calorie allotment.