1) Individual nutrition requirements 2) Removing exercise from food calories total

tashatruant
tashatruant Posts: 1 Member
in Getting Started
Hi all! I'm new here. My apologies in advance if these questions have been answered elsewhere, but I'm going in circles here and could use some help!

1) When I entered my height, weight, etc. it gives me a calorie goal that is unrealistic for me. I already know from experience (and a nutritionist) that I have "greater nutritional requirements" than the average person, and I need about 50% more calories than most women.

I logged a dummy entry based on what I was eating at my lightest point, and then adjusted my calorie goal accordingly. But of course, the app still thinks this will make me gain weight.

I'd like to find a way to fix this since the "If every day were like today..." line ending in weight gain is rather demotivating!! And ineffective as a projection tool, obviously.

2) Is there a way I can separate the calorie/food goals from the exercise/calories burned goals? I don't really like the calorie total adjusted by those burned through exercise in the food tab; I'm not sure I want to think about exercise that way.

Thank you in advance! 🙏🏻

Answers

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,620 Member
    edited October 16
    1. Don't close your diary, and you won't get the demotivating "in 5 weeks" message. Nothing else is impaired or affected by not hitting that button. I haven't closed my diary in years (not because it demotivated me, more because . . . why bother).

    2. In premium MFP, you can turn off the exercise calorie adjustment. In free MFP, your options would be to not sync a fitness tracker, not manually log exercise, or log exercise manually and change the calories burned number to 1.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,620 Member
    P.S. Personally, I add exercise calories separately because they aren't included in my base calories. That helps me manage my weight with a variable exercise schedule. I think of it as fueling my athletic performance, not as earning extra food. (I was a recreational athlete for a dozen years while obese. Still am.)

    I'm not criticizing the approach of averaging exercise calorie needs into base calories instead. That works fine, too.

    The only bad option, IMO, is doing a bunch of exercise, not accounting for it at all, and losing weight too aggressively fast. That's counterproductive.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,885 Member
    If your calorie needs are higher than the statistical average, I would suggest choosing a higher activity level setting to artificially inflate your calorie goal?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,620 Member
    Lietchi wrote: »
    If your calorie needs are higher than the statistical average, I would suggest choosing a higher activity level setting to artificially inflate your calorie goal?

    Good point.

    I did that, because my calorie needs are 25-30% higher than MFP's estimate . . . even though I set my calorie goal manually (based on actual experience), and even though I never close my diary. :D In real life, I'm sedentary or very close (before exercise), but I'm set to "active", which brings MFP's estimate closer to reality for my base (pre-exercise) calorie needs. I still add exercise to my experience-derived base calories, too.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,386 Member
    You can set your calorie goal manually. If you know from experience you need a larger amount of fuel, try that.

    Then the next part is the most important whether you change your goal or not: Log everything you eat or drink. Be complete. Be honest. Be accurate. Also log your exercise. Do this for several weeks. Then compare your results with what you expected based on how you set your goal and how much you actually ate.

    If it fits, you've found a good goal. Stick to it. If the results aren't what you expected, change the goal! Ignore that "five weeks from now" thing. If you lose weight, and if that's your intent, then you'll have to keep adjusting your goal down as there's less of you.

    If you get a consistent amount of exercise every day or at least every week, you can ignore the exercise calories and instead use an estimated burn. You can even figure out your weekly average and then allot it to each day even if you don't exercise each day. You'll eat the same whether you exercise or not. This may leave you too full or too hungry some days. Or you can just make sure, on average over the week, you're on target. That works too. Your body integrates it all.

    It's a work in progress. The other really important part is to STICK TO IT!

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