Lightly active or active?

cocobot2013

Hello! I was just wondering what everyone's input would be for this, I'm set at lightly active, I'm 5 ft 9 inches and around 120-125 pounds, (yes I know it's right at underweight,please no negative comments) but I was wondering if I should set it to active? I don't use a fitbit or anything or ever add in my exercise calories since I'm not sure what it would be exactly. I work 7-8 hours 5 days a week standing on my feet and walking around, also run on the treadmill for 40 minutes twice a week with a ten minute ab video, then on my two days off I do 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of strength training two of those days.

Francl27

Active AND eat back exercise calories.

vanbrita

Good post. Francl27 ... should we not eat back the exercise calories? I've always wondered that. It may explain why it has taken me so long to lose weight. I have lost 24 lbs in two years, while others on here seem to drop the pounds very quickly.

Faithful_Chosen

Eat back true exercise calories for sure: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Faithful_Chosen/view/why-you-should-eat-to-your-mfp-goal-including-true-exercise-calories-763982

Your work most likely makes you 'active'. Log all purposeful exercise calories separate and eat them back. Fully if HRM measured, otherwise, 50 to 75 percent, depending.

cocobot2013

But I'm never sure on how many calories I've actually burned to log in? And I don't want to guess and overestimate! The treadmill usually is 260 but that's the only number I know of.. but should I switch it to active now instead and work with those calories? And just see how that goes without adding in exercise calories of any sort yet?

Faithful_Chosen

Switch to active, regardless. Exercise has nothing to do with that

For your exercise, find the MFP activity in the database, fill in the time you spent doing it, and start by eating back 50%. Then weigh yourself after a week, two weeks, and three weeks. Check if how much you have lost is the same as the goal you have set in MFP. If it's more, eat back 10% more of your exercise calories and reevaluate after two weeks. If it's less, eat back 10% less and reevaluate after two weeks. Once your weight loss is consistently the same as the goal you have set to lose, you know you are eating back the right amount of exercise calories

Josh_lol

cocobot2013 wrote: »

But I'm never sure on how many calories I've actually burned to log in? And I don't want to guess and overestimate! The treadmill usually is 260 but that's the only number I know of.. but should I switch it to active now instead and work with those calories? And just see how that goes without adding in exercise calories of any sort yet?

There's quite a few exercises on this site that are listed under cardio. The calories always seem to be a little high though so just eat back like 50-75% of your exercise calories.
As for your activity level, I'd say walking around for 8 hours a day and always being on your feet would put you as active. Lightly active is more for jobs that involve standing still and not moving around much but you're still on your feet.

sijomial

cocobot2013 wrote: »

But I'm never sure on how many calories I've actually burned to log in? And I don't want to guess and overestimate! The treadmill usually is 260 but that's the only number I know of.. but should I switch it to active now instead and work with those calories? And just see how that goes without adding in exercise calories of any sort yet?

Activity setting is for your lifestyle and job, so ignore exercise and chose the correct activity setting you think best reflects your life.

Very few people are truly sure of the calories they burn in exercise and it's simply not important for the vast majority of people to be accurate. Reasonable and consistent is all you need.
If you are running at a steady speed then the estimate should be perfectly usable.

Ask yourself why you think it's worse to overestimate than underestimate when your aim is to maintain your weight. One thing is certain about your exercise calorie burn - it's not zero!!

In the end it comes down to picking a calorie goal and style of logging and then seeing what happens over a period of weeks.

cocobot2013

I'm a cake decorator so I'm standing in place decorating but I'm also going back and forth grabbing orders and supplies, filling up the cake case etc, does that still make it active? I'm just worried of overestimating and gaining. Thank you all so much for the replies! Also, do you guys worry if you go over any of your daily limits like sodium etc? (Not excessively but just over) or do you focus more on calorie?

cwolfman13

cocobot2013 wrote: »

I'm a cake decorator so I'm standing in place decorating but I'm also going back and forth grabbing orders and supplies, filling up the cake case etc, does that still make it active? I'm just worried of overestimating and gaining. Thank you all so much for the replies! Also, do you guys worry if you go over any of your daily limits like sodium etc? (Not excessively but just over) or do you focus more on calorie?

be conservative with your burns...but really, if you're underweight it would be beneficial to put on some weight.

Faithful_Chosen

cocobot2013 wrote: »

I'm a cake decorator so I'm standing in place decorating but I'm also going back and forth grabbing orders and supplies, filling up the cake case etc, does that still make it active? I'm just worried of overestimating and gaining. Thank you all so much for the replies! Also, do you guys worry if you go over any of your daily limits like sodium etc? (Not excessively but just over) or do you focus more on calorie?

Go with 'active' and the method of sorting out your exercise calories like I wrote above. Even if you are actually lightly active (which I don't think), you will still be in a deficit on 'active', just not as big. The scale will tell you. Stop worrying about gaining weight. You won't. If you actually log everything and don't go over too much, it's virtually impossible to eat enough to gain.

