Question about calorie calculators - Activity level

Tyrone_S

When a calorie calculator asks for your input on your activity level, is that your workouts taken into account once and for all and the output is my ideal gross calorie intake? Or, is the calculator factoring in a general increase in my metabolism just because I am active and I still need to log workouts and "eat back" calories that I expend during workouts if I want to keep my net intake on target?

This this isn't clear at all when using these calculators and to me and logically it seems that if I enter "very active" or some such equivalent into the calculator, and then record each individual workout I am factoring in my workouts twice.

I didn't bother with this too much when bulking, just took a "when in doubt, eat more" approach. Now I'm trying to be a little bit more precise with my cut.

Cheers

zyxst

I always included exercise in the base count and don't eat exercise calories. I thought that's why they ask for activity level.

jo_marnes

I don't include my exercise in activity level, just my daily activities. As a mum of 3 and a fairly busy person, I say I am lightly active. Then I log any exercise so that my cals can be more specific - my exercise levels are different each day and so my calorie demands are different every day.

kaylalryan

I have cals at 1300 cuz I am a student some days and work others. I use a fitbit to adjust my calories because on those days that I work..I am walking a lot, so it factors in extra cals to consume those days.

If I work out and burn, say 600 cals, 1300-600 would put me at a net of only 700 cals...which is 1300 below my BMR. This is not healthy and not enough cals to sustain could energy and such....so then I eat back my cals. This is working great for me.

FredDoyle

One or the other. Not both.
I set mine at "light" to account for day to day stuff around the house (lawn maintenance, cooking cleaning etc.) and then record my workouts. It's been accurate for me.

kaylalryan

I have cals at 1300 cuz I am a student some days and work others. I use a fitbit to adjust my calories because on those days that I work..I am walking a lot, so it factors in extra cals to consume those days.

If I work out and burn, say 600 cals, 1300-600 would put me at a net of only 700 cals...which is 1300 below my BMR. This is not healthy and not enough cals to sustain could energy and such....so then I eat back my cals. This is working great for me.

That really didn't answer you question.... you can do it either way really. You can enter your activity level with workouts and not add them in later OR you can set your cals without working out and then add them in. It really doesn't matter which way you do it... the end result will be nearly the same.

csuhar

I've wound up doing a hybrid. The person who designed my calisthenics / weight program said "unless you layer it on top of a highly physical job, just doing my program puts you at a moderately active level." As a result, I do include those workouts when I tell the system I'm moderately active. So I don't worry about eating those calories back.

However, my job involves some additional exercise sessions beyond that program. So, because they're in addition to the activity that's used to calculate my goals, I *DO* eat those calories back as an "additional burn".

But yes, you do want to make sure you're not double counting calories by including them in your daily activity calorie calculations and then also tacking them on as additional burn.

cikteemah

My daily calorie intake is approx 500 to 600. Do i need to take more calorie, my type of work does not me to move much (typical office work). I am not doing any exercise currently as I want to loose some weight by diet for now (will exercise when I loose little more weight).

Tyrone_S

Thanks for the responses. Sounds like the most accurate way would be to set activity to the lowest setting to calculate my daily net calories. Then add additional food to balance out whatever exercise I log.

Cheers