Daily Activity question
missar
Posts: 32 Member
I am finding it really difficult to lose the weight I want, I am sticking to my calorie goal of 1290, I do sometimes eat under this limit due to exercise (bootcamp 3x a week)
I have my settings on lightly active, but also find most week days at work I reach my fitbit surge 10k steps goal and burn about 250-300 calories a day by this (my weekends are a lot slower and I don't reach the 10k steps goal)
I am unsure if I should maybe move the daily activity setting to the active setting?
I have my settings on lightly active, but also find most week days at work I reach my fitbit surge 10k steps goal and burn about 250-300 calories a day by this (my weekends are a lot slower and I don't reach the 10k steps goal)
I am unsure if I should maybe move the daily activity setting to the active setting?
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Replies
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64kg? How tall are you? What is your goal weight.
Closer to your goal weight the slower it gets.0 -
I am 5'2 and want to weight around 57kgs (64.4kgs currently)0
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I deleted that part of my post sorry Merkavar, I thought I may be being a bit too impatient and hasty hehe and will wait another week to see what happens then re post the question if still no change to my weight
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Do you mean change to active and then increase your activity to match? All else being equal, more activity will burn more calories.0
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You want to lose ~15lbs? Set your goal to half a lb a week (1kg/week? whichever is the lowest) because you do not need to be losing quickly. You should be able to eat more than 1200 calories to lose 15lbs.
You also should be eating at least half of your exercise calories back.
If you are not losing on 1290 calories chances are yuo are not logging accurately. Do you weigh solids and measure liquids? Log daily? Use correct entries and use your own recipes?0 -
Abby I was more thinking of changing to the more active setting without increasing my exercise, in fear that I possibly wasn't eating enough calories? sorry I am new to this (this is my first real attempt) and still trying to work it all out lol0
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Well you won't NOT lose by eating too little, although that can affect gym performance. Some people note losses start up again when they increase intake because it subsequently improves their energy levels and they thus burn more again.
You've been at this for less than a month. Give things more time. But a goal of half a lb a week is still your best bet, and eat back at least half of your exercise calories. If you lose faster or slower than expected after a month at a specific goal, change your activity level.
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Hi Ana
My goal is set at .5kgs a week which allows me 1280 calories a day, and i do try to eat back as much as i can of the calories burnt off by exercise
I weigh everything I eat, including the milk i use in my cups of tea, and i rarely eat out so i do mostly eat food i prepare myself0 -
Ok great, thanks so much for that insight Ana 0
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Well if you want to eat more calories you can just change your calorie goal. But no, eating more will not cause you to lose weight faster. Also some people find it really motivating to see the extra calories from fitbit added to their daily calorie goal, whether they eat them back or not. If you change your activity setting but don't increase your activity, you won't see as many extra calories, or even might see calories subtracted. For reference, I'm set at active and I need to get about 14,000 steps per day to break even.0
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you might want to try measuring the milk - it's not a huge difference, but things in ml cannot be weighed (if it's a solid in ml, like icecream or pretty much all canned food in Canada, I look up the american version and use that info) accurately.
Is your goal set to sedentary? I remember others talking about a glitch with MFP setting the goal to 1200 regardless of weight loss goal. 1200 sounds really low for your weight loss goal. Can you take a screencap or just rewrite your goal settings here?0 -
I have found that the quality of your calories can be more important than just the quantity.
I tried counting calories/logging food last year for a month, ran for 1-3 miles 3 times a week, and saw no change. I was reasonably active on the off days, too.
This time around, I'm paying more attention to what I eat, rather than just how much. Cutting back on carbs, reducing the calories I drink, and cutting out sugar as much as possible. Dessert is fine in moderation, but chocolate in my protein bars and fiber bars, etc, was doing me in. Most of my sugar these days is from the fruit I'm eating, and I figure that's not as bad
And make sure you drink plenty of water - staying properly hydrated should make you lose a few kg alone!0 -
Hi Mac, thanks. I have been trying to improve on that also I pretty much only drink water (I may have coke once a month, or alcoholic drink once a month) 5 days a week I eat .5 cup oats with only water for breakfast, a salmon salad sandwich no cheese or pineapple for lunch and count and weigh all of my dinners and try and keep them fresh and healthy. Weekends is more varied but still healthy and under calorie goal. I do have a treat eg icecream 1x week but still remain under my calories for that day and I always aim to drink as close to 3litres of water as I can but like everything else it is a constant learning curve 0
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Why are you taking FOUR rest days a week?
