Hi! New member just learning the ropes.

madmikelol
madmikelol Posts: 10 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hello there! I've haven't been working out for a couple of years and I'm back to the game. I found out about this great site & app, so I decided to give it a go with my fiancee. Now, I've been using it for 10 days straight and it's a great addition to my daily schedule to keep track of what I eat. I've been doing HIIT treadmill excercises and some weight lifting. I'm still trying to figure out what strength program to choose, but I'm in no hurry yet. What I wanted to know is:

How would you describe your normal daily activities?
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)

I am working out approximately 5 days a week. I'm starting a new job as an industrial plumber the 12th of August, so my whole day is filled with physical activity after that. But as of now I've set my settings to sedentary. I've added my weight, my age and my ideal weight and that puts me at 1930 kcal throughout the day. Now add the calories spent working out I'm at 2200+ easy. I started eating A LOT healthier the last 10 days and I've been eating 50% smaller portions, but I'm still satisfied and I never go hungry.

My height is 186 cm/6'1" and my starting weight 10 days ago was 95.5 kg/210.5 lbs. Now I'm at 92 kg/202 lbs. I don't have an ideal weight, but I want to lose fat and increase in muscle later, so I sat the app on 85kg/187 lbs to start with. I feel healthier, I feel I have more energy and I sleep better. All in all - it's good. But what's concerning me is the fact that I've not once eaten as much as the MFP app says I should eat. Is it possible that I actually eat too little and that I'm losing more muscle mass than what's ideal? I also set the app to lose 0,5 kg a week.

Could anyone look at my food diary (it's not in English, but the calories, fat, protein etc. still counts) if I'm doing something wrong? If I need to eat more, would it be advised to start supplementing with protein shakes?

Cheers and thanks for any responses. I do apologize for my unpolished English, this is not my mother tongue.

-Mike

Replies

  • madmikelol
    madmikelol Posts: 10 Member
    I just calculated my TDEE with this calculator http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ and it says BMR 2104 calories, TDEE 3261 calories and based on my goal it should be 2609 calories. That's almost 1000 calories more than what I eat now and I'm stuffed!
  • cfilipi74
    cfilipi74 Posts: 63 Member
    Hi there. MFP is a great site and I love it. I have a sedentary job... sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day. When I joined at the beginning of the year, I marked mine daily activities to sedentary, but once I started going to the gym more, I changed it.

    Also with the calorie situtation, MFP says that I'm supposed to be eating around 2200 calories a day, but I changed mine to 1900 and that still is a lot for me on most days. I burn between 700 and 900 calories a day at the gym.

    Good luck with your journey and feel free to add me as a friend!
  • imthelobster
    imthelobster Posts: 179 Member
    If you have a hard time with quantity of food to get your calories, try adding some more healthy fats, like nuts/avocado/peanut butter, etc. those things are high in calories for smaller portions.
  • toutmonpossible
    toutmonpossible Posts: 1,580 Member
    Your English is excellent. Although an industrial plumber walks around a lot, doesn't s/he also spend a lot of times at the same site? That sounds like "lightly active" to me. When in doubt, choose the lower level of activity.

    The most important thing is to accurately track your food (or eat so consistently it's not necessary) weighing it if possible at the beginning, weigh yourself a few times a week, making adjustments as necessary, and to have even a rough estimate of calculating body fat percentage, say, with a scale. If you're not losing weight you have to look at what your eating and override the calculators.

    I would get in as much exercise as possible, strength training and cardio, but I would not obsess over the calorie burn estimates; they may not be accurate. The scale will tell you if what you're doing is right for you.
  • madmikelol
    madmikelol Posts: 10 Member
    Hi there. MFP is a great site and I love it. I have a sedentary job... sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day. When I joined at the beginning of the year, I marked mine daily activities to sedentary, but once I started going to the gym more, I changed it.

    Also with the calorie situtation, MFP says that I'm supposed to be eating around 2200 calories a day, but I changed mine to 1900 and that still is a lot for me on most days. I burn between 700 and 900 calories a day at the gym.

