Choosing the correct activity level
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Mfp gives me 1200 cals for sedentary and lightly active. While I wouldn't say I'm active, I've had to set it to that to give me 1430 cals a day... my work outs come through from Fitbit.1
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Is it really true that exercise should not be counted in choosing the "activity level"? I have a pretty sedentary job doing research in front of a computer. So I imagine I need to choose "sedentary". However, I log in about 14-16 hours weekly of pretty intense cycling. On average this is a little over 1400Kcal/day. If I choose to "loose .25kg/week" then MFP gives me about 1730Kcal a day, which on average will allow me to eat 3130Kcal/day. I eat way more than this, quite a bit more than this, in order to keep my current weight. Now I want to embark in loosing about 4 pounds, but this number of 3130Kcal/day that MPF is giving me would have me starving!1
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rosierover90 wrote: »Mfp gives me 1200 cals for sedentary and lightly active. While I wouldn't say I'm active, I've had to set it to that to give me 1430 cals a day... my work outs come through from Fitbit.
My guess is you have chosen a too aggressive loss per week. If MFP is giving you 1200, then you probably need to reduce your weight loss to .5 - 1 lb per week.
What are you stats?1 -
Is it really true that exercise should not be counted in choosing the "activity level"? I have a pretty sedentary job doing research in front of a computer. So I imagine I need to choose "sedentary". However, I log in about 14-16 hours weekly of pretty intense cycling. On average this is a little over 1400Kcal/day. If I choose to "loose .25kg/week" then MFP gives me about 1730Kcal a day, which on average will allow me to eat 3130Kcal/day. I eat way more than this, quite a bit more than this, in order to keep my current weight. Now I want to embark in loosing about 4 pounds, but this number of 3130Kcal/day that MPF is giving me would have me starving!
You've got two choices with MFP:
1) Treat exercise of any kind as something outside of your normal activities of daily living. THink about your daily activities, choose an activity level, and then LOG any exercise as "extra."
or:
2) Treat your cycling as a part of your daily life that you ALWAYS do. INclude it when you think about your activity level (probalby making you moderately to veyr active). If you do that, you do NOT log your exercise in MFP. As far as your MFP account goes, you are just living your life and that is not "exercise," that is "Life."
Both methods work, but you have to pick one.6 -
Is it really true that exercise should not be counted in choosing the "activity level"? I have a pretty sedentary job doing research in front of a computer. So I imagine I need to choose "sedentary". However, I log in about 14-16 hours weekly of pretty intense cycling. On average this is a little over 1400Kcal/day. If I choose to "loose .25kg/week" then MFP gives me about 1730Kcal a day, which on average will allow me to eat 3130Kcal/day. I eat way more than this, quite a bit more than this, in order to keep my current weight. Now I want to embark in loosing about 4 pounds, but this number of 3130Kcal/day that MPF is giving me would have me starving!
If you use MFP as intended (and you don't have to), then yes you would pick sedentary but you would also add in all the cycling you do, which would bring your calories back up to an appropriate level.
If you are consistent in your activity level, you may be better served using the TDEE method. You still use MFP to track your calories, but don't worry about hitting the MFP goals as you will have independent goals.
How much are you eating now? Have you figured that out? If you know your maintenance calories, then just cut back 250 - 500. Mind you, with 4 pounds to lose, that is pretty much "noise" for most.1 -
I track pretty accurately how much I eat every day and I'm averaging atTacklewasher wrote: »If you use MFP as intended (and you don't have to), then yes you would pick sedentary but you would also add in all the cycling you do, which would bring your calories back up to an appropriate level.
If you are consistent in your activity level, you may be better served using the TDEE method. You still use MFP to track your calories, but don't worry about hitting the MFP goals as you will have independent goals.
How much are you eating now? Have you figured that out? If you know your maintenance calories, then just cut back 250 - 500. Mind you, with 4 pounds to lose, that is pretty much "noise" for most.
27350Kcal/week, which is a little over 3900Kcal/day in average. My weight is
stable during the racing season.
