Calorie comparison!

24

Replies

  • LauraSrock18
    LauraSrock18 Posts: 125 Member
    aeloine wrote: »
    TL;DR from above:

    1. You're cutting corners on logging some things (bread, fruit, prepackaged items);

    2. You should set yourself to sedentary because while the steps are a great start, conscious exercise is not your "lifestyle," it's additional exercise and should be logged as such;

    3. Set a reasonable weight loss goal of 0.5-1 lbs/week so that it's sustainable and reevaluate as needed.

    Good luck!!


    Thank you for the input! I really appreciate it! So I’ve always been afraid to eat exercise calories. So if I set myself to sedentary and earn exercise calories do most people eat those calories back or only some?
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited November 2017
    aeloine wrote: »
    TL;DR from above:

    You're cutting corners on logging some things (bread, fruit, prepackaged items);
    You should set yourself to sedentary because while the steps are a great start, conscious exercise is not your "lifestyle," it's additional exercise and should be logged as such;
    Set a reasonable weight loss goal of 0.5-1 lbs/week so that it's sustainable and reevaluate as needed.

    I backed off (edited my post) on the logging efforts I saw. Many improvements needed on the logging. I also saw days way over budgeted calories as well. Surely these effect calorie deficit at the end of the week?
  • cathipa
    cathipa Posts: 2,992 Member
    If you aren't losing and have been hovering around the same weight for a month then you are consuming maintenance calories. I would change your status from active to sedentary and if you are eating back your exercise calories consider eating back only 1/4-1/2.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Sedentary recommendation with 10-15K steps before exercise!

    OP - that's crazy - that's not Sedentary by any means.

    Lightly-Active at the least since it's smaller steps and not any lifting/carrying of things.

    But if you have kids or pets and the additional household activities that go along with it - just solidifies that fact of NOT sedentary per MFP's use of it.

    Now - are you getting the steps from an activity tracker that is syncing with MFP?

    It could likely be improved - because if it's stride length is set not-best - you'll be getting inflated calorie burn from it syncing over to MFP.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    I disagree with lowering your activity level. You said you are a hair dresser who is on her feet all day? That is NOT sedentary. It's also fine to eat more on weekends and go by your weekly average. I'd just recommend not paying much attention to Monday's weight as it will be high due to salt and undigested food.

    I think logging is the issue.

    Also remember when you eat out, restaurants calorie counts can be really off. No one in the kitchen is exactly measuring things. You don't have to stop eating out, but just be aware and maybe add a 100 calories extra.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,907 Member
    ...and if you're using some activity tracking device you are getting "credit" for all those arm swings you do as a hairdresser. I would not use an activity tracker with your job.

    Just tighten up your logging, set your Activity to the closest to the Myfitnesspal description in the Goals wizard. Keep good records. Stop the cheat days. Log purposeful exercise and eat that amount.

    Set your loss for "1/2 pound per week."

    Keep track for a month to six weeks. Adjust as needed after that.
  • jessicapk
    jessicapk Posts: 574 Member
    aeloine wrote: »
    aeloine wrote: »
    It depends on what's sustainable to you.

    I'm surprised that you're getting such high calories, though. Are you putting yourself as sedentary or active?

    I’ve put myself as active! I usually get 10,000-15,000 steps a day as well as working out!

    So are you including your exercise in your activity level AND eating your exercise calories on top of it? Is that what I'm reading?? So you're basically double eating the exercise calories? If that is the case - you should either 1) not eat back the exercise calories or 2) drop your activity level to not include exercise (which is how MFP was designed) and add exercise calories separate.

    I personally wouldn't consider 10,000 steps to be very active but that's just me - I'm pretty darn sedentary and I can manage 10,000 with little effort. I agree with the above, if you're not losing on 1700 you're definitely not going to lose by eating more.

    ALL OF THIS and also the bolded. 10,000 Is me grocery shopping and making TWO trips to my car instead of one, and maybe taking a 30 minute walk.

