Do you count your calorie as a Sedentary person when losing weight?
unnichaacko
Posts: 116 Member
Ok so, I was confused how to ask it in one sentence discussion title question.
So here goes, when you are trying to lose weight, naturally you will cut calories and work out four to six times a week. So while logging in MFP, do you count your estimated calories in sedentary level and then add your workout calories? Or you log yourself as moderately active and then cut calories from that total amount?
Because if you put sedentary, and you are working out, I figured it gives a very low amount and then that you are eating that low amount in addition to working out. Isn't that really harmful for your body to eat such low calories?
So here goes, when you are trying to lose weight, naturally you will cut calories and work out four to six times a week. So while logging in MFP, do you count your estimated calories in sedentary level and then add your workout calories? Or you log yourself as moderately active and then cut calories from that total amount?
Because if you put sedentary, and you are working out, I figured it gives a very low amount and then that you are eating that low amount in addition to working out. Isn't that really harmful for your body to eat such low calories?
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Replies
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unnichaacko wrote: »Ok so, I was confused how to ask it in one sentence discussion title question.
So here goes, when you are trying to lose weight, naturally you will cut calories and workout four to six times a week. So while logging in MFP, do you count your estimated calories in sedentary level and then add your workout calories? Or you put yourself moderately active and then cut calories from that.
Because if you put sedentary, even when you are working out, I figured it gives a very low amount and then that you are eating that amount in addition to working out. Isn't that really harmful for your body to eat such a low calories?
I would say it depends on your preference. Including activity level in your factor is essentially the TDEE method. If you follow the MFP method, then you would eat back exercise calories (should be about the same as the TDEE method). In the end, do you prefer to add calorie or aim for the same amount of calories daily. I prefer the TDEE method since you aren't guessing how many calories you burn.
Also, if you don't want a low number, don't aim for 2lbs a week. Aim for 1.4 -
I put sedentary just because without my workouts I'm usually sitting on my tush the whole day
I'm not sure how much of a difference the two options makes in calorie amounts...I'm given 1200 calories a day and am able to eat about 1400 with my workouts. For my age and height I think that's a reasonable amount, and sometimes it feels like too much because I'm so full. I'd say just do whatever feels best to you intuitively. What's harmfully low for some people may be the perfect amount for others. 2 -
I can't answer for everyone but I am naturally sedentary (less than 5,000 steps a day) so I set mfp to that. Then I log my exercise on top of that. I feel it is more accurate but just my personal preference. And that way I know the proper amount to eat on days I am not working out.3
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If you're putting yourself as sedentary and you workout...well, you're not sedentary any more are you? With MFP you account for that by logging the exercise and getting additional calories because your exercise was not accounted for in your activity level.
Some people also just include exercise in their activity level..so they might put light active or moderately active depending on what exercise they do...and then they would just eat those calories...they wouldn't need to cut from that number because MFP, regardless of activity level is giving you a cut from an estimated maintenance number of calories.2 -
If you set it to sedentary, you should be sure to log ALL your exercise (including walking, cleaning etc) and then eat back half the calories from exercise for a month or so and then based on your rate of loss, adjust your calories appropriately.
I found it easier to keep it on sedentary because my exercise is sporadic.1 -
I put lightly active and then do better. I don't eat back my calories for the most part. I have used a bit of them when I am a tad over.
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Mfp is designed for you to be able to lose weight without any exercise. So it figures your activity level based on your job or daily activities, not on intentional exercise. Then it gives you a goal based on that. Your goal includes your deficit so if you eat that goal then you can lose weight even if you are unable to exercise. If you do exercise then you log that into mfp (or you can sync a fitbit) and then you will get additional calories that you are supposed to eat back. If your goal without exercise includes a 500 calorie deficit and then you burn 400 calories you now have a 900 calorie deficit. That is probably too much so you don't want to do that. Some people find that the calorie burn estimates are high so a good rule of thumb is to start out eating back 50% of the exercise calories. After about 4 weeks reevaluate. If you are losing faster than you expect then you should eat back more of your exercise calories. If you are losing slower than you expect then you should eat less of the exercise calories. When setting up your activity level you just base that on your job or daily activity and not on exercise. So if you have a desk job you are most likely sedentary if you work construction then you are probably active.7
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In my case, I am a pretty small person to begin with, 5', and weight hovers around 105-108. And being an animator I usually work 10/12 hours a day which should consider as sedentary I know but I always remember to get up from my chair every 45 minutes to do 5-10 push-ups/1 minute plank and some 2 minutes walk. I also am training for semi-professional ultimate which is four hours a week, in addition to that, I play soccer once a week, do manage to do two HIIT cardio a week and a very recent attempt of lifting 3 times a week. Now I accounted myself as sedentary and the amount that it gave me was so low, I don't think I ate that low even in my early teen. Even then, i followed it for five days and I feel my back is dying due to low amount of calories because I have been told there's nothing called over exercising but there's under eating. I think I am under eating at 1600/1700 calories. But my friend thinks, considering my height and weight, its the right amount of calories, if not more. So here I am, very confused.0
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unnichaacko wrote: »Ok so, I was confused how to ask it in one sentence discussion title question.
