Just How Sedentary is "Sedentary," Anyway?

LAWoman72

So I have my stats set on Sedentary. Or is that Inactive? Can't remember (what a drag it is getting old).

Anyway, I really do feel I'm inactive. I work from home - all sitting, all computer work. Then when my sons get home from school, sure, I'm popping up to help them or get them things, but I mean it's not as if this is heavy duty stuff. I'm not helping them with homework while walking a treadmill with a refrigerator strapped to my back or anything.

Other than that, basic housework. Dishes, laundry, straightening. Not exactly stuff that gets one's heart rate up.

If I do actually move around, I count it. For instance, today I cleaned out two toy closets from top to bottom, lugging giant heavy boxes of books, bags of toys and so on. Now THAT I counted.

Yet, set on Sedentary at an intended loss of one pound per week, when I stick to plan, I lose two pounds per week easily. Sometimes more.

I weigh and measure with a precision that would make a NASA engineer blanch (and probably run the other way). So I know I'm not underestimating my calories.

I'm a gnarled old premenopausal fart with a bad thyroid and an embarrassing lazy streak, so...whassup? Am I mistaking what MFP thinks of as inactive?

And no, I'm not complaining. Just wondering. If you had my lifestyle, would you set at the lowest setting? Or go one up, Lightly Active or whatever...?

tomatoey

I'd do lightly active, because you'd still be losing, and you could eat more food.

shadow2soul

Do you have a pedometer (or you could download a free app to count steps if you have a smart phone)?

I have mine set to sedentary. I had a fitbit (recently switched to VivoFit, but they do about the same thing) which adjusts my calories based on how active I am.

less than 2000 steps : negative adjustment
2000-2500 steps : no adjustment
2500-3500 steps : no adjustment/small adjustment if I worked out (less than 100 calories)
3500 + steps : adjustment of at least 50 calories/up to 800 calories with exercise and a large number of steps

I also have my profile set to 1lb per week loss. I have been losing 1.3-2lbs per week though(over 90 days), but I think that's because I only log up to 80% of the calories from my HRM (until here recently). Recently, I've decided to try logging 100% and see what happens. If I slow down to less than 1lb per week, then I'll try logging up to 90% of the calories and so on.

LAWoman72

I don't have a pedometer. Interesting, I may get one just to see what's what here.

sijomial

Calculators aren't really calculators - they are estimators.
Actual results are what matters and if you are losing at 2lbs a week instead of intended 1lb a week your calorie goal is hundreds of calories (maybe 500) less a day than it needs to be.
My initial set up was out by about 300 cals/day - unfortunately in the opposite direction to you!

You really don't need gadgets to count steps or playing with activity settings - just custom set your calorie goal and experiment until you find the right level to achieve the results you want.
I'm a big believer in keeping it simple!

Sued0nim

shadow2soul wrote: »

Do you have a pedometer (or you could download a free app to count steps if you have a smart phone)?

I have mine set to sedentary. I had a fitbit (recently switched to VivoFit, but they do about the same thing) which adjusts my calories based on how active I am.

less than 2000 steps : negative adjustment
2000-2500 steps : no adjustment
2500-3500 steps : no adjustment/small adjustment if I worked out (less than 100 calories)
3500 + steps : adjustment of at least 50 calories/up to 800 calories with exercise and a large number of steps

I also have my profile set to 1lb per week loss. I have been losing 1.3-2lbs per week though(over 90 days), but I think that's because I only log up to 80% of the calories from my HRM (until here recently). Recently, I've decided to try logging 100% and see what happens. If I slow down to less than 1lb per week, then I'll try logging up to 90% of the calories and so on.

Yes this ...my fitbit adjusts my sedentary setting downwards at anything less than 2000-4000 steps, depending on the intensity ...

It also encourages you to move more and I log workouts with my HRM

I am on a 0.5lb a week last few pounds to go stretch though so it's important to be more accurate with a cut as low as 250 calories ...it still seems to be working and I'm getting a good idea of my average TDEE for maintenance

47Jacqueline

shadow2soul wrote: »

Do you have a pedometer (or you could download a free app to count steps if you have a smart phone)?

