Setting Your Calorie and Macro Targets
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Maybe I'm a blockhead
but I went into my MFP goals, I added that I am moderately active 3 xs a week. Gave me a calorie goal of 1280. So...if the other calculation says I should eat 1890 and I burn maybe 300 calories 3xs a week from exercise, and my goal is to lose 1.5 to 2 lbs a week (I wish) should I be eating around 1300 calories? Totally not understanding this. lol
MFP doesn't have an option for exercise 3 x weekly - because MFP sets activity levels for NO exercise being accounted for until you actually do it and log it.
You may mean you set your exercise goals to something - but that has no bearing on your diet goals and eating level.
2 goals, 2 tabs - Food and Exercise diary tabs.
You got over 60 lbs to lose for 2 lbs weekly to be even close to reasonable goal loss amount?
No, you need to reread the opening about which site to actually go to for TDEE, and figuring the deficit amount and eating level, and then how to tweak MFP to use that method when it's not built for that exactly.
But I thought you wanted exercise to create the deficit.
Set MFP to Maintain, no weight loss goal weekly amount.
If you log your exercise log it as 1 calorie only.
Eat what it says to eat. Done.0 -
bumping for @Sarauk2sf0
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The activity levels per MFP are as follows:
Sedentary: Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)
Lightly Active: Spend a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. teacher, salesman)
Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. waitress, mailman)
Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)
Many problems arise regarding deficits being created that are larger than desired due to the fact that people often select sedentary as a default. The descriptions in my opinion are too ‘generous’ in that most people, unless truly doing very little in the day, will not be sedentary. Factors to consider are whether you have kids that you are running around after, whether you do a lot of cooking/housework, whether you go out dancing or shopping a lot. All of these activities, while not exercise as such, will increase your energy expenditure. From personal experience, I have a desk job and am a lazy bish outside the gym and my activity level, based on actual weight loss, would have to be set at a higher than Lightly Active setting to equate to my actual NEAT.
So this is where I have been going wrong? I had my activity level set at Active because I exercise 5 days a week at least an hour (swim/class) but I have a desk job, although I do walk round town at lunch. Should I be Sedentary or Lightly Active? I have been eating NET 1500 calories per day but looks like this might be too much being 5 foot 8 with 10 to lose.0 -
If you've been listing as active but are unsatisfied with the results, try setting to lightly active for a while to see if that is enough. Give it a few weeks of small changes before making dramatic shifts.0
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The activity levels per MFP are as follows:
Sedentary: Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)
Lightly Active: Spend a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. teacher, salesman)
Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. waitress, mailman)
Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)
Many problems arise regarding deficits being created that are larger than desired due to the fact that people often select sedentary as a default. The descriptions in my opinion are too ‘generous’ in that most people, unless truly doing very little in the day, will not be sedentary. Factors to consider are whether you have kids that you are running around after, whether you do a lot of cooking/housework, whether you go out dancing or shopping a lot. All of these activities, while not exercise as such, will increase your energy expenditure. From personal experience, I have a desk job and am a lazy bish outside the gym and my activity level, based on actual weight loss, would have to be set at a higher than Lightly Active setting to equate to my actual NEAT.
So this is where I have been going wrong? I had my activity level set at Active because I exercise 5 days a week at least an hour (swim/class) but I have a desk job, although I do walk round town at lunch. Should I be Sedentary or Lightly Active? I have been eating NET 1500 calories per day but looks like this might be too much being 5 foot 8 with 10 to lose.
As mentioned, MFP's activity levels are NOT TDEE activity levels.
MFP is assuming NO exercise done until you log it, then that increases what you burned for that day, remove the same deficit as other days, eating level goes up. Same deficit for weight loss though.
So yes, that is where you went wrong - those levels have no mention of exercise to them - they don't ramp up fast enough for exercise, only daily activity changes. (which actually can burn more than exercise of short times)
You got kids or pets you also spend active time with after work? Lightly Active easily. The walking around at lunch? You going slow so as not to sweat, just get the blood flowing, not regular, not long? Don't worry about it.
