extra calories?

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celineviolette
celineviolette Posts: 9
in Food and Nutrition
So I went a little overboard on calories today, but the program says I'm okay, because of all the activities that I put in for calories burned. (I bike to school and walk around a lot, so I'm generally super-active.) But is it okay to use those extra calories?

If I'm doing intense workouts then, of course, I'll need something extra to keep me going, I've got protein shakes for that, but in general, is it okay to eat more than I need because the computer says it's okay?

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  • BrendaLee
    BrendaLee Posts: 4,463 Member
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    lol

    It's not the computer saying it's ok, it's MFP keeping you healthy. :wink: If you have your activity level set to sedentary, then you should log all of your activity, and eat most of those calories. If you've set your activity level higher, then you can just enter your workouts and eat those.
  • celineviolette
    celineviolette Posts: 9
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    So the simple activities like walking around campus shouldn't be entered? That would make some sense. I think mine's set at a couple levels above sedentary, whatever it's called. But then what should I plug in and what should I ignore? Does that just have to do with the amount of effort put forth for the activity? As in, walking around campus, no, biking uphill to campus, yes?
  • caseyamber
    caseyamber Posts: 27
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    I only put in my actual workouts. But when I was biking to class this summer, I would've put those in too, but not walking on campus.
  • celineviolette
    celineviolette Posts: 9
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    Doing that would probably make the thing way seem way more accurate. Thanks! That helped loads. :laugh:
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    Hi celine,

    The activity level is for things you do every day (or close to it), it doesn't matter what that is, but if it's part of work, or some obligation (like maybe if you lived on a farm and stacked hay bales or something), it doesn't matter what it is, if it's something you do on a normal day then it should be part of your activity level.

    so if you bike to class and walk around 5 days a week, then (I would set your activity level somewhere between lightly active and active) depending on how much biking and walking you actually do (because remember, sitting in class does count too).

    As an example, lightly active would be someone like a nurse or something. Active would be a police officer that patrols on a bike, or a carpenter's laborer who carries wood all day. very active would be something like a fitness trainer (who trains with their athletes, not one that just watches), professional athlete, or maybe a hiking guide...etc.

    Considering how much you have to lose you should keep a small deficit (somewhere around 300 calories) and eat your exercise calories, that would be the healthy way to do it. Make your deficit too big and you risk changing your metabolic rate and making the whole process much more difficult. A small deficit makes the process take longer, but it keeps you from burning too much lean tissue, and keeps your metabolism high enough to burn fat.

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