daily activity varies widely - how do I keep track?

skinnysushicat
skinnysushicat Posts: 138 Member
in Getting Started
So, here we go. I'm 5ft1, female, 141lb. I would like to be 115 - 120lb., so a 20 or 25lb loss.

I work flexible hours, as does my husband. Some days I'm literally at a desk all day. I work from home so I might not even leave the house! I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 which counts my steps, and on those days I get to maybe 2000 steps, mostly from doing housework.

Some days when I have the kids all day, I might walk to the school and back 3 times (about a mile each time), into town (another mile), take the kids to the park, all the while pushing a buggy. On those days I do maybe 8000 - 10000 steps, but I guess my burn is a little higher pushing the buggy and carrying the shopping. At weekends we might go on a long walk or have a day out - then I guess it's up to 15000 steps. I walk briskly.

I am still breastfeeding my youngest, but only at bedtime, so I guess that adds a few calories.

I very rarely 'work out' as such, and when I do I manually add the calories.

I don't know how much to eat. My Tdee is 1250 calories. I guess my calorie needs vary wildly depending on my day, but how to I keep track and add it to mfp? I would really like to be able to know at any one time how much my daily activity has burned, and to be able to eat them back, and a few for breastfeeding. I initially set my cals at 1700, and added any longer, vigerous bits of excercise on top, but is that too high?

Confused.

Replies

  • HaibaneReki
    HaibaneReki Posts: 373 Member
    You sound like a perfect candidate for a fitbit gadget. I'm looking for one for myself, maybe a b-day present to self next month ;)
  • Tara_1983
    Tara_1983 Posts: 4
    Some days when I have the kids all day, I might walk to the school and back 3 times (about a mile each time), into town (another mile), take the kids to the park, all the while pushing a buggy. On those days I do maybe 8000 - 10000 steps, but I guess my burn is a little higher pushing the buggy and carrying the shopping. At weekends we might go on a long walk or have a day out - then I guess it's up to 15000 steps. I walk briskly.

    It sounds like we're leading similar lives.. lol

    What I do is just log the time I walked in my exercise diary... so if I do the school run in the morning (a mile there and a mile back) I just log that I walked for 30 minutes... then add a separate 30 minute walk for the afternoon school run. It's a rough guestimate as I'm generally gone for up to an hour, but some of that time is spent standing around chatting etc.

    The same goes if I go into to town do some shopping... I just guestimate how long I spent walking to town and back (not the the time I spent standing around browsing) and log it!
  • skinnysushicat
    skinnysushicat Posts: 138 Member
    Yes I have heard of them - do they tell MFP automatically how much you have burned so it increases your cals automatically?
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    your TDEE is certainly not 1250! i think you mean BMR

    Set yourself as sedentary, set MFP to lose 1lb per week (and look to change that to 0.5lb per week once you lose 10lbs) and on the school run days, add in exercsie cals and eat them back.
  • skinnysushicat
    skinnysushicat Posts: 138 Member
    I feel like some days my like is 1000 mini-walks - like, run upstairs with the wasking, take the rubbish out, pop to the postbox, etc etc. Then other days - none of that, because when my husband is in charge of the kids he does it all! I did think about logging each tiny activity but I can't see it being possible.
  • skinnysushicat
    skinnysushicat Posts: 138 Member
    your TDEE is certainly not 1250! i think you mean BMR


    Possibly! I don't know the difference! :embarassed:
    I just went on some site someone linked to and it came out with that...
  • TurtleRunnerNC
    TurtleRunnerNC Posts: 751 Member
    Mine varies as well. I have my goal set to my BMR, 1490, then add in my exercise calories. I eat somewhere in between those numbers.
  • skinnysushicat
    skinnysushicat Posts: 138 Member
    Ho do you deal with general activity? I guess what I'm not sure is, how can I count excercise calories when they are not set workouts or periods of activity, but just 'on my feel most of the day'?
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    I feel like some days my like is 1000 mini-walks - like, run upstairs with the wasking, take the rubbish out, pop to the postbox, etc etc. Then other days - none of that, because when my husband is in charge of the kids he does it all! I did think about logging each tiny activity but I can't see it being possible.

    i wouldnt consider any of those things as things you would log so thats fine.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    your TDEE is certainly not 1250! i think you mean BMR


    Possibly! I don't know the difference! :embarassed:
    I just went on some site someone linked to and it came out with that...

