These figures can't be right!
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In case someone hasn't caught the inspiring thread about those eating at higher levels like this method causes you to do. It may take time to get burning, but it can happen.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/531086-before-and-after-pics-no-starvation?0 -
Okay I have a question. What if my activities often vary on a daily basis. Monday-Friday I am up at 4:30 a.m. to workout for about 60-90 minutes. I am currently doing the P90X program, so my workouts are intense. I work a desk job Monday-Friday from 8:30am-5:00pm. Then I go home and life is kind of hectic.
Making dinner and eating are first on the list, but then some days I have to take my kids to their baseball practice/games, and some days I clean or go shopping, and some days I watch t.v. or do homework. The weekends are even more hectic. For example, tomorrow (Saturday) I will waking up at 4am to workout, and then I will be out of the house most of the day. Sunday is my daughter's birthday, so I will be busy taking care of that most of the day. This is not going to be a typical weekend, but even typical weekends are hard to predict. Some weekends I sleep in late and some I'm up early. Some weekends I watch several hours of t.v., and some weekends I'm out of the house most of the time.
I am having a lot of difficulty deciding how many hours to enter into the spreadsheet for rest, t.v. time, shopping, cleaning, and other errands. I was going to journal my activities this week, but it has been a particularly crazy week because I have been sick, and this weekend will be extra crazy. Not sure what to do at this point. Please help!0 -
I would assume from your description that you are "very active".
I like having the FitBit to give me a more accurate reflection of how active I am from day to day. Then I can see if I'm tired and hungry from being so active, or just because I'm stressed out or PMS'ing.Okay I have a question. What if my activities often vary on a daily basis. Monday-Friday I am up at 4:30 a.m. to workout for about 60-90 minutes. I am currently doing the P90X program, so my workouts are intense. I work a desk job Monday-Friday from 8:30am-5:00pm. Then I go home and life is kind of hectic.
Making dinner and eating are first on the list, but then some days I have to take my kids to their baseball practice/games, and some days I clean or go shopping, and some days I watch t.v. or do homework. The weekends are even more hectic. For example, tomorrow (Saturday) I will waking up at 4am to workout, and then I will be out of the house most of the day. Sunday is my daughter's birthday, so I will be busy taking care of that most of the day. This is not going to be a typical weekend, but even typical weekends are hard to predict. Some weekends I sleep in late and some I'm up early. Some weekends I watch several hours of t.v., and some weekends I'm out of the house most of the time.
I am having a lot of difficulty deciding how many hours to enter into the spreadsheet for rest, t.v. time, shopping, cleaning, and other errands. I was going to journal my activities this week, but it has been a particularly crazy week because I have been sick, and this weekend will be extra crazy. Not sure what to do at this point. Please help!0 -
Okay I have a question. What if my activities often vary on a daily basis. Monday-Friday I am up at 4:30 a.m. to workout for about 60-90 minutes. I am currently doing the P90X program, so my workouts are intense. I work a desk job Monday-Friday from 8:30am-5:00pm. Then I go home and life is kind of hectic.
Making dinner and eating are first on the list, but then some days I have to take my kids to their baseball practice/games, and some days I clean or go shopping, and some days I watch t.v. or do homework. The weekends are even more hectic. For example, tomorrow (Saturday) I will waking up at 4am to workout, and then I will be out of the house most of the day. Sunday is my daughter's birthday, so I will be busy taking care of that most of the day. This is not going to be a typical weekend, but even typical weekends are hard to predict. Some weekends I sleep in late and some I'm up early. Some weekends I watch several hours of t.v., and some weekends I'm out of the house most of the time.
I am having a lot of difficulty deciding how many hours to enter into the spreadsheet for rest, t.v. time, shopping, cleaning, and other errands. I was going to journal my activities this week, but it has been a particularly crazy week because I have been sick, and this weekend will be extra crazy. Not sure what to do at this point. Please help!
Well, for the spreadsheet, you can get in known activities that even occur just weekly.