I have mine set to sedentary. I had a fitbit (recently switched to VivoFit, but they do about the same thing) which adjusts my calories based on how active I am.

less than 2000 steps : negative adjustment
2000-2500 steps : no adjustment
2500-3500 steps : no adjustment/small adjustment if I worked out (less than 100 calories)
3500 + steps : adjustment of at least 50 calories/up to 800 calories with exercise and a large number of steps

I also have my profile set to 1lb per week loss. I have been losing 1.3-2lbs per week though(over 90 days), but I think that's because I only log up to 80% of the calories from my HRM (until here recently). Recently, I've decided to try logging 100% and see what happens. If I slow down to less than 1lb per week, then I'll try logging up to 90% of the calories and so on.

I have my activity set to very active and maintain quite easily. However, I was wondering how steps were calculated as calories and this is helpful. I use a Jawbone as a rule, but am waiting for a replacement because mine was defective.

In addition to steps, I log my workouts with an HRM because it's more accurate than the trackers or MFP's calculations. I accept 100% of the HRM - it's always over 150 calories less than any database I've seen.

sheepotato

I like having my activity level set to sedimentary because I like to log my exercise so I can go back and look at it later.

It was interesting to see a breakdown of how fitbit calculates activity level, thanks for that.

Fitbits are expensive for what they are, but they really do motivate you to take extra steps during the day. It's convenient when they sync up, now that there are other pedometers that do the same and work with MFP it's worth looking around for the best value one. As one of the posters has said you don't need any gadgets, but I find them motivating and great things to buy yourself as a reward for goals.

I just got myself a new swim watch for christmas, it keeps a weekly distance total below the time. So every time I look at it I can see how much I've swam this week. Did I need it? Not at all! I'll admit it is silly and over the top, but now I can just zone out and enjoy swimming without keeping a lap count. I kept forgetting what lap I was on all summer/autumn.

logg1e

My day is pretty similar to yours - housework, sitting at a computer, walking the dog and popping to the shops... I easily hit 10 000 steps and thought that this would be a fairly average number for adults. MFP taught me otherwise.

TimothyFish

What you describe sounds very sedentary, even more sedentary than most, since an office worker will at least walk between the car and the office each day. Where I work, that accounts for about half a mile of walking.

leggup

How long has this been going on? Anything less than 6 weeks is likely a fluctuation and not worth actually adjusting your goals/intake over. Your ticker says you've lost 0 lbs, so I'm confused. Your profile also says you have a thyroid condition. All of the above advice from other users is based on no extraneous medical conditions. Since your thyroid is not able to function normally, you may not be able to follow the standard advice.

In general, Sedentary/Lightly Active/Active/Whatever the Highest One Is are meant to indicate how you spend your workday because it's a good 1/3 of your day (with 1/3 sleeping and the remaining 1/3 eating dinner, breakfast, driving to work, etc).

WalkingAlong

You sound sedentary to me. That's pretty cool that you can 'count' all activity and still lose 2 lbs. a week!

I agree that no one 'needs' a pedometer but if you would ever like to become even a little more active (and it's good for you to do so, of course, especially as we age), pedometers can be really motivating, especially for data lovers.

Azdak

People mistakenly think that "sedentary" means "inert". "Sedentary" includes much of the moving around the average person does in a day. I attended a research presentation years ago in which the researchers developed an activity scale and gave several thousand adults activity diaries to record 24-hour movement. Even though these people had jobs, managed households, etc, the casual activity was so minimal they determined that 70% of the adults they studied were essentially motionless.

Liftng4Lis

Sounds sedentary.

SLLRunner

LAWoman72 wrote: »

So I have my stats set on Sedentary. Or is that Inactive? Can't remember (what a drag it is getting old).

Anyway, I really do feel I'm inactive. I work from home - all sitting, all computer work. Then when my sons get home from school, sure, I'm popping up to help them or get them things, but I mean it's not as if this is heavy duty stuff. I'm not helping them with homework while walking a treadmill with a refrigerator strapped to my back or anything.

Other than that, basic housework. Dishes, laundry, straightening. Not exactly stuff that gets one's heart rate up.

If I do actually move around, I count it. For instance, today I cleaned out two toy closets from top to bottom, lugging giant heavy boxes of books, bags of toys and so on. Now THAT I counted.

Yet, set on Sedentary at an intended loss of one pound per week, when I stick to plan, I lose two pounds per week easily. Sometimes more.