    BMR is basal metablic rate - so the amount of calories you would burn in a coma
    TDEE is total daily energy expenditure - the total amount you burn in a day going about your business - including any workouts you do.
  • Yalonie
    Yalonie Posts: 2 Member
    Hi,
    Received a fitbit for Xmas, had two, returned both. Problems with the batteries and charging. then spent $180 on a jaw bone lastest release, returned also/ The only thing they did was tell me I had a bad night sleep, when I already knew cause I woke up feeling like sh#@!. Logged my steps everyday, but the website for food was horrendous, slow, badly designed and food quantities not accurate................What is a serve??? 100g, 1 cup or WHAT?? Love the myfitnesspal website, it almost does it all. I invested in a $20 watch from Aldi. absolutely love it.
    It measures steps, calories, heart rate, distance, has a stop clock and normal watch and I can swim with it on and then log the info on the site, figure if I swim 2Km's it must count for extra calories, also bike riding. I also add my 6km walk/run as extra exercise but don't log the day to day walking at work and home, just make a note of the number of steps and info I have in the daily journal If I work hard and do more than 10,000 steps a day for the journal entry it shows ont he scales., jThe other two more expensive devices don't do this. It also has an alarm to tell me when I am in the fat burning zone going for a run to keep my heart rate constant.
    I may just wait for the next generation fit bit or something else. Maybe the aldi watch will be worn out by then.

    Finally starting to shift the weight, because the food logg is much better.
    I'm 5'1" (156cm) and weighed 84kg Now I weight 75kg, only 20kg to go and I'll be 60 in two weeks. Up against past middle age.

    Yalonie
    :smile:
  • Yalonie
    Yalonie Posts: 2 Member
    Don't waste your money.
  • Nedra19455
    Nedra19455 Posts: 241 Member
    Yes I have heard of them - do they tell MFP automatically how much you have burned so it increases your cals automatically?

    Yes.
  • Krikit34
    Krikit34 Posts: 125 Member
    I have a fitbit. It logs steps taken in a day, and tracks how much of that is active - moving at a higher pace. It can be set up to sync to MFP. You can also set MFP for negative calories and it will automatically deduct calories (only as low as 1200) for days that you don't move much. You could also use an inexpensive pedometer and log the information yourself.
  • mquickel
    mquickel Posts: 18 Member
    I have a fitbit flex and I love it! I have it directly connected to MFP, so everything that I record in MFP directly links over to my fitbit and vice versa. (I don't use the fitbit food log at all!)

    The fitbit is not for everyone (a pedometer would do basically the same thing), but I like it because it has made me more aware of myself and the amount of movement I do (or don't) during the day. I love the challenge of meeting a daily goal, competing with friends and again, I love that MFP "talks" directly to the fitbit.
  • 12bfree
    12bfree Posts: 67 Member
    My wife and I use the Fitbit Flex. They work as advertised. A good heart rate monitor would also help you. I don't have one of them yet but I am considering a TomTom.
  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
    your TDEE is certainly not 1250! i think you mean BMR

    Set yourself as sedentary, set MFP to lose 1lb per week (and look to change that to 0.5lb per week once you lose 10lbs) and on the school run days, add in exercise cals and eat them back.
    All of this.
  • nosebag1212
    nosebag1212 Posts: 621 Member
    bodymedia fit if you're willing to spend a bit of money
  • skinnysushicat
    skinnysushicat Posts: 138 Member
    Thanks for all the suggestions.
    I am going to look into fitbit, it sounds it would work for me. In the mean time I am going to set mfp to sedentary, and then manually add the steps tracked by my phone as extra calories, and see how I go. I'm in no mad rush, so if after a couple of weeks I'm not losing I'll try a different approach.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    So, here we go. I'm 5ft1, female, 141lb. I would like to be 115 - 120lb., so a 20 or 25lb loss.