    10000 steps from going to the grocery store and a 30 minute walk?!? Even if you do 2 miles in a half hour (4mph avg, a decent walk for a person of average height), that still leaves at least 2 more miles of grocery shopping. Unless you have an amazingly huge store, you might need to make a list next time! Or park closer to your home when you take the groceries in!

    I do this regularly on the weekends and a half hour walk for my short legs is no more than about 3000 steps. With a list at the grocery store, parking halfway back in the parking lot, and making 3-4 trips to take it in the house, I still typically get no more than 1000 extra steps.

    I think the OP needs to try out daily weigh in's for a bit and get a better idea of a trending weight. The diary actually looks really good and OP says she is weighing foods. It sounds like your BMR might be a bit lower than average or you could possibly be eating too much in between logged meals or on no log days. Like another poster said, it's easy to wipe out a week's deficit in one day! I would try daily weigh in's, use a trending app or website, and adjust calorie intake. Eat back some of your exercise calories but no more than half. No extra unlogged calories, either! Do this for about 2 weeks and you'll get a better idea of what your weight is trying to do. If you do weekly weigh in's or even monthly, when you're that close to goal, normal fluctuations can easily mask any loss.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    ^^^ - good idea, just tuck the watch band version in hip belt or such, probably don't need it on wrist anyway.
  • aeloine
    aeloine Posts: 2,163 Member
    edited November 2017
    maybe1pe wrote: »
    aeloine wrote: »
    aeloine wrote: »
    It depends on what's sustainable to you.

    I'm surprised that you're getting such high calories, though. Are you putting yourself as sedentary or active?

    I’ve put myself as active! I usually get 10,000-15,000 steps a day as well as working out!

    So are you including your exercise in your activity level AND eating your exercise calories on top of it? Is that what I'm reading?? So you're basically double eating the exercise calories? If that is the case - you should either 1) not eat back the exercise calories or 2) drop your activity level to not include exercise (which is how MFP was designed) and add exercise calories separate.

    I personally wouldn't consider 10,000 steps to be very active but that's just me - I'm pretty darn sedentary and I can manage 10,000 with little effort. I agree with the above, if you're not losing on 1700 you're definitely not going to lose by eating more.

    ALL OF THIS and also the bolded. 10,000 Is me grocery shopping and making TWO trips to my car instead of one, and maybe taking a 30 minute walk.

    Serious question, how are you getting that many steps grocery shopping.... I can go grocery shopping for an hour and a half and get like 2500 steps. I know I miss some by not swinging my arm but there's legit no way that what you listed would get me near 10,000. How do you do it?!?! lol

    Super Walmart haha!
    FYI I didn't mean that I get 10,000 by ONLY going grocery shopping. I just meant that on top of being in an office (my regular life), a Walmart trip and a short walk can get me there.

    I get 5k-6k just at work. I work in an office in a COMPOUND so have to park quite far out (1,000 steps each way is 2,000 total just to my car). Think of it like a college campus just to get to my office. I just got a standing desk, so get a couple of extra steps from just pacing around my cube while I'm on the phone, since it's easier to step away. Literally, the trip to the bathroom and back is 250 steps. I pee like every hour. 250 x 8 = 2,000. Plus going to meetings (some on different floor, so another 1,000+ steps throughout the day).

    Then I go to Walmart, where I like to go down most isles just to look at the things that I can't eat and then to the beauty section/cookware/whatever. I usually end up buying a new kitchen toy or new Tupperware as a reward for not buying ice cream. Then back out to the parking lot and I live in an apartment complex, so can't just park IN the house/garage. Extra walking.

    If I take an extra walk on my lunch break, I'll usually hit my steps. I just putter around a lot.

    Pro tip, put your step tracker on your shoe instead of your arm if you're pushing a grocery cart. This works for being a hairdresser, too, so that you're not counting arm swings.
  • maybe1pe
    maybe1pe Posts: 529 Member
    aeloine wrote: »
    maybe1pe wrote: »
    aeloine wrote: »
    aeloine wrote: »
    It depends on what's sustainable to you.

