calorie goal

chrislee1628 · April 2016

just a quickie re the daily calorie/remaining, might be overthinking this

for example to lose 2lbs

today

goal is 1500
food 1153
exercise 200
remaining 547

now if I set the activity level to active

goal changes to 2030 and remaining is 1077

if I went for run, I would earn calories which would increase the remaining, but the goal is already higher

why have sedentary, lightly active, active and very active?

if I set it to active tomorrow and then did nothing all day, but ate 2030 calories, would I not be eating too much calories?

shouldn't the goal be 1500 or 1200 if female regardless of activity level, and then remaining calories changes as you eat and exercise?

i.e. goal 1500 at start of day, I eat 2000 calories, but exercise earning 600, remaining 100

but if set to active, goal 2030 start of day, eat 2000 calories, exercise earning 600, remaining would then be 630

if that makes sense...

ASH_DVM · April 2016

Mostly based off of normal daily activity, I.e. Not exercise.

For example:

If you work an office job where you are sitting for most of the day, only on your feet to walk between rooms, meetings, etc, then you'd be considered sedentary.

Let's say now you're a waiter. You are on your feet for 8 hours, walking and carrying, etc. This isn't an extreme amount of work, but you are definitely using more calories during your normal day than our desk jockey in the first example. This person would be considered lightly active.

Now let's say you're a carpenter or a farmhand, carrying, pushing, slinging large heavy items, climbing ladders, pounding nails, posts, throwing hay bales, etc. You are way more active in your normal every day life than #1 and still burning more calories in normal work than #2. Therefore, your daily level is highly active.

If you are recording exercise and using it for extra calories, you must choose the correct setting to avoid overeating. I.e. If you're like person #1, you better pick sedentary if you're adding exercise to your calories, or you will eat too many.

chrislee1628 · April 2016

I know what the activity levels mean, it is the need for the calorie difference

with the calorie difference, it would mean changing the setting everyday to suit that day, but then you would not know what setting to use first thing in the morning

there should be no need for several settings, just the one, sedentary

as it is, say a runner for example, set to very active, 2410 calories per day, but then takes a day off, if he leaves it at very active and eats 2410 calories that day, he would be over eating as it is presuming he is very active that day, when infact he is sedentary and the setting should be sedentary

if you reverse it and the sedentary male is set to sedentary everyday but then suddenly goes for a run, his starting calorie is 1500 and then whatever he earns by running which would make his calorie intake for that day correct

using your reply for example

very active guy has 2410 calories at start of day, he is already eating 910 calories more than sedentary guy that is before the earned calories

now lets take a guy at 2 different activity levels

guy starts at 1500 goes for a run and earns 1000, then goes to bed at night, daily total 2500
guy starts at 2410 goes for a run and earns 1000, then goes to bed at night, daily total 3410

why the difference? he wakes up and does the same thing, earns the same amount of calories, so why does he need that extra 910 calories? he wakes up at the same time, does the same activity, then goes to bed at the same time, so the activity level for the day is exactly the same, yet the calorie intake is different, just because the setting is different

shouldn't it be

guy starts at 1500, does nothing all day, then goes to bed at night, daily total 1500
guy starts at 1500, goes for a run and earns 1000, then goes to bed at night, daily total 2500

I don't see the reason why the need for 4 settings with different starting calories

what I am saying is regardless of your activity level, the starting calorie intake for the day should be the same, and the actual calories needed for that day is then dependant on how active you are and is then added onto your daily intake via the calories earned

Lisa8179 · April 2016

my take is, the activity level is based on your lifestyle (work) .. exercise would be added in addition
for me, I am a customer service manager who walks the store for 8 hours a day, so my life 5x a week is lightly active .. should i work out, I would add that in separate, that is not included in my daily level

so per your example, a guy who runs, would chose activity level based on job
if he works in an office at a computer, he would chose sedentary then add his run
if he works on a farm, he would choose a more active setting, but still would add his run separate, since its not included
--
now with that said, I have read about people looking up their TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) and then taking off 250- 1000 calories, to account for weight loss)

search mfp and the net for TDEE

Maxematics · April 2016

wytey wrote: »