    I work flexible hours, as does my husband. Some days I'm literally at a desk all day. I work from home so I might not even leave the house! I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 which counts my steps, and on those days I get to maybe 2000 steps, mostly from doing housework.

    Some days when I have the kids all day, I might walk to the school and back 3 times (about a mile each time), into town (another mile), take the kids to the park, all the while pushing a buggy. On those days I do maybe 8000 - 10000 steps, but I guess my burn is a little higher pushing the buggy and carrying the shopping. At weekends we might go on a long walk or have a day out - then I guess it's up to 15000 steps. I walk briskly.

    I am still breastfeeding my youngest, but only at bedtime, so I guess that adds a few calories.

    I very rarely 'work out' as such, and when I do I manually add the calories.

    I don't know how much to eat. My Tdee is 1250 calories. I guess my calorie needs vary wildly depending on my day, but how to I keep track and add it to mfp? I would really like to be able to know at any one time how much my daily activity has burned, and to be able to eat them back, and a few for breastfeeding. I initially set my cals at 1700, and added any longer, vigerous bits of excercise on top, but is that too high?

    Confused.


    You TDEE includes your BMR (calories if you slept all day) + activity (ie: sedentary) + exercise.......1250 sounds too low. As a breastfeeding mom....you definitely need more calories.

    Anyway....if you're not in the market for a FitBit (or some other activity tracker) .....write down your step totals for a couple of weeks & average them out.

    <5000 steps/day may be used as a sedentary lifestyle
    5000-7499 steps/day is typical of daily activity might be considered low active
    7500-9999 likely includes some volitional activities considered somewhat active
    10,000 steps/day indicates the point that should be used to classify individuals as active
    >12500 steps/day are likely to be classified as highly active
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Thanks for all the suggestions.
    I am going to look into fitbit, it sounds it would work for me. In the mean time I am going to set mfp to sedentary, and then manually add the steps tracked by my phone as extra calories, and see how I go. I'm in no mad rush, so if after a couple of weeks I'm not losing I'll try a different approach.

    Whatever approach and calorie goal you choose you need to give it at least 4-6 weeks to see if you're getting results.
  • skinnysushicat
    skinnysushicat Posts: 138 Member
    Thanks, that's really informative. Most days then I am low or lightly active, but when I work all day I am sedentary. I guess I could just adjust my calories on a daily basis!
    I did the goals thingy on mfp based on lightly active, and it tells me to eat 1310 calories a day for a 1lb loss. Ouch. :(
  • stephiedaniel63
    stephiedaniel63 Posts: 3
    Its better you deploy certain tool so that it will help you manage your tasks and maintain a clear picture of getting the things on the right track. One tool even I am using, the cloud based hours tracking tool from Replicon - http://www.replicon.com/olp/hours-tracking-software.aspx . The hassle free tool featured with user friendly and calendar based interface makes it an intuitive tool to get the work on track.
  • bebeisfit
    bebeisfit Posts: 951 Member
    Thanks for all the suggestions.
    I am going to look into fitbit, it sounds it would work for me. In the mean time I am going to set mfp to sedentary, and then manually add the steps tracked by my phone as extra calories, and see how I go. I'm in no mad rush, so if after a couple of weeks I'm not losing I'll try a different approach.

    Whatever approach and calorie goal you choose you need to give it at least 4-6 weeks to see if you're getting results.

    Exactly. Also, you're either a gadget person or not. I found a $10 pedometer worked better for me because I didn't want to bring my phone with me to the bathroom at work or down to the trash/mailbox, etc.

    If I really made an effort to add steps and made it to 10k without an 'intentional' workout - I might log 30-60 min walking. Everyone is different.

    I use the notes section under both exercise and food diaries to describe my day.

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