Need some advice

T4RH33L_80

After reading a few threads on here I am getting concerned that I am setting myself up for failure in my weight loss attempt. I'm using MFP (linked with my Fitbit....when it works) to track my daily activity. Generally, I'm walking on average 12-13 miles per day at a 3mph pace. My current goal in MFP has my calories set to 2410. I track all of my food (I portion and weigh everything). At the end of the day, I usually have between 2000-3000 calories remaining. I'm seeing very good progress in my weight loss. I'm at 35 pounds thus far, but I'm now worried that I'm going about this all wrong. I always feel full and have lots of energy. My only complaint is that my feet begin to hurt during the final stretch of my walks in the evening but I'm hoping to mitigate that with better inserts. So, am I setting myself up for failure?

kimny72

How many lbs are you losing per week on average?
What is your height and current weight?

How many lbs per week are you set up for to get that 2410 goal, and how many calories are you actually eating on average?
Do you use a food scale?

Sorry for all the questions, but it will help get targeted answers

T4RH33L_80

Current height and weight is 6' and 235 pounds. I'm losing about five pounds per week. I average around 1500 calories eaten per day. I do use a food scale to weigh all my portions, ingredients etc.

kimny72

Typical recommendation is to lose no more than 1% of your body weight per week to avoid losing a lot of muscle mass. I am a 5'4 barely lightly active woman, and I had trouble getting enough protein and nutritious food on 1500 cals, I can't imagine a tall male would be able to, so yes I think you need to eat more!

This post might help you get your calories up:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10326769/are-you-a-hard-gainer-please-read/p1

It's intended for folks struggling to gain weight, but those foods may help you get your calories up without feeling over stuffed.

Hopefully others will be along to give you their perspective as well, as this is just my non-professional understanding.

rheddmobile

You are walking more than four hours every day? Wow. Kudos to you.

Five lbs a week is too fast for someone who weighs 235. You should be aiming for no more than 1% of your bodyweight per week as mentioned above. The first couple of weeks of a diet may be faster due to water and waste loss, and glycogen depletion, but if after that you are still losing at such a fast rate you definitely need to eat more. Losing too fast, you may not see any issues at first, but will likely lose muscle along with fat, and over time may have issues with hair loss and so on.

T4RH33L_80

Thanks for the info. I will be adjusting my intake immediately.

T4RH33L_80

rheddmobile wrote: »

You are walking more than four hours every day? Wow. Kudos to you.

Five lbs a week is too fast for someone who weighs 235. You should be aiming for no more than 1% of your bodyweight per week as mentioned above. The first couple of weeks of a diet may be faster due to water and waste loss, and glycogen depletion, but if after that you are still losing at such a fast rate you definitely need to eat more. Losing too fast, you may not see any issues at first, but will likely lose muscle along with fat, and over time may have issues with hair loss and so on.

Should I adjust my activity level to very active since I'm walking so much?

apullum

T4RH33L_80 wrote: »

rheddmobile wrote: »

You are walking more than four hours every day? Wow. Kudos to you.

Five lbs a week is too fast for someone who weighs 235. You should be aiming for no more than 1% of your bodyweight per week as mentioned above. The first couple of weeks of a diet may be faster due to water and waste loss, and glycogen depletion, but if after that you are still losing at such a fast rate you definitely need to eat more. Losing too fast, you may not see any issues at first, but will likely lose muscle along with fat, and over time may have issues with hair loss and so on.

Should I adjust my activity level to very active since I'm walking so much?

You can account for exercise by changing your activity level if that exercise is a consistent part of your routine. If you don’t have the same activity level every day, then I would log it as exercise, and make sure your activity level reflects your non-exercise movement. Just choose one or the other and make sure you don’t double count your exercise calorie burn.

And definitely eat more!

T4RH33L_80

apullum wrote: »

T4RH33L_80 wrote: »

rheddmobile wrote: »

You are walking more than four hours every day? Wow. Kudos to you.

