Activity level/xiaomi mi band/longterm

AnnPT77 wrote: »

OK, I'm kind of confused.

You say you've used MFP for 5 years, sometimes successfully losing weight. When you did that, did you lose weight at the rate you asked MFP for (number of pounds/kg per week) when you stuck with its calorie recommendation? How long have you had your Xiaomi band synched to MFP, and have you been following the adjusted calorie goal that the band and MFP estimated? If so, what was the result, compared to your goal?

You probably see what I'm getting at here: Your own history is your best source of guidance about what to do. I get that you've changed your activity level. But if you found MFP accurate (or the combination of MFP + Xiaomi accurate) in the past, they're likely to keep being accurate at a different activity level. That's not guaranteed, but if I were you, I'd behave as if it were accurate for 4-6 weeks, and see what your average body weight result is over that time period on average per week. (If you're adult, female, not yet in menopause, compare body weight at the same relative point in at least two different menstrual cycles.)

For most devices (and I assume Xioami + Google Fit), it doesn't really matter what your activity level setting in MFP is. If you're more active than MFP expects (exercise or daily life) according to the tracker, you'll get calories added. If you're less active than MFP expects (and you have negative calorie adjustments enabled in MFP), you'll get calories subtracted. A different MFP activity level just means the size of the adjustment will be different, but the end result (by end of day) should be the same number of calories.

From my own personal experience, losing weight reliably but very slowly depends in large part on two things:
1. Having a very good estimate of your own unique calorie needs, and
2. Having a sufficiently reliable, consistent food logging practice.

If you don't have a good handle on your own weight loss history (logged calories, logged activity, and resulting weight loss), that probably means you'll need to spend some time running an experiment to really dial in your actual calorie needs. The estimates from MFP or trackers are close for many people, but they're just statistical estimates: They can be off high or low for a few people, off surprisingly far for a rare few, because that's the nature of statistical estimates. Until you test the estimate against your reality, you don't know how close to average you are. (Even trackers like Xiaomi/Google are estimating, not measuring calories. They're more nuanced estimates, but still estimates.)

As far as your exercise calories being correct or reasonable, remember that the calorie adjustment isn't just for exercise: It's for any movement or other calorie burn that the Xiaomi estimated while watching you, that is above what MFP expected from your MFP profile activity level. Extra . . . I dunno, housecleaning, or flute-playing, or anything . . . would count.

FWIW, I'm about 165 cm (5'5" for my fellow Americans), and 60kg (132 pounds) right now. You're slightly smaller and lighter. I'm probably much older (67), don't get nearly 11-12k steps (more like 4k steps on most recent days), but I exercise more than you do (60-90 minutes 6 days a week, mostly something people usually call cardio). I'd lose about a pound and a half a week if I ate 1500 calories (total intake). But I'm not you, and I'm mysteriously a good li'l ol' calorie burner for some unknown reason anyway.

So why am I telling you that? To illustrate that someone else really can't answer how many calories you need to eat. Their personal experience is more likely to be misleading than is the estimate that MFP or MFP+Xioami negotiate for you. At least the latter is based on statistical averages about regular people, whereas some other person's individual track record is about their idiosyncratic self.

I vote that you should believe what MFP+Xiaomi estimate for that 4-6 weeks, track carefully, then adjust your goal based on your personal experience. That should work.