yes, this is another calorie ?

TurtleRunnerNC

MFP set my amount to 1200 which I know is too low. I am currently 133.5 looking to end up around 120lbs aiming about 1/2lb per week.

I have been playing with my #'s here & there.

According to Fat2Fit to reach my goal weight the chart says 1561 for sedentary and 1789 for lightly active. Some days I sit @ a desk all day others I am out & about but may be driving 2 to 4 hours of my day. I walk 2 miles every morning and once I get rid of this sinus infection from hell I plan to go back to 30DS & Ripped in 30.

If I understand correctly I want to consume this # of calories & NOT eat back exercise calories because it takes into account activity level. Yes? No?

Based on the info above would I be sedentary or lightly active? Or since it varies stay between the two, at the low end on sedentary days and closer to high end on more active days?

Thanks for reading yet another calorie?

waldenfam2

I would go between the two, eating more fuel on the days you use it and eating less on the days that you're less active. But I'm not an expert either. Remember to check your calories again once you start the 30DS and Ripped in 30.

For an example, today I worked 9 hours and was sitting for most of it. Because I was inactive most of the day I went for a 45 minute walk/run when I got home. I'm still going to hit 2000 calories burned for the day according to my bodybugg. I do try to get up and move around every hour or two at work but it wasn't a big spike in activity level. So I would just experiment and see how the weight loss goes with those calories.

BaconMD

You walk 2 miles a day, you're not sedentary...

You could do a mix, like I do - eat at their sedentary maintenance level on rest days, and track and eat back exercise calories monitored by a HRM on top of that.

cakeums

I would say lightly active, and don't eat back exercise cals on the F2F plan. Lightly active, by their definition, is moderate activity 1-3x/week. Walking 2 miles in the morning definitely counts toward that.

sisierra

i say log as sedentary and log the walk as exercise and DEFINITELY eat more than 1200

Denjo060

you do not eat back your calories it figures them in I would set it at light activity too but I am obviously not an expert LOL

LillysGranny

I work in a warehouse. Some days I do a lot of paperwork at my desk and others I'm moving boxes all day long. I have my activity level set at lightly active and figure it balances out. I log my actual workouts as extra activity. For me, on days I do not workout, MFP gives me 1360 calories. On workout days I may end up with 1900-2400 depending on what I do and for how long. I usually eat back at least some of my exercise calories--sometimes I'm just not hungry enough to eat them all.

amnsetie

I set mine to sedentary so I can log the exercises. I think this is more accurate for me as, like you, I don't work out every day.

TurtleRunnerNC

I have a Fitbit so I don't log my walking as it will adjust for that. In the past I logged 30DS & ate back calories. I guess that is where I am getting confused by letting Fitbit adjust & using Fat2fit. I guess I would ignore the adjustment as long as my 'food' # is between the sedentary & lightly active.

If I add in Shred do I still log that or no since I am using #'s that include activity level.
I wish this didn't make me feel so stupid :bigsmile:

jsapninz

First off, 1,200 might not "be too low" since you aren't overweight. When you get in this range and are a small woman, there just isn't much wiggle room if you want to lose weight. You just have to BE CAREFUL that you are exercising and eating back when you get down around these low levels.

You are correct in that if you set your TDEE properly you shouldn't have to post and eat back your exercise. However, if I were you I would set my activity level at sedentary and hard post all my TRUE exercise (being "out and about" for a couple days a week doesn't really count as far as I am concerned, but I would hard post the walking 2 miles a day). You have to be VERY particular when you don't have much weight to lose, because if you are off by a little bit (say, 200 cals), then the system won't work right.

From your TDEE, you set your cut. So your sedentary TDEE is 1561 and say you want to lose 1 lb a week, which is a "healthy loss." That means since 3500 cals in a lb, 7 days in a week, you need a 500 cal deficit. Which, as you can see, would be 1,061 goal per day. So you CAN eat at this goal, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you are working out at least 200 cals off a day and eating back because it is going to be very difficult to get all your nutrients to run well. The other option is to take 15% or so of your TDEE off for a safer and less drastic cut, so about 1330 and have that as your goal. As you can see however, since that is only a 231 cut you would lose 1 lb every 15 days.

THIS IS ALL ASSUMING your BMR is EXACTLY average, which, I assure you, it ISN'T. But after you have at least 4 weeks under your belt you will start losing either faster or slower than your goal. If you are lucky, faster because your BMR is faster than normal, and you can up your cals accordingly. If you are unlucky, you will have to drop them to maintain your loss rate or drop how quickly you want to lose to like 1/2 lb a week (like the example above).

poundsgalore

I must really be thick in the head because I still don't get it. To eat back or not eat back? Will I ever figure it out. Good luck!!

jsapninz

I must really be thick in the head because I still don't get it. To eat back or not eat back? Will I ever figure it out. Good luck!!

You CAN eat back if you want to. If you don't, it will just add to your cut:

Say your TDEE is 1700, your goal is 1 lb per week so you have a 1200 NET goal. If you work out and burn 200 cals, you can eat them back and maintain your 500 cal cut (leaving you with a 1200 NET but a 1400 total intake for the day). OR you can not eat back, and your cut will increase to 700 (leaving you with a 1000 NET but a 1200 intake for the day). Obviously if you don't eat back frequently but work out alot, you are going to lose faster than your goal, which may or may not be healthy depending on your stats.

TurtleRunnerNC

I guess what confuses me is that on F2F it says these are the #'s for my goal weight and include the deficit needed to get to that weight. It seems it is saying 'eat the calories for your goal weight & you will get there. Once there continue on & you will maintain.'

If that is true not eating back my exercise calories would simply create a greater deficit but I would still be ok to eat them back should I choose.

graysmom2005

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

Go to ^^^^^ this website. I have a BMF and had metabolic testing done and this is the closest I've found to my "professional" numbers. Just go by the number of times you work out and find the number. It will be larger than 1200! WOO HOO! You may gain initially, but this still puts you at a deficit, so once your body trusts that you'll feed it again, the weight should come back off. I'm on week three of this. There is a group here called Eat More To Weigh Less with some awesome folks on there. :-)

TurtleRunnerNC

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

Go to ^^^^^ this website. I have a BMF and had metabolic testing done and this is the closest I've found to my "professional" numbers. Just go by the number of times you work out and find the number. It will be larger than 1200! WOO HOO! You may gain initially, but this still puts you at a deficit, so once your body trusts that you'll feed it again, the weight should come back off. I'm on week three of this. There is a group here called Eat More To Weigh Less with some awesome folks on there. :-)

Thank you. Went there. Says BMR is 1314 / TDEE 1808 / eat 1535 to lose weight. I will set MFP to 1535 for a month & see how things go.