New to myfitness and a little confused

sue81965

Can somone tell me when setting up myfitness in the goals section it asks you to mark your usual activity level for any given day. However I clicked each icon from sedentary through to active and each one gave my the same calorie requirement for daily weight loss. Very confused????????

Mindful_Trent

Exercise goals don't effect your daily calorie goal. They're only there as something to shoot for - on the exercise log, it compares your actuals to your goal.

The deficit to lose weight is built in without any exercise considered - MFP gives you your daily calorie goal with no exercise included - then you're supposed to log all your exercise on the exercise log, and it will add those calories burned to adjust your food log, so that you keep the same deficit. I eat back 50-75% of my exercise calories that I log, leaving a little room for error in case I overestimate exercise calories or underestimate what I eat.

sue81965

Thanks for your answer however Im still unsure about the setup stage. When it asks you to click the icon which best represents your normal daily activity levels prior to any extra exercise. As in if you sit behind a desk or if you are a bricky, a considerable difference in calories burnt. However when I was setting up my goals I clicked on active level initially and it gave me 1200 calories required per day prior to exercise, then i changed it to moderate and it still said 1200 per day.

Mindful_Trent

Oh!! Sorry I completely misread your original post. My bad! Yes, that should impact your daily calorie goal - the more active you are, the more you need. However, it depends on your current weight and your goal loss. If your current weight is low enough and you have a higher loss selected (2 lbs/week, maybe even 1 lbs/week) then it will give only give you 1200 calories/day. If you're seeing 1200 calories no matter what, then you're probably light enough that you should be selecting a low weight loss goal (1/2 a lb per week).

sue81965

Thanks heaps Trenton, that makes sense. I am already at a healthy weight however I just wanted to loose a few pound for summer.

Cheers

Mindful_Trent

Thanks heaps Trenton, that makes sense. I am already at a healthy weight however I just wanted to loose a few pound for summer.

Cheers

Glad I could help! Good luck meeting your goals! MFP is a great site.