Weight Loss and MyFitnessPal iPhone App

marathonic

Yesterday, I downloaded the MyFitnessPal iPhone App based on the comment below from Mellor (thanks for the recommendation Mellor):

Mellor wrote: »

I used to use the notes app, but recently started using MyFitnessPal
It calcs a daily intake based on current stats, suggests a calorie goal and lets you count calories and workouts. I don't count workouts as this makes the daily calories go up, I personally don't eat extra when I work out.

The calorie counting is v.good. Some time the portions are off, but it also lets you mark that you had 1 3/4 portions etc so you can get it to the required size. Lots of foods come pre-loaded. Even things like ON protein shakes. You can also save you own foods, so last week I saved a "tin of tuna, beans and red pepper", then this week it was ready easy to add it again as i'll have it 2 or 3 days. After a few weeks all my lunches should be in it if not already

I put in a current weight of 85kg and a target weight of 75kg. As a 5' 10" male with an office job, it recommends a calorie allowance per day of 1290 (and adds to this an allowance based upon exercise for the day).

My two questions are:

• Does it sound reasonable that, given the above characteristics on a rest day, you should only eat 1290 calories or is that too low?
• Mellor, I'm assumming your goals are different to mine (mine is to cut 2lb of fat per week). Given that, does it seem reasonable that, on a day like today where I did 700 calories of cardio, I should eat closer to 2,000 calories or should I aim only to use part of my calories gained from excercise.

Don't get me wrong, I'm new to this and do intend to adjust my plan over the weeks based upon the fact that everyones different. I just thought it'd be a good idea to get some pointers.

rocky

If you set a target of 4 lbs lost per week, it'll give you an allowance of 290 calories per day? Is that doable? That's for you to decide

2 lbs lost a week is 1000 calories deficit a day so the app is estimating your needs to 2290/day. You can set a less ambitious goal or give yourself more time to achieve that goal. Try having a deficit of 500 cals a day, that will give you a more sustainable weight loss.

marathonic

rocky wrote: »

If you set a target of 4 lbs lost per week, it'll give you an allowance of 290 calories per day? Is that doable? That's for you to decide

2 lbs lost a week is 1000 calories deficit a day so the app is estimating your needs to 2290/day. You can set a less ambitious goal or give yourself more time to achieve that goal. Try having a deficit of 500 cals a day, that will give you a more sustainable weight loss.

That makes a lot of sense but I'd like to stick with the 2lb a week goal initially (this is week 2) and see how I get on. I only started using the app today so I could probably go over on rest days and stay under on active days.

I'm planning to do 5-days a week (a mix of weights and cardio). I can see you being correct and me decreasing the target by at least 0.5 lb a week in the near future - but possibly not as I increase the intensity of my cardio.

We'll see.

rocky

Seems to me that 1000 cals deficit out of 2290 cals BMR is a bit on the high side. It would be different if your BMR was 3200-3500. You'll see yourself, after a week of eating 1290 cals a day, your energy levels will drop considerably, if you can even manage one week.

I say try eating ~1800 a day for a week, that's close to an estimated 500 cals deficit, and see how your weight changes after a week. The app may be underestimating your BMR, but you shouldn't starve yourself just to find that out.

marathonic

rocky wrote: »

Seems to me that 1000 cals deficit out of 2290 cals BMR is a bit on the high side. It would be different if your BMR was 3200-3500. You'll see yourself, after a week of eating 1290 cals a day, your energy levels will drop considerably, if you can even manage one week.

I say try eating ~1800 a day for a week, that's close to an estimated 500 cals deficit, and see how your weight changes after a week. The app may be underestimating your BMR, but you shouldn't starve yourself just to find that out.

Thanks Rocky. I'll probably change it down to 1 - 1.5 lb per week target loss for now then.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not planning to use the app as gospel. If I'm hungry, I'll eat. I think that, just by cutting out sweet food and alcohol, my goals should be achievable anyway.

dartstothesea

I'm using the DailyBurn "Foodscanner" app and it rules. Just wish more barcodes for stuff over here were already in the database. But you don't even need to be scanning barcodes with it.

Mellor

Was looking for where i posted that so I could see how you got on.
Gad you tried it out, its by far the best app i've used.

c.1200 is too low, I imagine you set your target date too close. Ease off a bit and aim for maybe 1800 or so. +/- 100 if you wish.

I mentioned before that I don't add in the excercises to my daily calories, there are a few reasons for this. One, its obviously increses deficit. But more importantly, If you do 700 calories of excercise in a 90 min session, its not an extra 700 calories burned for the day, its 700 less the calories burned if you did nothing. This is always over looked by calculators.

I also don't get much more hungry on workout days, this along with have less free time I have the same target everyday, but are less strict on training days, extra portion of meat etc. Think of it more like a weekly intake/output as even on gym days we could be burning off the energy from the (rest) day before.


My app is tell me i've 243 calories left today, hmmm...

soc$

Fun app - telling me I've consumed 4274cal on friday, 3934cal on saturday & 4296cal on sunday - bit of an eye opener really :eek:

marathonic

Yeah, I'm starting to make better use of the app now. Besides the calories, I find it handy for tracking what excercises you're doing - in particular with weight machines. It's difficult to keep track of kg's and reps otherwise.

BrianJD

soc$ wrote: »

Fun app - telling me I've consumed 4274cal on friday, 3934cal on saturday & 4296cal on sunday - bit of an eye opener really :eek:

EEEEk.....Thankyou for making me feel a little bit better about myself

soc$

BrianJD wrote: »

EEEEk.....Thankyou for making me feel a little bit better about myself

Althought 1800 of that was USN's muscle fuel mass -