Don't think I can sustain eating 4500 calories. HELP!?!

hatchmatherson
hatchmatherson Posts: 6 Member
edited November 2024 in Introduce Yourself
Good night everyone, so glad to be a part of this community. I started upswing MFP on Oct 16 and I love at the data. I'm also wearing a Fitbit Charge 2. Like many here my goal is to lose fat. Currently at 33% body fat, 260 lbs. After entering my goals into MFP (2 lbs loss per week), my daily caloric intake was set at around 2500 calories. However, I'm very active and Fitbit puts my calories burned at 2400 per day. So MFP wants me to eat 4500 to lose weight and attain my goal. This is hard to do and really expensive. Should I run a huge deficit and stil with 2500 calories intake per day? Will I still reach my goal this way? Should I cancel my gym membership and put that money toward pea protein shakes?

Any help will be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Hatch

Replies

  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    I would be cautious since activity trackers can be very inaccurate.

    Also, why would you try to fill a bunch of calories with pea protein shakes? That's super filling for low calories. A thick PB&J sandwich or a bowl of ice cream and some pizza would be better options.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    Confused. Does it give you 4500 or 2500?
  • hatchmatherson
    hatchmatherson Posts: 6 Member
    usmcmp wrote: »
    I would be cautious since activity trackers can be very inaccurate.

    Also, why would you try to fill a bunch of calories with pea protein shakes? That's super filling for low calories. A thick PB&J sandwich or a bowl of ice cream and some pizza would be better options.

    Just joking about the pea protein shakes. I will take into account that the tracker may be somewhat inaccurate.
  • hatchmatherson
    hatchmatherson Posts: 6 Member
    lorrpb wrote: »
    Confused. Does it give you 4500 or 2500?

    In the morning it starts with 2500, but after all my working out and activity by breakfast it's moved to 4500 calories. Because my deficits are so large from activity. Is that a little more clear?

  • 35dollars
    35dollars Posts: 832 Member
    edited October 2017
    That's a hell of a lot of calories to burn every day - just to sanity check whether your Fitbit is being 'optimistic', what exercise are you doing to clock up that much?

    One other question - are you setting your activity level as high? You may be effectively double-counting some of your calories by activity level and logging those calories via fitbit
  • Lean59man
    Lean59man Posts: 714 Member
    What activities are you doing to burn 2000 calories by breakfast time?
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,551 Member
    Do you have your MFP activity level set to sedentary? Because that's the only thing that would explain it adding enormous exercise calories like that.
  • Rincewind_1965
    Rincewind_1965 Posts: 639 Member
    Sounds like an incorrectly set "Activity Level" in combination with the use of an "Activity Tracker" to me.

    It's an either/or. Don't combine or you will end up with extremely high values.

    So,
    either set your "Activity Level" as "Sedentary" (even better: manually set your basic calorie-allowance to your (calculated) BMR ) and combine it with the data collected from your Fitbit.

    or

    Set your "Activity Level" to the matching value (according to your own statement that would be "Very Active") and use your Fitbit only to track activities that are outside of your normal daily routine.

    I found it to be easier to use method a), but that's actually a matter of personal preferences.

    I wish you all the best on your way.
  • hatchmatherson
    hatchmatherson Posts: 6 Member
    Lean59man wrote: »
    What activities are you doing to burn 2000 calories by breakfast time?
    A lot of jump rope, sprinting and a military style workout.
  • hatchmatherson
    hatchmatherson Posts: 6 Member
    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    Do you have your MFP activity level set to sedentary? Because that's the only thing that would explain it adding enormous exercise calories like that.
    It was set on Active. This might be the issue. Thanks for asking I forgot I even enter this setting, let alone it's impact on the numbers.
  • hatchmatherson
    hatchmatherson Posts: 6 Member
    Detritus_1965 wrote: »
    Sounds like an incorrectly set "Activity Level" in combination with the use of an "Activity Tracker" to me.

    It's an either/or. Don't combine or you will end up with extremely high values.

    So,
    either set your "Activity Level" as "Sedentary" (even better: manually set your basic calorie-allowance to your (calculated) BMR ) and combine it with the data collected from your Fitbit.

    or

    Set your "Activity Level" to the matching value (according to your own statement that would be "Very Active") and use your Fitbit only to track activities that are outside of your normal daily routine.

    I found it to be easier to use method a), but that's actually a matter of personal preferences.

    I wish you all the best on your way.

    My BMR is 300 calories less than my MFP daily caloric intake of 2410. Stick with 2410 for 2-3 weeks and see what results I get. Thank you for you help. I look forward to being as helpful to others as you all have been to me.
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