Tdee calculator PAL
thelostbreed02
Posts: 87 Member
So I've made posts regarding calories but then I was lingering on the Physical activity factor for the calculators. For example when they say moderately active vs active, what's the difference? They just mention exercise. And on my previous post, a man said he was considered active category even though he didnt work out but just because he would get about 20,000 steps a day. Now heres my PERSONAL average daily activity in a week.
I TRY to workout 5-6 times a week, I TRY to get near 20,000 steps daily, but besides that I'm your typical student living a student lifestyle.
Would I be considered Light Active, Moderately Active, Active, or Very active?
I TRY to workout 5-6 times a week, I TRY to get near 20,000 steps daily, but besides that I'm your typical student living a student lifestyle.
Would I be considered Light Active, Moderately Active, Active, or Very active?
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Replies
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Are you maintaining your weight now? How accurate is your calorie tracking? How long have been tracking your intake? @PAV8888 ?0
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How many times you work out has nothing to do with your activity level. Activity level is based on lifestyle. I had seen this before:
Sedentary = less than 5000
Low activity = 5000-7499
Somewhat active = 7500-9999
Active = more than 10000
Highly active = more than 12500
These are steps before intentional exercise.1 -
How many times you work out has nothing to do with your activity level. Activity level is based on lifestyle. I had seen this before:
Sedentary = less than 5000
Low activity = 5000-7499
Somewhat active = 7500-9999
Active = more than 10000
Highly active = more than 12500
These are steps before intentional exercise.
I've seen this, but to me it seems like you are getting too many calories for your steps. For example, with my BMR, going from lightly active to active gives me about an extra 380 calories, with on average going up about only 2500 steps. Yet if I was to log an hour of walking at 3 miles per hour, which would be about 6000 steps (give or take), it would only give me around 300 calories. I don't think 2500 steps = an extra 20% of your BMR.3 -
thelostbreed02 wrote: »So I've made posts regarding calories but then I was lingering on the Physical activity factor for the calculators. For example when they say moderately active vs active, what's the difference? They just mention exercise. And on my previous post, a man said he was considered active category even though he didnt work out but just because he would get about 20,000 steps a day. Now heres my PERSONAL average daily activity in a week.
I TRY to workout 5-6 times a week, I TRY to get near 20,000 steps daily, but besides that I'm your typical student living a student lifestyle.
Would I be considered Light Active, Moderately Active, Active, or Very active?
Are you talking about using MFP to generate your goals or using a TDEE calculator? If you are using a TDEE calculator, between your exercise and your steps, I'd probably put you at very active. If you are using MFP, I'd put you at active plus eating back your calories from intentional exercise (that is not step based)1 -
@L1zardQueen the OP is trying to verify what I suggested to him in another post, not hear it again!
At 20k + exercise he is probably approaching an AF in the 2.1 to 2.2 range. MFP very active is 1.8
20k steps or 3.5+ hours of moderate activity is probably in the 1.9 to 2.0 range by itself
Really guys it doesn't matter THAT MUCH whether you're 100% accurate with your calories out as a lot will depend on how close your body tracks to the population mean and on how accurately / correctly you record your food intake.
And there are a lot more chances to get it wrong when it comes to tracking calories in!
You take a guess. I suggest "very active" if the 20k steps don't come from the workouts. Then you add some calories for the work outs
You set a no more than 20% of TDEE deficit or surplus and a few weeks later you evaluate your weight trend.
Weight trend apps are usually fully populated by 10 days and since guys don't usually have cyclical monthly hormonal water retention two+ weeks down the road you can start making an educated guess as to how close your weight changes are tracking your purported deficit or surplus.
And adjust based on your own results.
@heybales ?8 -
How many times you work out has nothing to do with your activity level. Activity level is based on lifestyle. I had seen this before:
Sedentary = less than 5000
Low activity = 5000-7499
Somewhat active = 7500-9999
Active = more than 10000
Highly active = more than 12500
These are steps before intentional exercise.
I've seen this, but to me it seems like you are getting too many calories for your steps. For example, with my BMR, going from lightly active to active gives me about an extra 380 calories, with on average going up about only 2500 steps. Yet if I was to log an hour of walking at 3 miles per hour, which would be about 6000 steps (give or take), it would only give me around 300 calories. I don't think 2500 steps = an extra 20% of your BMR.
I’m not sure how Fitbit or even MFP calculates calories for steps. I’ve had a day where I was sick and didn’t move, had about 2,500 steps. My Fitbit’s TDEE was about 1450. Then a day with no gym but 10,000 steps, and TDEE according to Fitbit was 1,850. My BMR is in the 1300’s.0 -
How many times you work out has nothing to do with your activity level. Activity level is based on lifestyle. I had seen this before:
Sedentary = less than 5000
Low activity = 5000-7499
Somewhat active = 7500-9999
Active = more than 10000
Highly active = more than 12500
These are steps before intentional exercise.
