iphone pedometer and calorie counting

hillbillyatheist
hillbillyatheist Posts: 6
edited November 8 in Health and Weight Loss
the new iphone has a built in pedometer in it, which myfitnesspal accesses and recalculates your calories.


I work in the deli at walmart, where we stand all day walking around. the iphone says I took 20,290 steps yesterday, and gave me an extra 842 calories to eat.

now the worry is if its not accurate or is overestimating, I could stop losing or even gain weight if I follow the calorie adjustments. but if I don't follow it and its right I could be under eating and thus go into starvation mode and cause my metabolism to fall.


so either option carries a risk. so I'm here asking for input. thanks!

Replies

  • ashleysevadjian
    ashleysevadjian Posts: 11 Member
    Is your activity level set to very active? Because those steps could be part of your lifestyle which are taken into account already with your calorie goal. I've heard that you should only count they extra steps you do as a workout. So I would say eat your original calorie goal and see how you feel and if you lose weight.
  • hillbillyatheist
    hillbillyatheist Posts: 6
    I thought about changing my settings from sedentary but truth be told on my days off and when I'm home, I don't do anything. I watch TV, or do stuff at my computer or noodle on the guitar or read. so I'm only active at work. (3-5 days a week depending on when they need me)
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    Starvation mode: myth.

    Judge by how you feel & your results. If you feel you need more nutrition on days when you work & you're more active, then eat a little more at meals and/or have an extra snack. If you continue to lose weight over time (meaning you consistently weigh less today than you did a month ago) you're on the right track. If you are not consistently losing weight, re-evaluate.
  • hillbillyatheist
    hillbillyatheist Posts: 6
    if the starvation mode thing is a myth, why the 2 pounds a week max weight loss recommendation? I've got alot to lose, and if I can lose 3-4 pounds a week, I'll be at goal in a year or less. I'd be very happy with that result, so I'm all ears on this.
  • KylaDenay
    KylaDenay Posts: 1,585 Member
    hillbillyatheist wrote: »
    if the starvation mode thing is a myth, why the 2 pounds a week max weight loss recommendation? I've got alot to lose, and if I can lose 3-4 pounds a week, I'll be at goal in a year or less. I'd be very happy with that result, so I'm all ears on this.
    The 2 lbs a week max is suggested, because going over that can become unsafe.

    It can result in more excess skin, more muscle mass loss and unhealthy eating habits. A 1500 daily calorie deficit is pretty aggressive. Starting out at such an extreme deficit, you will eventually stall.

    You did not gain the weight overnight and cannot expect to lose it overnight.
  • ashleysevadjian
    ashleysevadjian Posts: 11 Member
    Yea don't lose more than 2lbs a week. I lost 140 lbs in a year a half and because it happened so quick I had gross granny sagging skin and then when I moved house and changed my job I couldn't keep up with maintaining my weight and I gained back 100lbs! If you've got a long way to go do it at a steady pace because you'll be more likely to maintain the lifestyle.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    Part of it also is math, in terms of how much a person can burn in a day. Between BMR, regulary daily activity and exercise combined. If you have 100+ pounds to lose: losing at higher than 2 pounds per week is probably attainable for a while. I think the standard is 2 pounds OR 1% body weight.

    Minimum nutrition level is for health reasons. Your body needs fuel to function at its best. Losing weight should improve your health, but doing things too drastically can have the opposite effects. Loss of muscle, ill effects on hair/skin/nails, vitamin deficiencies, lack of energy, etc...

    For sake of comparison a 175 pound woman would have to work hard, and pretty much every day, to have a 1000-1500 daily deficit. A 275 pound woman burns more just from living, so could work out with less intensity and burn 3000-3500 calories in a day, eat 1500-2000, and see faster results.

    In forums like this, you have to take the 'general consensus' and then think about how it applies to you & your life. All the advice won't fit.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    ps-there is a bigger gap in what women burn vs what men burn. (Just saw on your profile you're a guy.) I've lost the weight I needed to lose - so I'm at maintenance. My husband on the other hand is down 19 of the 60 he wants to lose. Without any exercise he burns more per day than I do - even on the days when I am very active. He has more weight, and guys typically have higher muscle mass than women and thus burn more in general.

    He is doing a program (calling it that for lack of a better word) that is not standard. He cuts his calories fairly low several days a week (1200-1600) and then eats higher (one day he doesn't count at all, the rest of the weekend is probably 2000 or so per day) and this works for him. In the end it all averages out and he's losing steadily.
  • hillbillyatheist
    hillbillyatheist Posts: 6
    edited November 2014
    good stuff. I like the 1% or 2 pounds theory. that means for now I can lose a little over 3 pounds a week safely. if it takes me a couple years to get to goal, I can live with that if within a year I can go to normal people clothing stores instead of fat clothing stores, and my knees, feet and joints stop hurting and I have energy. but that does bring us back to worrying if I'm not eating enough as per the calories burned at work. if the app says I got an extra 842 calories to eat (where I'd lose 2 pounds a week) if I don't eat them and its right, I'm risking being unsafe. if I follow it and its overestimating, then I'm stopping and possibly reversing my weight loss. lastly I like your husbands idea. eat less in the week so he can enjoy more food on the weekend. hey if it works....... :smile:
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    It may be accurate, but before you eat back all those calories, take your BMR, divide by 24 and then multiply by the number of hours you worked. Subtract that number from the 842 and that should give you the actual additional calories you should eat.
  • terar21
    terar21 Posts: 523 Member
    edited November 2014
    1. Losing more than 2 pounds a week has nothing to do with "starvation mode." It's because it's typically unhealthy (for a wide range of reasons) for the majority of people to lose faster than that and would probably mean you're crash dieting and you probably won't maintain the loss.

    2. You shouldn't eat all of those calories out because some of those walking burns are just part of your every day normal activity. Since you say that some days you are more sedentary (which, most of us do have days where we are less active than normal), you just should average out to determine your average activity level for the week. Everything balances out. Monday through Friday you might be active. Saturday through Sunday you might hardly move. Try out your level at lightly active see how that feels. Move to active if you feel like that suits you better. Many people average out there activity level over the week to determine how much they should eat daily (i.e. you exercise 5 out of 7 days a week but you still eat the same amount of calories on those 2 days you don't exercise because it is balanced out).
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