Desk job fear of gaining weight

Famof72015

karahm78 wrote: »

Famof72015 wrote: »

karahm78 wrote: »

As far as your Fitbit and MFP setup, here is how mine is setup and this works for me. I do have a desk job but activity level and understanding the balance between it and how much you eat is important.

Set activity level in MFP to Sedentary

Enable negative adjustments (if you don't move your kitten you have to eat less that day)

I eat back 50-75% of the calories given to be safe, this will be trial and error for you

Understand that the way Fitbit adjustments work... by having a sedentary setup you will get large adjustments when you are active. Some people freak out when they see Fitbit adjustments that are more than they perceive for the activity, but the adjustment is not just for the specific activity but how many calories for the day you have burned over what MFP says for sedentary. It doesn't mean that it says you actually burned 200 calories on a short walk for instance but that you had burned 200 cals over Sedentary. I see lots of threads where this distinction causes confusion.

If you consistently get large adjustments and are losing at a good rate, consider increasing your MFP level to Lightly Active. You will get smaller adjustments that way.

Given the above settings I gain/lose/maintain as expected. If I move I get to eat, if I sit on my kitten I get nothing extra. No excuses for blaming my desk. :-)

I am even more confused. I thought I didn't have to adjust MFP settings and let fitbit do it all? So you're saying if I'm sedentary I get more calories to eat back if I move my behind more? And if I'm slightly active I get fewer calories to eat back ?? So confused. Why can't I just always eat my target MFP calories? I never eat back exercise calories anyway, can't I just do that? Regardless if I set it to sedentary or lightly active

Well, you could but if that is your plan I wouldn't sync the Fitbit to MFP because the adjustments are sort of the point of doing that. I brought up the Fitbit piece since you mentioned it, but if you are going to eat what MFP says and not the adjustments I assume you are planning to use the Fitbit as a reference but not Sync it? If you are following the MFP model the idea is to eat back at least a portion of exercise calories.

But to answer your questions yes, if you are set to Sedentary that will give you adjustments for moving more, but you will have a lower amount of calories to start with. This of course makes sense, if you are truly sedentary than you have to eat less. If you move more and thus exceed a sedentary level then you can eat more. If you increase your base activity level to Lightly Active yes you will get a higher base calorie allowance but smaller adjustments as you would then have to exceed Lightly Active activity level before you would see an adjustment.

I'm syncing it just not eating them back .

hydechildcare

The problem with desk jobs is it is a lot easier to have a snack while working. At least that is what I notice when starting a desk job. My activity level decrease but my calorie intake didn't. I have started eating my lunch at my desk (all cook and portion out by me) and walking during my lunch.

LivingtheLeanDream

Its possible to have a desk job and still be active. If you were finding yourself a little less able to be active it just means adjusting your calorie intake if you found you were gaining.