So here goes, when you are trying to lose weight, naturally you will cut calories and work out four to six times a week. So while logging in MFP, do you count your estimated calories in sedentary level and then add your workout calories? Or you log yourself as moderately active and then cut calories from that total amount?
Because if you put sedentary, and you are working out, I figured it gives a very low amount and then that you are eating that low amount in addition to working out. Isn't that really harmful for your body to eat such low calories?
I set myself to sedentary and add my workout calories when I work out and then eat most of them back. I COULD put "lightly active", but then I would have to consistently be lightly active. Some days I don't go to the gym. It just feels safer this way.2 -
I do exactly that: Selected sedentary and then log my workouts on top of that. So far it's working well. I imagine at some point I'll need to make adjustments but as long as my weight is trending downward in my Saturday morning weigh-ins I'm staying the course.1
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They are all estimates in the end. I say eat 1600-1700 calories daily, track for 4-6 weeks and adjust from there.2
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I listed sedentary, have a low caloric target, my only daily exercise is usually walking the dog, and I aim to eat about half of my exercise calories back. Seems to be working well for me.1
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Personally I have myself set as sedentary no matter what (I'm maintaining) and just have my fitbit adjustment flicked on to determine where my calories theoretically should be based on my 15k+ steps of activity per day1
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If you set it to sedentary, you should be sure to log ALL your exercise (including walking, cleaning etc) and then eat back half the calories from exercise for a month or so and then based on your rate of loss, adjust your calories appropriately.
I found it easier to keep it on sedentary because my exercise is sporadic.
cleaning should not be added as an exercise unless you rarely do it. if its something you do in your daily chores then it should be included with your activity level,same with cooking,food prep,etc1 -
unnichaacko wrote: »In my case, I am a pretty small person to begin with, 5', and weight hovers around 105-108. And being an animator I usually work 10/12 hours a day which should consider as sedentary I know but I always remember to get up from my chair every 45 minutes to do 5-10 push-ups/1 minute plank and some 2 minutes walk. I also am training for semi-professional ultimate which is four hours a week, in addition to that, I play soccer once a week, do manage to do two HIIT cardio a week and a very recent attempt of lifting 3 times a week. Now I accounted myself as sedentary and the amount that it gave me was so low, I don't think I ate that low even in my early teen. Even then, i followed it for five days and I feel my back is dying due to low amount of calories because I have been told there's nothing called over exercising but there's under eating. I think I am under eating at 1600/1700 calories. But my friend thinks, considering my height and weight, its the right amount of calories, if not more. So here I am, very confused.
Are you logging all your exercise? What did you set your goal at? For only losing a little bit it should be set at half a pound per week, otherwise you'll risk losing muscle instead of fat.1 -
CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »If you set it to sedentary, you should be sure to log ALL your exercise (including walking, cleaning etc) and then eat back half the calories from exercise for a month or so and then based on your rate of loss, adjust your calories appropriately.
