Am I moderately active?

Gingerkid05

Hi All! I'm struggling with my appetite late and was thinking my body is telling me to eat more so I want to change my calorie goal.
Little background:

I work out 4-6 days a week with running and lifting. My job is sitting at a desk all day.

I add my exercise calories each day with my goal being 1230 with no exercise. If I'm adding my calories should I not up my baseline calories? Or can I up it to moderately active and still add exercise calories?

mrsmcmo

I would definitely log exercise calories, and use sedentary if you have a desk job that you're at most days.

Linnaea27

I'm guessing your calorie goal is set so you lose 1 pound a week-- am I correct? 1280 sounds pretty low as a before-exercise calorie goal-- I'm a petite woman and I find it really hard to get below 1400 on a regular basis, and I have a very similar daily routine to you. Maybe try setting your weekly weight-loss goal to 0.5 lb a week instead? You'd be able to eat more but still lose weight, and might not have the feeling that your body needs more food that way.

If' you've been pretty consistently in a calorie deficit for a few months, it's not surprising your body is telling you you need more food. I found that happening to me at intervals, even after getting really used to eating the right amount of food to lose weight. I would just eat at maintenance for a few days if that feeling really started getting to me. Or, if you don't want to eat at your current maintenance level, try changing your calorie goal to "lose 0.5 lb a week" for a little while and then go back to 1 lb a week after that.

I wouldn't up your activity level to moderately active since you're sitting all day and you log all the exercise you do separately. If you've got the activity level set to "sedentary," though, I would absolutely up it to "lightly active." The walking up and down stairs, standing and moving around cleaning and cooking, wandering around shopping, taking care of kids if you have them, etc. all qualify as activity that is best included (I think) in the "lightly active" category if you have a desk job.

MKEgal

I'm struggling with my appetite late and was thinking my body is telling me to eat more so I want to change my calorie goal.
I work out 4-6 days a week with running and lifting. My job is sitting at a desk all day.
I add my exercise calories each day with my goal being 1230 with no exercise. If I'm adding my calories should I not up my baseline calories? Or can I up it to moderately active and still add exercise calories?

"Most weight loss occurs because of decreased caloric intake.
However, evidence shows the only way to maintain weight loss is to be engaged in regular physical activity.
To maintain your weight: work your way up to 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, or an equivalent mix of the two each week."
(The page explains moderate & vigorous.)
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/physical_activity/index.html

My doctor & dietician told me NOT to eat back exercise calories. They're a bonus toward weight loss.
Eat 10x your healthy goal weight in calories, period*. Ignore "net" or exercise calories.
1 - most people underestimate what they eat
2 - most machines, including MFP, overestimate calorie burn


* Unless you're starting out very heavy, in which case it would be better to start out subtracting 1000 from 10x your current weight so you're not making too big of a cut. Then you have to adjust it downward as you lose weight until you get to 10x your healthy goal weight.

threnjen

That sounds pretty low. I am 5'1", 136lb with 30% body fat and my BMR is 1323. I also work out 4-5 times a week which includes running and lifting. My workouts are usually 60-90 minutes and I burn about 500 calories.

I've had my baseline set at 1350 and I eat back exercise calories. Lately at my activity level I am really not eating enough and have decided to increase my baseline to 1450.

I believe in eating back exercise calories as I strive to NOT lose more than 1lb a week as I am trying not to lose much lean muscle. MFP also teaches you to eat back exercise calories and it is a reasonably common activity.

If you find that on non-exercise days you are just too hungry, switch to the TDEE -20% method and aim for the same calories every day. For me, for example, that would mean that instead of eating 1450 on some days and 1950 on others, I would just eat around 1750 every day.

Sued0nim

I would, and do, set to sedentary, link to a fitbit with the same settings, add exercise in to MFP but manually half the calories and eat that across the week...so some days quite a bit under and some quite a lot over

The fitbit catches my walking and the gym and exercise classes are manually input and I take my fitbit off when doing them

It seems to work

ETA my baseline is 1380 for 1lb a week and I generally earn 350 cals a day through walking or exercise