And I don't give a damn about the 'bad' micros out there, honestly. Sugar, sodium, etc. I track fiber, that's it. I try to mind my macros as well. Unless you have an illness, your micros are not going to affect you much--and especially not fat loss.

cocobot2013

I usually bank calories throughout the week as well to have some treats and a nice dinner out, I still log everything that day even though it's over my daily, I'm still at my weekly goal, but I don't like trying to eat lower throughout the week to make sure I have enough for this day, which is a big reason why I was wondering if I should set it to active, so I could have some more to eat during the week and be happy as well as go out on the weekend and maintain? I've maintained doing this so far with lightly active within that weekly goal, but active gives me about 2,000 more calories to work with and I'm nervous that extra 2,000 will make me gain! (Even though I know it desnt equal a pound, but an extra 2000 a week is like 2 pound gain every month??)

cwolfman13

cocobot2013 wrote: »

I usually bank calories throughout the week as well to have some treats and a nice dinner out, I still log everything that day even though it's over my daily, I'm still at my weekly goal, but I don't like trying to eat lower throughout the week to make sure I have enough for this day, which is a big reason why I was wondering if I should set it to active, so I could have some more to eat during the week and be happy as well as go out on the weekend and maintain? I've maintained doing this so far with lightly active within that weekly goal, but active gives me about 2,000 more calories to work with and I'm nervous that extra 2,000 will make me gain! (Even though I know it desnt equal a pound, but an extra 2000 a week is like 2 pound gain every month??)

if you've been maintaining and if that's your goal and you have your own data points to work with, I see little point in using one of these calculators...real world results and data trump population estimates that these calculators use. these calculators are just meant as reasonably good starting points for those who don't know...if you have your own data to work with, these calculators are pretty much useless.

cocobot2013

So since I've been maintaining with how ive been doing it then I'll probably gain with adding the extra 2,000 a week?

Faithful_Chosen

cocobot2013 wrote: »

So since I've been maintaining with how ive been doing it then I'll probably gain with adding the extra 2,000 a week?

You didn't mention you were maintaining before X'D

Look, you can't cheat your body. If you maintain on this, upping your calorie intake is going to take you over. It does make me wonder how accurate your food logging is, though, because it seems to me you are 'eating away' the difference between 'lightly active' and 'active'...

cocobot2013

Yes I want to maintain! But I weigh all my food with a food scale, measuring cup and tablespoons. I definitely dont think though I'm miscalculating that much of a difference..

Faithful_Chosen

Could you open your diary? That way we can give better advice. And hun? 'Maintenance' is not a number, it is a range. Especially while sorting things out, you may gain a bit. It'll come off again. At your weight (and zero judgement here!) you can stand to gain a bit for a while.

cocobot2013

How do I do that? And I try to tell myself that but when I go up even like 2 pounds I get kinda upset because I've been at this weight for a while now, seeing a higher number makes me sad lol.

cocobot2013

I think I opened it now!

ChiliPepperLifter

You are well into the underweight category, and are still under eating by about 600 calories a day. Sorry, but these are some red flags, and I don't think anyone should support your current intake. Increase your calories by 100 each week, and keep an eye on the scale. Reverse diet your way PAST maintenance and put a few pounds back on. Your health depends on it. You could be wasting away your organs or other essential tissues while still undereating.

Faithful_Chosen

Thank you for opening your diary

First things first: you are eating at a pretty large deficit. There is no way in hell you are currently maintaining.

Looking at your diary and reading your posts, I think it's safe to say you are struggling with body image issues/an eating disorder. Doesn't have to be a bad one, but the way you are fixated on the scale (which is probably the least reliable tool for the measurement of fat) indicates to me that you have a problem that will come back and bite you in the *kitten* if you don't get on that. You are skinny. In fact, you are underweight.

Your weight, combined with your eating pattern will eventually lead to health issues (if you are not experiencing them already). It's time to start eating and hopefully talk to someone. Up your activity level, enter your exercise calories, and eat to goal. Your body needs it, sweetheart

cocobot2013

I've been about 120 every Friday for like two months but it comes from eating low 6 days a week then that one high calorie day...Like a so 100 a day so instead of 1300 a day it'd be 1400 a day for a week then see? My main problem I have also is trying to fit treats into maintenance.. I love chocolate and one piece is never enough, and I also like to go out to eat once a week. How do you guys incorporate treats and eating out into maintenance? But thank you so so much for all your help!

Faithful_Chosen

Sweetheart, you have nearly 2000 calories to eat every day, and that is before counting exercise calories! It should be entirely possible to fit anything in there you might like

heybales

When your body is truly burning at normal high speed not being in a diet - one meal of eating more than the day needs just causes your body to speed up even more and it's taken care of.