I found it easier to keep it on sedentary because my exercise is sporadic.
cleaning should not be added as an exercise unless you rarely do it. if its something you do in your daily chores then it should be included with your activity level,same with cooking,food prep,etc
If you put in sedentary, it's not counting it. My point was that because I do a lot of cleaning on one day (like hours) and none the next...it makes more sense to keep it on sedentary and count all activity.0 -
I did not set my activity level to sedentary because I am not sedentary. I do not sit down from 10 am until 6 pm when we eat dinner. I added calories for purposeful exercise.0
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It's really personal preference. For about half my weight loss and at maintenance I preferred estimating my exercise for the week and subtracting for that, as I didn't like eating so little on rest days and my hunger didn't seem to vary that much. I'm currently trying to get motivated to lose a bit more and I'm debating whether to keep that plan or go back to the MFP add back exercise. Even if I did that I'd probably go with lightly active, though, since I am without intentional exercise.1
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unnichaacko wrote: »In my case, I am a pretty small person to begin with, 5', and weight hovers around 105-108. And being an animator I usually work 10/12 hours a day which should consider as sedentary I know but I always remember to get up from my chair every 45 minutes to do 5-10 push-ups/1 minute plank and some 2 minutes walk. I also am training for semi-professional ultimate which is four hours a week, in addition to that, I play soccer once a week, do manage to do two HIIT cardio a week and a very recent attempt of lifting 3 times a week. Now I accounted myself as sedentary and the amount that it gave me was so low, I don't think I ate that low even in my early teen. Even then, i followed it for five days and I feel my back is dying due to low amount of calories because I have been told there's nothing called over exercising but there's under eating. I think I am under eating at 1600/1700 calories. But my friend thinks, considering my height and weight, its the right amount of calories, if not more. So here I am, very confused.
Are you logging all your exercise? What did you set your goal at? For only losing a little bit it should be set at half a pound per week, otherwise you'll risk losing muscle instead of fat.
This is where I mixed up. I did add my exercise/activity (soccer/training) calories but I did not eat those up. I ate the amount it recommended which was 1580, so I ate about 1600 every day where I think most days after adding my activity I had about 2100/2300 calories, 3000 calories on a day even.0 -
unnichaacko wrote: »unnichaacko wrote: »In my case, I am a pretty small person to begin with, 5', and weight hovers around 105-108. And being an animator I usually work 10/12 hours a day which should consider as sedentary I know but I always remember to get up from my chair every 45 minutes to do 5-10 push-ups/1 minute plank and some 2 minutes walk. I also am training for semi-professional ultimate which is four hours a week, in addition to that, I play soccer once a week, do manage to do two HIIT cardio a week and a very recent attempt of lifting 3 times a week. Now I accounted myself as sedentary and the amount that it gave me was so low, I don't think I ate that low even in my early teen. Even then, i followed it for five days and I feel my back is dying due to low amount of calories because I have been told there's nothing called over exercising but there's under eating. I think I am under eating at 1600/1700 calories. But my friend thinks, considering my height and weight, its the right amount of calories, if not more. So here I am, very confused.
Are you logging all your exercise? What did you set your goal at? For only losing a little bit it should be set at half a pound per week, otherwise you'll risk losing muscle instead of fat.
This is where I mixed up. I did add my exercise/activity (soccer/training) calories but I did not eat those up. I ate the amount it recommended which was 1580, so I ate about 1600 every day where I think most days after adding my activity I had about 2100/2300 calories, 3000 calories on a day even.
Keep in mind that exercise calories can be vastly off for some.0 -
The intent of MFP is to enter your lifestyle without exercise, get baseline calorie goal, then log your exercise in addition. Most people eat back no more than half of their exercise cals.2
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unnichaacko wrote: »unnichaacko wrote: »In my case, I am a pretty small person to begin with, 5', and weight hovers around 105-108. And being an animator I usually work 10/12 hours a day which should consider as sedentary I know but I always remember to get up from my chair every 45 minutes to do 5-10 push-ups/1 minute plank and some 2 minutes walk. I also am training for semi-professional ultimate which is four hours a week, in addition to that, I play soccer once a week, do manage to do two HIIT cardio a week and a very recent attempt of lifting 3 times a week. Now I accounted myself as sedentary and the amount that it gave me was so low, I don't think I ate that low even in my early teen. Even then, i followed it for five days and I feel my back is dying due to low amount of calories because I have been told there's nothing called over exercising but there's under eating. I think I am under eating at 1600/1700 calories. But my friend thinks, considering my height and weight, its the right amount of calories, if not more. So here I am, very confused.
Are you logging all your exercise? What did you set your goal at? For only losing a little bit it should be set at half a pound per week, otherwise you'll risk losing muscle instead of fat.
This is where I mixed up. I did add my exercise/activity (soccer/training) calories but I did not eat those up. I ate the amount it recommended which was 1580, so I ate about 1600 every day where I think most days after adding my activity I had about 2100/2300 calories, 3000 calories on a day even.