    Good luck with your journey and feel free to add me as a friend!

    But that's what I mean - should I change it from sedentary just because I work out? Isn't that "doubling" the calories burnt, because you also add them in the diary? Hmm. Good luck on your journey as well!
  • madmikelol
    madmikelol Posts: 10 Member
    Your English is excellent. Although an industrial plumber walks around a lot, doesn't s/he also spend a lot of times at the same site? That sounds like "lightly active" to me. When in doubt, choose the lower level of activity.

    The most important thing is to accurately track your food (or eat so consistently it's not necessary) weighing it if possible at the beginning, weigh yourself a few times a week, making adjustments as necessary, and to have even a rough estimate of calculating body fat percentage, say, with a scale. If you're not losing weight you have to look at what your eating and override the calculators.

    I would get in as much exercise as possible, strength training and cardio, but I would not obsess over the calorie burn estimates; they may not be accurate. The scale will tell you if what you're doing is right for you.

    Wow, thank you. I'd say industrial plumber at large offshore ships walk more than a normal plumber as we have to get out of the ship all the time - and that takes a while! Also heavy lifting is involved. But that doesn't matter - what I want to know is if I should eat as much as the MFP app says or as much as (2600 calories) the TDEE I posted further up. I just ordered a fat caliper and a good measurer, so I'll start tracking my width and fat percentage as well to give me a good indication. I'm also weighing myself every morning just for the fun of it.
  • madmikelol
    madmikelol Posts: 10 Member
    So should I eat 2600 calories a day, plus the extra calories from working out or will that be way over line? My ideal weight will be somewhere between 86-88 kg, so I'd like to lose 0,5kg a week approximately. I feel like all I do is eat and yet when I check my MFP it says that I've only eaten like 1600 calories. Perhaps I need to compose better meals with a higher calorie amount? I am always cautious in the morning, eating my standard oatmeal and banana, then after that I mix it up with some variations, but the amount I eat for e.g lunch, snacks etc. is so small, they range from 200-350 calories at most. I am really eager to make this lifestyle my own, but I just need the small tweaks to get it perfected.

    Also - what are your thoughts on the FT80 HRM that's supposedly helps you with strength training? It looks VERY tempting and its features are neat (if they work), but is this legit or is it just some hyped up product that is no better than let's say a FT4 or FT7? I'm in the market for a new watch too as I broke all of mine and the FT80 sure looks sexy...

    Cheers.

    Edit: Just realized one is not supposed to eat back the exercise calories when using the TDEE calculations. *smack forehead* But isn't that somewhat risky? I mean why use the TDEE method if you can just use the MFP app and a HRM to get your approx. calorie burn each day and eat accordingly to that? Why would the TDEE be more accurate? I mean on some days you will be less active than others and that would lead to a higher caloric deficit, right? This **** is confusing.
  • Sjenny5891
    Sjenny5891 Posts: 717 Member
    Hello there! I've haven't been working out for a couple of years and I'm back to the game. I found out about this great site & app, so I decided to give it a go with my fiancee. Now, I've been using it for 10 days straight and it's a great addition to my daily schedule to keep track of what I eat. I've been doing HIIT treadmill excercises and some weight lifting. I'm still trying to figure out what strength program to choose, but I'm in no hurry yet. What I wanted to know is:

    How would you describe your normal daily activities?
    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)

    I am working out approximately 5 days a week. I'm starting a new job as an industrial plumber the 12th of August, so my whole day is filled with physical activity after that. But as of now I've set my settings to sedentary. I've added my weight, my age and my ideal weight and that puts me at 1930 kcal throughout the day. Now add the calories spent working out I'm at 2200+ easy. I started eating A LOT healthier the last 10 days and I've been eating 50% smaller portions, but I'm still satisfied and I never go hungry.

    My height is 186 cm/6'1" and my starting weight 10 days ago was 95.5 kg/210.5 lbs. Now I'm at 92 kg/202 lbs. I don't have an ideal weight, but I want to lose fat and increase in muscle later, so I sat the app on 85kg/187 lbs to start with. I feel healthier, I feel I have more energy and I sleep better. All in all - it's good. But what's concerning me is the fact that I've not once eaten as much as the MFP app says I should eat. Is it possible that I actually eat too little and that I'm losing more muscle mass than what's ideal? I also set the app to lose 0,5 kg a week.

