Different way of setting up MFP
jdb3388
Posts: 239 Member
Instead of putting in my information and letting MFP do the work, I have mine set up to where my "goal" is BMR, and I have my phone (which never leaves my person) log my steps sync'd in, and then from there I eat at my daily deficit.
Anyone else doing something similar?
Anyone else doing something similar?
2
Replies
-
BY goal do you mean your daily calorie goal? Do you only want to eat to the level of your BMR? For the long term, that's not the best idea as that's the minimum number your body needs just to exist and maintain organ/life function.
Since you were stressed in the other thread about eating at maintenance, why would you suddenly want to eat lower than that?4 -
I set my goal to my maintenance calories and try to stay somewhere below that (ideally 500 below, but I'm flexible with it).1
-
BY goal do you mean your daily calorie goal? Do you only want to eat to the level of your BMR? For the long term, that's not the best idea as that's the minimum number your body needs just to exist and maintain organ/life function.
Since you were stressed in the other thread about eating at maintenance, why would you suddenly want to eat lower than that?
You didn't pay attention to what I said in my other thread and you obviously aren't paying attention in this one either. In my other thread I said that I had no problem eating at a deficit while I am trying to cut weight, but my concern was long term. In this thread I said I have my daily goal set to BMR and my phone tracking my steps and adding in my calories for movement and such, which brings me to a more accurate TDEE, and then, now here's the part you obviously ignored, from there I eat at a deficit.1 -
Personally I would set myself to MFP sedentary, enable negative calories, and eat The calories MFP gives me with the Fitbit synced.
I don't use a Fitbit because the only time I tried one (about 2months) it wanted to work from my BMR and only reached close to my MFP sedentary NEAT after 12000-13000 steps. I would have been severely undernourished.
You can most certainly try it for a couple of weeks and if you are too hungry, bad tempered, or losing too fast, switch to the NEAT +Fitbit method.
How you get your calorie goal is less inportant than having a goal that has you losing at a reasonable rate.
Cheers, h.
Sorry I referred to fitbit ( I use it generically- like Hoover for vacuum cleaner) I tend to have the same problem with most step trackers inc those on phones.
0 -
Instead of putting in my information and letting MFP do the work, I have mine set up to where my "goal" is BMR, and I have my phone (which never leaves my person) log my steps sync'd in, and then from there I eat at my daily deficit.
Anyone else doing something similar?
Nope, I think MFP works great as designed.
What's the problem you're trying to solve?3 -
I saw bits and pieces of the last thread you started, so please forgive me if I miss something. I am not sure how to search for threads and when I click your name it asks me if I want to send you a message. I am not sure how to see your posts/threads.
I do remember reading that you put in what you normally ate and it was 4,500 calories. I wanted to tell you that I am not surprised 1,800 seems so unsustainable long term! I also think the fact you where honest with yourself and put in what you where truly eating is a really positive attribute.
What I wanted to post in the last thread was you don't have to eat 1,800 calories to lose or maintain weight. If you eat less then that 4,500, you will lose weight. If you eat 4,000 calories a day you will lose weight. If you eat 3,500 you will lose weight quicker.
I think the way you have it set up makes more sense to me. I am sure there are lots of people who eat 1,200 calories a day for weight loss then 1,800 for maintenance. Personally that doesn't make any sense to me. Eat for the way you want to be, all the time. It might take longer to hit your goal weight but once you do, you don't change anything and you maintain.
I have my calories set up similar. I calculated the calories I would need to eat for the weight I want to be and that is what I try to eat. I haven't hit that weight yet but that has more to do with the fact I go over. I have lost from my starting, though.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »Instead of putting in my information and letting MFP do the work, I have mine set up to where my "goal" is BMR, and I have my phone (which never leaves my person) log my steps sync'd in, and then from there I eat at my daily deficit.
Anyone else doing something similar?
Nope, I think MFP works great as designed.
What's the problem you're trying to solve?
Primarily the ambiguity in the choices of activity level.0 -
Instead of putting in my information and letting MFP do the work, I have mine set up to where my "goal" is BMR, and I have my phone (which never leaves my person) log my steps sync'd in, and then from there I eat at my daily deficit.
Anyone else doing something similar?
I have been doing this as well since about January and it works really well for me. I've lost about 20 lbs using this method and have since maintained using this same method for about 2 months or so. I'm about to start cutting again and I'll be using the same method. It definitely gives you a pretty accurate idea of your daily TDEE rather than an average of your weekly activity.
I highly recommend getting some sort of tracker (like a fitbit) and linking it with your MFP. Keeping my phone in my pocket at all times was never easy and I'd lose thousands of steps a day just by leaving it on my desk at work or laying around the house.
Good Luck!0 -
In this thread I said I have my daily goal set to BMR and my phone tracking my steps and adding in my calories for movement and such, which brings me to a more accurate TDEE, and then, now here's the part you obviously ignored, from there I eat at a deficit.
People with Fitbits do this every day. They set their activity level to sedentary which makes their calorie goal the same as their BMR. Then they let fitbit track their daily burn based on steps.
I tried it that way for a while. It didn't work for me. But if it works for you that's cool.
1 -
I'm doing something similar as well. It works out great and I love that I can trust the accuracy. MFP alone left me with some questionable and unaccounted for calories at the end of my day.2
-
shadowfax_c11 wrote: »In this thread I said I have my daily goal set to BMR and my phone tracking my steps and adding in my calories for movement and such, which brings me to a more accurate TDEE, and then, now here's the part you obviously ignored, from there I eat at a deficit.