Keep in mind that exercise calories can be vastly off for some.unnichaacko wrote: »unnichaacko wrote: »In my case, I am a pretty small person to begin with, 5', and weight hovers around 105-108. And being an animator I usually work 10/12 hours a day which should consider as sedentary I know but I always remember to get up from my chair every 45 minutes to do 5-10 push-ups/1 minute plank and some 2 minutes walk. I also am training for semi-professional ultimate which is four hours a week, in addition to that, I play soccer once a week, do manage to do two HIIT cardio a week and a very recent attempt of lifting 3 times a week. Now I accounted myself as sedentary and the amount that it gave me was so low, I don't think I ate that low even in my early teen. Even then, i followed it for five days and I feel my back is dying due to low amount of calories because I have been told there's nothing called over exercising but there's under eating. I think I am under eating at 1600/1700 calories. But my friend thinks, considering my height and weight, its the right amount of calories, if not more. So here I am, very confused.
Are you logging all your exercise? What did you set your goal at? For only losing a little bit it should be set at half a pound per week, otherwise you'll risk losing muscle instead of fat.
This is where I mixed up. I did add my exercise/activity (soccer/training) calories but I did not eat those up. I ate the amount it recommended which was 1580, so I ate about 1600 every day where I think most days after adding my activity I had about 2100/2300 calories, 3000 calories on a day even.
Keep in mind that exercise calories can be vastly off for some.
My exercise calorie was pretty low. 250/280- ish but activity calories such as soccer game one, training for ultimate, swimming, all these were pretty high. I think I will eat about 2000 calories for three to four weeks to see what happens. Trial and error, that's about it now.2 -
unnichaacko wrote: »unnichaacko wrote: »In my case, I am a pretty small person to begin with, 5', and weight hovers around 105-108. And being an animator I usually work 10/12 hours a day which should consider as sedentary I know but I always remember to get up from my chair every 45 minutes to do 5-10 push-ups/1 minute plank and some 2 minutes walk. I also am training for semi-professional ultimate which is four hours a week, in addition to that, I play soccer once a week, do manage to do two HIIT cardio a week and a very recent attempt of lifting 3 times a week. Now I accounted myself as sedentary and the amount that it gave me was so low, I don't think I ate that low even in my early teen. Even then, i followed it for five days and I feel my back is dying due to low amount of calories because I have been told there's nothing called over exercising but there's under eating. I think I am under eating at 1600/1700 calories. But my friend thinks, considering my height and weight, its the right amount of calories, if not more. So here I am, very confused.
Are you logging all your exercise? What did you set your goal at? For only losing a little bit it should be set at half a pound per week, otherwise you'll risk losing muscle instead of fat.
This is where I mixed up. I did add my exercise/activity (soccer/training) calories but I did not eat those up. I ate the amount it recommended which was 1580, so I ate about 1600 every day where I think most days after adding my activity I had about 2100/2300 calories, 3000 calories on a day even.
So...I would set it to sedentary, log ALL your activity (including all your little 5 minute workouts etc) and eat back HALFto 75% of the extra workout calories...it's more accurate than trying to guess your activity level.
Then after a month, see how fast the weight has come off and adjust accordingly.1 -
The calories that mfp sets are just one calculation. I personally had a big problem with undereating by following mfp. I did the TDEE method (fat2fitradio is a good calculator). But, even with that I need to eat in the athlete range of 2000 to 2300 calories a day to maintain my weight. Whether I exercise or not. I'm 5'2", 102 pounds, in my late 30's. So, it's not necessarily true that petite, low weight people need to eat less. Just something to keep in mind if you feel underfed. If I want to lose weight (I don't) I would eat 1800 to 1900.2
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unnichaacko wrote: »unnichaacko wrote: »In my case, I am a pretty small person to begin with, 5', and weight hovers around 105-108. And being an animator I usually work 10/12 hours a day which should consider as sedentary I know but I always remember to get up from my chair every 45 minutes to do 5-10 push-ups/1 minute plank and some 2 minutes walk. I also am training for semi-professional ultimate which is four hours a week, in addition to that, I play soccer once a week, do manage to do two HIIT cardio a week and a very recent attempt of lifting 3 times a week. Now I accounted myself as sedentary and the amount that it gave me was so low, I don't think I ate that low even in my early teen. Even then, i followed it for five days and I feel my back is dying due to low amount of calories because I have been told there's nothing called over exercising but there's under eating. I think I am under eating at 1600/1700 calories. But my friend thinks, considering my height and weight, its the right amount of calories, if not more. So here I am, very confused.