I've seen this, but to me it seems like you are getting too many calories for your steps. For example, with my BMR, going from lightly active to active gives me about an extra 380 calories, with on average going up about only 2500 steps. Yet if I was to log an hour of walking at 3 miles per hour, which would be about 6000 steps (give or take), it would only give me around 300 calories. I don't think 2500 steps = an extra 20% of your BMR.
I’m not sure how Fitbit or even MFP calculates calories for steps. I’ve had a day where I was sick and didn’t move, had about 2,500 steps. My Fitbit’s TDEE was about 1450. Then a day with no gym but 10,000 steps, and TDEE according to Fitbit was 1,850. My BMR is in the 1300’s.
Why does this seem odd to you?
Depending on your stats it’s entirely possible that a day you are ill and not moving that your total calories burned was on the low side (1450) and on a day when you are more active around 1850. I’m a petite female and when I’m sedentary my TDEE is around 1700 but when I’m moving a lot more it can be upwards of 2200.
Do you have MFP and FitBit synced?
Do you have negative calorie adjustments enabled?3 -
Steps are not a monolithic entity. It does make a difference whether your steps are accumulated in a single bout or whether they're spread throughout the day as they would when they are part of your general activity.
Fitbit detects movement and averages it into a per five minute activity factor to determine calories.
It assigns plain BMR when it detects no movement (which would be slightly higher than reality when you're deep asleep, or lower than reality when you're on the couch watching tv. Neither Fitbit nor mfp use "true" BMR in a coma, they use Mifflin St. Jeor RMR instead). It then adds activity calories based on what it thinks it detected as a blended activity factor over your 5 minutes based on the accelerometer and HR data and the values from the compendium for physical activity.
Can you game the system? is it fool proof? does it work for everybody especially for people who have atypical heart rate responses or where the elevated response comes from short intense bursts of energy? Of course not. And, if nothing else, when you're dealing with the "mean" you will always have "outliers".
However, as a first step, it is probably easier to assume you're average, and correct based on your results using your weight trend change (as opposed to scale weight change) and a generic3500 Cal per lb figure.
Can you still be off? Of course (and for different reasons) if you're strength training assiduously or severely under-eating the 3500 Cal figure may not be reflective because of body composition and hormonal and water retention changes. If you're travelling a lot, eating out, or not logging accurately and completely that has its own challenges.
A single day of data is a stab in the dark as to whether it is correct or not. A year's worth of data has enough offsetting errors to allow you to see a more true picture. And everything in between.
Your 20K steps are a cloud. Fitbit puts you in the centre of it. But you could be anywhere in that cloud--and there is no way to know where in it you are ahead of time.5 -
Wasn’t necessarily saying it’s odd. Just was wondering about the calculations.
I’m 39, 5”2, 125lbs. Most days with lifting & running I’m at 15,000 steps and Fitbit has my TDEE around 2,300.0 -
Wasn’t necessarily saying it’s odd. Just was wondering about the calculations.
I’m 39, 5”2, 125lbs. Most days with lifting & running I’m at 15,000 steps and Fitbit has my TDEE around 2,300.
How many calories would MFP very active give you? That figure should be relatively close to the figure you get from Fitbit for 15K steps.
MFP uses an AF (activity factor) of 1.25/1.4/1.6/1.8 for the four levels of activity it offers ranging from sedentary to very active.
Multiply BMR x AF to get the estimated MFP NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis). Add EA (exercise activity) to get TDEE (total daily energy expenditure).
As already detailed, Fitbit starts from the same "bmr" and creates an activity factor on a per 5 minute increment basis based on what it detects. Then it adds it all up and arrives to a TDEE.
With integration enabled and negative calories enabled and everything working, at midnight, your "exercise adjustment" from Fitbit data will twist the numbers so that your MFP TDEE will become equal to your Fitbit TDEE.
In other words, MFP defers to the, presumably, more accurate tracker for the value of your TDEE for the day.
It is, presumably, more accurate because it is based on caloric estimates that rely on what your tracker thinks it detected as opposed to your own selection of an (often arbitrary) activity level ahead of time.
The two equalize at midnight because that's the official end of day and MFP spreads your pre-selected activity level calories over the full 1440 minutes of the day.5 -
Thank you, very insightful. I didn’t know how MFP calculated activity.1
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How many times you work out has nothing to do with your activity level. Activity level is based on lifestyle. I had seen this before:
Sedentary = less than 5000
Low activity = 5000-7499
Somewhat active = 7500-9999
Active = more than 10000
Highly active = more than 12500
These are steps before intentional exercise.
