What should my MFP activity level be?

may14423

Hi y'all!

I'm a college student who gets about 10k-12k steps a day just walking to class, and I go to the gym 4-5 days a week, with at least 3 of those days including 30 mins of cardio, and every day including some kind of strength training, whether that be pilates or weight lifting.

Other than that though, I'm sitting in class or sitting at a desk working most weekdays and out partying/tailgating/generally messing around on weekends.

I have my activity level set to sendentary right now and just adding in the exercise I do and I have step tracking turned on. MFP gives me 1430 calories for maintenance right now, does that sound about right? (fyi, i am 19F, 4'11, 100lbs).

If not, what do I set it to? And, do I continue to let it track steps and add my gym workouts if I change the activity level?

AnnPT77

Seems low to me for that much activity, but I'm not that petite. Are you getting extra calories on top of the 1430 from having a step tracker synced?

The real test is following it for 4-6 weeks, and watching how scale weight trends on average over that time. If you have menstrual cycles, compare body weight at the same relative point in at least two different cycles to get a reasonable average.

With that knowledge, you can adjust your calorie goal to personalize it as needed. Use the assumption that 500 calories per day is a pound a week, and apply arithmetic for partial pounds.

MFP's calorie estimates are close for a lot of people, probably most people, when they use accurate inputs. 10k steps isn't sedentary, it's probably around the border of active and highly active, especially once you have near-daily exercise in the mix as well. If your step tracker is syncing all activity calories, and you're eating them, that will also adjust for actual activity.

MFP (or any other calorie estimator we use as a starting point) will be close for most people, noticeably off (high or low) for a few, and surprisingly far off (still in either direction) for a very rare few. That's the nature of statistical estimates based on population averages, which is all these estimates are.

MFP's around 25-30% off, for me (too low). That's rare, but it can happen. We figure this out by following the starting estimate long enough to get reasonable averages. That works pretty well, IME and IMO.

Best wishes!

may14423

Yeah, it usually gives me 50-80 calories extra for the steps!

And I add in excercise so I have a little extra buffer to eat over 1400 on the days that I do go to the gym, but staying below when I don't work out.

So, with that in mind, is it fine to leave it at 'sedentary' at 1430 and just keep doing what I'm doing now?

edit: oh noo!! I changed it from sedentary to lightly active just to see what it would give me (it gave me a WILD number like over 1800) and when I put it back to sedentary it put me at 1590??? I didn't change anything else, why'd this happen? manually set it back to 1430 but that is super strange.

AnnPT77

may14423 wrote: »

Yeah, it usually gives me 50-80 calories extra for the steps!

And I add in excercise so I have a little extra buffer to eat over 1400 on the days that I do go to the gym, but staying below when I don't work out.

So, with that in mind, is it fine to leave it at 'sedentary' at 1430 and just keep doing what I'm doing now?

If you stick with it for a month or so, then assess and adjust if necessary, yes.

One caveat: If you seem to be losing weight very fast, and at the same time start feeling low energy, weak, cold, or brain-fogged for no other obvious reason, I'd suggest eating more, and resetting your time horizon to start at that point for evaluating/adjusting.

Best wishes

may14423

oh noo!! I changed it from sedentary to lightly active just to see what it would give me (it gave me a WILD number like over 1800) and when I put it back to sedentary it put me at 1590??? I didn't change anything else, why'd this happen? manually set it back to 1430 but that is super strange.

but, hmm, here's the data I have from attempting 1430 for the past 2 weeks:
- lost 0.4 lbs (100.8 --> 100.4) (may be inaccurate though as i tend to weigh myself in the middle of the day at the gym in my gym clothes & shoes)
- averaged 1470 total calories, 1360 net calories over those two weeks (probably also not the most accurate, I just kinda eyeball the dining hall food portions right now since I can't cook for myself)

the "low energy, weak, cold, and brain fog" things I've had for a while but are probably just residual from my weight loss over the summer now, so I'm not suuuuuper worried about those, they seem to be getting better. I also don't have a cycle so I'm assuming any loss/gain I get will have anything to do with that.

AnnPT77

may14423 wrote: »

oh noo!! I changed it from sedentary to lightly active just to see what it would give me (it gave me a WILD number like over 1800) and when I put it back to sedentary it put me at 1590??? I didn't change anything else, why'd this happen? manually set it back to 1430 but that is super strange.

but, hmm, here's the data I have from attempting 1430 for the past 2 weeks:
- lost 0.4 lbs (100.8 --> 100.4) (may be inaccurate though as i tend to weigh myself in the middle of the day at the gym in my gym clothes & shoes)
- averaged 1470 total calories, 1360 net calories over those two weeks (probably also not the most accurate, I just kinda eyeball the dining hall food portions right now since I can't cook for myself)

the "low energy, weak, cold, and brain fog" things I've had for a while but are probably just residual from my weight loss over the summer now, so I'm not suuuuuper worried about those, they seem to be getting better. I also don't have a cycle so I'm assuming any loss/gain I get will have anything to do with that.

1800 is not a WILD number. A TDEE calculator** suggests your maintenance, at your size/age, with that activity schedule, would be somewhere 1500-1800.

** This one: https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/

One person's calorie needs don't predict another, but I'm non-petite, like I said: 5'5", 135 pounds this morning, which is a reasonable weight for me, age 68, sedentary outside of intentional exercise. I average about 5k steps daily. I maintain around 2100-2200 calories in average.

If the reason you don't have cycles is because of having lost weight in extreme ways, that's not at all a good thing. If there's some other reason, then just use the 4-6 week average. If you don't SEE cycles because of medication you take or certain kinds of surgical history, you may still have hormonal cycles in the background affecting scale weight fluctuations.

