Observation re TDEE, MFP Cals & Stalled Weight Loss

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islandlifenc
islandlifenc Posts: 107 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So after spending a while on this site reading last night, and determining that I probably underestimated my activity level for determining my TDEE, I went into my diet profile settings and changed it from SEDENTARY to LIGHT ACTIVITY. I do spend a lot of time on my feet throughout the day just taking care of my home, cooking, cleaning, etc..

It kicked my daily calories back up from 1600/day (which MFP had me at for losing 1 lb a week) up to 1770/day.

Why is this significant? Well, when I first started tracking again last month, it initially had me at 1800/day, and I was steadily losing weight, but then after I had dropped a few lbs, it recalculated my daily calories to 1600/day. I was skeptical, but went with it.

My weight loss stalled out and has been that way for a few weeks now. Looking back on my weight loss report, I can see a clear pattern where the weight loss came to an abrupt halt when MFP knocked my calories down. I think between that, and the fact that I already had my TDEE figured wrong (listing myself as SEDENTARY instead of LIGHT ACTIVITY), I was starting to eat too little and it stalled out my progress.

It will be interesting to see in the coming days now that I've bumped my calories back up to 1770/day if the weight starts coming off again.

Stay tuned...

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,121 Member
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    I don't think anyone should use the MFP "Sedentary" setting.

    It is unrealistically low. I really am sedentary, not working, not married nor do I have kids, so - pretty low key life (small condo, not a lot of upkeep needed.)

    I find it is 300 calories too low for me.

    I think if you (anyone) had any type of job, cares for children, keeps a house clean, or goes to school, they should choose any other setting besides "sedentary."
  • SarahDavs
    SarahDavs Posts: 161 Member
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    This is interesting. I learned last night that I SHOULD be eating the exercise calories I add to my daily calorie goal. It just seems so counter-intuitive to eat more while trying to lose weight. I understand the whole starvation mode idea, but I eat every 3 hours so have a hard time believing it will happen to my body. But I'm willing to give it a try *if* I start to see a stall in my weight loss. Thanks for posting this.
  • vegaspfmf
    vegaspfmf Posts: 40 Member
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    MFP really should just give you your tdee to eat to daily not eat back calories and what not. Its a pretty big flaw on this app. Alot of people seem confused and ive seen several people say mfp recommends 1200 cals when their tdee is 2k
  • islandlifenc
    islandlifenc Posts: 107 Member
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    I don't think anyone should use the MFP "Sedentary" setting.

    It is unrealistically low. I really am sedentary, not working, not married nor do I have kids, so - pretty low key life (small condo, not a lot of upkeep needed.)

    I find it is 300 calories too low for me.

    I think if you (anyone) had any type of job, cares for children, keeps a house clean, or goes to school, they should choose any other setting besides "sedentary."

    Well, I saw a number of posts on here that say something along those same lines, which is what prompted me to refigure my numbers. I think it would be helpful if MFP provided more detailed information on what each of those categories means. I'm sure I'm not the only person who has wasted time with wrong numbers because of having chosen the wrong activity category.

    I initially had chosen SEDENTARY because of the way the descriptors are written. Thanks to other MFP users with more experience than me, I've hopefully gotten it right this time!
  • petstorekitty
    petstorekitty Posts: 592 Member
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    ....

    I use the sedentary settings because unless I'm exercising or cleaning my house, the only movemnt I do is walking to and from the printer or car or around my apartment, which is about 500sq ft.

    I've used a bunch of other sites to calculate my TDEE and the # MFP gives is pretty similar.

    My weight loss stalls because I usually go over my cals at least once a week. If I'm actually consistant, it seems to work.
    I'm not a consistant person though.


    I AM however, small, so the little calories MFP gives me is accurate.

    It is strange to see my friends who are 5'5" and 250lbs getting 1200 cals/day as a recommendation.
    Donno what's going on there.

    I'm 5'1" and 130 and it tells me to eat more than 1200 at sedentary. It's slightly below 1300.
    maybe because I do custom settings and I tell it that I exercise?
    I add in my exercise calories manually. And I eat them back usually. Because.... sedentary settings don't include exercise.

    *sigh*

    now I'm confused again
  • Bettyeditor
    Bettyeditor Posts: 327 Member
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    I don't think anyone should use the MFP "Sedentary" setting.

    It is unrealistically low. I really am sedentary, not working, not married nor do I have kids, so - pretty low key life (small condo, not a lot of upkeep needed.)

    I find it is 300 calories too low for me.

    I think if you (anyone) had any type of job, cares for children, keeps a house clean, or goes to school, they should choose any other setting besides "sedentary."

    I agree. I've had some major health issues that have kept me very immobile, but I still have to use "lightly activie" to get MFP to match what I know my TDEE is (as measured by my Fitbit). I think you basically have to be bedridden or in a wheelchair or not stir from your spot in front of the TV/computer ALL DAY in order for "sedentary" to be an appropriate choice.
  • neacail
    neacail Posts: 228 Member
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    What I've discovered, since using my BodyMedia Link, is that I'm certainly not "sedentary" by MFP's standards. I sit at a desk all day, don't go to the gym, and don't seem to do much in the way of physical activity. In fiddling with my numbers, I think the "active" setting would be the best setting to use for me. I'm not sure how I could possibly be considered active.

