MFP calorie goal question

robingmurphy · January 2016

So I set MFP to sedentary since I have a desk job and told it I want to lose a pounds a week. Since my sedentary RMR is around 1600, and 1600-500=1100, it said "sorry, you can't go below 1200!" and set baseline calories at 1200. I'm on board with this as I have no desire to ever eat less than 1200 calories for any reason. The problem is that I'm pretty active and my TDEE is actually more like 2200 on work days. However, when I add exercise, MFP increases my calorie allowance maintaining the 400 calorie deficit.

Is the answer to just ensure I have 100 calories left in MFP? To follow the FitBit calorie suggestion, which doesn't do that? Or something else?

EpiGeek40 · January 2016

Include your true activity level in MFP then you will get the correct daily calorie goal for you that should be in line with your TDEE. Then you would not 'eat back' any of your exercise calories...unless it was truly above any beyond your typical activity level. This should match your Fit bit pretty well.

From all my reading in these forums the past year or so, it seem many people want to call themselves 'sedentary' and then eat back any and all exercise calories. But few people truly are sedentary and they are then aiming for calorie levels are actually too low for them.

Hopefully some of the wise MFPers chime in on this (in case I'm wrong! LOL).

malibu927 · January 2016

MFP doesn't operate on TDEE. It follows NEAT, which figures your daily calorie burn without exercise included. That's why when you log exercise, it raises your total calories you can eat.

Lourdesong · January 2016

If you want MFP to maintain a 500 calorie deficit, you must not have your calorie goal fall below 1200. If your goal falls below 1200, in your case 1100, then MFP will change your goal to 1200 and maintain a 400 calorie deficit for you.

As long as you choose an activity level that gets you at 1201 calorie goal or higher, MFP will maintain the deficit you chose when you input exercise, receive calorie adjustments from Fitbit, etc.

d_thomas02 · January 2016

I'd suggest raising your MFP activity level to 'slightly active' and continue to do what you are doing tracking your deliberate exercises. My own choice ('slightly active', 1 lb/wk lose goal, log deliberate exercises) is to to leave 100 - 200 calories uneaten.

Two examples:

Lazy day: MFP goal 2030 + logged exercise 148 = 2178... I ate 2077 leaving 101 calories uneaten.

Active day: MFP goal 2030 + logged exercise 904 = 2934... I ate 2782 leaving 152 calories uneaten.

I actually use a FitBit and allow it to adjust my exercise calories in the negative direction so another example:

Really lazy day: MFP goal 2030 + logged exercise -266 = 1764... I ate 1663 leaving 101 calories uneaten.

veganbaum · January 2016

Just enter your stats, set MFP for one pound/week, and follow that calorie goal (which is based off of NEAT, as mentioned). Since you have a fitbit, enable negative calorie adjustments. Then, enter only non-step based exercises.

Ordinarily people recommend starting by eating back only 50-75% of exercise calories until you figure out how accurate it is for you. I don't enter my non-step based activity since it's lifting and won't give me too many calories anyway, but if I did, with the fitbit adjustment already changing my numbers, I'd probably manually adjust the non-step exercise calories myself when I enter it and take off around 25%. Then, Fitbit will take care of the step based ones. Eat the adjustment fitbit provides. Since all of these are estimates, you'll have to give it time to see how accurate they are.

d_thomas02 · January 2016

This post might be helpful:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10098937/faq-syncing-logging-food-exercise-calorie-adjustments-activity-levels-accuracy/p1

robingmurphy · January 2016

Thanks guys. I'll raise my activity level to "slightly active" and see if that fixes things.

MFP calorie goal question

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