I got a question...

I also work where I'm standing on my feet all day--sometimes for 9 hours where I'm running up and down stairs and never sitting. I count it on my long days just because I think it's out of the ordinary from days where I'm not scheduled. So I do count the calories burned there, but I don't let myself consume the calories that I've "burned". I will only do that if I've done something like strength or cardio. I hope that's not confusing!

DON'T COUNT IT SEPARATELY!!!

When you set up your profile it asked you what type of life you lead (sedentary, active, very active, etc). The system uses that information to determine how many calories you burn a day and how many you need to eat to achieve your goals. If you answered those questions correctly, it should already be accounted for in your suggested daily goals.

You can change this or see yours under My Home/Settings/Update diet & Fitness profile

I definitely don't count everyday stuff. When I work up a serious sweat, I count that. On your original setup, did you put that you were active or sedentary? If you put sedentary, then count it. If you put active, then don't count it.

I only log in my gym exercise...i may have done 10 sets of stairs on sunday, but i was cleaning lol...once i get a heart rate monitor i plan on logging sex though:blushing: under "dancing" of course lol

It is people like you who, every time I see dancing, I check the time spent and snicker a little.

Partly it depends on the criteria you used in setting up your profile and calculating your BMR.

I usually put calories expended into three "buckets":

BMR --that's without any activity

Casual activity--that includes occupational activity, recreational activity, chores, etc

Exercise activity--basically, the calories expended during cardio exercise (I don't count strength because it's not really quantifiable and I burn plenty of cardio. If all you do on some days is strength, then you might want to put down 2-3 times your body weight (in kg) times the fraction of an hour you worked out).

Casual activity can be the most difficult to quantify because it is so variable. Things like tables on MFP, heart rate monitors, pedometers, etc, are pretty useless for this category. Most people significantly overestimate their casual activity--they think they are doing a lot more than they are.

So, basically, you need to come up with a plan that will work for you, and there will be some trial and error involved.

My opinion, FWIW: Start with the basic number of calories per day food intake you think you can live with. For most people, that is going to fall around 1500 calories per day. If you do a lot of exercise on a given day, then allow yourself 150-300 extra to refuel after the workout (that's assuming you burned at least 500 calories working out). Then just see what happens. Don't make this any more difficult than it needs to be.

The average person who is taking in 1500 calories a day (if the meals are well planned) and just starting out in a program does not have to worry about any supposed "starvation mode", even if you do incur a sizable calorie deficit. As you go on, you can make adjustments as necessary.

:0)