[Freedom&Light]

I log my food intake and activity (outake? ) on fitday...and I have a question.

I've heard all of my life that in order to lose weight you must burn more calories than you eat. According to fitday, without any kind of activity, my calorie burn is 3733/ day.
Basal: 2263
Lifestyle: 1471

Now, does that mean if I eat less than 3733 calories a day I'll lose weight?

(Lifestyle refers to my work- primarily seated with some movement- amazing that it burns that much, no?).


So far I've only had 2214...so theoretically I should lose weight, yes?

[MauiMamma]

I don't get that one either F&L.....I also use fitday and it says i burn over 3000 calories (basal plus lifestyle) and yet i am sure that if i took in lets say, 2500, i would possibly maintain,but certainly not lose! I take in about 1800 and lose about 1-2 lbs a week. That's still a good amount of food, but it's no 3000!
If you figure it out,let me know...
MauiMamma
218/1st goal 199/ goal weight 150-160

[Phoebe2]

Could someone tell ME where this "fitday" is? Not that I'll believe it;I just want to see

[goodforme]

It's hard to sit there and log in everything you eat and every movement you do, but it's informative. Try it! www.fitday.com

[Phoebe]

Hello Phoebe2, great name!

Not really sure either, I thought it was your basal calories minus your calories used up by exercise. A long-standing slimming magazine in the UK says that you should eat 1800 calories a day to lose weight (if you have 3 stone or more to lose) and 1500 if less than that.

[Phoebe2]

Hi Phoebe, what is basal? That site is so strange. The other day it said I burned 800cal and ate only475cal How is this possible if i did barley any exersize.('cause I was sick) It tells me I eat 50% fat but I'm sure I don't

Oh well

Phoebe2

[Cowgirl]

I don't honestly think that is a very accurate site. But it is handy for keeping track of calories. By the way what is a basal? Antother site told me I had to eat 1400 cals to loose which seems kind of low. I am trying to stay around 1800 and it seems to be working. How bout we just skip the scale, calculators, etc and just use a tape measure and mirror? Seems to work well for me.

[Cowgirl]

Look what I found. This is a neat site!
WWW.caloriesperhour.com



An activity with a MET of one corresponds to a person's Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), the rate at which they would burn calories sitting still. In fact, if you select the activity "Sitting (still)" and calculate the number of calories you would burn in 24 hours the result will equal your BMR.

Other activities are assigned METs to indicate their intensity level relative to BMR. Driving a car has a MET of two and playing water polo has a MET of ten. Thus you would burn twice as many calories driving a car as you would sitting still; and ten times as many playing water polo.

You can see that databases containing lists of activities with their corresponding MET values are designed to be used with BMR, yet most calculators only use weight. They calculate one calorie per kilogram of body weight per hour per MET. Using this method a 200 pound person would burn twice as many calories as a 100 pound person:

90.7 kg (200 lb) x 24 hours x 1 MET = 2,177
45.4 kg (100 lb) x 24 hours x 1 MET = 1,090
When we take sex, age, and height into account and calculate BMR we get more accurate results:
If the 200 pound person were a 25 year old, 6 foot male, his BMR would be 2,062, significantly lower than the figure above.

If the 100 pound person were a 25 year old, 5 foot 2 inch female, her BMR would be 1,266, significantly higher than the figure above.
Our calculator uses your sex, age, height and weight to calculate your BMR; multiplies your BMR by the number of METs assigned to the activity you select; and adjusts the results to reflect the duration of activity to give you the best possible estimate of calories burned

[Jehari]

Hi everyone! I too have been on the Fitday site and according to them I burn over 3100 calories a day. That sounds really high to me. Another site (can't remember the name since I've gone to so many) says I burn about 2600. That's a pretty big difference. How are we ever to know what is right and what is accurate? I have been trying to stay at 1400 to 1600. I was doing 1200 but I found that I didn't lose much that way. I read that the body goes into "starvation mode" at that point. BUT, if my body really burned over 3100 calories a day, I would be losing 3 pounds a week instead of the 1 I lost last week and the 2 I lost this week. OH what I wouldn't give to get accurate information for a change. That would be the most helpful thing to those of us trying to make a plan to lose weight!!
Jen

[Phoebe2]

Nice site cowgirl, I think I'll use both fitday and your's from yime to time.