So if you know you are going to do 2 hrs worth of cleaning at some point in the week, perhaps 1 hr on 2 days, or sometimes it turns into 30 min on 4 days, but you know it takes 2 hrs to accomplish all that in a typical week, 2 hrs x 1 day under Light.
Or you know normal walking around for shopping takes 2hr trip every other week, and 30 min catchup on the other weeks, there's 1.5 hr x 1 day under Light. Add to cleaning.
Is TV time for you really the bump on a log style like resting? what with the kids around, or more getting up and being active and interrupted? That would fall under Lightly Active automatically then. But if you get most evenings 30 min always to yourself to watch TV on the couch finally at end of day, there is Rest. For weekends, split the difference for how much extra you may get.
The workouts is the main thing you seem to have nailed, so that is great.
And this is really a weekly balanced model. You eat to a certain number daily, but you know you are training eating at this level all the time. So special event where you will eat more, cut back on Sat and Mon by 200 cal, include extra time on workout on Monday, don't worry about the rest.
And the reason for nailing that Light and by default Very Light, is because some like you have massive amount of daily activity, plus incredible workouts. And you want to feed everything that should be, and get deficit from the rest.
Whatever goal number you come up with, do a pretend week under spot check.
Enter that goal eaten for each day, like you nailed it.
Do you know your exercise burns for those workouts? Or perhaps use P90X estimate they say.
Put that in the days it applies. If you have no Moderate activity of walking that fast, then nothing to add on.
Then enter the same current weight for start and end to the week.
How did the Net above BMR end up. Should be above, by 100-200 or more for that massive routine.
Then scroll down to where expected weight loss is shown. That's based on how much time fell into Light and Very Light, your daily activity.
Remember, no matter how shockingly high that number seems - no exercise eat back, hence the reason you want Net above BMR to be positive.0 -
Thank you. I really appreciate you taking the time to break that down for me. This is what I pretty much figured out in the spreadsheet, but I was having a hard time trying to figure out what I should put for rest/t.v. time. You made a good point about what kind of t.v. time I have. With 2 kids, I don't get a whole lot of straight time to sit and relax.
I have consumed around 2100 calories each day this week, except for yesterday because I was sick and could barely eat. After the first two days of eating over 2000 calories, I lost 1.4 pounds! I'm very excited to keep this going and see what happens.0 -
I would assume from your description that you are "very active".
I like having the FitBit to give me a more accurate reflection of how active I am from day to day. Then I can see if I'm tired and hungry from being so active, or just because I'm stressed out or PMS'ing.
Thanks for the tip. I was thinking about buying something like this, but I don't have the extra cash right now. I'm hoping to find a number that I'm comfortable with and that is going to keep my weight loss steady, and I really like how Heybales has broken down this system.
Does your FitBit tell you how many calories you burn throughout the day, or just during certain activities? Not really sure how it works.0 -
Throughout the day. It basically gives you your TDEE. When I calculated my TDEE using the spreadsheet, and averaged out two months worth of FitBit entries, the results were less than 50 calories apart.Does your FitBit tell you how many calories you burn throughout the day, or just during certain activities? Not really sure how it works.0
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Can you help me please? I've used the spreadsheet that you made and it suggests that I am very active and should eat around 1910 calories. I'd like to lose ideally another 7lbs but mostly I am happy at this weight and just want to get stronger and fitter. I am worrying that I do not eat enough calories.
Gender: Female, Age: 22, GW: 119, CW: 126 for comparison, height: 5"5.4.
Activity levels: I workout at least once every day, my usual routine is 4 days of Jilian Micheals work out DVD's (one 20 minute and one 30 minute) and 3 days of running (currently following a 10k training plan that has one day of speed intervals of no more than 4 mins with jog/rest intervals, one day of longer tempo intervals of no longer than 15 minutes with a 5 minute jog interval and one long run day - currently my longest is 60mins and managed 8.5k but working my way up to the full 10k)
Rest - 7 hours sleep a night on average, 2 hours tv/reading on week nights and about 5/6 hours tv/reading on weekends.