    Could anyone look at my food diary (it's not in English, but the calories, fat, protein etc. still counts) if I'm doing something wrong? If I need to eat more, would it be advised to start supplementing with protein shakes?

    Cheers and thanks for any responses. I do apologize for my unpolished English, this is not my mother tongue.

    -Mike

    You would need to set your diary to "open/public" in order for us to see it to give any advice there.

    I set my MFP to Sedentary when I started I work a job that may require a bit of walking, but it varies every day so I got a pedomoter and entered the calories it said I burned as exercise. ( I told the pedomoter i weightd 10 pounds less than I did though so it gave me less calories burned)

    Now that I've been at it a while and got an idea of what I do at work on average, I changed my activity level to Active which evenly split those calories to my days off.
  • Sjenny5891
    Sjenny5891 Posts: 717 Member

    Edit: Just realized one is not supposed to eat back the exercise calories when using the TDEE calculations. *smack forehead* But isn't that somewhat risky? I mean why use the TDEE method if you can just use the MFP app and a HRM to get your approx. calorie burn each day and eat accordingly to that? Why would the TDEE be more accurate? I mean on some days you will be less active than others and that would lead to a higher caloric deficit, right? This **** is confusing.

    I don't understand the TDEE method. I never do the same thing any two days on any given week. I just stick with the basics.
    -- Sedentary activity level ... then add whatever exercise you do during the day.
    You are right the days I'm less active the TDEE method would have me eating TOO many calories..... the days I'm more active it would not be enough.

    I like to go with my gut feeling. If I feel full, there must be a reason. Are you using a scale to measure your food? You could be getting more than a portion size without realizing it.

    I work the Midnight shift. I found the best way for me to get more calories in is to add a snack while I'm at work.... in your case you could add 100 or 200 calories to your breakfast the days you know you are going to work out.
  • madmikelol
    madmikelol Posts: 10 Member

    Edit: Just realized one is not supposed to eat back the exercise calories when using the TDEE calculations. *smack forehead* But isn't that somewhat risky? I mean why use the TDEE method if you can just use the MFP app and a HRM to get your approx. calorie burn each day and eat accordingly to that? Why would the TDEE be more accurate? I mean on some days you will be less active than others and that would lead to a higher caloric deficit, right? This **** is confusing.

    I don't understand the TDEE method. I never do the same thing any two days on any given week. I just stick with the basics.
    -- Sedentary activity level ... then add whatever exercise you do during the day.
    You are right the days I'm less active the TDEE method would have me eating TOO many calories..... the days I'm more active it would not be enough.

    I like to go with my gut feeling. If I feel full, there must be a reason. Are you using a scale to measure your food? You could be getting more than a portion size without realizing it.

    I work the Midnight shift. I found the best way for me to get more calories in is to add a snack while I'm at work.... in your case you could add 100 or 200 calories to your breakfast the days you know you are going to work out.

    Okay, I will try that once I get a HRM.

    I am scaling everything I eat and then logging it. It is 99% correct all the time, so my portions are not getting bigger, haha. I actually did cut my portions in half from before I changed my nutrition, it's surreal really that I'm still not hungry at all, e.g before I ate 200 grams of meat and now I've split it in half and added a lot more vegetables to the menu and I've never been happier. I'll look into the breakfast routine tomorrow. Luckily I'm starting my new job on Monday, so I'll be able to make a couple of versions of a "work food plan" so that I can mix it up some.

    I opened my profile and diary now, sorry.
  • madmikelol
    madmikelol Posts: 10 Member
    Anyone? I'd also like some pointers as to what to eat before and after working out, when to eat it etc. I read somewhere that I should eat slow carbs 1-2 hours before exercising and then fast carbs within 30 minutes of working out? Can I get some good pointers on slow and fast carbs that's approperiate for such a function?

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