Anyone else who's activity level varies greatly?

oat_bran

I asked pretty much the same question a while ago, but got completely contradictory advice and from people who seem to not have experienced the same thing, so I'm asking again.

I'm a master's student and have 2 active very jobs, one of which I usually only go to 3 times a week, sometimes more. And another has a completely unpredictable schedule. So I have days where I spend the entire day at the library barely moving and other days where I run from class to one job and then to another.

The difference in activity between days is huge sometimes. My fitbit confirms it. The difference in my TDEE can be up to 1k calories. I can also feel the differences in my calorie levels. I'm so much hungrier on more active days.

So I have no idea how to use MFP method. What I've been doing in the last year or so is try to have the same deficit every day by adjusting my intake to the TDEE my fitbit reports. And it's been working for me somewhat ok. I feel less hungry on active days, but I feel much hungrier on less active days (which are rarer) because of the significantly lower intake. It's also quite complicated to constantly adjust my intake, my meals and having to guess my TDEE ahead of time. I also feel like my body has a very hard time getting used to being in deficit because my intaje is different every day and I end up being hungry a lot.

I was wondering if I should maybe try to find my average TDEE, and eat 500 cals (my chosen deficit) under that? Maybe it's better to develop a habit of being in deficit because the intake will always be the same.

I would really like to hear from people who have the same problem and who already have already experimented a bit with different approaches.

And by the way, before anyone starts saying how fitbits are inaccurate: I've been tracking my intake for over a year and my losses (and fains) correspond exactly to the TDEEs my fitbit estimates. I am only slightly lower weight than a year before because I usually gain everything I lose due to compulsive overeating and persistant hunger (a problem for another thread), but the losses and gain correspond to my fitbit's estimates.

TavistockToad

you can sync your fitbit to give you extra calories on active days and then look at your weekly goal so you can eat more on less active days and more on more active days?

you pretty much have answered your own question by the end of your post... you know your tdee, and your fitbit is accurate for losing/maintaining weight... just keep doing what you're doing?

mudonthetires856

I'm the same way. Some days I'm active, some days I'm sedentary. I have a fitbit as well and it is synced to MFP. On days that I'm sedentary, I eat what MFP tells me to. On days that I'm active, I eat 100-200 extra calories. I never eat all the calories that are given to me by the Fitbit adjustment since there is a possibility for inaccuracies. I'm set to lightly active, so when I do eat more, it's only when MFP adds extra calories for me to eat. It all evens out for me because I'm losing at the rate that I set MFP to.

tinkerbellang83

My activity level also varies from day-to-day. I have sedentary days because of my work but then 4/7 I am extremely active, usually doing 15000 steps, strength training and a run.

I have negative adjustments enabled from my Garmin (which is also fairly accurate), I've set myself to Lightly Active in MFP even though technically from work I am sedentary by MFP standards because I know I will walk at least 6km per day walking to/from work. This gives me a slightly higher baseline calorie goal for the day.

I meal plan/prep but can usually swap around my high/low days if my schedule changes and tend to snack more on the active days.

karahm78

I would set yourself to sedentary in MFP so you get a lower calorie goal. Then let the Fitbit give you adjustments from there, on active days you will earn more and you can eat more. That way on your low activity days you are not overeating.

slaite1

Try it out.
Lots of people do what you are suggesting. (TDEE method). I've never used mfp method, just because it would make me nuts. For other people it works great. I prefer to have a set number that I average. I eat when I'm hungry and I make sure it evens out at the end of the week. But I don't extra restrict myself on less active days. In fact, I find I'm often more hungry the day AFTER an active day, so I would rather just eat to the average.

You know your TDEE, and you know how to lose. Now you just have to figure out how to do it and not be unhappy/hungry. Try having average calories. If you find you're too hungry on active days, try out eating a just a bit more on those days and a bit less on days you're less hungry. If you find you're STILL overly hungry, perhaps it's time to slow your rate of loss. Never know until you try it out!

Machka9

My activity varies from a 2 km walk to a 300 km bicycle ride in a day.

I log my exercise in MFP and eat a portion of it back.

So on a 2 km walk day, I don't eat very much ... but on a 300 km bicycle ride day, I eat quite a bit.

