Now that I'm exercising for 20 minutes a day, how should my calories be looking?

AshlynnHH

I lost 20+ and today I just started doing 20 minutes(half walking and half dancing) I noticed that now
I'm getting more hungry the past couple of days along with gaining a sweet tooth. My life on here is labeled sedentary at 1800 calories to lose a lb a week. Should I be labeled as lightly active which would raise my count to 2000 or just keep it as is and try and find even low calorie but high filling food?

psuLemon

For only 20 minutes, I wouldn't increase my activity level. If anything, it might be 50 or 100 calories at most.

cmazurek85

how much more do you have to lose? for 20 mins a day, unless you're doing highly vigorous exercises that really spike your workout, I wouldn't add any additional food to your diet just yet.

AshlynnHH

I have ~80 more lbs to lose. Yeah, It's not like I'm working out vigorously depending some dances are moderate. The walking is new to my exercise, though.

psuLemon

AshlynnHeartful wrote: »

I have ~80 more lbs to lose. Yeah, It's not like I'm working out vigorously depending some dances are moderate. The walking is new to my exercise, though.

How much weight are you losing per week?

kshama2001

AshlynnHeartful wrote: »

I lost 20+ and today I just started doing 20 minutes(half walking and half dancing) I noticed that now
I'm getting more hungry the past couple of days along with gaining a sweet tooth. My life on here is labeled sedentary at 1800 calories to lose a lb a week. Should I be labeled as lightly active which would raise my count to 2000 or just keep it as is and try and find even low calorie but high filling food?

Your Activity Level is based on your job, not exercise. Log 10 minutes of walking and 10 minutes of dancing in your exercise diary and eat those calories back.

AshlynnHH

kshama2001 wrote: »

AshlynnHeartful wrote: »

I lost 20+ and today I just started doing 20 minutes(half walking and half dancing) I noticed that now
I'm getting more hungry the past couple of days along with gaining a sweet tooth. My life on here is labeled sedentary at 1800 calories to lose a lb a week. Should I be labeled as lightly active which would raise my count to 2000 or just keep it as is and try and find even low calorie but high filling food?

Your Activity Level is based on your job, not exercise. Log 10 minutes of walking and 10 minutes of dancing in your exercise diary and eat those calories back.

I see, thank you for clearing that up for me!

spiriteagle99

Unfortunately, 20 minutes of exercise doesn't burn that many calories. It will help your health and muscles, but you're not likely to burn more than 100 calories or so.

nowine4me

It may not burn a ton of calories -- But KEEP walking and dancing!!!

Francl27

Any exercise is better than none, but honestly, 20 minutes of exercise is pretty much nothing, calorie-wise. Seriously, like 2 crackers worth or something. I would see how your weight loss changes and see from there.

Machka9

AshlynnHeartful wrote: »

I lost 20+ and today I just started doing 20 minutes(half walking and half dancing) I noticed that now
I'm getting more hungry the past couple of days along with gaining a sweet tooth. My life on here is labeled sedentary at 1800 calories to lose a lb a week. Should I be labeled as lightly active which would raise my count to 2000 or just keep it as is and try and find even low calorie but high filling food?

Just log your 20 min of exercise.

10 min of walking might give you 30-40 calories.
10 min of dancing, perhaps slightly more.

You could probably have an extra Ryvita Multigrain cracker.

PAV8888

AshlynnHeartful wrote: »

I lost 20+ and today I just started doing 20 minutes(half walking and half dancing) I noticed that now
I'm getting more hungry the past couple of days along with gaining a sweet tooth. My life on here is labeled sedentary at 1800 calories to lose a lb a week. Should I be labeled as lightly active which would raise my count to 2000 or just keep it as is and try and find even low calorie but high filling food?

On the face of it the answer is no.

However it really does depend on your actual deficit and your rate of weight loss over time (your weight trend).

Since continued progress, even at a slower rate, beats giving up and making no progress at all, I would log the exercise and eat the calories back if doing so would help me stay the course.

Also the more active you become the better off you will be. So (again depending on your rate of actual loss), eat back enough of your exercise calories such that you're encouraged to seek to add exercise whenever you can.

I would only move purposeful exercise into the daily activity setting when it becomes a constant and a given. A base level of activity so to speak. And only in order to make meal planning easier.

bbell1985

Don't change anything. Maybe add 200 calories total to a weekend meal if anything.

