Am I sedentary or lightly active?

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paradi3s
paradi3s Posts: 343 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I stopped working out and am a student who's usually on her feet half the time (If I'm in campus around 10 hours a day, I'm usually walking 1-2 hours at a time, not including when I'm cooking/cleaning at home). I plan to workout 3x a week once I get my schedule cleared out (30 minutes circuit training + 5km run). But before that, I just want to know if I'm lightly active or sedentary without working out? Just so I know how much I should be eating (Which is either 1,580-1,600 or 1,770-1,800) in order to maintain my weight. And if I start working out, will that make me moderately active, or will I just keep it at sedentary/lightly active and "eat back" the calories I burned? Sorry for all the noob questions, but thank you for answering (in advance haha) :-)
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Replies

  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
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    Sounds like you're lightly active at the very least - being on your feet for a large part of the day means you are not sedentary.

    The activity setting just covers what your lifestyle is like before exercise, so the extra calories will cover the time you spend on your feet and walking, etc.

    When you exercise you should also log your exercise activity and eat back some of the calories. Aiming to eat 50-75% of the exercise calories should give enough leeway to allow for over-estimation of exercise burns.
  • paradi3s
    paradi3s Posts: 343 Member
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    KarenJanine wrote: »
    Sounds like you're lightly active at the very least - being on your feet for a large part of the day means you are not sedentary.

    The activity setting just covers what your lifestyle is like before exercise, so the extra calories will cover the time you spend on your feet and walking, etc.

    When you exercise you should also log your exercise activity and eat back some of the calories. Aiming to eat 50-75% of the exercise calories should give enough leeway to allow for over-estimation of exercise burns.

    Thank you! :-)
  • paradi3s
    paradi3s Posts: 343 Member
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    Bumping this up
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    bump
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
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    lightly active.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    I agree: lightly active. I prefer to set my activity level for what I am without targeted exercise then eat back exercise calories earned. It feels more accurate to me somehow (at least for how I log and my levels)
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    edited February 2015
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    Lightly active and then log your workout. The 'setting' is your base calorie and then on the days you exercise you 'earn' more calories. Fewer than 3500 steps is sedentary, if you really walk that much, you are almost definitely putting in 10000 or more.

    If you really want to know, invest in a pedometer (cheap) or a fitbit (logs your exercise into MFP). It makes it more accurate.
  • Clawsal
    Clawsal Posts: 255 Member
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    http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html

    Maybe you can use an online calculator to figure out your TDEE. I don't know how accurate they are though.
  • greenhez
    greenhez Posts: 1
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    ok so if I work out 5 times a week, 2 days 20 min circuit with jilian micheals 30 day shred, 2 days 1 hr deep water aqua fitness and 30-60 min strength training, 1 day 20 min circuit training with 30 day shred and on campus walking about 1.5 miles total to and from classes and car, then another day with just the 1.5 walking around campus then I rest totally on sunday. what kind of activity is that? plus I have 2 kids so when I get home I rest for about and hour or two then im on my feet for the rest of the day cleaning cooking and taking the girls to swim practice twice a week.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    Why don't you just log your exercise? It's easier. College student lead crazy lives. You're never going to do the same thing every day.
  • runningtk
    runningtk Posts: 4 Member
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    nxd10 wrote: »
    Why don't you just log your exercise? It's easier. College student lead crazy lives. You're never going to do the same thing every day.

    Ain't that the truth :smile:

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    greenhez wrote: »
    ok so if I work out 5 times a week, 2 days 20 min circuit with jilian micheals 30 day shred, 2 days 1 hr deep water aqua fitness and 30-60 min strength training, 1 day 20 min circuit training with 30 day shred and on campus walking about 1.5 miles total to and from classes and car, then another day with just the 1.5 walking around campus then I rest totally on sunday. what kind of activity is that? plus I have 2 kids so when I get home I rest for about and hour or two then im on my feet for the rest of the day cleaning cooking and taking the girls to swim practice twice a week.

    None of that exercise is part of your activity setting.
    Exercise is logged after the event and you get those estimated calories added to your daily goal.
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,590 Member
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    Lightly active.
  • paradi3s
    paradi3s Posts: 343 Member
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    Thank you for the comments! I won't be logging in how much I move during the day, but will start to log exercise once I actually do start working out. And yes, college is real hectic, especially when you joined a lot of orgs and manage an online business. That and your social life hahaha I'm not sure whrther I love or resent how hectic it can be
  • PurpleYFronts
    PurpleYFronts Posts: 344 Member
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    Why dont you invest in a fitbit or something similar and monitor how much you actually move and pair it with MFP. Then you'll have a more accurate picture.
  • paradi3s
    paradi3s Posts: 343 Member
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    PurpleYFronts wrote: »
    Why dont you invest in a fitbit or something similar and monitor how much you actually move and pair it with MFP. Then you'll have a more accurate picture.

    Would love to, but my wallet is as dry as a desert and I'm still trying to save up on a good pair of running shoes :-(
  • PurpleYFronts
    PurpleYFronts Posts: 344 Member
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    I think there are Pedometer type Apps for your phone that can do the same thing. I guess thats something we carry about with us all day so might be an option for you?
  • paradi3s
    paradi3s Posts: 343 Member
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    PurpleYFronts wrote: »
    I think there are Pedometer type Apps for your phone that can do the same thing. I guess thats something we carry about with us all day so might be an option for you?

    Yap, I just found out MFP has a 'partner' app for walking, so I'll be downloading that! May not be super accurate, but it's a start til I can get myself a pedometer. Thank you! :-)
  • Ulwaz
    Ulwaz Posts: 380 Member
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    i usually put myself as sedentary and then just add any workouts i do :)
  • likingbody7
    likingbody7 Posts: 1 Member
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    Try this site for a rough idea of what your base calorie needs are:

    http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc

    This calculator coincides with the MFP activity categories quite closely.

    What I've found over time is that most of us are 'lightly active' throughout the day (it's quite surprising how much you burn using brain power at work and then coming home to cook and clean).

    I list myself as 'lightly active' and then add ~80% of calories burned from exercise (I'd be starving otherwise). My 'trick' is to try and leave a 200-300 calorie deficit at the end of the day. This allows for anything I may have missed during the day as well as any miscalculations in calorie burn during exercise. This method resulted in a drop of 37 pounds over 3 &1/2 months.

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