What's my activity level?

HokieMama4

Hey everyone! I'm trying to calculate my TDEE. If you have opinions about whether or not this is the best way to lose weight, you may kindly keep them to yourself - that's the not the question I'm asking here. :happy:

I can't decide if I'm moderately active ("moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week") or very active ("hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week"). Here's my typical weekly activity:
Monday - 45 minutes dance cardio plus 55 minutes lifting (body pump)
Tuesday - 30 minutes abs (CXWorx) plus 55 minutes intense cardio (Body Attack)
Wednesday - rest
Thursday - 55 minutes kickboxing/mma (Body Combat) plus 55 minutes lifting (Body Pump)
Friday - 45-90 minutes dance cardio and sometimes 30 minutes abs
Saturday - rest
Sunday - run (about a mile or two) - I'm not really a "runner," but I would like to up my speed and endurance before joining a soccer league this Fall.
I periodically trade out one of my routine classes for a yoga or zumba, but I regularly do 5 cardio plus 2 lifting plus 2 rest in a week. When I do these classes at the gym, I work hard and do all the high options. Also during the week I usually end up doing something like playing soccer with my kids or racquetball with my husband or walking around the zoo/park or swimming taking a walk - just for fun. So I would say I have 5 real cardio sessions (which would fall under moderately active) at a high intensity (which would fall under very active), and I'm not sure if I should count the other things or not. So, what do you all think? Should I calculate as moderately or very active? I don't want to under- OR over-estimate my calories.

Thanks in advance for the votes!

Francl27

I have the same problem too, to be honest... I'm somewhere between lightly and moderately active (I exercise 6 to 7 days a week but it's pretty light, about 250-300 calories each time, and I sit on my butt most of the time otherwise), so I eat somewhere between both. I'd just eat somewhere in the middle too, but it depends on what you do the rest of the time too.

SteelySunshine

Well I don't know what your job is so, I would say on the high end of moderately active, but that isn't usually an option. Perhaps you could do the TDEE of both activity levels and average them out. It's all a guestimation game anyway. For example my BMR is estimated at 1900 cals a day, but I am pretty sure it is only around 1700. So that is off a bit and I am pretty sure the calorie burn is listed a bit higher than what it is in reality. You will probably have to play around with your calories a bit and check on the scale keep logging everything you eat keep logging your exercise and see what the scale does, that is the only thing short of getting the BMR or RMR test done that will tell you what your requirements are. I have found mine are about 200 less that what MFP says for my age height and weight. You might find the opposite is true and might need to eat considerably more than the estimates say. Good luck.

michelle7673

Your question is a perfect answer for the "why does MFP tell me to eat back my exercise calories" question...

I think these are really broad, subjective categories, so I find that the MFP method (setting a deficit from the sedentary calorie demand, then deducting actual exercise) is more finely tuned.

But I think for your purposes, maybe try to look at both TDEE numbers and pick one in the middle, give it time and see how it works?