    I'm surprised that you're getting such high calories, though. Are you putting yourself as sedentary or active?

    I’ve put myself as active! I usually get 10,000-15,000 steps a day as well as working out!

    So are you including your exercise in your activity level AND eating your exercise calories on top of it? Is that what I'm reading?? So you're basically double eating the exercise calories? If that is the case - you should either 1) not eat back the exercise calories or 2) drop your activity level to not include exercise (which is how MFP was designed) and add exercise calories separate.

    I personally wouldn't consider 10,000 steps to be very active but that's just me - I'm pretty darn sedentary and I can manage 10,000 with little effort. I agree with the above, if you're not losing on 1700 you're definitely not going to lose by eating more.

    ALL OF THIS and also the bolded. 10,000 Is me grocery shopping and making TWO trips to my car instead of one, and maybe taking a 30 minute walk.

    Serious question, how are you getting that many steps grocery shopping.... I can go grocery shopping for an hour and a half and get like 2500 steps. I know I miss some by not swinging my arm but there's legit no way that what you listed would get me near 10,000. How do you do it?!?! lol

    Super Walmart haha!
    FYI I didn't mean that I get 10,000 by ONLY going grocery shopping. I just meant that on top of being in an office (my regular life), a Walmart trip and a short walk can get me there.

    I get 5k-6k just at work. I work in an office in a COMPOUND so have to park quite far out (1,000 steps each way is 2,000 total just to my car). Think of it like a college campus just to get to my office. I just got a standing desk, so get a couple of extra steps from just pacing around my cube while I'm on the phone, since it's easier to step away. Literally, the trip to the bathroom and back is 250 steps. I pee like every hour. 250 x 8 = 2,000. Plus going to meetings (some on different floor, so another 1,000+ steps throughout the day).

    Then I go to Walmart, where I like to go down most isles just to look at the things that I can't eat and then to the beauty section/cookware/whatever. I usually end up buying a new kitchen toy or new Tupperware as a reward for not buying ice cream. Then back out to the parking lot and I live in an apartment complex, so can't just park IN the house/garage. Extra walking.

    If I take an extra walk on my lunch break, I'll usually hit my steps. I just putter around a lot.

    Pro tip, put your step tracker on your shoe instead of your arm if you're pushing a grocery cart. This works for being a hairdresser, too, so that you're not counting arm swings.

    Ahhhh. that makes more sense. I thought you were saying if you go grocery shopping, bring them in and only take a 30 minute walk that was 10,000 and I was like either I'm doing it wrong or you have super short legs idk. lol.

    I can usually get my 10,000 by the time I get home from work if I walk on my breaks and just making trips to the bathroom or the kitchen to refill my water/grab my lunch.
  • WhereIsPJSoles
    WhereIsPJSoles Posts: 622 Member
    I disagree with lowering your activity level. You said you are a hair dresser who is on her feet all day? That is NOT sedentary.


    It's always been my understanding that if you have an activity tracker synced to mfp, then it kind of doesn't matter what your actual activity level is, though. Your fitbit or whatever it is knows your activity better than you do and is adding calories for you. So anyone that has them synced up should be at sedentary. Is that not right?
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
    heybales wrote: »
    aeloine wrote: »
    It depends on what's sustainable to you.

    I'm surprised that you're getting such high calories, though. Are you putting yourself as sedentary or active?

    I’ve put myself as active! I usually get 10,000-15,000 steps a day as well as working out!

    So are you including your exercise in your activity level AND eating your exercise calories on top of it? Is that what I'm reading?? So you're basically double eating the exercise calories? If that is the case - you should either 1) not eat back the exercise calories or 2) drop your activity level to not include exercise (which is how MFP was designed) and add exercise calories separate.

