Amateur question regarding calories
AddieNicole1991
Posts: 8 Member
I'm 120lbs, 5'3" female. I exercise almost every day, about an hour; a mix of HIIT, body weight exercise and warm up/cool down. Average heart rate about 140.
I also walk a couple of miles each day, and I'm a mom, so I wouldn't say I'm on my feet ALL day but I'm not sedentary either.
My question is this; my smart watch says that on my most intense days, the max I burn is about 1600 calories. Rest days about 1200.
But my body builder friend keeps telling me I'm not eating enough based on the workouts I do and that I'm starving myself. I'm not losing weight, in fact I've gained a few pounds over the past few weeks. My goal isn't really to lose weight necessarily but to get strong and tone up.
Do I stick to 1200 calories or eat more as my friend suggests?
I also walk a couple of miles each day, and I'm a mom, so I wouldn't say I'm on my feet ALL day but I'm not sedentary either.
My question is this; my smart watch says that on my most intense days, the max I burn is about 1600 calories. Rest days about 1200.
But my body builder friend keeps telling me I'm not eating enough based on the workouts I do and that I'm starving myself. I'm not losing weight, in fact I've gained a few pounds over the past few weeks. My goal isn't really to lose weight necessarily but to get strong and tone up.
Do I stick to 1200 calories or eat more as my friend suggests?
3
Replies
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Your friend possibly/probably has very different calorie needs to you as is projecting their needs on to you.
Unlike your "smart watch" they also aren't with you 24 x 7.
Personally I don't know anyone who is starving themself and not losing weight - do you?
Suggest you trial your watch's suggestions for a month and then you will have a much better idea of how accurate it (and your own food logging) is by the results you get over the long term. Adjust based on good data and not a friend's hyperbole.4 -
I'd be interested to know what mfp gives you as a maintenance weight, if you put in sedentary. Although mfp calculations are based on averages, for me it provides a really useful baseline. I am losing at present, but coming into maintenance, and my strategy has been to eat the calories mfp gives me for my level of weight loss, which at present, for losing 0.5 lbs per week is 1530 cals (I am a good bit taller than you). I then eat back most or all of my exercise calories. At present however, I am still losing more than 0.5 lbs per week, so I think that mfp is probably slightly under estimating what I need. (On the cals for losing 1 lb per week I was losing a bit over 4 lbs most months also, and at present I am losing more like 3 lbs per month than 2 lbs.)
If mfp suggests that your maintenance calories are above 1200 and you do want to maintain rather than lose, then your friend might be right. I would also completely agree with sijomial that you need to look at your own calorie intake, exercise and weight and work out what will be appropriate for you.
(I don't use a fitbit or apple watch so am never sure what it would be measuring; hence my suggestion to go back to the MFP settings and check te recommendation there. Its another triangulation point.)1 -
I have MFP set to sedentary and to lose .5 per week, it suggests 1200.0
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AddieNicole1991 wrote: »I have MFP set to sedentary and to lose .5 per week, it suggests 1200.
But you aren't sedentary4 -
Eat more. A lot more. More like 1700-1800 PLUS exercise calories.1
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AddieNicole1991 wrote: »I have MFP set to sedentary and to lose .5 per week, it suggests 1200.
1200 is the lowest number MFP will suggest. Since you are already in a healthy weight range you may not have enough deficit to lose .5lb per week.
Try setting MFP to maintain weight and see what number it gives you. That will tell you how much deficit you are in compared to the 1200.
Also, is the exercise new or at a newer intensity? If so you may be retaining water to deal with muscle repair/inflammation. This will easily explain the uptick on the scale.
3 -
You say 'Smart Watch' but don't indicate which one. Does it calculate all day burn, and can you look up reviews on that brand/model to see how accurate users find it to be? I ask this because the 1600 total daily burn does seem low based on your exercise/activity.
BMR is the calories you use for your bodily functions daily. Its estimated based on height, weight, age, gender. I don't know your age - so I put in 28. Your BMR is about 1250 @ age 28, closer to 1200 @ age 40. To give you an idea of how age impacts it.
Then you also use energy to get thru your day. This part does not count exercise, but your job, hobbies, errands, regular life stuff. Energy used to actually move your body thru you day. This can be estimated by your stated activity level. For your scenario, perhaps 25% of BMR.
So your starting point, without exercise, would be approximately 1250 x 1.25 = 1560. +/- 75 perhaps if you happen to burn more or less than the average person of your stats.