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When you use an activity tracker, you should have yourself set on sedentary and enable negative adjustments.0
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Hi azul I dont, I walk the the other days or do weights or use the elliptical. So do you recommend I should change my goal setting to that lifting4lis? Sorry I am new can you tell me more about it lifting4lis please0
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macgurlnet wrote: »I have found that the quality of your calories can be more important than just the quantity.
I tried counting calories/logging food last year for a month, ran for 1-3 miles 3 times a week, and saw no change. I was reasonably active on the off days, too.
This time around, I'm paying more attention to what I eat, rather than just how much. Cutting back on carbs, reducing the calories I drink, and cutting out sugar as much as possible. Dessert is fine in moderation, but chocolate in my protein bars and fiber bars, etc, was doing me in. Most of my sugar these days is from the fruit I'm eating, and I figure that's not as bad
And make sure you drink plenty of water - staying properly hydrated should make you lose a few kg alone!
For weight loss, no. CICO, whether that's from chicken breast, blueberries, or chocolate chip cookies.
Everything you are doing is totally unnecessary for weight loss. Only CICO is required.
The reason you saw no changes before was because you ate too much, whether that is due to poor logging (regularly over your goals, not eating at an actual deficit period, grossly mislogging by not weighing and not even measuring with cups/etc, not logging every day, using incorrect entries, using generic recipes instead of your own) or simply due to overestimating your calorie burns (especially if doing MFP method, if your activity level was too high and/or your exercise burns were grossly overestimated and you ate back most of it), or a combo of both. You aren't a magical special snowflake, there is no requirement to reduce or cut out things from your life outside of eating more reasonable portions that fit into your caloric needs. Lost 30lbs eating chocolate and "junk" most days of hte week.0 -
azulvioleta6 wrote: »Why are you taking FOUR rest days a week?
If I don't do my solo cardio day, I take 3 rest days a week. Doesn't matter for weight loss, especially if she's logging and eating back calories.0 -
OP, what does the app tell you your weight maintenance calories are if you go change your settings to maintain? you can change it back afterwards, it won't negatively affect your logging. Your goal is about 1lb a week so that should be a 500 calorie deficit from your maintenance, so if your maintenance is set at 1780 then the low goal will make sense. Although if you need to set it to sedentary for the fitbit to work properly then do that.0
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I plugged your numbers into Scooby's Workshop TDEE calculator (put your age at 24 as I didn't know it) and put 3-5 hours of moderate exercise a week and it suggests you eat 1785 to lose weight (you would not eat back exercise cals using TDEE method). You could try something like that, though you shouldn't really lose any faster eating more, but for some reason some people find that it works.
I am 5'4 and 167ish right now and have my cals set to 1700 and don't eat back exercise cals. Scooby recommends 1900 or so for me, but 1700 allows for mistakes in logging. I'm losing easily.
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Thank you so much Ana for all of your help I appreciate it so much I think I will adjust my activity settings and see how it goes with the fitbit.
Thank you so much also Mystic for passing on that info, I am 32 in a few months and I had no idea that kind of thing existed, so I will google scooby's and learn more about it 0 -
Liftng4Lis wrote: »When you use an activity tracker, you should have yourself set on sedentary and enable negative adjustments.
That's not how they work (or not all of them). I am set to lightly active and have a tracker with negative adjustments enabled, and if I don't reach the minimum threshold for the "lightly active" qualifier then I get calories deducted. Most of the long-timers here harp on being HONEST about your actual activity level, and stridently say that "sedentary" is almost NEVER an appropriate choice. Well, being honest about your actual activity level is great advice and it goes across all the tools (MFP, trackers, etc). Using a tracker can help you confirm your activity level; and yes, setting it to sedentary and letting it do all the math work is one way but it is far from a "should" type of requirement.0 -
Liftng4Lis wrote: »When you use an activity tracker, you should have yourself set on sedentary and enable negative adjustments.
That's not how they work (or not all of them). I am set to lightly active and have a tracker with negative adjustments enabled, and if I don't reach the minimum threshold for the "lightly active" qualifier then I get calories deducted. Most of the long-timers here harp on being HONEST about your actual activity level, and stridently say that "sedentary" is almost NEVER an appropriate choice. Well, being honest about your actual activity level is great advice and it goes across all the tools (MFP, trackers, etc). Using a tracker can help you confirm your activity level; and yes, setting it to sedentary and letting it do all the math work is one way but it is far from a "should" type of requirement.
Who says that?