Heather4448

Set it to sedentary and let your Fitbit adjust your calories.

watts6151

My less active days are around 4000cals
My busy days 5800-7000 cals
This is according to Fitbit

RAinWA

My activity level can vary greatly (some days I'll get around 20k steps and some days it's closer to 5k). I didn't get my Fitbit until I was in maintenance but I just use an average for my calories and it works fine. Take a look at your reports and find the average. It will be a lot more accurate than a TDEE calculator because it's your own data. Try it for a few weeks and adjust your calories if you are losing too fast or too slow.

Need2Exerc1se

karahm78 wrote: »

I would set yourself to sedentary in MFP so you get a lower calorie goal. Then let the Fitbit give you adjustments from there, on active days you will earn more and you can eat more. That way on your low activity days you are not overeating.

I agree with this. According to my Fitbit I've had days with < 3000 steps and days with >16,000 steps. And I don't wear the Fitbit on really active days because I'm usually getting too dirty and I can't stand having sweat and dirt under the band.

When I was logging on here this is the method I used.

not_a_runner

I enjoy the "average" TDEE method.
Some days I do cardio, lift, active at work, and hit around 17k steps. Other days are total rest days and maybe 6k steps. Some days are in between. (I have a set number of workouts and cardio sessions every week, so this is kept constant.)
I eat the same amount every day, regardless of my activity. If my weight is not trending down and that is the goal, I adjust calories down. I find this much simpler than trying to adjust daily according to what my Fitbit says (plus my fitbit doesn't give me much credit for lifting, or doing cardio on the recumbent bike.)

(Not to confuse- but I've also done the above and used weekly calories. Same amount, but I'll have higher and lower days if I know it's going to be an active vs rest day. Same concept, but I prefer not having to depend on the fitbit for adjustments. Fitbit don't know me like it thinks it knows me.)

oat_bran

TresaAswegan wrote: »

I enjoy the "average" TDEE method.
Some days I do cardio, lift, active at work, and hit around 17k steps. Other days are total rest days and maybe 6k steps. Some days are in between. (I have a set number of workouts and cardio sessions every week, so this is kept constant.)
I eat the same amount every day, regardless of my activity. If my weight is not trending down and that is the goal, I adjust calories down. I find this much simpler than trying to adjust daily according to what my Fitbit says (plus my fitbit doesn't give me much credit for lifting, or doing cardio on the recumbent bike.)

(Not to confuse- but I've also done the above and used weekly calories. Same amount, but I'll have higher and lower days if I know it's going to be an active vs rest day. Same concept, but I prefer not having to depend on the fitbit for adjustments. Fitbit don't know me like it thinks it knows me.)

Do you find that you feel hungrier on more active days eating the same number of calories?

not_a_runner

longstocking wrote: »

TresaAswegan wrote: »

I enjoy the "average" TDEE method.
Some days I do cardio, lift, active at work, and hit around 17k steps. Other days are total rest days and maybe 6k steps. Some days are in between. (I have a set number of workouts and cardio sessions every week, so this is kept constant.)
I eat the same amount every day, regardless of my activity. If my weight is not trending down and that is the goal, I adjust calories down. I find this much simpler than trying to adjust daily according to what my Fitbit says (plus my fitbit doesn't give me much credit for lifting, or doing cardio on the recumbent bike.)

(Not to confuse- but I've also done the above and used weekly calories. Same amount, but I'll have higher and lower days if I know it's going to be an active vs rest day. Same concept, but I prefer not having to depend on the fitbit for adjustments. Fitbit don't know me like it thinks it knows me.)

Do you find that you feel hungrier on more active days eating the same number of calories?

I usually feel more hunger the days when I do nothing, to be honest. But I think it's mostly mental. When I have a lot going on and am at the gym in the evenings I don't spend much time thinking about food. I get home, eat supper and it's almost time for bed.
When I'm home sitting on the couch all evening, 10 ft from the fridge, it takes much more restraint not to keep eating lol.

StarBrightStarBright

Just posting because I'm dealing with this right now and am having a hard time adjusting to it.

I am very sedentary during the weekdays (work from home and must be at my desk/connected to phone comp 9 hours a day) but on nice weekends will hit anywhere from 15k-20k steps a day. I end up feeling starving on weekends and Mondays from the activity and end up overeating from my baseline calories those days by two to five hundred calories or so.