I weigh and measure with a precision that would make a NASA engineer blanch (and probably run the other way). So I know I'm not underestimating my calories.

I'm a gnarled old premenopausal fart with a bad thyroid and an embarrassing lazy streak, so...whassup? Am I mistaking what MFP thinks of as inactive?

And no, I'm not complaining. Just wondering. If you had my lifestyle, would you set at the lowest setting? Or go one up, Lightly Active or whatever...?

It sounds like lightly active might work for you, since you're losing too quickly on sedentary. Another thing you might look at is your logging habits. You could be overestimating food and/or underestimating exercise calories (yes, that's possible, just as is underestimating food calories and overestimating exercise burns).

I work a desk job all day, but I work out 5-6 times a week (heavy weight lift M,W,F for 40 minutes, 30-40 cardio afterward, run 40-50 minutes 2-3 days a week, rest on Sunday, sometimes Saturday, and I have my settings on active. I also eat my exercise calories back.

Finding the correct activity setting for me took a lot of trial and error.

BarbieAS

To provide a little contrast to the Fitbit posts, I have my account set to "lightly active," and I typically get a significant negative Fitbit adjustment for anything under about 6,000 steps per day (meaning that Fitbit estimates that I've burned less that day than the MFP estimate for "lightly active"), then from 6,000 to about 8,000it can go either up or down slightly, and I don't start consistently getting positive adjustments until I get over 8,000 steps per day. That's my personal experience, and as previously mentioned a Fitbit is still just an estimate (though a moderately better one than blindly selecting a one-size-fits-all-days activity level), but I hope that helps a little.

MinnieInMaine

I'd also be curious to know how long you've been at it. Slightly quicker weight loss than expected could be due to a recent change in diet or exercise (water weight).

Or maybe you're just more active than you give yourself credit for and lightly active would be a better setting. A pedometer would definitely help give you a better idea.

WalkingAlong

BarbieAS wrote: »

To provide a little contrast to the Fitbit posts, I have my account set to "lightly active," and I typically get a significant negative Fitbit adjustment for anything under about 6,000 steps per day (meaning that Fitbit estimates that I've burned less that day than the MFP estimate for "lightly active"), then from 6,000 to about 8,000it can go either up or down slightly, and I don't start consistently getting positive adjustments until I get over 8,000 steps per day. That's my personal experience, and as previously mentioned a Fitbit is still just an estimate (though a moderately better one than blindly selecting a one-size-fits-all-days activity level), but I hope that helps a little.

Yeah, if I wear a Fitbit and don't intentionally add activity, I only log maybe 4000 steps a day. I thought it was interesting that I did WW for a while earlier this year and that was around their 'cutoff' for earning Activity Points from adding a step count to the app, too. So 4000ish or under earned zero, then it was what you'd expect from there on up (like 2 points earned per each mile or 2000ish steps, above 4000ish).

hortensehildegarde

thank you for posting this. I had a similar experience. I posted before trying to get people's thoughts but there were comments made in this thread I hadn't seen before so it was interesting to me as well.

I don't track so specifically so I was wondering if I was just a chronic underestimater. My day was even more sedentary than yours- very little to no housework, no kids, working from home in PJs(reading/typing while lying down). Set at .5 to 1 per week I too would lose 2 lbs (or more!) if I actually kept to MFP recommendations.

So to answer your question, I too would pick sedentary with your work type but if after experience I found that that estimate was low for me I would either up my activity level or set the custom goal as someone else suggested. I ended up just setting mine up to lightly active because that seemed easiest and I often eat over MFP goal anyway.

yoovie

sedentary is closer to nothing than something.

do you have a few months behind you where you are already working out hard at least once a week? put lightly active.

Not doing that much yet?

Stick with sedentary til you are.

Abby2205

I agree that it sounds like a sedentary lifestyle, but your actual results are more reliable than any activity guidelines. Maybe you burn more calories than average. The formulas for calculating basal metabolic rate (Mifflin-St. Jeor and the like) come from fitting a line to data. The actual data, though, would be scattered above and below the line. We usually only hear on MFP from folks who suspect their metabolism is slower than MFP predicts, but there must be people out there who have a faster metabolism, and as you say, they aren't likely to complain.