Pls help i am a confused idiot

limevodka

How many of my exercise calories am I supposed to eat back? I work a desk job and have my activity level set to low, but my Fitbit thing says I have burned 450 cals just by the normal walking to and from the bus, walking to get lunch etc. does the app account for that kind of basic life stuff or am I supposed to track this activity and eat some of these calories back?

cwolfman13

limevodka wrote: »

How many of my exercise calories am I supposed to eat back? I work a desk job and have my activity level set to low, but my Fitbit thing says I have burned 450 cals just by the normal walking to and from the bus, walking to get lunch etc. does the app account for that kind of basic life stuff or am I supposed to track this activity and eat some of these calories back?

You would either account for it by eating back those calories or by setting your activity level to an appropriate level for your actual activity. If you're doing that much walking, you are most likely not sedentary. I know the descriptors only mention "desk job" but you have to take into account other goings on in life. I have a desk job and even without deliberate exercise, I'm not sedentary. Sedentary is less than 5K steps per day. I get more than that walking around the office, to and from the parking lot, taking the stairs, coming home and chasing my 9 and 7 year old around, etc.

janejellyroll

You aren't an idiot!

Is your Fitbit linked and you're seeing your adjustments on your MFP account? If so, MFP intends for you to eat them back.

MFP gives you an estimated calorie level. If you link a Fitbit, you will only start to see adjustments when you've burned *more* than MFP would have expected for your activity level choice. So no, none of the adjustments you're seeing represent stuff that is already factored in.

MFP is designed for you to eat back all of your adjustments. Some people find that their Fitbits over-estimate their calories burnt, some people find their Fitbit is right on track.

For this reason, many people start with eating back just a percentage of their adjustments (say, 50% or 75%) and then make adjustments when they see how they adjust.

I personally find that I can eat back 100% of my Fitbit adjustments and still see the results that I expect.

If these aren't adjustments and just what you're seeing on your Fitbit, then yes. Some of them *are* included in your calorie estimate from MFP and I wouldn't eat them back. If you don't want to link your Fitbit, then I would just log your intentional exercise (not the basic life stuff) and eat at least a portion of those calories back.

Let me know if that doesn't make sense.

heybales

If you sync accounts MFP will correct itself to what may not truly be a Sedentary daily life.

A desk job doesn't mean Sedentary 7 days a week.

Those adjustments from just walking more than MFP was going to give you credit for are usually pretty good - unless your distance is way off for some reason from the steps.

Exercise calories it depends on what Fitbit is measuring and how much.
Walking extra really good.
Running depends if HR-based calorie burn is used, or distance-based. Former probably inflated if starting out.
HR-based on anything but steady-state aerobic with same HR for 3-5 min will be inflated - like intervals, weights, ect.

But MFP is trying to teach a life lesson about weight control.
You do more, you eat more.
You do less, you eat less - that's the kicker for most.

In a diet, a tad less in either case.

NovusDies

limevodka wrote: »

How many of my exercise calories am I supposed to eat back? I work a desk job and have my activity level set to low, but my Fitbit thing says I have burned 450 cals just by the normal walking to and from the bus, walking to get lunch etc. does the app account for that kind of basic life stuff or am I supposed to track this activity and eat some of these calories back?

If all aspects of weight management were easy to understand I doubt many of us would be here.

Your base calorie goal is your BMR + NEAT - Calorie Deficit.

BMR = Calories you burn just be being alive and maintaining your present physical form. As you lose weight this number will decrease because you will have less physical form to maintain.

NEAT = Calories you burn moving through your normal day. Any movement you do no matter how tiny is burning energy. This is adjusted by the activity level you selected.

Calorie deficit = the number of pounds you selected to lose each week x 3500 divided by 7 days. Unless you are very obese you would normally select 1 pound per week which is 3500 calories. This means each day you would need to burn 500 calories to meet that goal. It also means if you go over slightly but stay under 500 you will still lose weight just not as much as you selected. Sometimes life can be messy and losing a little less than desired happens. All progress is good progress and sometimes any progress in a messy week is a bigger win than losing as expected on a perfectly normal week.

