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  • MissTomGettingThin
    MissTomGettingThin Posts: 776 Member
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    nice one stella!
  • annacataldo
    annacataldo Posts: 872 Member
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    ^ Your activity level is determined by how ACTIVE you are, she is not sedentary by having a desk job if she is at spinning class every day.. It's about your metabolism and how much muscle you have.

    No. I'm sorry, but I know for a fact that is false. This activity level u speak of... there's the lowest setting of sedentary for ppl who have desk jobs, and lightly active is for people who stand all day at work. She sits all day at work. YES she is active by walking, and doing spinning or excercising what so ever, but excercising goes in ur excercise diary.

    If she were to change her activity level, and then enter anything n her excercise diary, it would be wrong. What mfp tells u to eat is the number of calories u burn, just by doing ur occupation and breathing. if u do anything else, such as walking, u enter it in ur diary, and then it calculates how many extra calories u burnt by excercising...ur double counting ur excercise if u change ur activity level, and if u do change it, don't use ur excercise diary..

    She is having trouble losing weight probably cuz her bodies n starvation mode and I looked back 5days total and she hasn't met ur calorie goal a single time..2 out of the 5 days she had under 500cal..idk what her diary looked like b4 the 5days, but that kind of eating while excercising, could be deadly.
  • believetoachieve
    believetoachieve Posts: 675 Member
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    She is having trouble losing weight probably cuz her bodies n starvation mode and I looked back 5days total and she hasn't met ur calorie goal a single time..2 out of the 5 days she had under 500cal..idk what her diary looked like b4 the 5days, but that kind of eating while excercising, could be deadly.

    It's a slippery slope to make assumptions about why someone isn't losing weight, especially when you don't know them! I wouldn't rush to assume starvation mode - that's a very overused term. Additionally.. let's not be too extreme - a too-large calorie deficit every now and then isn't "deadly". :wink:
  • SaraTonin
    SaraTonin Posts: 551 Member
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    (In response to post two above)

    ^^ Activity level is how MFP takes your body fat percentage into consideration. MFP assumes you do not already have an exercise regimen. If you DO follow a strict exercise regimen, your metabolism is higher, and so you need more calories.

    Yes, even more than your exercise calories, because you have muscles to feed that you don't want to lose.

    Put it this way. Imagine I am an overweight body builder and I burn 3300 calories a day. I tell MFP my stats, that I am 5'5", female, 200 lbs, and that I work a desk job and want to lose 2 pounds per week. MFP will tell me to eat 1600 calories, my BMR, if I tell it I am sedentary.

    To maintain my muscle mass, I need to be eating more than that, PLUS my exercise calories, to maintain a healthy weight loss and not lose any muscle.

    Essentially, my BMR is higher than 1600 because I have muscles.
  • soniajc
    soniajc Posts: 38 Member
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    Hi :) had a quick look at your diary. You might find it would help if you ate 3 healthy meals a day and consumed all your calories .
    Sorry to say I didn't see that you are eating vegetables or fruit.
    Hope you find a balance soon to get you back on track.
  • Phornixx
    Phornixx Posts: 16
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    Remember muscle weighs more than fat. You may be losing fat but gaining muscle and toning up. Take all your measurments - waist, arms legs, bum, chest, belly and then work hard and see what they are like in 3 weeks... much more acurrate. When I was at the gym a lot last year I lost very little weight, but 9 inches around my waist. It was so nice as if I had only been going on weight I would have been very upset... but I had a new set of jeans and felt great
  • annacataldo
    annacataldo Posts: 872 Member
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    She is having trouble losing weight probably cuz her bodies n starvation mode and I looked back 5days total and she hasn't met ur calorie goal a single time..2 out of the 5 days she had under 500cal..idk what her diary looked like b4 the 5days, but that kind of eating while excercising, could be deadly.

