Unsure of activity level!

melaniebester

Hi!
I've been using MFP for a year and a half on and off.
I've always had my level at sedentary, as I haven't been working and was only studying, and logging and exercise on the side.
However I've now started working- I work in a supermarket, doing checkout work, some lifting of stock, walking about etc for 5-8 hours a day, 5 days a week.
I was wondering what I should be logging my activity as now? I don't feel like 1200 calories is quite enough for me anymore, but I don't want that to just be a mental thing! If anyone has some insight, or some more specifics about activity levels, I'd be so grateful!

shadow2soul

Sounds about like lightly active or possibly even active.

However the only way to really tell, will be for you to pick one and stick with it for a couple weeks. You should be able to tell if you have the right activity level based on what happens with your weight.

For example, say you choose lightly active and 1lb per week loss. After 4 weeks however, you end up losing an average of 1.5 - 2lbs per week then you know that your activity level is still too low. Or you could choose Active and 1lb per week loss. After 4 weeks however, you end up losing an average of 0.5lbs per week or maintaining then you know your activity level is too high.

SnuggleSmacks

Honestly, that's impossible to answer without actually experiencing your day. Anyone who tells you what to enter is guessing.

You have two options for finding out: You can either get some sort of pedometer or activity tracker, like a Fitbit, Vivofit, Bodymedia, etc., or you can pick a more active setting and keep the same deficit, track everything very carefully for at least 3-4 weeks, and see if the numbers make sense. See if you're losing weight at the rate you should be with the deficit you chose. If not, then you know your activity level is wrong.

It's a pain to have to wait, but that really is the most accurate way to figure it out.

Liftng4Lis

Sounds active, but you may want to try lightly active for awhile and work your way up.

TimothyFish

One thing you can do is to take a typical day and log each activity you do and for how long. The sum of the activities over 24 hours should give you your actual calories burned. To be more accurate, take a typical day from what you were doing before and do the same thing. Divide the consumed calories (1200) from before by the activity calories from before. Use this number to multiply by the current logged activities. The result should be close to what you should be eating now.

MinnieInMaine

The only way to know for sure is to test it out. I'd probably go with lightly active first and see how that works for a few weeks then if I was still hungry/tired, I'd try active.

TimothyFish has a good idea but it's really tough to do that accurately. Most of the listings on the exercise database overestimate but something like a FitBit might help.