Oh no, I think I'm doing this all wrong...help please!

Ok so I am 22yr old female 5'3 and 137 with a goal of 115, put in my activity level at very active because I work out an hour to two hours of cardio a day then 20-30 minutes of weights usually burning anywhere from 700-1100 cal a day working out. Ok that being said am i suppose to log in my exercise so that it's added to the burn meter or not? I just read a post that made me think that I am not suppose to add in my activities if i already have my account set to 'very active' (the highest on here). This post was saying I should put my setting on 'sedentary' and THEN log my activity for the day...and if this is the case I've been doing this all wrong! :( please help!

So basically what I'm asking is if i have my account set to 'very active' because i work out vigorously daily for at LEAST an hour if not two am i not suppose to add those burned calories to my activity long??? 

I'm worried what I've been doing is going to sabotage my weight loss efforts. 

Please any help would be most appreciated~!

according to the burn meter you burn 2500 calories per day, subtract 500 to lose 1 pound per week, and you should be consuming roughly 2000 calories per day. How much have you been consuming and what was the effect? i doubt that you've been sabotaging yourself if you haven't been gaining at all, maybe you would just benefit from modifying your current levels. hope this helps =]

short but straight.. if you set your activity level to very active, do NOT add your workouts as you are basically adding it twice. The other option is for you to change your activity level to sedentary and add your workouts then....

Erase the word 'sabotage' from your vocabulary.. at least you've been exercising and minding what you eat.

ETA: added comment.

i've been consuming between 1500-1700 daily along with my workouts. My other question is this, I've tried to reset my account to 'sedentary' so i can log my activity but it keeps resetting it to 'very active'! agh so annoying! What should I do?

so even if i change my setting to 'sedentary' will my burn meter still read 2450 for the day before my exercise is logged? that's what it read when i had my account set to 'very active...'

Under My account/account settings make sure you click update after you change your activity level.. this should change the burn meter too.

I find it hard to believe that "very active" setting is what you burn on workout days and you shouldn't log your activity level. I have mine set to very active and on days I do not workout I burn 2280. On those days I eat 1700 cals. On days I work out I burn up to 3200 because I log my activity. 2280 I assumed was the burn of a person who works out regularly and has muscle working much harder than say a lightly active person and a sedetary person. I definitely do not burn 2280 on workout days... I'd stick to very active and log your activities. You're going to start to get muscles pain and joint pain if you don't. At least this is what has begun to happen to me recently when not consuming the correct amount of calories on workout days. But you don't have to listen to me :) Just thought I'd give my two cents

Original Post by meowphotog:

I find it hard to believe that "very active" setting is what you burn on workout days and you shouldn't log your activity level. ... I'd stick to very active and log your activities.

I beg to disagree. I understand the point about having more muscle if you're active, but nevertheless I really think you should EITHER:

1) keep the setting at "very active" and DON'T log your workouts, or
2) change the setting to "sedentary" and DO log your workouts

If you set to "very active" and then log your workouts as well, I am 99% sure you are double-counting.

I had the same dilemma.  I work out every day for at least an hour, but I can't say I'm particularly active other than that.  I don't sit on my butt all day, so I wouldn't classify myself as sedentary either, so I started out  with "moderately active," but then played around with the burn calculator and eventually settled on "light activity."  Look at how you spend the rest of your time during your day when you're not working out.  If you literally sit all day, then pick sedentary.  If not, then pick light or moderate activity unless you're running around all day or doing a lot of heavy lifting.  Then pick very active.

The tool is definitely not perfect.  Really it's a judgement call, and you know best what your life is like.  One thing to remember is that if you're using the calculator to calculate how many calories you should be eating, if you pick a lower activity level, it's probably going to tell you to eat too few calories because it doesn't take into account daily logged excercise in that goal.  And from experience, I know that not eating enough can sometimes prevent you from losing weight.

Good luck!

I burn 2280 as very active, if I want to lose weight -500... 1780 is just too little for me in order to keep my muscle definition. What do I do on days when I'm inactive labeled as 'sedentary"? I definitely cannot eat 1400 cals, I was doing that and gained weight from starvation mode and suffered from severe joint pain because of the low calorie intake. This is just me, but I feel much better eating 2300 cals on workout days. I'm going by experience, but like you mentioned calorie counters on websites are a start, what works for me, may not work for everyone. On workout days I do alot and 2280 just seems like too little to me.

I personally like to set my activity level to sedentary and then log in all my activity.  Motivates me more!

Editted 02/24/09...Here's how I see it.  If I set my activity at sedentary than that is approximately my BMR.  So in logging any activity, that is the extra calories I burn.  I then use my eat and burn meters together to keep my calories in check. 

I believe the point is to set the setting to whatever you are (be it sedentary/active.whatever) AND add workouts on top of it. This is for a good reason! People who work out regularly burn more calories even when they're not working out, because muscles needs more energy. If you set the setting to sedentary and then add your workout, you'll be eating fewer calories, sure, but that's unhealthy. You'll actually be eating a lot fewer calories than the 500-cal deficit you want. 

Example: John burns 2500 cals a day, logged in as a very active person. On the days he exercises, he adds 700 calories burned. So his total cals should be 2500+700=3200. Subtract 500, and he should eat 2700 cals that day.

HOWEVER, if John said he was 'sedentary' but was ACTUALLY active, CC might misinterpret! The site would say John only burns 2000 (for example) on a normal day. So, he adds 700 calories, and 2000+700=2700. Subtract 500, and he only eats 2200 calories.

See the problem? He's actually eating 500 fewer calories a day than he should be.