My weight has been stalled for about a month so I haven't come up with a solution yet. I'm also within about 4 pounds of my goal weight so it might be a more natural stall.

I'm going to try and eat over on my calories by a few hundred on Thursdays and Fridays and see if that helps me sort of power-up for weekend activity, while keeping my weekend eating closer to my "sedentary" calorie baseline.

collectingblues

I create a custom goal based on an average from my watch (I don't have a Fitbit, but I have an Apple Watch) and use that instead of MFP. I figure that I'm pretty consistent from week to week, even if I'm not from day to day. So I may not be at a full deficit on some days, but I'm going to have a larger deficit on other days if that's when I'm doing my 10-mile run, or a long swim + routine walking.

But, using that custom goal means that I don't eat back any exercise calories, because it's already built in.

Angierae75

My Fitbit is set to sedentary so that if I have a non-active day, it doesn't take calories away. I have the same baseline calorie allotment every day. Extra active days = extra food.

Tacklewasher

In the camp of set MFP to sedentary and eat back whatever your activity is for the day, although I may not eat it that day but might save it for the weekend.

brznhabits

Personally, I can't take an average. I don't have a device to sync so instead I leave my setting low (sedentary/lightly active - I have a custom cal setting that's in between these two MFP recommendations)

I then log extra activity as exercise. Typically I log only half the extra activity (because activity estimates are generally high) and eat those cals back. If I'm highly active I'm usually hungry that day and sometimes I load up on intake before the activity (ex. hiking or skiing) else I'll crash and/or binge.

InkAndApples

I have exactly this situation - at work I get in a huge amount of steps every day but weekends and holidays I am sloth like levels of inactive. I wear my Fitbit every day and set my MFP to sedantary, then I eat any calories it gives me as an adjustment. I use a weekly calorie goal rather than daily which gives me loads more flexibility (I prefer to eat roughly the same every day rather than loads more on my active days). I use the workout setting on my Fitbit to log exercise (I have a charge 2 so it's really simple and quick to do) and I eat those too.

This method has actually helped me be more active during my holidays as that's the time I want to eat and socialise more, knowing I need the extra calories has seriously upped my gym game this week.

Losing on schedule for the last six months.

Francl27

Fitbit is accurate for me too.

Honestly, I'd just eat enough to be satisfied, make a note of whatever leftover calories I have on active days, and just use them up on days when I'm less hungry. It requires a bit of math but it's probably a safe bet.

oat_bran

TresaAswegan wrote: »

longstocking wrote: »

TresaAswegan wrote: »

I enjoy the "average" TDEE method.
Some days I do cardio, lift, active at work, and hit around 17k steps. Other days are total rest days and maybe 6k steps. Some days are in between. (I have a set number of workouts and cardio sessions every week, so this is kept constant.)
I eat the same amount every day, regardless of my activity. If my weight is not trending down and that is the goal, I adjust calories down. I find this much simpler than trying to adjust daily according to what my Fitbit says (plus my fitbit doesn't give me much credit for lifting, or doing cardio on the recumbent bike.)

(Not to confuse- but I've also done the above and used weekly calories. Same amount, but I'll have higher and lower days if I know it's going to be an active vs rest day. Same concept, but I prefer not having to depend on the fitbit for adjustments. Fitbit don't know me like it thinks it knows me.)

Do you find that you feel hungrier on more active days eating the same number of calories?

I usually feel more hunger the days when I do nothing, to be honest. But I think it's mostly mental. When I have a lot going on and am at the gym in the evenings I don't spend much time thinking about food. I get home, eat supper and it's almost time for bed.
When I'm home sitting on the couch all evening, 10 ft from the fridge, it takes much more restraint not to keep eating lol.

I often have the same problem. Some days I just run non stop and I'm too in a hurry and too stressed to feel hungry. But on sedentary days, especially when I'm supposed to be studying, it's so much more tempting to just procrastinate by snacking. And concentrating on reading is much more difficult due to cravings/hunger being more distracting... Especially if a sedentary day follows a very active day. I feel like my body catches up with all the energy lost the previous day and I feel soo hungry...