People with Fitbits do this every day. They set their activity level to sedentary which makes their calorie goal the same as their BMR. Then they let fitbit track their daily burn based on steps.
I tried it that way for a while. It didn't work for me. But if it works for you that's cool.
Sedentary>BMR on MFP. That might have been your mistake.0 -
Substitute BMR with TDEE and I think thats a pretty good plan. Not sure however why you would pick to have a deficit off of your BMR.1
-
kshama2001 wrote: »Instead of putting in my information and letting MFP do the work, I have mine set up to where my "goal" is BMR, and I have my phone (which never leaves my person) log my steps sync'd in, and then from there I eat at my daily deficit.
Anyone else doing something similar?
Nope, I think MFP works great as designed.
What's the problem you're trying to solve?
Primarily the ambiguity in the choices of activity level.
For real! Even set to active on MFP my fit bit gives me some incredible exercise calories. With just under 14k steps today, fitbit currently is giving me 700+ exercise calories. Dafaq? It'll take some away by bedtime as I'm fully in slug mode now. But for real? I feel like I need my head examined trying to wrap my mind around these two apps together.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »Instead of putting in my information and letting MFP do the work, I have mine set up to where my "goal" is BMR, and I have my phone (which never leaves my person) log my steps sync'd in, and then from there I eat at my daily deficit.
Anyone else doing something similar?
Nope, I think MFP works great as designed.
What's the problem you're trying to solve?
Primarily the ambiguity in the choices of activity level.
2500 steps per activity level. It's not ambiguous. 2500 steps for sedentary then it increases by 2500 each level up.
Purposeful exercise is extra.
MFP uses NEAT, which is higher than BMR. BMR + your steps and activity is lower than your overall TDEE. You're making this way more complicated than it is in reality.0 -
OP is still angry...and still confused.
It's okay, it is all going to be okay. He has a lot of weight to lose, and lots of time to make lots of mistakes. That's how we all learn.
@jdb3388, how did you arrive at this BMR number?0 -
@Aaron_K123 is right..
IT should be BMR + other variables. You should not create a deficit off BMR and exercise alone.
Most may not know that you burn calories with all following variables:
- BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate): The number of calories you burn at complete rest.
- TEF/DIT (Thermic Effect of Feeding or Diet Induced Thermogenesis): Caloric expense of eating/digestion.
- NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis): Caloric requirements of activity that is not planned exercise. Vacuuming, driving, brushing your teeth, for example.
- EAT (Exercise Associated Thermogenesis): Caloric requirements of training, or training expenditure.
TDEE: (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) = Sum of the above. BMR+EAT+NEAT+TEF
1 -
VintageFeline wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »Instead of putting in my information and letting MFP do the work, I have mine set up to where my "goal" is BMR, and I have my phone (which never leaves my person) log my steps sync'd in, and then from there I eat at my daily deficit.
Anyone else doing something similar?
Nope, I think MFP works great as designed.
What's the problem you're trying to solve?
Primarily the ambiguity in the choices of activity level.
2500 steps per activity level. It's not ambiguous. 2500 steps for sedentary then it increases by 2500 each level up.
Purposeful exercise is extra.
MFP uses NEAT, which is higher than BMR. BMR + your steps and activity is lower than your overall TDEE. You're making this way more complicated than it is in reality.
Does it say that somewhere?0 -
VintageFeline wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »Instead of putting in my information and letting MFP do the work, I have mine set up to where my "goal" is BMR, and I have my phone (which never leaves my person) log my steps sync'd in, and then from there I eat at my daily deficit.
Anyone else doing something similar?
Nope, I think MFP works great as designed.
What's the problem you're trying to solve?
Primarily the ambiguity in the choices of activity level.
2500 steps per activity level. It's not ambiguous. 2500 steps for sedentary then it increases by 2500 each level up.
Purposeful exercise is extra.
MFP uses NEAT, which is higher than BMR. BMR + your steps and activity is lower than your overall TDEE. You're making this way more complicated than it is in reality.
Does it say that somewhere?
I think when you're set at sedentary you start getting positive adjustments at 2500+ steps, lightly active after 5000+ steps..
There's this site which shows different numbers to the above.
http://www.fitnessforweightloss.com/rate-your-activity-level-based-on-steps-per-day/2 -
Oh. I don't have a fit it so the settings actually are ambiguous to me. That's why I leave it at sedentary and add all my activity separately.0
-
@Christine_72 Thanks for that link! I've never seen it broken down that way before. Very helpful!1
-
Curious how you calculated your BMR. Various calculators can be off and doctors offices are only capable of calculating RMR, which isn't the same thing. Also, exact number for your goal aren't going to matter if you aren't accurate with food logging, and no matter how tight you try to log those numbers will likely be off as well.
All the numbers going in and coming out are essentially best guesses and often ambiguous.2 -
I found the app on phone chewed up my battery.
If you like data, get a Fitbit. It's accurate enough for most.0 -
I've set myself to sedentary maintenance calories, and try and create a deficit from exercise and/or not eating all of the maintenance calories. This way those extra calories are there if i need them and i wont go in the red if i overshoot my deficit calories.
I've set myself to lightly active a few times, but always end up changing it back down to sedentary after a week or so... I have my fitbit synced to mfp.0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.6K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.3K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.5K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 431 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.6K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.8K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions