Newbie and unsure of app...

pleur
pleur Posts: 6
in Introduce Yourself
Hi there

I started using the app as needing to lose weight and also majorly due to medical condition... I'm unable to do ''high impact'' sports but tend to walk a lot and do a lot of things like cleaning and general moving around... I work 48 hours a week in a care home so on my feet a lot of the day, but not the entire 12 hours.

I've bought an electronic scale, so I'm measuring things out (I feel I'm being a little obsessive at the moment with it), I am looking at calories in things more and more and realising what foods have what in them, I've reduced my portion sizes when plating meals and changed things such as meats we use from regular to ''healthy options'' or changed from beef to pork as less fats etc...

I am having an issue with putting the information into my app as it seems strange that I have so many calories left over :/ the other day I had 500 odd calories left after I had cleaned the house and done a lot of painting etc... I was amazed at how many calories I had ''earned'' from doing these things :/

At the start of the app it asked what kind of job I had, and I put the Active option due to being on my feet for most of the day, but I can't count how many hours I actually spend walking around / exercising. Does this account towards my daily calorie intake? Do I need to put this in when I've been at work (i.e. walking cardio = 3 hours etc)? Or do I just put in any extra I may do that day?

It says that my daily calorie intake is 1,530 Calories / Day, but my calories could be up to 1,800 if I don't do any exercise for a day. Can I cut the calorie intake myself or do I have to stick with the 1,500??

Thanks for reading and I'm sorry for seeming so stupid about this. My weight has never bothered me so much to calorie count and go on a ''proper'' diet but I think if this app can help me lose weight I will be very appreciative :)

Thanks everyone!

Replies

  • themagicschu
    themagicschu Posts: 17 Member
    hi pleur,

    i'd suggest you try an app or device (like the Fitbit One) that counts your daily activies and calculates daily calorie loss according to your stats (height, weight, steps, floors per day etc.)

    i've bought the Fitbit One to measure calorie burn when doing long walks, running and daily chores and it works rather nicely and gives me something to work with in regard to activities that do not count as excercise per se.

    Add me if you like - I'm always happy to "meet" new MFPers ;)

    steve
  • grimendale
    grimendale Posts: 2,153 Member
    If you set yourself as active, then your calorie limit already accounts for all of the walking you do at work. I can't see your diary, and I am having a little trouble following your explanation. You said you had 500 calories left over after cleaning; did you enter cleaning as exercise? If so, MFP has added extra calories to account for that exercise. Given that you set yourself to active, I probably wouldn't log cleaning as exercise unless you did something particularly strenuous (moving furniture, perhaps). Logging as exercise is probably double counting the exercise. MFP has a tendency to overestimate calorie burns for a lot of activities. A Heart Rate Monitor will give you a better estimate of how much you are actually burning. A lot of people take between 50% and 80% of what MFP says they should burn to account for this innaccuracy.
    I'm confused about how your daily intake is 1530, but is 1800 if you don't do exercise. Why is it going up if you aren't exercising?
  • hannakengu
    hannakengu Posts: 79 Member
    HI and welcome!

    If you put your lifestyle/job as Active, MFP already counts the calories from cleaning the house/walking around the workplace etc. Do not add these as excercise unless you do something you don't do regularly. If you set your profile as Active, I'd only log actual excercise as excercise - you know, the things you do purely for excercise, not as part of your everyday life.
  • pleur
    pleur Posts: 6

    i'd suggest you try an app or device (like the Fitbit One) that counts your daily activies and calculates daily calorie loss according to your stats (height, weight, steps, floors per day etc.)

    Hi Steve, Thanks for your advice, I have just downloaded the Fitbit app but my only issue is I can't carry my phone around with me at work so I think I might have to get a pedometer or something but I wouldn't know how to convert that into time lol...
    If you set yourself as active, then your calorie limit already accounts for all of the walking you do at work. I can't see your diary, and I am having a little trouble following your explanation. You said you had 500 calories left over after cleaning; did you enter cleaning as exercise? If so, MFP has added extra calories to account for that exercise. Given that you set yourself to active, I probably wouldn't log cleaning as exercise unless you did something particularly strenuous (moving furniture, perhaps). Logging as exercise is probably double counting the exercise. MFP has a tendency to overestimate calorie burns for a lot of activities. A Heart Rate Monitor will give you a better estimate of how much you are actually burning. A lot of people take between 50% and 80% of what MFP says they should burn to account for this innaccuracy.
    I'm confused about how your daily intake is 1530, but is 1800 if you don't do exercise. Why is it going up if you aren't exercising?

    Hi Grimendale,
    In the 'cardio' exercises, it gives you an option of ''cleaning, light, moderate effort'' which I did on my day off for a hour as I was up on surfaces cleaning, removing cupboard doors and painting them etc, so I put that in, it gave me 260 calories.. then ''moving household items, boxes etc upstairs'' which I spent 35 minutes doing as was moving the house around, this gave me 548 calories... I found somewhere on the app where it gives you a calorie count that where if you don't exercise or do anything strenuous for the day that it gives you a calorie count for this... I can't find it now, maybe I imagined it :/ lol x
  • themagicschu
    themagicschu Posts: 17 Member

    Hi Steve, Thanks for your advice, I have just downloaded the Fitbit app but my only issue is I can't carry my phone around with me at work so I think I might have to get a pedometer or something but I wouldn't know how to convert that into time lol...

    the FitBit app is designed to work with a FitBit device (you can check them out at fitbit.com) which is really small (in case of the FB One) or worn as a bracelet (FitBit Flex) and logs your daily activities without bothering you. Once you synchronize the data with your computer (eg in the evening after work) all that you did the day will be added to your FitBit account and - if you wish - synced with myfitnesspal as well.
  • pleur
    pleur Posts: 6
    Ah yer, looked into it a bit more and found the little devices that syncs into the app now! Thanks x

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