Are you logging all your exercise? What did you set your goal at? For only losing a little bit it should be set at half a pound per week, otherwise you'll risk losing muscle instead of fat.
This is where I mixed up. I did add my exercise/activity (soccer/training) calories but I did not eat those up. I ate the amount it recommended which was 1580, so I ate about 1600 every day where I think most days after adding my activity I had about 2100/2300 calories, 3000 calories on a day even.
Did you lose weight when you did this? If you lost more than you expected, then definitely add some calories back in. However, if you lost less than expected, then you are either underestimating your calories in, overestimating your calories out, or some combination of the two.2 -
I don't, but that's because I don't have a sedentary job (retail worker). I'm set to lightly active and then I eat back most of the calories my Fitbit gives me.0
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With mfp, you put in your normal activity level without exercise. You are given a calorie goal that will allow you to lose weight without any exercise. Then you log any exercise you do and eat those calories... a lot of people just eat half to compensate for overestimation of calorie burns.
If you are on your feet moving all day then you are not sedentary. Sedentary is usually someone taking 5,000 or less steps a day.
I would not count normal daily house cleaning as exercise. I wore a pedometer for months and even with cleaning and stuff I had to purposefully walk at least 30 minutes in.addition to normal activity to get over 5,000 steps.2 -
CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »If you set it to sedentary, you should be sure to log ALL your exercise (including walking, cleaning etc) and then eat back half the calories from exercise for a month or so and then based on your rate of loss, adjust your calories appropriately.
I found it easier to keep it on sedentary because my exercise is sporadic.
cleaning should not be added as an exercise unless you rarely do it. if its something you do in your daily chores then it should be included with your activity level,same with cooking,food prep,etc
If you put in sedentary, it's not counting it. My point was that because I do a lot of cleaning on one day (like hours) and none the next...it makes more sense to keep it on sedentary and count all activity.
yes but its going to vastly overestimate how much you burn so why count it at all? I can see logging things like when you go to the gym,running,swimming,jogging,etc. I have seen people logging food prep,cleaning,etc and have very high burns for such a short time.Then they later wonder why they arent losing because they are eating most of those calories back.I dont count things like that because its part of my daily activity for the most part.3 -
CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »If you set it to sedentary, you should be sure to log ALL your exercise (including walking, cleaning etc) and then eat back half the calories from exercise for a month or so and then based on your rate of loss, adjust your calories appropriately.
I found it easier to keep it on sedentary because my exercise is sporadic.
cleaning should not be added as an exercise unless you rarely do it. if its something you do in your daily chores then it should be included with your activity level,same with cooking,food prep,etc
If you put in sedentary, it's not counting it. My point was that because I do a lot of cleaning on one day (like hours) and none the next...it makes more sense to keep it on sedentary and count all activity.
"Sedentary" does include *some* activity, which could include cleaning, during the day. It doesn't assume that you are bedridden. Of course, if you're cleaning for hours in a day, that goes beyond regularly daily activity and you should consider that if you're doing it regularly (but if you're cleaning for hours at a time regularly, then I would question whether "sedentary" is the best activity level choice for you).0 -
CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »If you set it to sedentary, you should be sure to log ALL your exercise (including walking, cleaning etc) and then eat back half the calories from exercise for a month or so and then based on your rate of loss, adjust your calories appropriately.
I found it easier to keep it on sedentary because my exercise is sporadic.
cleaning should not be added as an exercise unless you rarely do it. if its something you do in your daily chores then it should be included with your activity level,same with cooking,food prep,etc
If you put in sedentary, it's not counting it. My point was that because I do a lot of cleaning on one day (like hours) and none the next...it makes more sense to keep it on sedentary and count all activity.
yes but its going to vastly overestimate how much you burn so why count it at all? I can see logging things like when you go to the gym,running,swimming,jogging,etc. I have seen people logging food prep,cleaning,etc and have very high burns for such a short time.Then they later wonder why they arent losing because they are eating most of those calories back.I dont count things like that because its part of my daily activity for the most part.
Well...you can't stop people from choosing a ridiculous burn rate from the database. Not all options are unrealistic, and I did say to start out eating half the calories back for a month and adjust accordingly.1
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