    I do have faith in my BodyMedia, though it may be a touch high. I've got my BodyMedia and my Garmin HRM heart rate zones calibrated properly based on my true resting heart-rate, and when I use both at the same time they return similar numbers (though the HRM is usually a bit lower than the armband). Both return lower numbers than MFP for any activities that I may count as exercise.

    I haven't changed my activity setting on MFP, as my net calories are adjusted on MFP according to the information it receives from my armband. I just eat the extra calories allowed at the end of the day.

    It has been a real eyeopener!
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    MFP really should just give you your tdee to eat to daily not eat back calories and what not. Its a pretty big flaw on this app. Alot of people seem confused and ive seen several people say mfp recommends 1200 cals when their tdee is 2k

    If everyone ate their TDEE, then no one would lose or gain anything.
  • vegaspfmf
    vegaspfmf Posts: 40 Member
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    if you had your true tdee you could subtract the 20% or 10% and set your calories to the correct amount. Or if someone is bulking they can add 20%. It would be more helpful than the #mfp gives you
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    MFP really should just give you your tdee to eat to daily not eat back calories and what not. Its a pretty big flaw on this app. Alot of people seem confused and ive seen several people say mfp recommends 1200 cals when their tdee is 2k

    If people read the stickies it wouldn't be confusing in the least. MFP uses what is known as the NEAT (Non Exercise Energy Thermogenesis) method for weight loss rather than TDEE. This actually makes sense for a lot of people new to diet and fitness because most newbies don't have a set routine and are inconsistent with exercise. Using the NEAT method you don't have to worry about it...if you don't exercise, you still lose weight...if you do exercise, you get the added bonus of eating more food.

    I actually found the NEAT method (MFP method) very beneficial when I started out...I wasn't very consistent in performing my workouts, nor did I have a really good routine down...my calorie burns were all over the map. Things are different now and I use the TDEE method, but the NEAT method is absolutely viable. It's just that people need to actually read the "instructions" for any given tool before using said tool.
  • BlueInkDot
    BlueInkDot Posts: 702 Member
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    The MFP calorie calculator seems to provide numbers that are generally too low. I think it is because of the feature in which you can log your calories burned, and then eat them back. However I prefer to average the whole thing out and eat back those calories over the course of the week or month rather than in a given day. Doing it all in one day makes planning difficult. :P

    I use http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ to calculate my BMR, TDEE and 15% Cut. Using those numbers, I've found that am more satisfied, less hungry, and although the loss of fat mass is slow, it is happening. I highly recommend using http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ and manually altering your calories in MFP.

    #my2cents
  • islandlifenc
    islandlifenc Posts: 107 Member
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    if you had your true tdee you could subtract the 20% or 10% and set your calories to the correct amount. Or if someone is bulking they can add 20%. It would be more helpful than the #mfp gives you

    Exactly! I calculated my TDEE here http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html and it was 2361 calories per day based on light exercise (1-3 times a week). I figured with my housework, I do at least the equivalent of that.

    Subtracting 20% (472.2) from that gave me a number of 1888.8.

    I saw on a thread I read on here last night that you could go as much as 30% (708) down from the TDEE if you have a lot to lose (I have close to 60 lbs to lose). That would put my target calories at 1652.

    I figured 25% below TDEE was a good amount to shoot for, and lo and behold, that takes me to 1770, which is the exact target calories I get on MFP if I choose LIGHT ACTIVITY instead of SEDENTARY.
  • petstorekitty
    petstorekitty Posts: 592 Member
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    if you had your true tdee you could subtract the 20% or 10% and set your calories to the correct amount. Or if someone is bulking they can add 20%. It would be more helpful than the #mfp gives you

    this is what I do.

    If I'm consistint, I lose.
    Or at least, I lose until I'm not consistant any more. STUPID BEER & PRETZELS WHY ARE YOU SO DELICIOUS!?!?!?!
  • girlwithdog13
    girlwithdog13 Posts: 4
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    Glad I found this post. I was feeling too hungry during my first week, and thus went over my calories greatly (though I did incorporate good amounts of exercise). MFP had recommended 1330 cal/day with the sedentary (i.e. desk job) setting. Calculating 3 workouts at minimum 30 min each, that should've helped me lose 5lbs by May 20. After reading up on TDEE (mine including the 20% reduction is roughly 1416), I changed my MFP profile from Sedentary to Lightly Active. That puts my new MFP cal. goal at 1480. Hopefully this will be more manageable. :)
  • hya89
    hya89 Posts: 19 Member
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    This is an amazing post and very helpful.

    I had set to SEDENTARY and lost about 20lbs that way, but when my calorie count was lowered to 1300 a day I stalled and I've been stalled for a couple weeks. I'm hoping changing to LIGHTLY ACTIVE will help.
  • isioma65
    isioma65 Posts: 1
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    in my case i eat like 1500 in a day and burn out 400 - 700 at the gym.i weigh 79kg.is this ok or i should add to my calories intake.need help with this because im kinda confused. different sites tell me different things
  • crlyxx
    crlyxx Posts: 186 Member
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    I think it's best to put your activity as sedentary just so you can count your exercise calories by yourself rather than letting MFP give you some generalized number of calories added to your daily intake.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    in my case i eat like 1500 in a day and burn out 400 - 700 at the gym.i weigh 79kg.is this ok or i should add to my calories intake.need help with this because im kinda confused. different sites tell me different things

    What is your BMR and TDEE?

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