Couple of questions please..

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RoyBeck
RoyBeck Posts: 947 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've walked over 300 miles since January 1st to aid my weight loss.

How would this have affected my TDEE ie other than walking (fairly slow not brisk) I'm sedentary so should I put sedentary or active?

Also, in terms of eating back calories for MFP purposes I've read contrasting reviews on calories burned by walking. I'm 37, male and weigh 244 and estimates vary from 50-100 per mile. If I walk 10 miles, which I do 3 times a week, what would I truly be burning????

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  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
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    Have you tried setting your activity level to "sedentary" and then logging the time that you walk as exercise calories?

    As to eating back the exercise calories, choices vary: some folks eat them all, some eat none, some (like me) go somewhere in between. I occasionally eat them all, but m more likely to eat back ~30-50%.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    If you're using MFP as designed, you would choose sedentary as your activity level and then either log your exercise or used a synced activity tracker.

    Some people choose an activity level that includes their exercise or use a separate TDEE calculator to come up with their calorie goal. It's really up to you if you're rather get the calories "up front" or just plan on having them each day. People often have strong preferences for one over the other.

    I personally use a fitness tracker to estimate the calories burnt through running and walking and I find the estimates to be accurate (that is, when I eat back my adjustments, my weight behaves as I would expect). Unfortunately, nobody can tell what you're truly burning online. The best way is to choose a reasonable starting point and then compare it to your real life results over time.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
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    If the walking is something you do at roughly the same level daily, I'd include it in your activity level unless you have a fitness/step tracker. If you have a tracker, the easiest option is synching it with MFP. If the walking is really inconsistent, then log it as exercise.

    As it seems like you have a few days where you walk more, but it's consistent per week, you could average it in across the week rather than logging it, or you could log the extra miles on those days and include the rest in your activity level.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,596 Member
    edited March 2021
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    Sedentary + logging is mfp way. Connected nracker is what I used (and continue to use) for myself.

    If sedentary plus loging is used because of certain inadequacies and how things are handled by MFP when, and because of the type and duration of the exercise, specifically for this long duration and low relative intensity exercise, about **half the calories showing for the exercise** would probably be with the correct amount to eat in order to eat 100% of the actual extra exercise calories expended.

    The math would be met value of exercise based calories - 1.25*BMR calories when set to sedentary = actual net

    I note that mfp sedentary (alternatively called not very active) at an activity factor of 1.25 envisions a good ~45 minutes of not sitting self care activities a day where one moves around. I continue to be able to (and definitely used to do so on a regular basis) undershoot this level of activity by moving between bed computer and couch and not even getting to 3500 steps in a day.

    Most people on MFP exceed sedentary calorie expenditures somewhere between 3500 and 5000 steps or equivalent movement during the day
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,676 Member
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    I am sedentary except when doing deliberate exercise. I walk and run. I log those activities on mfp and eat back the calories listed on my log. For me, time has shown that I do burn at least the calories given, usually a bit more. It can take time to figure out whether you should eat back 100%, 75% or 50% of your exercise calories.
  • ALZ14
    ALZ14 Posts: 202 Member
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    If you wouldn’t normally be walking if you weren’t losing weight I would recommend choosing sedentary and then logging your walks as exercise and then eating back a portion of those calories most days.

    MFP is designed to select your typical activity BEFORE intentional exercise. So if you work in a warehouse then you would likely be active on a daily basis, but if you work a desk job it is likely sedentary.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited March 2021
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    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Sedentary + logging is mfp way.

    Not necessarily.Walking can often be considered daily activity. When I started I was at sedentary (because my job is) and realized I was at least lightly active because I walked 10-15K steps a day (I live in a big city and so walk a lot and drive rarely, and yeah that's probably more than lightly active but active seemed too much and I liked the cushion). The days I walked less I rode my bike to and from work. If I had a tracker I could pick any activity level and just allow negative adjustments (which I did eventually), but for activity that's just part of an ordinary day I think for many people it works better to include it in daily activity than log, and that if it is part of usual daily activity that's consistent with how MFP works. (Now because of covid I have to plan to walk/hit a step goal daily but still generally treat it as daily activity, since I do it daily.)

    OP does sound as if on 3 days he does additional walking as planned exercise, but I'm still not sure that he's sedentary on the other days--the daily walking could be included in activity level--and even with the extra on those 3 days averaging it across the week as daily activity rather than logging it is still consistent with MFP, I think, just as if one had a job that was more active some days than others but generally consistent over a week.
  • 33gail33
    33gail33 Posts: 1,155 Member
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    I walk about 2 -3 miles a day with my dogs - I changed my setting to "lightly active" and I am still losing weight even though I have a sedentary job. I stick to that same calorie goal on the days I do intentional exercise as well.
    I just find it easier to have a set calorie goal for each day rather than adjusting it up and down depending on what I do. It's easier for meal planning and I guess it averages out over the week because I am losing.

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