I know what the activity levels mean, it is the need for the calorie difference

with the calorie difference, it would mean changing the setting everyday to suit that day, but then you would not know what setting to use first thing in the morning

there should be no need for several settings, just the one, sedentary

as it is, say a runner for example, set to very active, 2410 calories per day, but then takes a day off, if he leaves it at very active and eats 2410 calories that day, he would be over eating as it is presuming he is very active that day, when infact he is sedentary and the setting should be sedentary

if you reverse it and the sedentary male is set to sedentary everyday but then suddenly goes for a run, his starting calorie is 1500 and then whatever he earns by running which would make his calorie intake for that day correct

using your reply for example

very active guy has 2410 calories at start of day, he is already eating 910 calories more than sedentary guy that is before the earned calories

now lets take a guy at 2 different activity levels

guy starts at 1500 goes for a run and earns 1000, then goes to bed at night, daily total 2500
guy starts at 2410 goes for a run and earns 1000, then goes to bed at night, daily total 3410

why the difference? he wakes up and does the same thing, earns the same amount of calories, so why does he need that extra 910 calories? he wakes up at the same time, does the same activity, then goes to bed at the same time, so the activity level for the day is exactly the same, yet the calorie intake is different, just because the setting is different

shouldn't it be

guy starts at 1500, does nothing all day, then goes to bed at night, daily total 1500
guy starts at 1500, goes for a run and earns 1000, then goes to bed at night, daily total 2500

I don't see the reason why the need for 4 settings with different starting calories

what I am saying is regardless of your activity level, the starting calorie intake for the day should be the same, and the actual calories needed for that day is then dependant on how active you are and is then added onto your daily intake via the calories earned

Some people don't log exercise and prefer to choose an activity level and eat that amount daily. Some people log exercise but don't eat back the calories. Some people walk a lot and only log purposeful exercise, so if they walk 15,000 steps and only log the 30 minutes they spent on the elliptical that day, they should still eat more than someone who only walked 2000 steps that day and spent 30 minutes on the elliptical.

I have myself set as sedentary even though I know I'm not. I do so because Fitbit adjusts my calories for me. I've learned that I can eat much more than I thought I could from doing this. If I didn't have a Fitbit, I'd be set as sedentary and only logging the 30 to 60 minutes of lifting or cardio I do and none of the walking. I'd be hungry all the time and undereating. The solutions would be to either put in my own calorie goal, or raise my activity level so I receive a higher calorie allowance in addition to my exercise calories.

nutmegoreo · April 2016

You're overthinking it. Not all women are going to have the same base calorie requirement. Someone who is 6' tall is going to need different base calories than someone who is 5' tall. Someone who is 18 will need different base calories than someone who is 80. Someone who is 300lbs will need a different base calories than someone who is 130lb.

My job has me on my feet and walking around for 7 hrs each day. That level of activity will require more calories than someone who sits down studying all day. The activity levels are intended to make adjustments for these differences in daily activities. Or are you suggesting I should log 7 hours of walking at the end of the day? Because that is a nearly daily activity, my body will be more efficient at doing all that walking, so it wouldn't make sense to add it as a purposeful activity, the calorie burn estimate would be way too high.