    It's a slippery slope to make assumptions about why someone isn't losing weight, especially when you don't know them! I wouldn't rush to assume starvation mode - that's a very overused term. Additionally.. let's not be too extreme - a too-large calorie deficit every now and then isn't "deadly". :wink:

    I suppose ur right there..but I guess I should have said that 1200cal is considered the minimum, and less than that is considered starvation mode and that's she's been at under 1200 everyday for quite awhile (after excercise).. as I told her in a private message, what I suggest may not be right for her, I was just offering advice cuz it was asked, and suggested forums and such to help her instead of just listening to ppl on this individual post. Also, I've read a couple times on here that its perfectly fine to go under 1200cal once in a while, but if its like 4days out of the week (regular basis), all the time, like she's doing, then its more likely to go to starvation mode...I said the deadly thing cuz of days she was having net calories of 100 or 200...if that happens regularly, someone could get very sick/die
  • SaraTonin
    SaraTonin Posts: 551 Member
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    To back up what I said with science, MFP uses the Harris-Benedict equation:

    http://www.shapefit.com/basal-metabolic-rate.html

    "
    Activity Multiplier
    Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
    Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
    Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
    Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
    Extra Active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.)
    "
  • annacataldo
    annacataldo Posts: 872 Member
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    Makes sense to me saratonin but I've read all over mfp about how the activity level is different from ur excercise, and if u set mfp to heavy active with a desk job not to use ur excercise diary, so I leave mine at sedentary and then enter in excercise seperate to be more accurate...maybe iim wrong, I'm just going by everything I've ever read
  • SaraTonin
    SaraTonin Posts: 551 Member
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    Thing is - when you exercise you burn off EXACTLY those calories. If you want your net calories to be a specific number, and you have a lot of muscle, you are going to be below your net calories if you set to sedentary - even if you eat back your exercise calories that day.

    Say two people do a 1000 calorie workout and both work desk jobs. They have the same weight/height/sex/age.
    Person 1 is very active and exercises 7x a week for three months.
    Person 2 has never exercised and has poor body fat percentage.

    Should they both eat the same number of calories that day?

    No, because person 1 will end up with a higher deficit than is healthy. They might lose muscle mass this way or even eat below their BMR, even if they eat the same number of calories as person 2.
  • ejohndrow
    ejohndrow Posts: 1,399 Member
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    Sorry I didn't read all the posts on here so I'm sure I'm just rehashing old stuff. From the looks of the food diary I have to say perhaps upping the water intake along with more calories from fruits and veggies as not all calories are created equal. Also, I would say eat what is set, and eat smaller meals throughout the day if possible. Have you seen a dietician to sit down and help you plan out your meals?
    It all comes down to you know what you're doing, if you're sedentary or active (I have mine at light activity since some days I'm more active than others). If you feel that you are doing everything you can and there is still no budge then I would consider seeing a nutritionist/dietician to help you out.
  • SaraTonin
    SaraTonin Posts: 551 Member
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    Sorry for hijacking your thread Neelixo with our debate. Anna and I both definitely agree you should be eating at least your Basal Metabolic Rate!

    I looked at your diary too and I agree that it's important to eat at least all three meals a day - that will help boost your metabolism and get that body a-burning. Keep at it - you're doing great with the exercise!
  • annacataldo
    annacataldo Posts: 872 Member
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    Yea, ur doing great with the excercise... the plateus r the hardest part! I've given up every past diet cuz of them..u just got to stick with it. Try measuring urself to see if u lose inches during those times u don't lose pounds. Just don't get discouraged and keep trying! I know I've lost inches on stomach but I didn't take measurments til couple days ago, I figured I could start now, maybe measure 1x a month.. u may be thinking the gym stuff is waste of money but keep goign cuz even if ur not losing, ur getting ur body fit & tone, maybe gaining some muscle which is heavier than fat, and when u do shred pounds ull have a nice toned body afterwards...
  • annacataldo
    annacataldo Posts: 872 Member
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    Also since u have a doctor and dietrician available, ask them for help! U could even print out ur food diary and go over it with them
  • Zsangel
    Zsangel Posts: 202
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    To back up what I said with science, MFP uses the Harris-Benedict equation:

    http://www.shapefit.com/basal-metabolic-rate.html

    "
    Activity Multiplier
    Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
    Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
    Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
    Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
    Extra Active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.)
    "

    I agree with this!
    I have a desk job but work out 4/5 times per week so I have my activity level set at Lightly Active (or active, can't remember =P) but I also log AND EAT BACK my exercise calories

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