New and confused.

Your daily activity should not be counted in your calories burned, unless you are doing extra strenuous activity that is above your normal activity. Do not take back and eat your calories burned on normal activity. Only count your workouts and what is above and beyond normal activity.

Hey everyone, I am back after being gone for almost a year. I fell off the wagon for awhile, gained about 50 more pounds and now I am having a real hard time. I have tried every diet in the book, and even considered gastric bypass surgery. I am a food addict and struggling to say no is my daily battle. I want to succeed this time around. So please add me and let's encourage one another. I can't do this alone. Thanks everyone.

The app actually calculates an approximate rate of metabolism based on what you input for gender, height, weight, and current fitness level and uses that to give you the number of calories you should aim for to attain your goal.

If your job is quite active, factor that in and set your initial calculation to lightly or moderately active, depending how active you are on your job.

Personally, I set mine to sedentary to get a caloric base (what I need to just breathe and exist) because my daily activity has never helped me lose weight nor kept me from gaining. Any additional calories I burn through extra physical activity is extra that I can eat if I need to.

hey, it looks like you got a lot of good advice on the metabolism part. Only thing I'll add is I eat half my calories back to help me fuel for my next workout and prevent muscle loss.

Also, about the eating healthy on a budget I hear you. I'm a student... but my slight advantage is that I have a bachelor's in nutrition... so I've kind picked up the ropes on how to buy healthy food on a budget. But here's some pretty good tips I've learned along the way:

-homemade foods are usually cheaper than buying convenience foods. Especially casseroles and stews, which you can freeze in portions. Now if you're gonna say what about fast food, well of course that might be cheaper and it's fine in moderation, but in the long run it could be more expensive (think chronic diseases and hospital bills due to unhealthy eating and being sedentary). As long as it fits in your calorie goal and is not every single day, I say go ahead. Also, think if a person eats out 3 times a day at $10 each time, that's $30 just in one day! what can you get at the grocery store that's $30 and will probably stretch out to other days?

-Don't feel pressured to buy en vogue "health" foods, like chia seeds, almond milk, soy milk, kale, goji berries. They are expensive. Stick with the basics (carrots, apples, bananas, cucumbers, beans, whatever is local for you), especially if you're new to eating healthier. you're right, all this health information is too much to take in at once, so make it easier on yourself. Once you've got the hang of eating foods in their more natural forms, then you can "advance" should you choose.

-always buy fruits/vegetables in season or when on sale. Don't feel like you "should" be buying the expensive stuff like kale, berries, and other "exotic" sounding stuff... You can also get canned and frozen fruits and veggies if you're worried about it going bad. Those are totally fine, just make sure to get the ones packed in their own juice and low sodium.

-With fresh produce you can pre-portion it out and put them in baggies so it's grab and go. My usuals are carrots (those are super cheap), apples (cheap), and bananas (those come in natural packages)

-Buy other foods in bulk and on sale. If there's a really good sale on chicken, get it and freeze them! Also, if you have a store that sells foods from bins in bulk, do that. It's usually cheaper than buying it in packages... that's like rice, oatmeal, nuts, beans, grains, etc.

-DON'T buy "healthy" convenience food. It's such a rip off! I've seen stores selling pre-portioned packs of almonds, cheese, yogurt and baby carrots. You can get the bulk items of these and pre-portion on your own. Sometimes it is necessary though, so it's your decision on what you want to make compromises on. For instance, I like the individual yogurts when I know I'm gonna have a busy week.

-when you do cook, double or triple the recipe so you can save the rest for later (freeze, refrigerate). That way you can eat healthy when you're in a rush.

-Finally, take it one step at a time. focus on one thing at a time. You don't have to do everything at once. it takes trial and error in figuring out what works best for you. You know yourself the best and what works for someone else might not work for you.