Also, only 10 lbs to lose? Did you select reasonable 1/2 lb weekly? Or aggressive 2 lb weekly?0 -
I am a 5'2" 62 year old female currently weighing in at 157 lbs. My scales indicate that I am 42.4% fat. I would like to get my weight down to 145 lbs as my first goal. I'm guessing I could be considered sedentary in my activity level, although I do like to walk and am hoping to achieve/sustain a 10,000 step goal daily. I am having difficulty in know how to set up my numbers and understanding if I should be consuming the calories I'm showing as having been burned or to eat strictly to the daily calorie allotment? I will be getting a fitbit charge hr tracker within the next couple of weeks. I've been struggling with how to make my numbers make sense, the more I think I have it figured out, the more I realize that I probably don't! I want to do well but have no confidence in my numbers. My head is spinning. Would one of you experts please help me figure this out? I'm getting to the point where I just want to punch in the numbers... Thank you in advance!0
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You can choose either method, set a goal and disregard eating back exercise calories, or set a goal and eat back exercise calories. The first post explains both methods. If your weekly exercise routine is pretty consistent than setting a calorie goal and disregarding exercise calories may be more convenient. Either way, have patience and don't make drastic changes to your calorie goal. I'm guessing ~1,700-1,800 calories a day would be a reasonable calorie deficit with 10K steps (total calories, not eating back estimated exercise calories). A couple of strength workouts each week will help preserve some muscle while losing fat too.ReggieGail wrote: »...I am having difficulty in know how to set up my numbers and understanding if I should be consuming the calories I'm showing as having been burned or to eat strictly to the daily calorie allotment? ...
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ReggieGail wrote: »I am a 5'2" 62 year old female currently weighing in at 157 lbs. My scales indicate that I am 42.4% fat. I would like to get my weight down to 145 lbs as my first goal. I'm guessing I could be considered sedentary in my activity level, although I do like to walk and am hoping to achieve/sustain a 10,000 step goal daily. I am having difficulty in know how to set up my numbers and understanding if I should be consuming the calories I'm showing as having been burned or to eat strictly to the daily calorie allotment? I will be getting a fitbit charge hr tracker within the next couple of weeks. I've been struggling with how to make my numbers make sense, the more I think I have it figured out, the more I realize that I probably don't! I want to do well but have no confidence in my numbers. My head is spinning. Would one of you experts please help me figure this out? I'm getting to the point where I just want to punch in the numbers... Thank you in advance!
Try this with whatever level of activity you have. Have to make a copy to your own computer, or your own Google drive. Simple TDEE calc, that at least divides up major exercise that is different calorie burn, or daily activity that is too.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1G7FgNzPq3v5WMjDtH0n93LXSMRY_hjmzNTMJb3aZSxM/edit?usp=sharing
Fitbit will probably shock you at how active you are already.
But above is useful until you have something personalized.0 -
bumping for @Sarauk2sf
Crap...sorry. This was missed. I will try to address this weekend.0 -
Hello,
I am a little frustrated because after steadily losing (31 pounds), I've hit a plateau and I've read so much whether I should increase/decrease calories, try different macros, etc that it's all overwhelming.
About myself, female, 35 years old, 5'5'', 233 pounds. I have always had a slow metabolism and I have an underactive thyroid (my endocrinologist lowered my synthroid as of my last blood test as my levels were too low so my TSH is not out of range).
I do work a desk job but I walk to work every morning (20-25 minute walk) and I am currently about to finish month 1 of Insanity Max 30 and plan to move on to p90x after I finish month 2. I also do not own a car so I walk everywhere. MFP is telling me to eat 1200 calories, the scooby calculator says 2239 (choosing 3-5 hours of exercise per week). I've lost about 2 pounds since starting Insanity and while I am smaller and have gone down a shirt size and pant size, I want to get the weight down so I can eventually get back to running.
thanks!
p.s. before anyone suggests it, I own a food scale and I weigh food, though based on another post, I will switch to weighing in grams for more accuracy.0 -
Hello,
I am a little frustrated because after steadily losing (31 pounds), I've hit a plateau and I've read so much whether I should increase/decrease calories, try different macros, etc that it's all overwhelming.