I've seen this, but to me it seems like you are getting too many calories for your steps. For example, with my BMR, going from lightly active to active gives me about an extra 380 calories, with on average going up about only 2500 steps. Yet if I was to log an hour of walking at 3 miles per hour, which would be about 6000 steps (give or take), it would only give me around 300 calories. I don't think 2500 steps = an extra 20% of your BMR.
The steps and distance are not the only factor.
The steps counts are standing in as a proxy for your all day activity and as discussed these are all approximations and averages and "typical" expectations.
It is extremely likely that if you get 12,000 steps in a single two hour walk after being asleep in your bed for the first 22 hours of your day, the calories you actually spend will be FAR fewer than if you get 12,000 steps while standing on your feet for 24 hours non-stop while only getting 8.33 steps a minute during each and every minute. And you would have actually propelled yourself a smaller distance in the second case.1 -
How many times you work out has nothing to do with your activity level. Activity level is based on lifestyle. I had seen this before:
Sedentary = less than 5000
Low activity = 5000-7499
Somewhat active = 7500-9999
Active = more than 10000
Highly active = more than 12500
These are steps before intentional exercise.
Oh, I just cant fathom how 12500 steps is the equivalent of lifting weights or being a football player since I assume all athletes go under the highly active category0 -
thelostbreed02 wrote: »How many times you work out has nothing to do with your activity level. Activity level is based on lifestyle. I had seen this before:
Sedentary = less than 5000
Low activity = 5000-7499
Somewhat active = 7500-9999
Active = more than 10000
Highly active = more than 12500
These are steps before intentional exercise.
Oh, I just cant fathom how 12500 steps is the equivalent of lifting weights or being a football player since I assume all athletes go under the highly active category
Weights 2 times a day***0 -
thelostbreed02 wrote: »So I've made posts regarding calories but then I was lingering on the Physical activity factor for the calculators. For example when they say moderately active vs active, what's the difference? They just mention exercise. And on my previous post, a man said he was considered active category even though he didnt work out but just because he would get about 20,000 steps a day. Now heres my PERSONAL average daily activity in a week.
I TRY to workout 5-6 times a week, I TRY to get near 20,000 steps daily, but besides that I'm your typical student living a student lifestyle.
Would I be considered Light Active, Moderately Active, Active, or Very active?
Are you talking about using MFP to generate your goals or using a TDEE calculator? If you are using a TDEE calculator, between your exercise and your steps, I'd probably put you at very active. If you are using MFP, I'd put you at active plus eating back your calories from intentional exercise (that is not step based)
Tdee calculator. Thanks0 -
If a student athlete were in class all day and only active during training, they might set their Activity Level to Sedentary.thelostbreed02 wrote: »How many times you work out has nothing to do with your activity level. Activity level is based on lifestyle. I had seen this before:
Sedentary = less than 5000
Low activity = 5000-7499
Somewhat active = 7500-9999
Active = more than 10000
Highly active = more than 12500
These are steps before intentional exercise.
Oh, I just cant fathom how 12500 steps is the equivalent of lifting weights or being a football player since I assume all athletes go under the highly active category
Activity Level only includes movement that you do outside of intentional exercise. Exercise sessions are added as they occur in the Exercise section.
As an example using traveling in vehicles:
TDEE would ask: How long were you in a vehicle?
Activity Level would ask: How long were you in a car? If you traveled in something other than a car (such as a bus or subway), you'd add that separately.2 -
I’m not sure how Fitbit or even MFP calculates calories for steps.
MFP doesn't calculate calories from steps - Steps is merely a figure to display, like glasses of water.
Fitbit calculates calories from distance, which at some level of course comes from steps - but distance varies for steps.
It's why people will ask about different daily burns with same number of steps - but only when they are asked to think about the days do they realize it was very different activity and distance.
I see in above posts a lot of bouncing around by newer members between external TDEE calc's 5 activity levels (which are outdated frankly from a 1912 study by Harris of BMR fame, which is also been improved) and MFP's 4 activity levels (based on more recent research by WHO).
Those step ranges per activity level are likely based on what people start seeing adjustments at - and hence a range.
The problem with the 1912 Harris TDEE calc almost every site uses is no difference between daily activity levels - only reference to workouts. And even there no reference to types of workouts, 4 hrs is not the same across the board.
Is a mail carrier with 3 kids and household responsibilities that works out 3 hrs weekly really the same TDEE as same physical spec'd woman with desk job who games all night/weekend except for 3 hrs of weekly workouts?
Hardly.
But TDEE calc would give them the same TDEE.
And for a woman it will easily take 4-8 weeks of data to see just how off they are with monthly water weight fluctuations.
Even a guy could start getting adaptations if deficit was too huge in 2-3 week period of time.
Ditto's to PAV8888's explanation of things, I thought extra detail before getting hung up on TDEE calc's when activity tracker is available already it seems.2
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