    I personally wouldn't consider 10,000 steps to be very active but that's just me - I'm pretty darn sedentary and I can manage 10,000 with little effort. I agree with the above, if you're not losing on 1700 you're definitely not going to lose by eating more.

    FYI - Sedentary by almost all counts is around 3000-4000 steps.

    If you are getting more than that from daily activity (not including purposeful exercise) that might include like dog walking or such - you are NOT what MFP is rating as Sedentary, nor the outside TDEE tables.
    Not by a long shot with 10K steps.

    And no to your thought - she said 10K AND exercise being done on top.

    Yep. Her activity setting is not wrong. 10k + steps is actually considered as active when you input your daily activity level. Then she just needs to log her separate workouts on top. I am set to lightly active and average 6-8k steps on an average day. It has not caused me issues with weight control.

    So the issue most likely lays with food logging accuracy or lack of.

  • maybe1pe
    maybe1pe Posts: 529 Member
    ginababin wrote: »
    I disagree with lowering your activity level. You said you are a hair dresser who is on her feet all day? That is NOT sedentary.


    It's always been my understanding that if you have an activity tracker synced to mfp, then it kind of doesn't matter what your actual activity level is, though. Your fitbit or whatever it is knows your activity better than you do and is adding calories for you. So anyone that has them synced up should be at sedentary. Is that not right?

    Like you said your activity tracker knows your activity level better than an arbitrary setting on MFP. I have a FitBit I'm set to lightly active and still most days get calories added to my goal (because I'm really somewhere more in active to very active range) I have it at lightly active because I like to start out with a higher calorie goal knowing I'll hit at least that every day. But I do have negative calorie adjustments enabled so that on days when I'm truly sedentary it takes away those extra calories. I could be set to sedentary and get a larger calorie adjustment everyday or set to very active and get a small adjustment everyday. It would end up being the same regardless of my activity setting in MFP
  • LauraSrock18
    LauraSrock18 Posts: 125 Member
    If I’m using Apple Watch 3, should I set my activity to not active and manually add the calories my watch calculates that I burn?? And eat half of that?
  • KombuchaKat
    KombuchaKat Posts: 134 Member
    edited November 2017
    aeloine wrote: »
    TL;DR from above:

    1. You're cutting corners on logging some things (bread, fruit, prepackaged items);

    2. You should set yourself to sedentary because while the steps are a great start, conscious exercise is not your "lifestyle," it's additional exercise and should be logged as such;

    3. Set a reasonable weight loss goal of 0.5-1 lbs/week so that it's sustainable and reevaluate as needed.

    Good luck!!

    Since she is a hairstylist I actually think that setting to "lightly active" or "active" would be appropriate. You are not sitting at a desk all day, having to think about adding steps. You are definitely not "sedentary." People like me who work in a cubicle all day are sedentary. That being said I also do not know how you get too and from work, errands, etc. I set my activity to lightly active since I live in a major city and do not have a car, the amount I burn/day is way more than when I drove too and from work and errands living in the burbs. Then I log my workouts only, not the walking I did to get around or on breaks at lunch.
    I do agree, though, that you could tighten up your logging. With such generic entries you could be way off on the totals.
    I think you should keep your activity where it is and stay the course. It could just be that you do not have much left to lose and it will be slow.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
    RoxieDawn wrote: »
    Your diary suggests that you are not losing weight because you are eating more than you think. Get and use a food scale. If you are not losing weight at 1700, you will definitely not at 1950 using the logging methods you are doing now.

    I use my food scale and measure everything I eat :/

    based on the entries i saw, looking back a few days, you are not using a food scale at all
  • aeloine
    aeloine Posts: 2,163 Member
    edited November 2017
    So to recap page 2, she needs to tighten up on her logging and set a less aggressive weight loss goal....?

    Idk, my one issue with setting an activity level based on job is that 2/7 days you're likely not at work but still getting calorie levels based on the 5/7 days. So 2/7 (weekends), you're not in deficit.

    @laura_johnson15 , are you actually hitting the higher steps EVERY day, even when not working?