Newbie looking for an answer or suggestion.

mthomason0104

I signed up on this website a while ago but never did anything with it but today that is changing.

I need a little help though on what I should use for my activity setting. I only walk for 35 minutes a day (all I have time for right now).

I am 5'6, 259.5 lbs, 30 yrs old and female. Right now I have it set to sedentary (but am not sure if that is the correct one) and MFP is telling me to "net" 1390. (with the goal of losing 2lbs per week)

Does this sound right? Any advice is greatly appreciated!smile

APBTChampion

If your only activity is the walking 35 minutes a day, I'd say sedentary is probably a good way to start. I would, however, suggest starting with a weight loss of 1pound per week. That way it isn't so much of a shock to your body in terms of less food... after a little while, move it to 1.5, then 2.

Just my two cents!

Best of luck!

mthomason0104

If your only activity is the walking 35 minutes a day, I'd say sedentary is probably a good way to start. I would, however, suggest starting with a weight loss of 1pound per week. That way it isn't so much of a shock to your body in terms of less food... after a little while, move it to 1.5, then 2.

Just my two cents!

Best of luck!

Ok, MFP says in a 35 minutes walk I will burn 227 calories. Do I eat those back? I've heard to only eat them if you are hungry, otherwise it wouldn't hurt anything if you don't eat them.

khelm31

You have the option of eating the calories you burn during workouts back. I recommend that you aim not to, especially in the beginning until you see how you do.

deksgrl

Eat the calories back. MFP is designed that way.

MFP sets your calorie goal LOW so that you would lose weight without any exercising. When you do exercise, you need to add fuel for it, otherwise that will give you too much of a calorie deficit. Having too much of a calorie deficit is not good, it can slow your metabolism and weight loss.

If you do not want to keep track and add back exercise calories, then you should have a higher calorie goal. Figure out your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) and eat 20% less than that, every day, whether you exercise or not.

http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

According to this, your TDEE is 2300 - 2600 (depending on if you pick little or no exercise or light exercise). This means you should eat about 1800 calories.

If you stay with MFP's settings, 1390 plus exercise calories, that will put you closer to a safe and reasonable calorie goal than just 1390 minus your exercise burn.

yoovie

mthomason0104

I'm not afraid of working out more..I just want to make sure I have the numbers right.

needamulligan

Whoever said MFP is designed for you to eat the calories back is correct. Just don't go below 1200 calories. If I'm not mistaken I think that it's especially important to eat back the exercise calories if you are set to sedentary.

mthomason0104

Whoever said MFP is designed for you to eat the calories back is correct. Just don't go below 1200 calories. If I'm not mistaken I think that it's especially important to eat back the exercise calories if you are set to sedentary.

I get so many different responses to this that it gets confusing. Someone told me to eat them, others say to eat them only if I'm hungry, then someone else told me that if I'm not losing any weight with that goal to not eat them at all.

deksgrl

BMR = Basal Metabolic Rate
This is the number of calories they would feed you in a coma, to fuel your basic bodily functions, organs, breathing, brain, etc.

If you find a BMR calculator, I'm pretty certain that you will find that your BMR is somewhere in the 1300 range or possibly more.

Does it make any sense to eat just enough to keep you alive, when you are also living and exercising? Eat the exercise calories. There are many people on here that don't, but it is NOT healthy, and many of them are damaging their bodies.