About myself, female, 35 years old, 5'5'', 233 pounds. I have always had a slow metabolism and I have an underactive thyroid (my endocrinologist lowered my synthroid as of my last blood test as my levels were too low so my TSH is not out of range).
I do work a desk job but I walk to work every morning (20-25 minute walk) and I am currently about to finish month 1 of Insanity Max 30 and plan to move on to p90x after I finish month 2. I also do not own a car so I walk everywhere. MFP is telling me to eat 1200 calories, the scooby calculator says 2239 (choosing 3-5 hours of exercise per week). I've lost about 2 pounds since starting Insanity and while I am smaller and have gone down a shirt size and pant size, I want to get the weight down so I can eventually get back to running.
thanks!
p.s. before anyone suggests it, I own a food scale and I weigh food, though based on another post, I will switch to weighing in grams for more accuracy.
Can you open up your diary. Thanks0 -
I did. And I know my logging is sporadic lately and I am getting back to tightening it up.0
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I did T25 before Insanity, and I did month 1 of Insanity Max 30 before work became super hectic and I took a month off and restarted 4 weeks ago. I've hit 2 plateaus this year, I was stuck at 240 for Jan/Feb, I started losing again in late Feb through March (oddly that was the month where I stopped working out besides walking to work and walking all over the place on the weekends) and I've been stuck at this weight since 4/07.0
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bump
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I did T25 before Insanity, and I did month 1 of Insanity Max 30 before work became super hectic and I took a month off and restarted 4 weeks ago. I've hit 2 plateaus this year, I was stuck at 240 for Jan/Feb, I started losing again in late Feb through March (oddly that was the month where I stopped working out besides walking to work and walking all over the place on the weekends) and I've been stuck at this weight since 4/07.
Uggghhh...sorry, I missed your update. We do not get notifications of posts in threads in groups - very annoying so I tend to miss updates on this thread. I will get back to you shortly.0 -
Wow! The exrx.net website said I need to eat over 5000 calories?? What a joke!!!0
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purelyprimitives wrote: »Wow! The exrx.net website said I need to eat over 5000 calories?? What a joke!!!
That big calculator does have to be used properly, and it's not easy to estimate a truly average day at all those levels.
But if very active and moving a lot of mass around - 5000 is not unheard of.
You might scroll up to a post above I made with a simple TDEE calc that still uses the principle they are attempting to do - namely different types of exercise do burn different amounts hourly, so 3-5 hours of walking isn't the same as 3-5 hrs of running or lifting weekly.
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My father had a summer job in college as a volunteer forest firefighter. He said they were putting away 5k+ calories per day and LOSING weight, they were so active.
Navy personnel who go through the Navy SEAL training routinely put away 5k+ calories per day and lose a lot of weight as well.
Could I, working a desk job and hitting the gym for a good sweat session a couple times per week, ever get away with 5k+ calories? Not a chance, even on my biggest calorie-burning days I barely crack 3k.0 -
Hey Everyone! New to tracking macros but not with the weights. I'm in fairly good shape now but I think it's just hard work and genetics because I never tracked my influx of food and just ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, a fast metabolism definitely saved me!
Anyway I am tracking macros now and understand the research and science behind it so to speak but for my first time calculating I'm a bit hesitant. I used IFFYM calculator to track mine but compared this across the board against other macro calculators with the focus being fat loss.
I want to look much more cut and have my muscles show a bit more.
Either way what do YOU ALL use to calculate your macros? Math and formulas or a certain app or calculator online that you've found helpful?
Once again I'm looking to cut down and go from 175 to about 165 by hopefully september or october following my macros0