Following the first method suggested would have me eating 800Kcal a day less
than what I eat now and I'm not willing to even try this. If I follow another
method suggested above of marking my life as active and NOT logging my
training, then MFP would recommend to eat way less even.
I understand that nutrition is very different on different people, but in this
case it seems to me that the averages that MFP is using are just way off. I will follow your suggestion about cutting back around 300Kcal/day. 4 pounds for me would make quite a difference on climbs, specially if its not on muscle tissue that is lost.1 -
I track pretty accurately how much I eat every day and I'm averaging atTacklewasher wrote: »If you use MFP as intended (and you don't have to), then yes you would pick sedentary but you would also add in all the cycling you do, which would bring your calories back up to an appropriate level.
If you are consistent in your activity level, you may be better served using the TDEE method. You still use MFP to track your calories, but don't worry about hitting the MFP goals as you will have independent goals.
How much are you eating now? Have you figured that out? If you know your maintenance calories, then just cut back 250 - 500. Mind you, with 4 pounds to lose, that is pretty much "noise" for most.
27350Kcal/week, which is a little over 3900Kcal/day in average. My weight is
stable during the racing season.
Following the first method suggested would have me eating 800Kcal a day less
than what I eat now and I'm not willing to even try this. If I follow another
method suggested above of marking my life as active and NOT logging my
training, then MFP would recommend to eat way less even.
I understand that nutrition is very different on different people, but in this
case it seems to me that the averages that MFP is using are just way off. I will follow your suggestion about cutting back around 300Kcal/day. 4 pounds for me would make quite a difference on climbs, specially if its not on muscle tissue that is lost.
I don't do the TDEE method, so can't really describe the ins and outs of it, but it does sound like it's more appropriate for you. You still can track with MPF, you just put in your own calorie requirements instead of having it calculate it for you. Hopefully someone who does this can comment.0 -
I track pretty accurately how much I eat every day and I'm averaging atTacklewasher wrote: »If you use MFP as intended (and you don't have to), then yes you would pick sedentary but you would also add in all the cycling you do, which would bring your calories back up to an appropriate level.
If you are consistent in your activity level, you may be better served using the TDEE method. You still use MFP to track your calories, but don't worry about hitting the MFP goals as you will have independent goals.
How much are you eating now? Have you figured that out? If you know your maintenance calories, then just cut back 250 - 500. Mind you, with 4 pounds to lose, that is pretty much "noise" for most.
27350Kcal/week, which is a little over 3900Kcal/day in average. My weight is
stable during the racing season.
Following the first method suggested would have me eating 800Kcal a day less
than what I eat now and I'm not willing to even try this. If I follow another
method suggested above of marking my life as active and NOT logging my
training, then MFP would recommend to eat way less even.
I understand that nutrition is very different on different people, but in this
case it seems to me that the averages that MFP is using are just way off. I will follow your suggestion about cutting back around 300Kcal/day. 4 pounds for me would make quite a difference on climbs, specially if its not on muscle tissue that is lost.
MFP's recommendations are generally really bad for people who are genuinely very active. They seem tailored to making sure people don't under any circumstances overestimate their activity level (which, I suppose, makes some sense since far more people are sedentary than active these days).
If you have an accurate sense of how many calories you need to maintain your weight, ignore MFP's recommendations and just subtract your desired deficit from that number.1 -
When I started school I thought I was sedentary...But quickly learned I was taking 6000+ steps a day, therefore changing myself to lightly active.3
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I chose lightly active because it described it as being on ones feet for a good part of the day. I'm lucky enough to have a job where I'm on my feet and moderately moving for 7-8 hours minus 15 minutes for break per day, 5 days a week. Otherwise I'm not all that active and I consider myself fairly lazy. Still losing as expected, and I eat all of my calories and even go over my recommended deficit once or twice a week. I even log considerable bouts of cleaning my house as exercise, because I don't do it every single day.2
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Hello guys, I really need help... A week ago I started going to the gym. I go to the gym about 4 times a week, 65 to 80 minutes every time, including pauses and warming. It's more ore less 20 minutes warming, 30 minutes training and after the training again 20 minutes jogging or walking fast. I am 5'4 and (1,62 cm) and 125,7 lbs (57kg). My goal is to have a flat stomach (i don't have a big belly or something, but i want to have a really flat stomach as i said) and stay fit without going any bigger. By the way, only two times a week i exercise my stomach, the other two are more for my legs.
