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My Fitness Pal calorie recommendations

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  • 19-09-2018 7:14pm
    #1
    Bitches Be Trypsin
    Registered Users Posts: 712 ✭✭✭


    Hey all :)

    I downloaded MFP today, entered my weight and height: 5'3 and 180lbs (I'm female). It's recommending to lose a pound a week by eating 1590 calories a day, with "light activity". This sounds like a lot of food to me, can anyone shed some light on this? :D


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    #2
    Alf Veedersane
    Registered Users Posts: 24,557 ✭✭✭✭Alf Veedersane


    Bitches Be Trypsin wrote: »
    Hey all :)

    I downloaded MFP today, entered my weight and height: 5'3 and 180lbs (I'm female). It's recommending to lose a pound a week by eating 1590 calories a day, with "light activity". This sounds like a lot of food to me, can anyone shed some light on this? :D

    What is it when you change the activity to more sedentary? Err on the side of less activity.


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    #3
    Bitches Be Trypsin
    Registered Users Posts: 712 ✭✭✭Bitches Be Trypsin


    Alf Veedersane wrote: »
    What is it when you change the activity to more sedentary? Err on the side of less activity.

    About 1350!


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    #4
    Alf Veedersane
    Registered Users Posts: 24,557 ✭✭✭✭Alf Veedersane


    Bitches Be Trypsin wrote: »
    About 1350!

    I'd be inclined to work off that, give it a few weeks and see how it goes at that and amend as needed.


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    #5
    Penn
    Registered Users Posts: 33,286 ✭✭✭✭Penn


    Alf Veedersane wrote: »
    I'd be inclined to work off that, give it a few weeks and see how it goes at that and amend as needed.

    I'd agree. If it's saying you need 1590cals a day to lose 1lb per week, it probably won't let you choose to aim for 2lb per week, as that would be 1090cals a day. MFP won't let you go below 1200cals per day, as it's generally not recommended to eat less than that on a daily basis.

    So I think so long as you went somewhere between 1200 to 1590 (and 1350 seems very reasonable), it should give you a good starting point for the first few weeks to see how you get on with that. You can manually change your calorie target in MFP by clicking Goals, then Edit on Daily Nutrition Goals.


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    #6
    Macy0161
    Registered Users Posts: 9,289 ✭✭✭Macy0161


    Can't work off pounds to give any indication, but I always found my fitness pal always gave me much lower targets than using the calorie requirements from the sticky on the forum ( here ). I was 120kg and it was giving me a lower target than my maintenance now at 71kg! They could've updated their calculations since then.

    I just over wrote the myfitnesspal target with what I worked out myself, as Penn mentioned (and adjusted protein requirements %'s to target weight, not current weight).

    I just put the calculation in the link into a spreadsheet. and then updated it if I'd lost that week, and over wrote the target in myfitnesspal and rinsed and repeated.


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    #7
    Bitches Be Trypsin
    Registered Users Posts: 712 ✭✭✭Bitches Be Trypsin


    I walk 4k each day, and go to the gym twice a week, will this speed up the weight loss? :)


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    #8
    Alf Veedersane
    Registered Users Posts: 24,557 ✭✭✭✭Alf Veedersane


    Bitches Be Trypsin wrote: »
    I walk 4k each day, and go to the gym twice a week, will this speed up the weight loss? :)

    A rough rule of thumb would be 50-75 calories per km. So for 4km thats the ballpark of 2 digestive biscuits. Perhaps a little more depending on your weight. As for gym, depends what you're doing.


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    #9
    Penn
    Registered Users Posts: 33,286 ✭✭✭✭Penn


    Bitches Be Trypsin wrote: »
    I walk 4k each day, and go to the gym twice a week, will this speed up the weight loss? :)

    Absolutely. Not as much as diet will, but it'll definitely help as it burns calories and can boost your metabolism. How much it can help speed up weight loss depends on a variety of factors though, including your heart rate when walking/exercising, as this'll help determine calories burned. When I'm walking, I use a Fitbit and try keep my heartrate in the fat-burning zone for as long as possible, for which the general rule of thumb calculation is between 60-70% of (220 - (Your Age)).


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    #10
    SozBbz
    Registered Users Posts: 1,889 ✭✭✭SozBbz


    Actually on this topic, im trying to get back into using MFP and have wondered if there is a guideline on what the activity levels actually mean.

    Is there a definition anywhere of the 4 catagories;

    -not very active
    -lightly active
    -active
    -very active


    I've gone for lightly active myself as although i have a desk job, my phone tells me I average 7k steps per day year to date (possibly more as I'm not glued to my phone 24/7) and go to the gym roughly 3x per week (mostly weights).


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    #11
    jaykhunter
    Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 12,013 Mod ✭✭✭✭jaykhunter


    I'd say a lightly active since it's a decent chunk but under 10K.
    Alf Veedersane wrote: »
    So for 4km thats the ballpark of 2 digestive biscuits

    I knew weight loss is ~80% diet but wow, that's some sobering stats. Calorie-wise, just don't eat the biscuits!


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    #12
    Alf Veedersane
    Registered Users Posts: 24,557 ✭✭✭✭Alf Veedersane


    jaykhunter wrote: »
    I'd say a lightly active since it's a decent chunk but under 10K.



    I knew weight loss is ~80% diet but wow, that's some sobering stats. Calorie-wise, just don't eat the biscuits!

    People almost always over-estimate what they burn during exercise. Gym followed by food because they're sweating so obviously burned a bajillion calories so it's ok.

    And then wonder why no change despite all of the exercise.


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    #13
    SozBbz
    Registered Users Posts: 1,889 ✭✭✭SozBbz


    jaykhunter wrote: »
    I'd say a lightly active since it's a decent chunk but under 10K.

    Ya I think I'll stick wtih Lightly Active - its giving me 1570 to lose 1.5lbs per week.

    If I dropped down to Not Very Active then I'd only have 1310 per day and think i might lose my mind.


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    #14
    SozBbz
    Registered Users Posts: 1,889 ✭✭✭SozBbz


    jaykhunter wrote: »
    I'd say a lightly active since it's a decent chunk but under 10K.

    Ya I think I'll stick wtih Lightly Active - its giving me 1570 to lose 1.5lbs per week.

    If I dropped down to Not Very Active then I'd only have 1310 per day and think i might lose my mind.


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