Then that walking and intentional exercise could be anywhere from another 100-500 daily.
Suggestions: if you can't confirm the accuracy of your smart watch in terms of calorie counting, then you can try a different tracker. Or you can use MFP as intended, as it starts with BMR & daily activity. Then log your exercise and choose whether or not to eat 'extra' for the exercise.
As to the scale gain in recent weeks: is any of the exercise new? If so, its likely water weight for muscle repair/preparation. If its not new, it could still be water weight from sodium, stress, lack of sleep, TOM/hormones or a number of other reasons. A small change upwards in a short period of time is not reason to panic.
As to your overall goals: if you are not wanting to lose weight, but do want to strengthen/tone/build muscle then you probably do not want to eat at a deficit. So setting MFP to maintenance and then eating back some portion of your exercise calories is probably the way to go.
And keep in mind: any change you make can take time to show results on the scale. It never hurts to make sure your logging is accurate and honest. But patience is needed also.4 -
AddieNicole1991 wrote: »I have MFP set to sedentary and to lose .5 per week, it suggests 1200.
But you said yourself you aren't sedentary.....
"I also walk a couple of miles each day, and I'm a mom, so I wouldn't say I'm on my feet ALL day but I'm not sedentary either."
You can't expect a calculator to spit out a good number if you don't put in the right information.
Suggest you set it to lightly active if you intend using MyFitnessPal to set your calorie allowance.
You would then estimate the calorie burn from this.....
I exercise almost every day, about an hour; a mix of HIIT, body weight exercise and warm up/cool down.
as best you can and get to eat more on the days you exercise.4 -
AddieNicole1991 wrote: »I have MFP set to sedentary and to lose .5 per week, it suggests 1200.
But you said yourself you aren't sedentary.....
"I also walk a couple of miles each day, and I'm a mom, so I wouldn't say I'm on my feet ALL day but I'm not sedentary either."
You can't expect a calculator to spit out a good number if you don't put in the right information.
Suggest you set it to lightly active if you intend using MyFitnessPal to set your calorie allowance.
You would then estimate the calorie burn from this.....
I exercise almost every day, about an hour; a mix of HIIT, body weight exercise and warm up/cool down.
as best you can and get to eat more on the days you exercise.
This is a better answer. I should have read the thread more carefully.1 -
Go_Deskercise wrote: »AddieNicole1991 wrote: »I have MFP set to sedentary and to lose .5 per week, it suggests 1200.
But you aren't sedentary
So if I'm understanding MFP correctly, the sedentary setting has to do with your lifestyle when you are NOT working out intentionally. So I have mine set to sedentary since I work a desk job for 10+ hours a day, even though i work out for anywhere from 30-60 minutes almost daily. I track my exercise separately and do not include it in my activity settings as part of MFP. If I were a construction worker or something more active that would be different.
So I think she's doing it right as long as she is logging/tracking her intentional exercise.2 -
Many people have afterwork hours and weekend hours, even outside of workouts - that make them well above sedentary.
As OP describes herself as being well above sedentary.
It's really a poor description that 45-50 hrs of job/commute is only description for the other possible 62 hrs in the week that one could be active in.
I've found most that end up getting trackers discover even with 45-50 hr desk jobs/commutes they are easily getting calorie adjustments because they are actually Light-Active or more.
OP - dittos to using the tool correctly when you can.
UNLESS - you are syncing with an activity tracker that MFP corrects itself to, and you eat what is shown as the new eating goal. (Garmin, Fitbit, Pacer for apple)
In that case Sedentary option is appropriate as MFP will adjust it up to whatever the 1000's of levels it is.0 -
Regardless of the above, if you are gaining weight you are not eating too little.
That calorie allowance seems very low for what you’ve described. I would start by tightening up your logging, since it seems doubtful you would gain weight on so few calories given the activity you describe. Weigh everything including packaged foods and don’t forget to count drinks, condiments, nibbles stolen off other people’s plates, etc.5 -
@briscogunGo_Deskercise wrote: »AddieNicole1991 wrote: »I have MFP set to sedentary and to lose .5 per week, it suggests 1200.
But you aren't sedentary
So if I'm understanding MFP correctly, the sedentary setting has to do with your lifestyle when you are NOT working out intentionally. So I have mine set to sedentary since I work a desk job for 10+ hours a day, even though i work out for anywhere from 30-60 minutes almost daily. I track my exercise separately and do not include it in my activity settings as part of MFP. If I were a construction worker or something more active that would be different.