So my question is, should i select: lightly active, active or very active as my activity level?
Please help me
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panoskaza9 wrote: »Hello guys, I really need help... A week ago I started going to the gym. I go to the gym about 4 times a week, 65 to 80 minutes every time, including pauses and warming. It's more ore less 20 minutes warming, 30 minutes training and after the training again 20 minutes jogging or walking fast. I am 5'4 and (1,62 cm) and 125,7 lbs (57kg). My goal is to have a flat stomach (i don't have a big belly or something, but i want to have a really flat stomach as i said) and stay fit without going any bigger. By the way, only two times a week i exercise my stomach, the other two are more for my legs.
So my question is, should i select: lightly active, active or very active as my activity level?
Please help me
your activity level is based on regular activity not exercise so none of what you put here comes into play when choosing.3 -
My FitBit says I burn at lowest 1900 calories a day and at most 2,900. Usually it's in the 2,000-2,200 range. I also did an experiement using a heart rate monitor with a chest strap for a week to compare it also had me in the 2,000-2,200 range. That just seems so high though. I'm 5' 2" Female 142 lbs. I do average 9,000 steps a day but is that really a lot? I just don't feel like I'm that active. I'm currently eating about 1600 cals a day to see if I maintain, gain, or lose on that. I just need to figure out what my maintenance is darn it!0
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SparklyBubblyBabe wrote: »My FitBit says I burn at lowest 1900 calories a day and at most 2,900. Usually it's in the 2,000-2,200 range. I also did an experiement using a heart rate monitor with a chest strap for a week to compare it also had me in the 2,000-2,200 range. That just seems so high though. I'm 5' 2" Female 142 lbs. I do average 9,000 steps a day but is that really a lot? I just don't feel like I'm that active. I'm currently eating about 1600 cals a day to see if I maintain, gain, or lose on that. I just need to figure out what my maintenance is darn it!
maintenance is about finding the sweet spot.
My sister eats about 2200 a day and maintains and she is smaller...but it quite active.
1600 a day seems low but try it and if you continue to lose eat more...or move less...0 -
SparklyBubblyBabe wrote: »My FitBit says I burn at lowest 1900 calories a day and at most 2,900. Usually it's in the 2,000-2,200 range. I also did an experiement using a heart rate monitor with a chest strap for a week to compare it also had me in the 2,000-2,200 range. That just seems so high though. I'm 5' 2" Female 142 lbs. I do average 9,000 steps a day but is that really a lot? I just don't feel like I'm that active. I'm currently eating about 1600 cals a day to see if I maintain, gain, or lose on that. I just need to figure out what my maintenance is darn it!
maintenance is about finding the sweet spot.
My sister eats about 2200 a day and maintains and she is smaller...but it quite active.
1600 a day seems low but try it and if you continue to lose eat more...or move less...
I'm at 1600 per day and I'm 5'8", 238lbs and lightly active to active (12000 steps most days). It doesn't seem so low for someone who is 6" shorter and a 100lb lighter. Providing they are eating back some exercise calories for any workouts or more active days, that's probably a good deficit for steady weight loss for that height/weight.0 -
SparklyBubblyBabe wrote: »My FitBit says I burn at lowest 1900 calories a day and at most 2,900. Usually it's in the 2,000-2,200 range. I also did an experiement using a heart rate monitor with a chest strap for a week to compare it also had me in the 2,000-2,200 range. That just seems so high though. I'm 5' 2" Female 142 lbs. I do average 9,000 steps a day but is that really a lot? I just don't feel like I'm that active. I'm currently eating about 1600 cals a day to see if I maintain, gain, or lose on that. I just need to figure out what my maintenance is darn it!
