Two questions:

1) I'm a little confused about how I should be recording activities and lifestyle level at Fitday.

I seem to be burning so many calories. On days where I both work a shift, walk the dog, and exercise - Fitday suggests that I am burning 3,800 to a little over 4,000 calories per day! Does that sound accurate for working class man of my age? I work in a power station, my job varies from light control room work, to fairly hectic mechanical work. My shifts vary from 7 to 12 hours (I don't always get time for exercise on 12 hour shift days/nights!).

I scored my lifestyle level as Standing work (housework) - as recently I have been assigned a lot of control room duties. But should I be adding my shifts under 'occupational activities'. At the moment I opt for the 'electrical / plumbing' option - but will vary it according to what level of work I get each day. I go running or walking with the husky every day - and strength training three times per week. I record those activities (although they probably underestimate calories burnt trying to handle and hold back Wolfy).

Its just that I seem to score so many calories burnt most days.

2) How many calories should I cut?

I'm ok with calorie deficiency. I have had a recommendation of 20% deficiency. But 20% of what? Basal; Basal plus Activities; or TOTAL calories burnt each day? Its just that if it is the latter, then 20% of 4,000 calories burnt equates to a diet allowance of 3,200 calories! That seems an awful lot! For now, in my confusion, I have opted for a target of 1,800 to 2,300 - and I seem to be achieving a little under 2,200 per day at the moment.

How does that sound? I'm aiming to lose 2 pounds per week until I lose another eight pounds.

I'm new to calorie counting - and I'm looking forward to your advice Thank you.

to lose two pounds per week you need to eat 1000 calories less than your bmr (basal metabolic rate) each day

Sorry Sophie, but that doesn't make any sense. Fitday says that my basal rate is 1549 (another site gives it as 1540, so its about right). I know that I couldn't function on 549 calories per day. Thats starvation in the extreme.

Also, that means that exercise and activity would be pointless. I have a fulltime manual job, and I exercise regular - surely that must be taken into account on any calorie allowance.

Or do I have it all wrong? Help!

im sure your bmr must be higher than that!
cos i know you run loads and do plenty of exercising.
i am a runner and mine came to 2300.. but i am also a teenage girl
so i think you may need to recalculate...

ahh hang on i get it.. bmr is what you would burn if you just were bed ridden all day and did nothing.
sorry i totally confused myself all together there for a moment.
give me a moment to remember how i worked mine out

The Accurate Way
There are three primary components that make up your body's energy expenditure. Adding these three components together, basal metabolic rate, energy expended during physical activity, and the thermic effect of food is the most accurate way of determining how many calories your body requires each day.

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): Most of the body's energy, about 60-70%, goes to supporting the ongoing metabolic work of the body's cells. This includes such activities as heart beat, respiration and maintaining body temperature. To determine your BMR:

For adult males - Multiply the body weight by 10; add double the body weight to this value.
[i.e., for a 150 lb male, 1,500 + (2 x 150)=1,800 cal/day BMR]

For adult females - Multiply body weight by 10; add the body weight to this value.
[i.e., for a 120 lb female, 1,200 + 120=1,320 cal/day BMR]

Energy Expended During Physical Activity: The second component of the equation depends upon your level of physical activity. Physical activity has a profound effect on human energy expenditure and contributes 20-30% to the body's total energy output. One of the most reliable methods in calculating calories burned during physical activity is the Metabolic Energy (MET) Method. This is the method we have used for the Fitness Partner Connection's Activity Calculator for 158 different activities.

Thermic Effect of Food: The last component to calculate has to do with your body's management of food. The increase in energy required to digest food is referred to as the thermic effect of food (TEF) and it's simple to determine:

TEF = total kcals consumed x 10%
[i.e., 2,000 kcals consumed/day x 0.10 = 200 kcals expended for TEF]

The Easy Way
If all of those calculations seem too confusing or tedious, you can roughly estimate your daily calorie requirements using this simple formula:

For sedentary people: Weight x 14 = estimated cal/day

For moderately active people: Weight x 17 = estimated cal/day

For active people: Weight x 20 = estimated cal/day

Note: Moderately Active is defined as 3-4 aerobic sessions per week. Active is defined as 5-7 aerobic sessions per week.

and then you take 500 from that daily

Thanks Sophie. It leaves me in more confusion over how I should be entering information at Fitday.com, as your simple calculation gives me a rate of 2,500 cals - while Fitday suggests that I am burning an average of 3,873 cals. Some difference!

I entered my lifestyle as standing work (housework), and then enter my shifts in the power station under activities/occupation/electrical work, plumbing... I wonder if Fitday is repeating the same work under lifestyle as in activities.

I'm new to this calorie counting thing, and not particularly impressed - it seems that as far as calculating how calories are burnt - there are no rules, it is not a science at all.

Thanks for your help anyway Sophie - I do appreciate that you are trying to help me, thanks.

Tooth: This is how I gauge myself with my fitday account. I take my total calories burnt and subtract my caloric intake for the day and that gives me the actual number of calories I used throughout that day. I also find the calories eaten vs burnt chart found under the reports tab to be extremely helpful.

I don't know...hope this was somewhat relevant and if not----sorry!

Thanks Katie - please don't be sorry! I am sorry if I'm being such grump over this Maybe Fitday is designed for certain people with a different lifestyle to mine. I'll stop making such a fuss over it. For now, I will assume that Fitday does exaggerate my calories burnt - and I will assume a daily average of around 3,000 cals. If I can lose a few pounds per week over the next month then that will prove (or if I lose more or less, then disprove) that to be the correct rate. No more only

Ya, it told me I burnt 3,000 calories yesterday..and I only ate like 1,500 cals meaning I had a 1,500 defict..according to that thing..it's so wierd..I'm confused..which is rediculus..after 5 months of this I should know what I'm doing by now but I still have no clue

Thanks EHinata - its nice to know that I'm not the only one confused about my Fitday stats!

Well, for my hubby last week some days it had him at 6000 calories burnt---and I thought wow that's high but low and behold all of the math fit together and he did lose 7 pounds....so I'm guessing that fitday is pretty accurate.

And don't be sorry, I totally know what it's like to worry that all of your work is in vain...if feels good to let it all out and hear what other people think.

*hug*

If ANYTHING...how cool is it to see the calorie count/ fat count of all the foods you eat? I try to log in every spoonful and it keeps track of EVERYTHING. I know NOTHING about counting calories or what's in what. I too was surprised at the amount of calories I am supposedly burning....but I'm mainly using it to see what I'm eating and learn what foods mean what. Eventually I will memorize certin things that I eat all the time, just from seeing their componants all laid out nicely. I love how it does all the work for you that way. I was monumentally impressed by that alone.