"Low energy, weak, cold, and brain fog" is also concerning. I'm glad to hear it's getting better. I wouldn't lowball calorie intake, though. We can train our bodies to limp along on low calorie levels, because they tend to get better at things we repeatedly ask them to do. That's not a path of thriving, though. Eating the most calories that are compatible for our weight goals, for the most nutrition possible: That's a path of thriving.

There's too much nonsense in the cultural zeitgeist suggesting that women ought to eat tiny birdlike numbers of calories. It's not universally true, and it can be seriously unhealthful. Please be careful!

may14423

AnnPT77 wrote: »

There's too much nonsense in the cultural zeitgeist suggesting that women ought to eat tiny birdlike numbers of calories. It's not universally true, and it can be seriously unhealthful. Please be careful!

unfortunately I am quite short and what is "birdlike" for others might actually be appropriate for me, though I clearly really have no idea.

but 1800 is "wild" to me at this point, as I both mentally and physically struggle to even get to the 1400 I'm currently allotted (which yes, is definitely residual of bad behavior, and trust me i'm aware that eating ~1000 to lose was not the Greatest Of All Choices, so I'm trying to fix that now and maintain and stop losing. It's def difficult though, going back to your comment about our culture around women's diets, it's odd to be the one friend NOT trying to diet or 'just lose 3 more pounds'). Anyway, just more reasons why I have zero clue what is actually appropriate and healthy to both maintain my weight and get my period back.

cmriverside

I'm sorry you had that experience of under-eating to the point of loss of menses. The silver lining is that hopefully (and it does sound like) you have learned by your own experience to be careful.

1400 does sound low, but I'm eight inches taller and maintain a weight of 140-145 on around 2200-2300 total calories a day, including about 10,000-15,000 steps daily. Just as an example, with a generally sedentary lifestyle and that 10-15K steps being mostly from a 90 minute walk I do every day, I'm set at "Active" on myfitnesspal and I eat 300 calories more for that 90 minute walk. So my base calories (activity level set at "Active") is 1700 and then I add in 300 more "Exercise calories" for a total of 2000 calories. That still is a little low, but close enough to my 2200-2300. I rarely manage to stay within my goal anyway and I figure I make a lot of logging errors even as a 17-year logging "expert."

Myfitnesspal underestimates calories for me. Actually, all online calculators underestimate for me. If I used myfitnesspal's instructions I would be set at "Sedentary" and that would be WAY too low. I learned all this by long-term calorie logging.

If you recently lost weight, it's going to take you some months to figure out your new maintenance calorie level. Keep working at it. It took me nearly a year to settle in at my current weight and calorie level. For me it was about accepting that there are normal body weight fluctuations and once I settled on a weight RANGE instead of A Number, it was easy. Up and down by five pounds is how I roll. In the winter I gain and in the summer I lose but it's still up and down by a few pounds all the time.

may14423

cmriverside wrote: »

I'm sorry you had that experience of under-eating to the point of loss of menses. The silver lining is that hopefully (and it does sound like) you have learned by your own experience to be careful.

1400 does sound low, but I'm eight inches taller and maintain a weight of 140-145 on around 2200-2300 total calories a day, including about 10,000-15,000 steps daily. Just as an example, with a generally sedentary lifestyle and that 10-15K steps being mostly from a 90 minute walk I do every day, I'm set at "Active" on myfitnesspal and I eat 300 calories more for that 90 minute walk. So my base calories (activity level set at "Active") is 1700 and then I add in 300 more "Exercise calories" for a total of 2000 calories. That still is a little low, but close enough to my 2200-2300. I rarely manage to stay within my goal anyway and I figure I make a lot of logging errors even as a 17-year logging "expert."

Myfitnesspal underestimates calories for me. Actually, all online calculators underestimate for me. If I used myfitnesspal's instructions I would be set at "Sedentary" and that would be WAY too low. I learned all this by long-term calorie logging.

If you recently lost weight, it's going to take you some months to figure out your new maintenance calorie level. Keep working at it. It took me nearly a year to settle in at my current weight and calorie level. For me it was about accepting that there are normal body weight fluctuations and once I settled on a weight RANGE instead of A Number, it was easy. Up and down by five pounds is how I roll. In the winter I gain and in the summer I lose but it's still up and down by a few pounds all the time.

hmm, about a month later and still losing, not sure how to go about this- kept my calories around 1300-1450 but currently down to almost 97 lbs - i feel a lot better mentally, energy levels still a bit low but doing better, but not sure where to go from here. obviously the answer is to increase again, but by how much? still not sure where the balance is and clearly still have massive fear of weight gain, but i can't keep losing because i still feel like i'm losing muscle and strength (and the obvious reasons of this weight isn't really good for anyone, no matter any beauty standard i've attempted to achieve here)

AnnPT77

How much to increase can depend on how high your fear level is, though that's not ideal.

If you have a month of stable weight, but want to increase, add 100 calories daily if very scared. That would be at most somewhat under a pound a month of gain, in theory. If your spontaneous activity or internal calorie burn (like core temperature, hair growth, etc.) perks up a bit, it might be zero fat gain, or even loss.

If not quite so scared, more brave, try 250 more calories a day. That could theoretically add at most half a pound a week, which would still be hard to even see clearly in scale weight (because of larger magnitude water and waste fluctuations going on at the same time, that also affect the scale weight).

Add something. Choose a number based on your bravery. Go another few weeks. See what happens. It'll be OK.

Best wishes!