Calories and activity level

alid8333
alid8333 Posts: 233 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Curious if not eating enough can really slow down weight loss. I know it can slow the metabolism down to a certain extent. I’m walking anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 steps a day with a average of around 14,000. But I do also walk a hour a day for exercise. I have my activity level set at sedentary. But doing that it gives me calories of 1200 a day and I can’t eat that low, I start to feel sick and sluggish so I have my calories set at 1330 a day and only eat back 50% or less of my exercise calories. My net average is around 1245.

I think I’m going to start deleting my walking workouts out of MFP. I really only initiate the Apple Watch for a outdoor walk so I can watch my heart rate (I have a heart condition) so I can’t let my heart rate get above 145. Then let MFP calculate my calories based on my steps taken. I’ll only log my indoor walks on the treadmill and when I use my elliptical as exercise. Which I haven’t really been using either since I’ve been walking outside.

I just want to make sure I’m eating enough. I also have Crohn’s disease so it’s important I get all the nutrition I’m suppose to be especially for my activity level which now that it’s warm I really don’t know what to put.

Wouldn’t I be considered at least lightly active if I took a hour or more walk a day (without logging it as exercise) and then worked out on the treadmill at 3 to 3.5mph for 20min and the elliptical at 4mph for 20 min (total of 40 min workout) 4 to 5 days a week? But I’m also doing stuff around the house (cleaning, yard work etc).

Just like others opinions.

Replies

  • serindipte
    serindipte Posts: 1,557 Member
    At an average of 14k steps per day, you would be considered active. If that includes your walks, then you wouldn't add those back in.

    Eat more :) This doesn't have to be torture!
  • alid8333
    alid8333 Posts: 233 Member
    edited May 2018
    serindipte wrote: »
    At an average of 14k steps per day, you would be considered active. If that includes your walks, then you wouldn't add those back in.

    Eat more :) This doesn't have to be torture!

    Yeah not counting the steps taken during my walks as exercise. Only exercise that would get logged would be on the treadmill and elliptical and I still will only eat back 50% of those calories to make up for any errors in the calorie burn my watch provides.
  • Clobern80
    Clobern80 Posts: 714 Member
    You always have to be leery of FitBit, MFP or any other thing that counts your exercise (or even adding it manually). Unfortunately, nobody is the same even if you weigh the same and are the same height. The best bet is to start with eating back all of the calories (perhaps find more calorie dense foods like avocados or something) and see what happens. If you aren't losing, cut that back by a few hundred calories for a while and see. Once you find that happy percentage, you should be able to use that going forward.

    Best of luck!
  • angelsja
    angelsja Posts: 859 Member
    If I'm sedentary except for intentional exercise but my intentional exercise has me getting between 10-20k steps what should I set my activity level to since it's supposed to be based on activity before exercise?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    angelsja wrote: »
    If I'm sedentary except for intentional exercise but my intentional exercise has me getting between 10-20k steps what should I set my activity level to since it's supposed to be based on activity before exercise?

    It's only supposed to be based on activity before exercise with MFP where you log that exercise and get additional calories to account for that activity. It is called the NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) method. It's actually not particularly common to use the NEAT method...most calorie counting calculators are TDEE where you would include exercise in your activity level and just get more calories up front.
  • serindipte
    serindipte Posts: 1,557 Member
    You can set it up whatever way works best for you. For me, I figure from my TDEE and enter my own calorie goal rather than using MFP's set up. For others, it works best to use MFP exactly as it's designed.

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