As others have stated exercise calories are meant to be eaten in addition to your base goal. How much depends on a few factors so many people start with eating 50 percent then wait about 6 weeks to see if they are losing faster or slower than anticipated. If faster you would up the percentage and if slower you would lower it.

Calculating how much more to eat depends on consistent and mostly accurate food logging. It is advised that you have a food scale and not rely on eyeballing or measuring solid food in measuring cups. It is also advised that you not believe the food database is accurate. Much of the entries come from users that may not enter things accurately or completely. It could even just be that the recipe of a food item has changed and the calories were accurate before the change are now out-of-date. You should personally verify that the entry you are using is accurate by comparing it to the label or the USDA site.

limevodka

Thank you all! Much for me to consider here. I used Fitbit as a shorthand - I see that was a mistake sorry! - I have a generic wearable that unfortunately doesn’t sync.

I will take another look at my set activity level though and in the meantime eat back half of earned calories and reassess in a few weeks.

janejellyroll

limevodka wrote: »

Thank you all! Much for me to consider here. I used Fitbit as a shorthand - I see that was a mistake sorry! - I have a generic wearable that unfortunately doesn’t sync.

I will take another look at my set activity level though and in the meantime eat back half of earned calories and reassess in a few weeks.

Thanks for clarifying. Since you have a generic tracker that isn't synced, the calorie burn you're seeing on your device does include -- at least in part -- some of the steps that MFP is assuming you will take as part of your ordinary sedentary life.

lynn_glenmont

Your best bet might be to get an average of your daily steps over a week (assuming that your life/activity doesn't vary hugely from one week to the next) and set your MFP activity level to match. Hopefully someone will come along who knows MFP's assumptions for various activity levels. I'm pretty sure that sedentary means less than 5,000 steps a day, maybe even less, and that once you get up around 12,000-15,000 you're getting into the very active range, but I don't have a strong sense of the cut-offs for lightly active and active.

liftingbro

I would suggest figuring out your TDEE and subtracting 500 from that and not worry about how much you burn in exercise unless it's excessive. Most estimates of how many calories you burn in exercise are over estimates, better to be safe and just consider it a bonus.

If you have a TDEE of 2500, eat 2000, exercise 3-4 days per week. You will be fine.

heybales

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

Your best bet might be to get an average of your daily steps over a week (assuming that your life/activity doesn't vary hugely from one week to the next) and set your MFP activity level to match. Hopefully someone will come along who knows MFP's assumptions for various activity levels. I'm pretty sure that sedentary means less than 5,000 steps a day, maybe even less, and that once you get up around 12,000-15,000 you're getting into the very active range, but I don't have a strong sense of the cut-offs for lightly active and active.

This.

If decent with sheets, or your generic has decent graphing or stats - just look at what your average steps is, keep a 3 week rolling average.
That way as seasons change you'll see the differences.

Depending on the distance of the steps (calories is per distance, not steps), around 4-5K is coming out of Sedentary to Lightly-Active.

Or if your exercise is varied or not much, the last suggestion could be used with MFP.
Just track besides steps, what the daily burn is each day. Or perhaps it will give you a weekly figure.
Then keep a weekly average for daily going for about 3 weeks at a time - leaving out any sick weeks or super active unusual weeks.

Take that average daily burned, less the 500 or 250 or 20% to create your eating level to cause weight loss.
Then on MFP adjust the eating goal when it changes enough to matter.

springlering62

Can I go totally OT here? Please don’t call yourself a stupid idiot.

My mother told me I was ugly, fat, not as good as so and so at such and such. I believed it. I now understand she was projecting her own insecurities on me. We believe ourselves to be what we tell ourselves we are. Use your energy for something better.

You have the imagination to visualize a better you, the skill to go online, and the intelligence to seek experienced advice you can follow to seek a goal you’ve set. None of which bespeaks an idiot.

You are NOT an idiot. There are enough people on this earth willing to bring us down to bring themselves up. We don’t need to do it to ourselves and owe ourselves the grace not to.

❤️❤️❤️