So I think she's doing it right as long as she is logging/tracking her intentional exercise.
No that's not quite right, yes logging exercise separately is what she should do but OP is still doing it wrong by picking too low an activity setting which will suppress her base calorie allowance.
Yes it's about lifestyle excluding exercise, with exercise being added afterwards whatever activity level is selected. But OP has made it clear she isn't sedentary. There are four categories to choose from not just a choice between sedentary and construction worker and it's entire liftstyle and not just someone's job.
When I had a desk job I easily qualified for Lightly Active due to the amount of non-exercise movement involved in my working days, evenings and weekends.
2 -
@briscogunGo_Deskercise wrote: »AddieNicole1991 wrote: »I have MFP set to sedentary and to lose .5 per week, it suggests 1200.
But you aren't sedentary
So if I'm understanding MFP correctly, the sedentary setting has to do with your lifestyle when you are NOT working out intentionally. So I have mine set to sedentary since I work a desk job for 10+ hours a day, even though i work out for anywhere from 30-60 minutes almost daily. I track my exercise separately and do not include it in my activity settings as part of MFP. If I were a construction worker or something more active that would be different.
So I think she's doing it right as long as she is logging/tracking her intentional exercise.
No that's not quite right, yes logging exercise separately is what she should do but OP is still doing it wrong by picking too low an activity setting which will suppress her base calorie allowance.
Yes it's about lifestyle excluding exercise, with exercise being added afterwards whatever activity level is selected. But OP has made it clear she isn't sedentary. There are four categories to choose from not just a choice between sedentary and construction worker and it's entire liftstyle and not just someone's job.
When I had a desk job I easily qualified for Lightly Active due to the amount of non-exercise movement involved in my working days, evenings and weekends.
Speak up if you disagree (whoever you may be).
If you are disagreeing with how MFP works that's fine (but explain why) but if you are disagreeing with my explanation of how MFP is intended to work then suggest you read the Help articles which explain how this app works and how goals are set.
If you are disagreeing that OP didn't state explicity she isn't sedentary can I suggest actually reading the thread?
4 -
rheddmobile wrote: »Regardless of the above, if you are gaining weight you are not eating too little.
That calorie allowance seems very low for what you’ve described. I would start by tightening up your logging, since it seems doubtful you would gain weight on so few calories given the activity you describe. Weigh everything including packaged foods and don’t forget to count drinks, condiments, nibbles stolen off other people’s plates, etc.
Oh no, I haven't been eating at 1200 I only recently started seriously tracking again. I was probably doing closer to 1500-1700 a day until I posted this0 -
nanastaci2020 wrote: »You say 'Smart Watch' but don't indicate which one. Does it calculate all day burn, and can you look up reviews on that brand/model to see how accurate users find it to be? I ask this because the 1600 total daily burn does seem low based on your exercise/activity.
BMR is the calories you use for your bodily functions daily. Its estimated based on height, weight, age, gender. I don't know your age - so I put in 28. Your BMR is about 1250 @ age 28, closer to 1200 @ age 40. To give you an idea of how age impacts it.
Then you also use energy to get thru your day. This part does not count exercise, but your job, hobbies, errands, regular life stuff. Energy used to actually move your body thru you day. This can be estimated by your stated activity level. For your scenario, perhaps 25% of BMR.
So your starting point, without exercise, would be approximately 1250 x 1.25 = 1560. +/- 75 perhaps if you happen to burn more or less than the average person of your stats.
Then that walking and intentional exercise could be anywhere from another 100-500 daily.
Suggestions: if you can't confirm the accuracy of your smart watch in terms of calorie counting, then you can try a different tracker. Or you can use MFP as intended, as it starts with BMR & daily activity. Then log your exercise and choose whether or not to eat 'extra' for the exercise.
As to the scale gain in recent weeks: is any of the exercise new? If so, its likely water weight for muscle repair/preparation. If its not new, it could still be water weight from sodium, stress, lack of sleep, TOM/hormones or a number of other reasons. A small change upwards in a short period of time is not reason to panic.
As to your overall goals: if you are not wanting to lose weight, but do want to strengthen/tone/build muscle then you probably do not want to eat at a deficit. So setting MFP to maintenance and then eating back some portion of your exercise calories is probably the way to go.
And keep in mind: any change you make can take time to show results on the scale. It never hurts to make sure your logging is accurate and honest. But patience is needed also.
Thank you for the detailed response. I don't trust my watch, its a fossil watch and a bit outdated so I did order a fitbit since I want to be more accurate about this.