It only seems high because all the recommendations these days are for people who are totally sedentary and get less than 3,000 steps/day. It seems like the health organizations have given up on trying to get us to move and are instead trying to convince us to hardly eat anything at all.
2,000 calories/day sounds completely reasonable for a woman of almost average height who is only slightly overweight (using BMI definitions). 2,000 calories/day used to be the "eat this to maintain a healthy weight" recommendation back when the health organizations thought they could assume we'd get some daily activity.
For reference, I only weigh 12 pounds more than you and burn over 2,500 calories almost every day without working out. If you move around, you burn calories.4 -
honkytonks85 wrote: »To be fair, weight lifting itself doesn't burn a lot of calories, not enough to justify an active level. . . I wouldn't add any calories in for weight lifting but if you think you should, I'd be adding 200 calories for a session at the most. I prefer to go with sedentary then just add in my cardio calories.
When I lift, I take 30 second rests between sets, 60 seconds between exercises (with the occasional 2 minutes if the next setup takes time) and go steadily at that pace for 50-70 minutes with some stretching afterwards. I am constantly breathing hard and my heart is thumping during these session, so I hesitate to think that is only a 200 calorie outing when an elliptical at a decent clip and resistance claims to be 100 calories in 5-6 minutes. Although I only do dedicated cardio about 1/week, (it is part of my warm up and cool down) my resting pulse is around 58-60, so I am getting some heart and lungs workout somehow and that oxygen utilization does mean I am burning calories, doesn't it?
My real question though is, do I list myself as sedentary and restrict my baseline calorie intake to 1650 a day, and not add in anything for exercising? I am pretty sure I will lose a lot of weight in a hurry that way rather than maintain.
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OrionEridanus wrote: »When I lift, I take 30 second rests between sets, 60 seconds between exercises (with the occasional 2 minutes if the next setup takes time) and go steadily at that pace for 50-70 minutes with some stretching afterwards. I am constantly breathing hard and my heart is thumping during these session, so I hesitate to think that is only a 200 calorie outing when an elliptical at a decent clip and resistance claims to be 100 calories in 5-6 minutes. Although I only do dedicated cardio about 1/week, (it is part of my warm up and cool down) my resting pulse is around 58-60, so I am getting some heart and lungs workout somehow and that oxygen utilization does mean I am burning calories, doesn't it?
My real question though is, do I list myself as sedentary and restrict my baseline calorie intake to 1650 a day, and not add in anything for exercising? I am pretty sure I will lose a lot of weight in a hurry that way rather than maintain.
Contrary to popular belief, weightlifting does burn a significant amount of calories. Whilst not as much as cardio, you would expect to burn anywhere from 4-8 calories per minute weightlifting (compared to 10-12 cardio). Based on your 'office job' in front of a computer, I would list yourself as lightly active and manually log your weightlifting using the 'weightlifting' option under cardio exercise.
The reason I say this is that my BMR is approx 1463 (calculated from 10-12 different variations sourced from various websites/calculations based on 5'5", 143lb female) and when I enter sedentary it tells me to eat 1200 calories per day to lose 1/2lb per week which is ludicrous. When I enter lightly active, I get told to eat 1400 which, although still too low, is better. Eating less than you BMR for an extended period of time is bad and can cause serious health issues, including metabolic rate decreases, fat retention, muscle loss and weight gain.
Based on the information you've given I would expect to see you eating at least 2500 to maintain. Anything less than 2000 per day and you're going to start losing muscle quickly. I think if you put lightly active and enter your weight training using the cardio section as I stated earlier you should get a much more accurate reading.
Try googling BMR calculation and entering your stats and try to cheat MFP to give you a similar number.
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honkytonks85 wrote: »Found this and thought it was actually useful:
When you have to find out how many calories you burn in a day, you put your info in a calculator and it undoubtedly asks for your activity level. So what do you choose? Here are the meaning of the activity levels:
Sedentary
If you’re sedentary, your daily activities include:
Activities of daily living only, such as shopping, cleaning, watering plants, taking out the trash, walking the dog, mowing the lawn and gardening.
