Confused about eating calories/ logging exercises

deeutz68

I'm sure this has been asked before and I have read a lot of the posts on this subject, but I just can't get my mind to grasp it for some reason. I'm not even sure if it applies to me at this time in my weight loss journey. I understand if exercise a lot you need to log your calories burned and eat them back so you aren't "straving". Okay, I can understand that for fit people, you don't want your body to start burning the muscle you have started building or your metabolism to slow down.

Now, doctors put severly overweight people on restricted diets of less than a 1000 calories every day. I know that can cause them to lose a lot of weight pretty fast. They also start adding exercise but no say they add any more calories. I get this from TV shows on severly overweight people.

I don't see myself has huge, but I guess I am, my doctors say I'm extemely obsese and have put me on a low calorie diet of 1500. They based it on me just sitting in a chair or in bed all day. Well, with health issues, I do have days, I don't or can't move as much because of pain but I still move. I have been going to Gold's Gym 3 days a week and walking on the treadmill. I can't do much yet, but I'm slowly building up and doing more each trip. I don't log those yet, because I don't feel it is a significan't amount of calories burned to do much damage. I see people logging housework and burning 500-600 calories mopping floors and doing laundry. Well, I mop floors and do laundry but can't see it burning that many calories when others run for miles and only burn 400 calories.

So my questions are.... Are the exercises logs that far off on housework that I could be burning that many calories just doing laundry? Or cleaning house? How do you compare what you consider vigorous cleaning to what someone else might consider vigorous cleaning?

If I weight 235 lbs and have a BMI of over 40% and according to Gold's Gym a VO2 of 24 with 10% fitness, would it hurt me to eat lower calorie most days with one or two days a week on calorie goal? Should I be eating less calories than that MFP says? It already says 1650 vs the 1500 the doctor said. I see some on 1200 calories and they weigh less than I do. So should I be at that amount?

With medications I take I have days I feel like I am straving to death and other days I have to force myself to eat. Yesterday was a straving day and I did go over calories, as well as ate some things I shouldn't have, but for the most part I am eating a lot better than I was in the past. I have some areas of my diet that need more changes, but I'm working on correcting those but I'm 85% healthier than I was.

JNettie73

In my opinion, if your doctor is recommending you at 1500 then that is what you should be eating. Your doctor knows you, your medical history and your meds better than MFP does. I highly recommend speaking to your doctor about your fluctuations in feeling hungry/ not feeling hungry. It is possible that this is related to the meds and he/she may be able to help you with this.

It is really up to you to decide what exercises you feel are exercise and if you want to log them or not. For me personally, I do not log cleaning or anything that I do on a regular basis. I will log mowing the lawn though, because I do that once a week with a push mower and walk rapidly. I do work up a sweat when doing it. My suggestion is to find what works for you and then do it. Try not to worry so much about what everyone else is doing. I don't think there is a "One size fits all" answer for this. Everyone is different. We have different weights and heights, carry our weight differently, have different medical history and different needs. What may work for one person may not work for another.

I hope my response helped you a little bit and did not confuse you even more. I know how confusing and overwhelming this all can be. Best of luck to you!

Gwen7121

Two things -

The same exercise will burn different calories for different people. If a 120 lb, 5'3" fit female walks a mile, at 3mph, she won't burn nearly as many calories as a 250 lb, 5'3" female doing the same thing. With housework, it also has to do with effort. Personally, I don't count mine because I take way too many breaks.

The other thing - If you are under a doctor's care to lose weight, you should be talking to him/her and following the instructions they give you. Most of us are not professionals and the wrong advice could hurt you. We don't know your medical condition. I'm assuming they are monitoring more than your calorie intake. If not, perhaps ask if they can refer you to a nutritionist who specializes in weight loss.

netchik

Dee, I tend to go by what my body tells me. if it's an activity I don't do daily, and I elevate my heartrate doing it, then yes, I log it. You'll see the difference in MFP's calorie recommendations if you change between sedentary, active etc in your activity levels.

So, if you are sedentary, then log all the exercise you do where you get puffed. So if you are vigorously cleaning the house and it exhausts you, it's vigorous cleaning for you. You may find that in 2-3 weeks, the same level of housecleaning doesn't even make you pause for breath.

As for eating back calories, again it's what you want (and there are SO many debates on the subject here. I eat some 9but never all) of my calories back. I use the exercise to supplement my eating for functions, occasions etc. or if I just want to splurge. for example, if I get off 1 stop early on the way to work and walk the extra, I know I burn enough calories (with some to spare) for a Starbuck Caramel Macchiato. And some days, i feel so good after I've done it, I choose not to take the reward

It's all up to you.