Thats interesting about the age. I am 29 so good guess lol
As far as the new workouts, I have definitely done high intensity before but not since COVID. Been at it about 2 weeks now. I guess that's why I really want to make sure I'm giving my body what it needs.0 -
AddieNicole1991 wrote: »I have MFP set to sedentary and to lose .5 per week, it suggests 1200.
But you said yourself you aren't sedentary.....
"I also walk a couple of miles each day, and I'm a mom, so I wouldn't say I'm on my feet ALL day but I'm not sedentary either."
You can't expect a calculator to spit out a good number if you don't put in the right information.
Suggest you set it to lightly active if you intend using MyFitnessPal to set your calorie allowance.
You would then estimate the calorie burn from this.....
I exercise almost every day, about an hour; a mix of HIIT, body weight exercise and warm up/cool down.
as best you can and get to eat more on the days you exercise.
I'll try lightly active, and take off the losing weight bit. I think I'm just used to being more like 110, but ultimately the number doesn't matter so much to me as building muscle and toning up1 -
AddieNicole1991 wrote: »I have MFP set to sedentary and to lose .5 per week, it suggests 1200.
But you said yourself you aren't sedentary.....
"I also walk a couple of miles each day, and I'm a mom, so I wouldn't say I'm on my feet ALL day but I'm not sedentary either."
You can't expect a calculator to spit out a good number if you don't put in the right information.
Suggest you set it to lightly active if you intend using MyFitnessPal to set your calorie allowance.
You would then estimate the calorie burn from this.....
I exercise almost every day, about an hour; a mix of HIIT, body weight exercise and warm up/cool down.
as best you can and get to eat more on the days you exercise.
I'll try lightly active, and take off the losing weight bit. I think I'm just used to being more like 110, but ultimately the number doesn't matter so much to me as building muscle and toning up1 -
@briscogunGo_Deskercise wrote: »AddieNicole1991 wrote: »I have MFP set to sedentary and to lose .5 per week, it suggests 1200.
But you aren't sedentary
So if I'm understanding MFP correctly, the sedentary setting has to do with your lifestyle when you are NOT working out intentionally. So I have mine set to sedentary since I work a desk job for 10+ hours a day, even though i work out for anywhere from 30-60 minutes almost daily. I track my exercise separately and do not include it in my activity settings as part of MFP. If I were a construction worker or something more active that would be different.
So I think she's doing it right as long as she is logging/tracking her intentional exercise.
No that's not quite right, yes logging exercise separately is what she should do but OP is still doing it wrong by picking too low an activity setting which will suppress her base calorie allowance.
Yes it's about lifestyle excluding exercise, with exercise being added afterwards whatever activity level is selected. But OP has made it clear she isn't sedentary. There are four categories to choose from not just a choice between sedentary and construction worker and it's entire liftstyle and not just someone's job.
When I had a desk job I easily qualified for Lightly Active due to the amount of non-exercise movement involved in my working days, evenings and weekends.
@sijomial Understood, I guess it just depends on how you define being “sedentary” vs “lightly active”. So even though I’m a desk jockey I still work in a large building and some days need to walk around more than others, but in my mind just walking around the office dropping off files and whatnot is not “activity”, it’s just walking 100 feet here or there. I get that there are multiple settings for activity, as well, was just using construction as an example of an active career that would require a different setting.
OP didn’t really define her activity level other than “I’m a mom” so that could be very different for each mom.
I guess my point was: the activity level setting is set for your level of activity OUTSIDE of intentional exercise, whatever that level might be. Does that make more sense?1 -
Here's my info, which might be helpful.
I'm 5'3" and 55. I'm in maintenance with a range of 120-122 lbs, but I tend towards the low end of that. I'm not particularly muscular.
I have MFP set to the lowest activity level and let my Fitbit add all the calories for daily activity and exercise. I do this because my days vary a lot in activity.
MFP starts me at 1410 calories, which is for 122 lbs since I never updated my weight after hitting goal.
Fitbit adds an average of 250 calories (although any individual day varies between 10 and 500 calories).
If I eat that, I slowly lose weight, so I have to eat an extra 50-100 calories on average to maintain.
I am an above average calorie tracker, but not in the top 10% for accuracy. For example, I don't weigh individual packaged items like a slice of bread or a frozen meal. And I don't track every supplement I take or include the couple low cal drinks I have daily. But I have almost 10 months of maintenance data to allow me to estimate my calorie need based on my personal history.1
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