Heavy - Running three times a week, usually 2 x 30 mins and long run of 60 mins
Moderate - Workout DVD's 3 x 22 mins and 4 x 30 mins
Light - 0.25hrs x 5 walking to and from office and 2 x 1hr cleaning/shopping a week
Very Light - the balance of the week probably (according to spreadsheet 12.95)
My question really is that if I eat between 1850 to 1910 calories per day, will I lose weight or maintain? I am happy with either of those I just really don't want to gain (unless it's due to muscles).
Thanks0 -
Can you help me please? I've used the spreadsheet that you made and it suggests that I am very active and should eat around 1910 calories. I'd like to lose ideally another 7lbs but mostly I am happy at this weight and just want to get stronger and fitter. I am worrying that I do not eat enough calories.
Gender: Female, Age: 22, GW: 119, CW: 126 for comparison, height: 5"5.4.
Activity levels: I workout at least once every day, my usual routine is 4 days of Jilian Micheals work out DVD's (one 20 minute and one 30 minute) and 3 days of running (currently following a 10k training plan that has one day of speed intervals of no more than 4 mins with jog/rest intervals, one day of longer tempo intervals of no longer than 15 minutes with a 5 minute jog interval and one long run day - currently my longest is 60mins and managed 8.5k but working my way up to the full 10k)
Rest - 7 hours sleep a night on average, 2 hours tv/reading on week nights and about 5/6 hours tv/reading on weekends.
Heavy - Running three times a week, usually 2 x 30 mins and long run of 60 mins
Moderate - Workout DVD's 3 x 22 mins and 4 x 30 mins
Light - 0.25hrs x 5 walking to and from office and 2 x 1hr cleaning/shopping a week
Very Light - the balance of the week probably (according to spreadsheet 12.95)
My question really is that if I eat between 1850 to 1910 calories per day, will I lose weight or maintain? I am happy with either of those I just really don't want to gain (unless it's due to muscles).
Thanks
Great workup. I used 5.5 for the 5/6 hr split. Used 20 min on DVD (sure those are no more intense than walking 4mph flat, and really belong under Heavy?).
I came up with 1869.
So, that would be a weight loss.
First, total is based on lighter you doing the activity. Second, calculator underestimates.
Using the section for Miss or Add a workout, you can see just what the calc is estimating the calorie burn at for those minutes of activity.
Heavy - 120 min - 759 cal
Mod - 120 min - 542 cal
If you use a HRM, does your 2 hrs of running actually burn more than 760 cal's? There is extra deficit.
Do the 2 hrs of DVD's burn more than 542 cal's? There is extra deficit.
Plus it's only calc'ing 395 cals for all other non-exercise daily activity (bottom section), you probably burn more than that, huh?
So you still have a deficit.
The problem still could be, too much? If you do a pretend week on that Weekly Spot Check section, and pretend you ate 1869 every day. Then put in your workout calories best estimate for normal week. You should still NET above BMR by some amount. Which means all your daily activity is creating a deficit. And that is underestimated, because you just can't nail that easily. But you can nail staying above your current BMR and feeding your workouts.
Since you have so little to lose, and want some more muscle, feeding the workouts properly is so important, or the body can't make those improvements. And you got nice routine there, I could see the runs getting faster.
Could also see the glucose/water getting stored more for those runs. So you are likely to see inches drop away as weight slowly inches down.
Only improvement would be to do the bodyfat estimate, and use that instead. If really lower right now, the goal will be less. But if you have pretty decent, it would be higher to support it not going down. And then keep doing the measurements in case bodyfat does change, and goal would change in that case.0 -
Thanks
so I am doing the right thing? I've upped my calorie goal to 1850 (and I won't worry too much if it goes a little over) and I will just log the exercise as a way to keep track but not eat them back as they are already included in the calculation.
Thankyou so much for your help heybales, I'll keep you posted with how things are going in a few weeks! x0 -
As I mentioned in the Fitbit thread, I just recently started with Fitbit and with MFP, so I only have about two weeks of data showing how active I really am/what my BMR is. I really like the "Future You" setup, but I'm having trouble believing these numbers. (I know I'm not alone in that. ) I'm also wondering (because of the integration with the Fitbit) what I should be setting all of my numbers to.
