Eat More 2 Weigh Less

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Hello! New here. Want to make sure I am on the right path.

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colleen3115
colleen3115 Posts: 69 Member
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Today is my 37th birthday! Whee! I am 5'2 and weigh 191 pounds. Over the last 6 months I have gained quite a bit of weight. Probably safe to say that in the last year and a half 30 - 40 pounds. So the "good" news is that I haven't been depriving myself calorically. So I am hoping that I don't need to do a reset.

Couple of weeks ago joined an indoor triathalon training program mainly so I could get some swimming time in. I started tracking my food/exsercise here on mfp. Was lucky enough to stumble upon a few enlightened threads that pointed me in this direction. I have a fitbit that I have been wearing faithfully for just about a year now. My main confusion lies in selecting my activity level to figure out my TDEE. Since I wear the fitbit I was wondering if it was "okay" to set my activity level to sedentary on mfp and then just make sure I eat back my activity calories? This week I have mfp set to maintain weight just till I wrap my head around this a litte bit more.


I completed my first real weight session today and am looking forward to fueling my body towards healthy change. What a concept ;)

Would love some more mfp friends as well, so feel free to add me.

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  • momof2osaurus
    momof2osaurus Posts: 477 Member
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    Hi! Happy birthday! :)

    I think you CAN do it that way, but it's preferred you go based on activity level.
  • danipals
    danipals Posts: 143 Member
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    I have used this to help use the fitbit to figure out activity level...
    1. Sedentary (Inactive)

    Pedometer steps = less than 5,000 steps a day

    This is equivalent to getting less than 150 minutes of exercise per week, or less than the minimum amount of exercise recommended for all adults. How to increase your steps.

    2. Low Active

    Pedometer steps = 5,000 – 7,499 steps a day

    3. Somewhat Active

    Pedometer steps = 7,500 – 9,999 steps a day

    4. Active

    Pedometer steps = 10,000 steps or more a day

    This is the recommended amount of activity for adults to promote and maintain health. To reach 10,000 steps a day, people generally have to add 30 minutes of exercise to their day, in addition to their regular daily activities. Benefits of 10,000 steps a day.

    5. Highly Active

    Pedometer steps = 12,500 steps or more a day.
  • colleen3115
    colleen3115 Posts: 69 Member
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    Be warned that if you check out my diary... that today is my birthday and not eating optimally.
  • colleen3115
    colleen3115 Posts: 69 Member
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    I try to aim for 10,000 steps a day but if I don't try I am almost always about 5,000 just with normal day to day activity.
  • GoGoGadgetMum
    GoGoGadgetMum Posts: 292 Member
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    I hit at least 10,000 everyday normally average between 15,000-20,000. 20k is normally with a 5km walk(but some days without) but the others are just normal daily life...love my fitbit for giving me all my nerdy numbers.

    Feel free to add me
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Today is my 37th birthday! Whee! I am 5'2 and weigh 191 pounds. Over the last 6 months I have gained quite a bit of weight. Probably safe to say that in the last year and a half 30 - 40 pounds. So the "good" news is that I haven't been depriving myself calorically. So I am hoping that I don't need to do a reset.

    Couple of weeks ago joined an indoor triathalon training program mainly so I could get some swimming time in. I started tracking my food/exsercise here on mfp. Was lucky enough to stumble upon a few enlightened threads that pointed me in this direction. I have a fitbit that I have been wearing faithfully for just about a year now. My main confusion lies in selecting my activity level to figure out my TDEE. Since I wear the fitbit I was wondering if it was "okay" to set my activity level to sedentary on mfp and then just make sure I eat back my activity calories? This week I have mfp set to maintain weight just till I wrap my head around this a litte bit more.


    I completed my first real weight session today and am looking forward to fueling my body towards healthy change. What a concept ;)

    Would love some more mfp friends as well, so feel free to add me.

    You can do that method, if you have really decent estimate of exercise calories. But I'd tighten it up a bit.

    Look at 3 avg days with no exercise, typical otherwise. Include a weekend. What is reported TDEE then?

    Now take 20% off that value, manually create your daily eating goal, and log your exercise and calorie burns, or allow FitBit to sync.

    But - you really should take 20% off exercise burned calories too then, or whatever FitBit says the adjustment is.

    Because - (TDEE - 20%) = (non-exercise TDEE - 20%) + (exercise - 20%)

    You can manually correct those FitBit adjustments, and of course when you log your time and exercise burn, immediately correct the burn to - 20%.

    Because your workouts will indeed be likely too variable for a nice avg TDEE to cover it correctly. Some days you will need to eat more, if you want to recovery correctly for the next day's workout.

    So eat them all back.

    The other problem is FitBit will underestimate some exercise, and swimming not at all, though MFP decent enough there. Weight lifting just use MFP too. Walking and jogging trust FitBit. Spin or cycling, no, and MFP not really good there either.

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