LynnJ9

When I walk 25 minutes using the app. Map my Run which links into My Fitness Pal, it logs it as 150 calories. I would think 20 minutes of walking and even more strenuous dancing would around that much. Why is everyone only saying 20 to 30 calories?

sijomial

J9LynnHelton wrote: »

When I walk 25 minutes using the app. Map my Run which links into My Fitness Pal, it logs it as 150 calories. I would think 20 minutes of walking and even more strenuous dancing would around that much. Why is everyone only saying 20 to 30 calories?

@J9LynnHelton

Map my Run family of apps do have a reputation for exaggerated calorie burns.
Walking is a very efficient movement and is therefore a low calorie burner. With a low calorie activity it becomes more significant to try and estimate net calories rather than gross calories (which includes all the calories you burn just by living).

Your body weight in pounds X 0.3 X miles walked gives you a reasonable net calorie estimate for normal speed walking on level ground.

You are correct that dancing would most likely be more strenuous but hard to quantify.

kshama2001

J9LynnHelton wrote: »

When I walk 25 minutes using the app. Map my Run which links into My Fitness Pal, it logs it as 150 calories. I would think 20 minutes of walking and even more strenuous dancing would around that much. Why is everyone only saying 20 to 30 calories?

MayMyHike gives me crazy high calorie burns; even more than the MFP database, which is already considered inflated by many people. I look at MapMyHike calories for laughs and stick with the MFP database.

I don't think we have the OP's height and weight yet, do we? That will make a big difference in the burns.

I'm for logging activity as a way to encourage people to increase activity. True, 20 minutes isn't much, but it is better than nothing. I have knee issues and started with 20 minutes of walking. If I had thought this was meaningless, I never would have worked up to 4 miles.

spiriteagle99

If combining walking and dancing in one session, log it under low impact aerobics and see what it says.

LynnJ9

sijomial wrote: »

J9LynnHelton wrote: »

When I walk 25 minutes using the app. Map my Run which links into My Fitness Pal, it logs it as 150 calories. I would think 20 minutes of walking and even more strenuous dancing would around that much. Why is everyone only saying 20 to 30 calories?

@J9LynnHelton

Map my Run family of apps do have a reputation for exaggerated calorie burns.
Walking is a very efficient movement and is therefore a low calorie burner. With a low calorie activity it becomes more significant to try and estimate net calories rather than gross calories (which includes all the calories you burn just by living).

Your body weight in pounds X 0.3 X miles walked gives you a reasonable net calorie estimate for normal speed walking on level ground.

You are correct that dancing would most likely be more strenuous but hard to quantify.

Well that is disappointing. But it makes sense, I do the Jillian Michaels 30 day shred video which also takes 25 minutes and that is obviously 3x as strenuous, and the calories for that is 175 (at least that is what I have found in MFP). So walking being only 70 calories for the same amount of time is logical. Hmmm, now need to eat even less, or walk a lot more.

Francl27

J9LynnHelton wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

J9LynnHelton wrote: »

When I walk 25 minutes using the app. Map my Run which links into My Fitness Pal, it logs it as 150 calories. I would think 20 minutes of walking and even more strenuous dancing would around that much. Why is everyone only saying 20 to 30 calories?

@J9LynnHelton

Map my Run family of apps do have a reputation for exaggerated calorie burns.
Walking is a very efficient movement and is therefore a low calorie burner. With a low calorie activity it becomes more significant to try and estimate net calories rather than gross calories (which includes all the calories you burn just by living).

Your body weight in pounds X 0.3 X miles walked gives you a reasonable net calorie estimate for normal speed walking on level ground.

You are correct that dancing would most likely be more strenuous but hard to quantify.

Well that is disappointing. But it makes sense, I do the Jillian Michaels 30 day shred video which also takes 25 minutes and that is obviously 3x as strenuous, and the calories for that is 175 (at least that is what I have found in MFP). So walking being only 70 calories for the same amount of time is logical. Hmmm, now need to eat even less, or walk a lot more.

It is depressing, but it does add up.

buffgrl

What I do is calculate the calories burned and then subtract about 40-50 calories from whatever the activity calculator comes up with, then I eat those back. For example, say I walked 2 miles and the activity calculator says I burned 100 calories per mile, for a total of 200 calories. I subtract 50 calories per mile, then eat back the other 50 per mile. So I add 100 calories to my daily food intake. I'm still in a caloric deficit, but my body is satisfied and so I don't get cravings. This works beautifully for me and solved the whole exercise/hunger problem that always happens when dieting.