Calorie deficit

vrsp2006
vrsp2006 Posts: 6 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Good morning, I've been doing this & the gym for 4 weeks now & I'm just gone up & down with my weight. I'm doing an hour at the gym 3 days a week. How do I work out my deficit. I'm totally at a loss. Based on my mfp I have 2470 calories a day but I can't always eat that much, it seems to much. I'm in a deficit of 500. Help anyone please.

Replies

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,845 Member
    More info please 🙂
    That calorie goal seems high, but it depends on other factors:
    - what are your stats (weight, height, age)
    - what activity level did you choose? And did you choose that based on your non exercise activity, and then logging exercise separately in your diary?
    - what kind of exercise are you doing?
    - what is your actual calorie intake per day (average)?
    - how accurate is your logging? Weighing everything? Checking the food database entries you're using for accuracy?


    Based on the little info we have, a few possibilities:
    - your calorie goal is too high because of incorrect settings
    - you're eating more than you think because of inaccurate logging
    - the exercise is causing water retention, making fat loss on the scale.
  • vrsp2006
    vrsp2006 Posts: 6 Member
    Sorry, I'm 36 249 lbs 5ft. 7. moderate activity. I've changed it as I've started the gym & walking to twice a day now. Yes I weigh my breakfast & scan barcode other items. Should I be weighing everything?
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,230 Member
    Lower your activity level
  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,848 Member
    edited April 2023
    MFP lets you choose Sedentary, Lightly Active, Active and Very Active for normal daily activities. This does not include workouts. Are you sure that one of the higher settings is appropriate for you?

    If Sedentary is more appropriate, that would lower the daily TDEE by several hundred calories.

    How are you adding workout calories, e.g. what do you add for to MFP for one hour at the gym? And what is that gym activity?

    Check this for a comparison. It gives more options to include general weekly workouts to a daily TDEE estimate.

    https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/
  • vrsp2006
    vrsp2006 Posts: 6 Member
    Think its light activity. I do treadmill, bike them some weights. Some times I swim instead. If I'm getting 300 extra calories from exercise do I have to eat them? I'll have a look thank you
  • vrsp2006
    vrsp2006 Posts: 6 Member
    edited April 2023
    Thank you
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    vrsp2006 wrote: »
    Think its light activity. I do treadmill, bike them some weights. Some times I swim instead. If I'm getting 300 extra calories from exercise do I have to eat them? I'll have a look thank you

    It sounds like you've included exercise in your activity level which is fine as long as you're consistent but if you eat them back you're double dipping. MFP is designed for your activity level to just be your day to day humdrum like a desk job or whatever and then you log exercise after the fact and get those additional calories. If you're including the exercise in your activity level, those calories for your exercise are already allotted up front.
  • vrsp2006
    vrsp2006 Posts: 6 Member
    Thank you
  • hoodlisa1979
    hoodlisa1979 Posts: 38 Member
    vrsp2006 wrote: »
    Think its light activity. I do treadmill, bike them some weights. Some times I swim instead. If I'm getting 300 extra calories from exercise do I have to eat them? I'll have a look thank you

    I'm on 1200 calories a day, i picked sedentary as I'm lazy, I don't eat back exercise calories as they are way overestimated but if I'm hungry I would take 100 from them, my weight loss is steady at 1-2 pounds a week although I'm on week 3 of a standstill, exercise wise I do 5k a day walking, resistance bands & 30 mins hooping, that is low activity still imo as the rest of the time I'm sat
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,230 Member
    vrsp2006 wrote: »
    Think its light activity. I do treadmill, bike them some weights. Some times I swim instead. If I'm getting 300 extra calories from exercise do I have to eat them? I'll have a look thank you
    I don’t think you’re supposed to figure your exercise activity into your activity level if in fact you are doing that.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,223 Member
    edited April 2023
    Just record your calories while living your life the best way you can for 3 or 4 weeks while not trying to lose or gain weight and when it's pretty much a steady go get a daily average calorie consumed and reduce by 500 for a 1lb a week lose. cheers.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,093 Member
    tomcustombuilder wrote: »
    Lower your activity level

    Since OP hasn't said anything about what their actual activity is (they could be an office worker or a construction worker, we don't know), what are you basing this advice on?
  • sollyn23l2
    sollyn23l2 Posts: 1,757 Member
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    tomcustombuilder wrote: »
    Lower your activity level

    Since OP hasn't said anything about what their actual activity is (they could be an office worker or a construction worker, we don't know), what are you basing this advice on?