I have discovered that in order to achieve sedentary I need to count at least 2500-4000 steps on my fitbit ...my chronically lazy and overweight former self got nowhere near that by having a desk job and a personal divot on the sofa moulded to my exact body. I actually believe lots and lots of people are sedentary ...probably more than think they are
Not that I disagree with the rest that you've said ...I've found sedentary with negative calories enabled motivates me ..also the fact I is that 10K steps earns me the same as a 45 minute hard workout in calories. I'm not sure active would as much because I might find it unachievable on a daily basis ...but that's my psyche0 -
@rabbitjb I'm not disagreeing with your point either - I'm disagreeing with Lis's statement that the OP "SHOULD" do it that way. I was told that when I first started, and I've seen it over and over (and over and over). I can't give you specific names of "who says that" because I don't keep a log book, but it is one of the major things that gets trotted out when people complain about how their intake goal is so low and unachievable - "what is your activity level set at? Be honest about it! Set it to lightly active and you'll get more calories to eat."
I may be an outlier, who knows. But I'm just as motivated to ensure that I don't have calories deducted no matter what my base activity level is set at.0 -
Liftng4Lis wrote: »When you use an activity tracker, you should have yourself set on sedentary and enable negative adjustments.
That's not how they work (or not all of them). I am set to lightly active and have a tracker with negative adjustments enabled, and if I don't reach the minimum threshold for the "lightly active" qualifier then I get calories deducted. Most of the long-timers here harp on being HONEST about your actual activity level, and stridently say that "sedentary" is almost NEVER an appropriate choice. Well, being honest about your actual activity level is great advice and it goes across all the tools (MFP, trackers, etc). Using a tracker can help you confirm your activity level; and yes, setting it to sedentary and letting it do all the math work is one way but it is far from a "should" type of requirement.
Who says that?
I have discovered that in order to achieve sedentary I need to count at least 2500-4000 steps on my fitbit ...my chronically lazy and overweight former self got nowhere near that by having a desk job and a personal divot on the sofa moulded to my exact body. I actually believe lots and lots of people are sedentary ...probably more than think they are
Not that I disagree with the rest that you've said ...I've found sedentary with negative calories enabled motivates me ..also the fact I is that 10K steps earns me the same as a 45 minute hard workout in calories. I'm not sure active would as much because I might find it unachievable on a daily basis ...but that's my psyche
I can vouch for this too. I am LOWER than sedentary belive it or not. I have mine set to sedentary and on an average work day, I burn 120 calories less than "expected" at that level for me. I'm lucky if I get over 2500 steps in an average work day. So for me, Sedentary is even too high. That being said, I burn about 1800 calories per day, so even if I set my goal to a 1 lb loss per week, I can still eat 1300 calories per day.0 -
I may be an outlier, who knows. But I'm just as motivated to ensure that I don't have calories deducted no matter what my base activity level is set at.
I agree. You don't "get" to eat more by changing your activity level in MFP, you get to eat more by increasing your actual activity. Separately from my weight loss goal, I wanted to increase my activity level and settled on 14,000 steps as the amount I could reasonably walk in a day while still doing everything else I wanted to do. It seemed silly to keep my setting at sedentary when every day I was getting a few to several hundred extra calories from the Fitbit transfer. It just seemed to make more sense to more closely match my goal intake to my goal activity. The negative calorie adjustment can be really harsh if I have a low activity day, but it reminds me that my real goal is to meet that daily activity, not sit around and just eat less that day.0 -
Thanks for that further info everyone. It is much appreciated & helps immensely. I have decided to stick to being truthful about my daily activity and leaving it at lightly active0
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@rabbitjb I'm not disagreeing with your point either - I'm disagreeing with Lis's statement that the OP "SHOULD" do it that way. I was told that when I first started, and I've seen it over and over (and over and over). I can't give you specific names of "who says that" because I don't keep a log book, but it is one of the major things that gets trotted out when people complain about how their intake goal is so low and unachievable - "what is your activity level set at? Be honest about it! Set it to lightly active and you'll get more calories to eat."
I may be an outlier, who knows. But I'm just as motivated to ensure that I don't have calories deducted no matter what my base activity level is set at.
PRIOR to the jawbone, I had my activity level at lightly active. I was told to change it to sedentary and enable negative calories. YES I do need to move in order to not have negative calories. I also find on days where I do nothing, I don't receive much in the way of extra calories, thus it motivates me to move more. It has turned out to be extremely accurate.0 -
Liftng4Lis wrote: »When you use an activity tracker, you should have yourself set on sedentary and enable negative adjustments.
can someone explain this please? I understand how, just don't understand why?0
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