Sedentary or Moderately Active?

alicia2601

I sit at a desk for work 8 hours a day but I also go to the gym 5 days a week. I'm trying to figure out my daily caloric needs to lose weight since I'm struggling, so I want to reevaluate my diet. I'm 31 yrs old and my BMR is 1559.

janejellyroll

MFP is designed so you choose an activity level based on everyday (non-exercise) activities and then log exercise.

7lenny7

I picked sedentary so I would start with a low calorie budget and get rewarded as the day progressed and I was credited for my activity.

ncboiler89

janejellyroll wrote: »

MFP is designed so you choose an activity level based on everyday (non-exercise) activities and then log exercise.

Yelp. Forget exercise when it comes to activity level then add exercise as needed.

PAV8888

I agree with everything said--except : - )

Once you've accumulated 30-60-90 days of data you may be able to create a spreadsheet and have a look at your average/rolling average daily intakes and burns.

At that point you may be able to manually adjust MFP so that your TDEE doesn't start artificially low with you feeling that you have to earn your evening meal through exercise (and or being hungry all day trying to save calories for dinner); but, instead, you may now be able to better balance your daily meals in the context of your historical TDEE data.

However, as mentioned, sedentary, and eat back net exercise is probably the easiest way to setup MFP when you first start out.

Machka9

alicia2601 wrote: »

I sit at a desk for work 8 hours a day ...

Sedentary.


A little while ago, I had an ergonomic assessment at work. The ergonomic assessor asked me how much activity I got each day and I proudly informed her that I aimed for a minimum of 60 minutes each day ... walking, cycling, the gym ...

And she, very casually, said ... "Well, that leaves 23 hours each day when you're not active."

Oh.

That kind of put it into perspective.

And then she encouraged me to get up at least once and hour and do something active for at least 5 min. I do, but I still count myself as sedentary.

Christine_72

I've often heard that "23 hour" thing. Do these people not sleep!!??? I don't have 23 extra hours to exercise as i'm asleep for around 8 of them :huh:

Machka9

christinev297 wrote: »

I've often heard that "23 hour" thing. Do these people not sleep!!??? I don't have 23 extra hours to exercise as i'm asleep for around 8 of them :huh:

They're not suggesting that you exercise 24 hours a day ... just pointing out that 1/24 is only a mere 4% of our day and we can hardly call that moderately active.