    I think he's basing it on the fact that the OP states they are struggling to eat all their calories. If you can't eat enough calories, lowering your activity level to reduce the amount of calories your body needs makes sense. Alternatively, the OP could start eating very high calorie dense foods.
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,230 Member
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    tomcustombuilder wrote: »
    Lower your activity level

    Since OP hasn't said anything about what their actual activity is (they could be an office worker or a construction worker, we don't know), what are you basing this advice on?
    Cals set at over 2,400 a day I think it’s obvious that the activity level is too high and she’s having a hard time eating that much.

  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,848 Member
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    Since OP hasn't said anything about what their actual activity is (they could be an office worker or a construction worker, we don't know), what are you basing this advice on?
    I wondered similar because OP must have been consuming X calories to be at her current weight, then she has set up MFP with a deficit of 500, but she's having trouble consuming that much. This implies MFP's estimate has been set too high.

    It's also possible she has substituted high calorie foods for healthier options which would be more satiating.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,284 Member
    I think poster meant lower your activity level in settings - ie change it down and then add exercise separately.
    Not lower the activity you are physically doing.

    Which would then make sense and is similar to what other posters are saying.
  • noodlesno
    noodlesno Posts: 113 Member
    Personally I find the MFP calories pretty tough to use. The reason being is that you choose your every day activity and the you log your excerise on top. So for me I would be sedentary as I am a desk worker but then do 2+ hrs of dog walks every day and a hours CrossFit 6 days a week. So that would be a reasonable amount of calories in top of the everyday. However the CrossFit and one of the dog walks are not till the evening so I don't know how much I have left till 8pm and I don't like eating in the evening. So what I do is just over ride my calories in MFY and have a set amount every day.

    How I do this is take the estimated average burn from this calculator

    https://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html

    From there it gives you your average daily burn and then a table to choose what you would be depending on exercise.

    For me I would be 'intensive excerise 6-7 days a week' which gives me 2600 kcals. I then take off the 750kcal (I aim at 1.5lbs a week) and that's my calorie number per day. So 1850kcal

    Personally I also have the MFP set 100kcals lower as I CBA to log coffee or drinks. So gives me the buffer for that. So my daily in MFP is 1750kcals BUT with 2/3 white coffees and the tiny amount in the squash I drink would be more like 1850kcal in reality
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,944 Member
    You could also use the dog walks as activity level and not exercise. How many steps do you get per day? This might easily get you into the active or very active category. And then add the crossfit on top separately.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,745 Member
    For someone whose exercise is the same every day, then including the walks as part of your activity level may make sense. Just don't add them again seperately. Most people vary their exercise. i.e. gym 3 days a week, maybe hike or long bike ride on the weekend but little to nothing the rest of the time. For them it makes more sense to log the exercise when it is done and not include it as part of TDEE.
  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,848 Member
    noodlesno wrote: »
    Personally I find the MFP calories pretty tough to use. The reason being is that you choose your every day activity and the you log your excerise on top. So for me I would be sedentary as I am a desk worker but then do 2+ hrs of dog walks every day and a hours CrossFit 6 days a week. So that would be a reasonable amount of calories in top of the everyday. However the CrossFit and one of the dog walks are not till the evening so I don't know how much I have left till 8pm and I don't like eating in the evening. So what I do is just over ride my calories in MFY and have a set amount every day.

    How I do this is take the estimated average burn from this calculator

    https://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html

    From there it gives you your average daily burn and then a table to choose what you would be depending on exercise.

    For me I would be 'intensive excerise 6-7 days a week' which gives me 2600 kcals. I then take off the 750kcal (I aim at 1.5lbs a week) and that's my calorie number per day. So 1850kcal

    Personally I also have the MFP set 100kcals lower as I CBA to log coffee or drinks. So gives me the buffer for that. So my daily in MFP is 1750kcals BUT with 2/3 white coffees and the tiny amount in the squash I drink would be more like 1850kcal in reality
    A simpler solution would be to enter your daily workout into MFP at the start of the day, instead of waiting until late at night.
  • vrsp2006
    vrsp2006 Posts: 6 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    You could also use the dog walks as activity level and not exercise. How many steps do you get per day? This might easily get you into the active or very active category. And then add the crossfit on top separately.

    I do between 10000 & 12000 a day
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,944 Member
    I think this might be active. So you could adjust your activity to this, get more calories to start the day with. And if you know you'll do crossfit then you could also prelog.

    Another thought: do you have a device that you sync to MFP? I think there's something like calorie adjustment. If your daily steps go beyond sedentary you get more calories. But if you've set a higher activity level then this won't be happening anymore. I think. I never sync'ed a device.

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