I also don't like the idea of finding out at the end of the day that I have an extra 400 calories to eat. It's nice, if I wanted some ice cream or beer, but if I want those things, I plan them into my day. Of course, that part is personal preference.

capaul42 · April 2016

One of the reasons for the extra calories for activity levels is that someone, like the farmer mentioned, needs more calories to sustain their energy level for the day than someone working a desk job.
Having lived near/with farmers growing up, I've seen the breakfasts most eat. Most of them have breakfasts that are probably as large as my entire daily intake. Because they burn it off quickly with the work they do. And they usually have a lunch nearly as large and come home starving for dinner. My uncle would never have been able to make it through a morning eating what I eat for breakfast. He'd be starving before 9am.

chrislee1628 · April 2016

@nutmegoreo I know that which is why they ask for your details to tailor your starting calorie requirement I presume, if not, then it should

but it does not explain the need for 4 activity levels with different starting calorie requirements

a 6' guy sat at a desk all day will have the same minimum starting calorie requirement to a 6' guy who is a sale assistant that is on his feet all day walking around the shop floor, only difference is that the sales guy will earn more calories as he will burn more calories from walking around, that is provided he walks around and does some work....

now if you were to say a 6' skinny guy compared to a 6' guy that is ripped, then I would understand, presuming that the ripped guy burns more calories due to being ripped, sorry for that term, but can't think of a better one right now, but then how would you calculate how much calories you need for being muscular

until you complete the day, you can edit the entries, so you could add the first hour and then change it every so often or add every hour/few hours as activities which will then update the calorie requirement

unfortunately I have a fitbit which I update once in a while which then updates the calorie requirements for that day

@capaul42 I know, some of those roadside diners, full breakfast in a teacake with a cuppa coffee.....

@syncaious exact same reason why I set myself as sedentary
people are here to calorie count/lost/gain weight, which means that you need to log nearly everything if not everything, otherwise why be here? just choosing an activity level and then eating that amount could and probably means that they could well be eating far less than they need

it is like saying I want to lose weight, but will only log half the stuff I eat and exercise I do but still expect to lose weight, unless you are eating and exercising the right amount then it is not going to happen

I know I am overthinking it and trust me, my head is starting to hurt lol, but I just want fitbit and MFP to be as good and accurate as possible, although I'm not sure how they could improve this bit, but then again that is what their software engineers are paid to do

shadow2soul · April 2016

I regularly get in 10-20k steps a day. My calorie needs are higher than someone who gets less than 5000 k steps a day (aka Sedentary).

Your body burns calories just doing day to day activities. Someone who is on their feet all day will burn more calories than someone sitting at a desk. Some people choose to use activity trackers to help adjust their calories based on their activity. Your day to day activity actually has more of an impact on your calories burned then exercise does.

For example: @arditarose vs myself

We are both about 5'4 and I think she's a couple years older than me (not much older)
She just finished a bulk cycle and I think she cut to around 130 before she started that.
She does weight lifting for exercise, but isn't that into cardio.
She maintains at around 1800 and cuts back to 1400-1600 to lose.

I on the other hand am around 121 lbs.
I weight lift 3 days a week and run. Plus I typically get 10k steps (not including my running) from day to day activity on workout days and aim for 12k+ on rest days.
I maintain at around 2300 calories and can lose on her maintenance level.

Our activity levels are vastly different and I'm positive she has more muscle mass than me, but the difference in our activity levels is what makes the biggest difference in how much we can eat.

nutmegoreo · April 2016

wytey wrote: »

@nutmegoreo I know that which is why they ask for your details to tailor your starting calorie requirement I presume, if not, then it should

but it does not explain the need for 4 activity levels with different starting calorie requirements

a 6' guy sat at a desk all day will have the same minimum starting calorie requirement to a 6' guy who is a sale assistant that is on his feet all day walking around the shop floor, only difference is that the sales guy will earn more calories as he will burn more calories from walking around, that is provided he walks around and does some work....

But this is my point, the base calories for the more active guy should be higher, because he's more active. If those 8 hours of walking around were added on using the exercise section of MFP, these added calories are much higher versus counting them as part of the daily activity. If you feel that you have a better way, by all means write your own program. This site is set up with the different activity levels. Alternatively, set it to whatever you like (that's what I've done, because real life results trumps any guess by a computer program).

calorie goal

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