Bit confused about activity level

Hanibanani2020

I had my activity level set on very active as I workout every day (jogging, hill hiking, lifting and cycling) plus housework and gardening etc but over the last three days I’ve been unwell so today reset it to lightly active. This means that I’m now over my calorie level by 71 instead of having 19 to spare. What does this mean for my weightloss? Will I gain over the next few days? Should that be expected? Thanks.

Lietchi

Not everyone uses MFP as intended. But I should say that if you do want to use MFP as intended, your activity level should only reflect how active you are not counting intentional exercise: your job, chores in and around the house, (non exercise) hobbies... And then you should log your exercise separately and eat back (at least a part of) the calories burned through exercise.

As for the answer to your question: I'm going to guess you've chosen a weight loss rate on MFP (not aiming for maintenance or gaining weight). So if you're 71 calories over your calorie goal, you are still well within a deficit to lose weight.
Some math, depending on your chosen weight loss rate:
- a weight loss rate of 0.5lbs per week equates to a calorie deficit of 250kcal per day. If you're 71 calories over your goal, you're still in a 179kcal deficit, equating to a loss of 0.36lbs a week
- a weight loss rate of 1lb per week equates to a calorie deficit of 500kcal per day. If you're 71 calories over your goal, you're still in a 429kcal deficit, equating to a loss of 0.86lbs a week
- etc.
The above concerns fat loss. If you're not feeling well, you might experience some short term water weight fluctuations though (up or down) so don't let those worry you.

I'd also like to add that our body needs energy to heal itself, so eating closer to maintenance while you're not well would be a good idea.

Hanibanani2020

Awesome, thank you for that. I’m very close to goal weight but just started on mfp properly so this is all new to me. Appreciate your insight.

cmriverside

I would go even further and say you're making more than 100 calories in logging errors every day, so that difference between 71 over and 19 under really is a wash.

Pick an Activity Level that matches your daily work/chores as closely as possible in the Goals > View guided setup

Then when you exercise, log it under Exercise and you'll eat more on those purposeful exercise days. That's the way this site works.

Alternately: Some people use a set calorie number and just ignore the setup.

If you don't know how many calories you need to maintain your current weight, there is going to be an experimental period of time where you are trying to figure it out.

I always just used this site the way I stated above.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819055/setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets/p1

Hanibanani2020

I’m at 1200

Hanibanani2020

And I’m very, very accurate with logging. I weigh everything. Everything that even touches my lips.

spiriteagle99

What calorie goal did MFP give you? Are you less than 5' tall? If not, if you are eating only 1200 calories a day and list yourself as very active, then you're probably eating too little. 1200 is what I got as a 60+ year old sedentary person wanting to lose a pound a week. As stated above, setting your activity to your non-voluntary activity level and then eating back any deliberate exercise calories that you burn is how MFP is supposed to work. If you don't have much to lose, you should be losing less than a pound a week. Losing weight quickly doesn't teach you how to eat in the long term to keep the weight off.

Go_Deskercise

Hanibanani2020

I will reconsider my rate of loss. Thanks all