Trying to be sure I have this set up right

nongenius

Hi all. I'm new to MFP. Been using it for about two weeks now and I'm not sure I have the right settings. I've read a lot of the posts regarding eating your exercise calories and making sure you eat enough to not go into starvation mode, and I keep going back and forth on the best way to set up MFP to serve my needs.

I'm currently 5'4", 162 lbs. I've been right around 162 for the last two or three weeks, which is part of why I'm posting this. I want to make sure I'm not sabotaging my efforts with the wrong goals. I've gone to a number of websites offering BMR and TDEE calculations. My BMR is usually tabulated around 1400-1500 calories per day. I'm semi-active every day. My job is a bit variable, in that some days I'm sitting at a desk most of the day and some days I'm on my feet most of the day. I also bike 2.25-2.5 miles to and from work each day (a little under 5 miles total). So when I have been choosing "Moderately Active" on TDEE calculators and have gotten a TDEE of 2200-2300 calories per day. So my goal should be about 1700-1800 calories per day.

If I use the Active setting in MFP, it recommends 1600 calories, which sounds about right. But if I log exercise that usually adds around 250 calories, putting it up to 1850, which is a little on the high side of what I think my goal should be. Should I set up MFP as lightly active if I want to keep logging my exercise? The TDEE is calculated with exercise already included. If I calculate TDEE as lightly active I get a TDEE of 2100, which would mean I should aim for 1600 + exercise. If I calculate as sedentary then it's more like 1800, which would be a goal of 1300 + exercise.

I don't have a HRM at the moment so I can't calculate my true energy expenditure. But hopefully someone here can help me better understand the best way to set up MFP to reach my goals. If you're interested, my diary is http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/nongenius. I don't always get the full 1600 calories that I'm aiming for, but I'm working on that. Also, I don't usually log water because I usually drink unsweetened ice tea, and I usually drink at least 8 cups of that, if not more. Sometimes I log the tea, but not always.

I don't do a lot of strength training at the moment, though I've decided to try the one hundred pushups and two hundred situps challenges to try and tone those areas of my body.

Thanks in advance for any insights you might be able to give me.

TwentyTen

I am confused too. I want my settings to be correct, but it's hard to know. I put myself as sedentary as I do spend alot of time sitting at the desk. I do have to do some walking and running up and down the stairs a few times a day, sometimes more, sometimes less. Try and fit in 45 minutes of excercise a night. Starvation mode is what got me here, I want to make sure I am on my way out of that..

I don't know if there's any clear answer but to experiment.

nongenius

The problem is that I'm not sure which way to experiment. Adding more calories? Not logging exercise? I saw a previous post where someone mentioned that they gained weight using MFP logging exercise until they realized that they had calculated their exercise in when they set up their MFP account. I think I may have done that as well. The descriptions of the activity levels aren't that helpful. If I change to sedentary and add in exercise, I'm worried I'll undershoot because a lot of days I'm on my feet and moving enough to fit the lightly active category. But I don't want to be eating my exercise calories if they're already calculated in!

TwentyTen

Yes, I am in the same boat and confused as well. I want to get this right! Only thing I am doing for now is eating if I feel hungry, even if the calories go over. I just try and make sure it's healthy calories.

nongenius

Any of the board experts want to weigh in (no pun intended!)?

TwentyTen

I was reading some threads last night where several people said that upping the calories helped them to start losing. I think it is hard to be precise or sure. Everyone's metabolism is different, and of course that activity level is hardly a precise tool.

I chose sedentary on mine because I have a desk job, but I do have to walk around the building, some days quite alot, and run up and down stairs sometimes several times a day often carrying a computer. Then there is housecleaning and other chores and errands that have me fairly active on the weekends.

Since our days vary with the amount of activity in them, I would guess our daily calorie needs would vary as well. Maybe you should change your settings to sedentary, and just make sure and log every bit of activity, including your bike rides to and from work.

I know on days when I feel hungry, I expect it is due to the fact that I have been more active that day than MFP thinks I have and so I will just add in a little walking on my exercise log, or stair climbing if it was one of those days I was running up and down them many times.

I am no expert, just starting this myself, but that would be my suggestion. I do not see any other way to get more accurate numbers, although a HRM would be nice. I want one too, to get an accurate count on the calories I am burning.

nongenius

I've decided to take a slightly different approach. Using three or four different online TDEE calculators, I've calculated what the TDEE would be for a sedentary person of my height using my goal wait, which happens to equal just around 1600 calories on all the different TDEE calculators (ranging between 1500-1700). So I think my current MFP calculated calorie goal of 1600 is a good place to start. And I definitely need to log as many of my exercise calories as possible and make sure I eat them. Does that seem right?

Although I'm not sure how you log standing for three hours or walking to the bathroom...

TwentyTen

Seems like a good plan nongenius. I guess all you can do is go with that, and see how things play out after a month or so maybe.

I too have been crunching the numbers alot , and in the end I just end up confused, haha. My approach is going to be to watch the numbers , as they stand, and listen to what my body is telling me.

Numbers aside, its completely obvious what bad habits have to go, and what new ones to replace them with. I just don't have it in me to micro-manage every morsel and step that i take, and i kinda doubt it is necessary. I think as long as i am falling within the correct range it will all work out.

If in 6 weeks I see no progress, I will re-examine the numbers. In the meantime probably will get a HRM, just for a better idea what i am burning, I think that will make things much more accurate when calculating the exercise.

I am not going to count walks to the bathroom, but 10 trips up and down the stairs, you betcha.