No moderate of vigorous activities.
Unless you do at least 30 minutes per day of intentional exercise, you are considered sedentary.
Spending most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)
The majority of people will be considered sedentary.
Lightly Active
If you’re lightly active, your daily activities include:
Activities of daily living only, such as shopping, cleaning, watering plants, taking out the trash, walking the dog, mowing the lawn and gardening.
Daily exercise that is equal to walking for 30 minutes at 4mph. For an adult of average weight, this amount of exercise will burn about 130-160 additional calories.
More intense exercise can be performed for less time to achieve the same goal. For example, 15-20 minutes of vigorous activity, such as aerobics, skiing or jogging on a daily basis would put you in this category.
Spending a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. teacher, salesman)
Active
If you’re active, your daily activities include:
Activities of daily living only, such as shopping, cleaning, watering plants, taking out the trash, walking the dog, mowing the lawn and gardening.
Daily exercise that is equal to walking for 1 hour and 45 minutes at 4mph. For an adult of average weight, this amount of exercise will burn about 470-580 additional calories.
More intense exercise can be performed for less time. For example, jogging for 50 minutes per day.
Spending a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. waitress, mailman)
Very Active
If you’re very active, your daily activities include:
Activities of daily living only, such as shopping, cleaning, watering plants, taking out the trash, walking the dog, mowing the lawn and gardening.
Daily exercise that is equal to walking for 4 hours and 15 minutes at 4mph. For an adult of average weight, this amount of exercise will burn about 1,150-1400 additional calories.
More intense exercise can be performed for less time. For example, jogging for 2 hours minutes per day.
Spending most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)
SOURCE: http://antranik.org/proper-activity-level-for-calorie-intake/
Ok i dont remember what i chose when i set up but i think i need to lower it. how do i do that?0 -
mjtaylor87 wrote: »honkytonks85 wrote: »Found this and thought it was actually useful:
When you have to find out how many calories you burn in a day, you put your info in a calculator and it undoubtedly asks for your activity level. So what do you choose? Here are the meaning of the activity levels:
Sedentary
If you’re sedentary, your daily activities include:
Activities of daily living only, such as shopping, cleaning, watering plants, taking out the trash, walking the dog, mowing the lawn and gardening.
No moderate of vigorous activities.
Unless you do at least 30 minutes per day of intentional exercise, you are considered sedentary.
Spending most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)
The majority of people will be considered sedentary.
Lightly Active
If you’re lightly active, your daily activities include:
Activities of daily living only, such as shopping, cleaning, watering plants, taking out the trash, walking the dog, mowing the lawn and gardening.
Daily exercise that is equal to walking for 30 minutes at 4mph. For an adult of average weight, this amount of exercise will burn about 130-160 additional calories.
More intense exercise can be performed for less time to achieve the same goal. For example, 15-20 minutes of vigorous activity, such as aerobics, skiing or jogging on a daily basis would put you in this category.
Spending a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. teacher, salesman)
Active
If you’re active, your daily activities include:
Activities of daily living only, such as shopping, cleaning, watering plants, taking out the trash, walking the dog, mowing the lawn and gardening.
Daily exercise that is equal to walking for 1 hour and 45 minutes at 4mph. For an adult of average weight, this amount of exercise will burn about 470-580 additional calories.
More intense exercise can be performed for less time. For example, jogging for 50 minutes per day.
Spending a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. waitress, mailman)
Very Active
If you’re very active, your daily activities include:
Activities of daily living only, such as shopping, cleaning, watering plants, taking out the trash, walking the dog, mowing the lawn and gardening.
Daily exercise that is equal to walking for 4 hours and 15 minutes at 4mph. For an adult of average weight, this amount of exercise will burn about 1,150-1400 additional calories.
More intense exercise can be performed for less time. For example, jogging for 2 hours minutes per day.
Spending most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)
SOURCE: http://antranik.org/proper-activity-level-for-calorie-intake/
Ok i dont remember what i chose when i set up but i think i need to lower it. how do i do that?
Change your settings in goals (guided set up)0
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