H: 5'6"
Age: 45
CW: 157
GW: 135
I lift weights twice a week, an hour each time. While I do rest between sets, I lift heavy and I am definitely knackered at the end of my workout.
I run three times a week, usually for 45-60 minutes at a time.
I'm on the computer a lot, although I putter around the house, drive the kids, do errands...
I watch TV for 2 hours a night and I sleep for 7.5 hours a night.
According to Heybales's spreadsheet the Mifflin numbers are:
BMR 1274
TDEE 1869
If these numbers are right, I set MFP manually to 1869, record exercise as 1, and ignore any Fitbit adjustment? And then every day try to eat between 1274 and 1869?0 -
As I mentioned in the Fitbit thread, I just recently started with Fitbit and with MFP, so I only have about two weeks of data showing how active I really am/what my BMR is. I really like the "Future You" setup, but I'm having trouble believing these numbers. (I know I'm not alone in that. ) I'm also wondering (because of the integration with the Fitbit) what I should be setting all of my numbers to.
H: 5'6"
Age: 45
CW: 157
GW: 135
I lift weights twice a week, an hour each time. While I do rest between sets, I lift heavy and I am definitely knackered at the end of my workout.
I run three times a week, usually for 45-60 minutes at a time.
I'm on the computer a lot, although I putter around the house, drive the kids, do errands...
I watch TV for 2 hours a night and I sleep for 7.5 hours a night.
According to Heybales's spreadsheet the Mifflin numbers are:
BMR 1274
TDEE 1869
If these numbers are right, I set MFP manually to 1869, record exercise as 1, and ignore any Fitbit adjustment? And then every day try to eat between 1274 and 1869?
Rest level sounds honest.
Running was under Heavy for .88 x 3 and lifting under Moderate for 1 x 2?
You got no regularly scheduled time estimates for shopping, cleaning, ect each week? Missing some there really.
1869 was in the green section - that that is DAILY goal, every day, not NET as MFP does it.
That section states exactly what to setup on MFP.
You would log no exercise or 1 cal, you would ignore FitBit adjustments or de-sync.
FitBit is estimating your BMR with probably the Harris calc over on the right, and they base all calorie burn on that.
So what does FitBit show is your daily burn estimate, especially on rest days compared to workout days?
And only improvement to this would be getting an estimate of bodyfat% and plugging that in. Your estimated healthy BMR may be lower right now.
Then after 5 lbs loss, you measure again, and may have even more to eat!
Since this feeds your workouts, and you are working out a lot, you should expect body improvements over actual weight loss for awhile. Inches will melt away as your lean body mass builds up from lifting heavy.0 -
Not sure this group is active it doesnt look like anyone has posted for months but I will try anyway.
I need help with all these numbers!! I went to the spreadsheet and I cant even figure out how to enter numbers!! lol If someone would be willing to help me figure all of this out please message me or answer here . Thanks!!0 -
Not sure this group is active it doesnt look like anyone has posted for months but I will try anyway.
I need help with all these numbers!! I went to the spreadsheet and I cant even figure out how to enter numbers!! lol If someone would be willing to help me figure all of this out please message me or answer here . Thanks!!
I still watch over it, and there are still ones doing it.
But since you get the numbers setup once, and if routine never changes, you never have to change anything, I only get some PM's from ones with reports. Not much to talk about.
So do you mean literally you can't enter numbers in the yellow cells, it says you can't edit them? In which case you must download as Excel file, or make a copy for yourself to use. If you have a Google account you can save it, if not you can fill it out and print it out for records. Then get it again when needed. Look under the web page spreadsheet File menu.
The only other numbers there that might be confusing is estimating your daily activity. Just use the tips and the example to see how to include most of everything.
The order of the activities listed is the order that has the most impact or is easiest to figure out.
Sleep is usually pretty known, get it right as far as weekday and weekend if different.
The 2 big workout levels is usually easy, the walking level may be loser, and everything else falls under the sitting level.0
This discussion has been closed.