Obviously doing that day after day will slowly result in fat gain - but your current method is too each time you do it.

Suppressed body is given a huge calorie surplus 1 day - doesn't speed it up - adds the extra as fat after your carb stores are topped off.

Then you go back in to diet.

There are people that live all the time with suppressed systems. Shoot, a whole way of thinking from a group that thinks it'll help them live longer.
But it's a terrible way to attempt to lose weight then (which you obviously don't need to worry about) - but it's also stress to the body.

But if you got the body burning fully, you could be eating more.

And ditto's to setting as Active with that job - you didn't even mention evening time, if kids or pets involved that keep you more active then too.
So exercise sure counts - and treadmill is perfectly fine calorie estimate to log when you log the workout.

cocobot2013

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer all my questions! It makes me feel better, I just need to switch the mindset of "bad food" and going over on my micronutrients! If I start eating more throughout the week but still have one higher calorie day in my weekly goal limit, how much do you think the scale would go up? Cause usually after Sunday when I eat a lot my weights up 5-7 but it goes back down by the next Sunday. So if I eat more everyday how much of an increase is 'safe'? Sorry that's kinda confusing lol and the evenings I don't do much if I don't have to workout besides clean up around the apartment then I'm usually laying on the couch lol should I still set it to active??

heybales

Fat is not fast, gain or loss.

Water weight is fast.

If truly at maintenance - then you don't have muscle glucose stores to refill from some level of depletion - so not many weight fluctuations.

If like now where you are undereating - then those top off with 1-2 lbs easily.
Throw in eating more sodium and water retained there - another 1-4 lbs.

Just be aware that if you ate 250 calories more than right now each and every day, and right now was truly your maintenance calories - you would only gain 1 lb slowly in 2 weeks time.
Reread that.

You gain more or faster then it's just water weight.

And that water in the muscles attached to glucose is increased LBM, and increased metabolism as body deals with it.

Edit - Active is work that is on your feet, constantly moving - sounds about right.

heybales

As to the big meal day - eat 200 less the day before, and 200 less the day after - compared to normal.

That day can also have smaller breakfast and lunch, right?

Faithful_Chosen

cocobot2013 wrote: »

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer all my questions! It makes me feel better, I just need to switch the mindset of "bad food" and going over on my micronutrients! If I start eating more throughout the week but still have one higher calorie day in my weekly goal limit, how much do you think the scale would go up? Cause usually after Sunday when I eat a lot my weights up 5-7 but it goes back down by the next Sunday. So if I eat more everyday how much of an increase is 'safe'? Sorry that's kinda confusing lol and the evenings I don't do much if I don't have to workout besides clean up around the apartment then I'm usually laying on the couch lol should I still set it to active??

Yep, still active.

If you have a big meal, the weight of the food and the added water weight from digestion etc are going to up the scales, but it's not fat. Log all your food accurately, log all your exercise accurately and you will be able to say exactly if you have lost, maintained, or gained--but for now, I think gaining is not really a thing that is going to happen with your habits.

As for micronutrients: unless you have a medical reason not to, you can go over. No worries

cocobot2013

Okay I'm gonna switch it to active today and I'm gonna try to up daily calories and simmer down that one high calorie day (it's usually like 6,000...) And not worry so much about seeing some red in the micros. My mind has gotten so wrapped around staying under/within every little thing and its been driving me crazy! I think it'll take time to adjust but I definitely think I'll have a better relationship with food and be happier.

DWBalboa

First off, no one should make a negative remark about anyone else on this site rather over or under, it why we are all here; we all have work to do. Just ignore the negative and move on, no need to ever respond to them.

As to you’re settings I would say yes you should set it to active. As others have stated to eat back your exercise calories but figuring out you true Ex calories is not so straight forward. Even with a HRM there are little variances that may cause inaccurate readings. My answer to that is that when I was accurately measuring everything I ate I would eat back about 50-75% of my exercise calories. This worked for me I have lost weight, fat, put on muscle, I am stronger and have better endurance, maybe not all in that order but those are the results. At times I would actually go over what my calorie count was because even after I had eaten my daily allowance I was still starving. There are too many reasons that could be to go into that but the takeaway should be “listen to your body.”
Sorry if I was longwinded, good luck with reaching you goals, I’m sure you’ll do great.

cocobot2013

Thank you so much! I've been trying to figure everything out and it's hard because my friends only like 5 ft tall so I can't really relate with her calories or anything, and I also used to only eat like 800 calories a day and only had a treat meal once a month. I don't know how I even did that because now even with 1200-1400 I'm hungry every couple hours! And I've actually gained about 5-10 pounds since July. I used to be reading at 114-116, and I got over that I'm not at the weight now so hopefully some fluctuations that might happen I can get over that as well.. But thank you all so much for the support, it makes me feel way more relaxed about this! Hopefully all goes well..