Five lbs a week is too fast for someone who weighs 235. You should be aiming for no more than 1% of your bodyweight per week as mentioned above. The first couple of weeks of a diet may be faster due to water and waste loss, and glycogen depletion, but if after that you are still losing at such a fast rate you definitely need to eat more. Losing too fast, you may not see any issues at first, but will likely lose muscle along with fat, and over time may have issues with hair loss and so on.

Should I adjust my activity level to very active since I'm walking so much?

You can account for exercise by changing your activity level if that exercise is a consistent part of your routine. If you don’t have the same activity level every day, then I would log it as exercise, and make sure your activity level reflects your non-exercise movement. Just choose one or the other and make sure you don’t double count your exercise calorie burn.

And definitely eat more!

Maybe that's why I have so much left over. I do sit all day for work, but I walk for an hour three times a day and every hour during work I walk for 5 minutes. I set my goal as "active". Should I set it to " not active"?

apullum

T4RH33L_80 wrote: »

apullum wrote: »

T4RH33L_80 wrote: »

rheddmobile wrote: »

You are walking more than four hours every day? Wow. Kudos to you.

Five lbs a week is too fast for someone who weighs 235. You should be aiming for no more than 1% of your bodyweight per week as mentioned above. The first couple of weeks of a diet may be faster due to water and waste loss, and glycogen depletion, but if after that you are still losing at such a fast rate you definitely need to eat more. Losing too fast, you may not see any issues at first, but will likely lose muscle along with fat, and over time may have issues with hair loss and so on.

Should I adjust my activity level to very active since I'm walking so much?

You can account for exercise by changing your activity level if that exercise is a consistent part of your routine. If you don’t have the same activity level every day, then I would log it as exercise, and make sure your activity level reflects your non-exercise movement. Just choose one or the other and make sure you don’t double count your exercise calorie burn.

And definitely eat more!

Maybe that's why I have so much left over. I do sit all day for work, but I walk for an hour three times a day and every hour during work I walk for 5 minutes. I set my goal as "active". Should I set it to " not active"?

I would personally set it as sedentary (assuming your non-exercise life is sedentary) and log exercise separately. This accounts for the fact that on some days your activity level might be different.

T4RH33L_80

So, since I've been under certain misconceptions this entire time and assuming I have my goals properly set up now. What should my remaining calorie count look like each day?

apullum

T4RH33L_80 wrote: »

So, since I've been under certain misconceptions this entire time and assuming I have my goals properly set up now. What should my remaining calorie count look like each day?

You should have zero or a very small number of calories left at the end of the day assuming your exercise calories are correct. MFP includes your deficit in its calorie calculations.

T4RH33L_80

First off, thank you all for this information. I use the Fitbit Ionic to track my steps. How accurate is that with MFP for the calorie count? Since MFP has been broken I've had to manually add my exercise by using past counts when it was working to match up.

apullum

I don’t personally have a Fitbit, so I can’t give a super detailed answer. What has been broken about MFP for you? It might involve reconnecting your Fitbit to MFP, or maybe folks who have a Fitbit could help. If you haven’t already, you might try making a separate post asking people who have that Fitbit model to weigh in—they might not read this one.

T4RH33L_80

Yeah, MFP has not been syncing with trackers for three days now. MFP has not said much beyond that they know there's an issue.

apullum

Glad I don’t have one, then

You could calculate walking calories by hand: miles * weight in pounds * 0.3 is the formula people usually post.

emmamcgarity

I have found my Fitbit to be fairly accurate. My steps are still syncing but are showing up 24-36 hours later. Since you are losing weight so quickly you might consider adjusting your MFP settings to lightly active or active for now to adjust your calorie intake and see if your rate of loss changes appropriately. I’d also recommend making sure you get plenty of protein to prevent muscle loss. If the syncing were working properly right now sedentary would work. I have mine set to sedentary due to my office job.

My food is still syncing from MFP to Fitbit and I find the charts helpful if you click on calories eaten in your Fitbit dashboard. I also agree that you should eat more.