What should I set my activity at?
libby328
Posts: 287 Member
Hi there, this has always been something I'm not sure on. I do have a sit down job so while I'm at work 8 hours a day I'm mostly seated, but when I'm home I'm running around like crazy. House chores, kids, shopping (basic maintain in the house) and I'm working out 6 days a week currently. 3 days a week I'm heavy lifting, two days I do yoga and the 6th I focus on abs and go running. What should I be placing my activity level at? I'm concerned that I'm not eating enough as I haven't been losing weight but am noticing changes in my body composition. I'm not even 10% concerned with the number on the scale but from everything I've read I should be dropping some weight? Any help would be wonderful. Thank you. Also, I'm counting macros and my calories are stationed at 1280
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Sounds like sedentary. The rest is purposeful exercise and not part of the base activity level.0
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My activity level is similar... I have mine set to sedentary, but I eat back at least 50% of my exercise calories. How long have you been stalled?0
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3 1/2 weeks. But during that 3 1/2 weeks I've totally revamped my diet and started heavy lifting. So I'm wondering if maybe the lifting is adding the muscle which would explain the non weight loss. I'm not a professional at this so forgive me if I'm 100% incorrect on this. But a lot of what I've read has caused concern about making sure I'm feeding myself enough. Now, I do not feel like I'm starving by any means, but there are times when I am famished and can't eat without going over.0
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No, the lifting isn't adding that much muscle. It might be adding water retention, though.0
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I have set my activity to sedentary because I have a full time desk job and I am sitting for 8 hours every day!
I do have intense work-out's 4 hours a week but that's added as exercise
I'm consistently losing with these settings.
Hope that helps 0 -
I think you should be eating more, i would try up your calories by around 2000
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DeguelloTex wrote: »No, the lifting isn't adding that much muscle. It might be adding water retention, though.
I guess I'm confused by this. I can't drop my intake any less. I eat around 1200 a day and try to eat my calories back. Sometimes I can't. Water retention for 3 1/2 weeks? Is that normal? I'm not trying to be smart assy. I'm just confused.
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Do you weigh everything you eat? If you're eating at a deficit, you should be losing... that said, weight loss isn't linear and a new lifting program might be causing you to hold on to more water than usual.0
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I'm not saying drop your intake. I'm saying that you're not remotely building muscle at a rate that would offset fat loss. Most likely, it's water retained due to the new lifting.DeguelloTex wrote: »No, the lifting isn't adding that much muscle. It might be adding water retention, though.
I guess I'm confused by this. I can't drop my intake any less. I eat around 1200 a day and try to eat my calories back. Sometimes I can't. Water retention for 3 1/2 weeks? Is that normal? I'm not trying to be smart assy. I'm just confused.
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bluefish86 wrote: »Do you weigh everything you eat? If you're eating at a deficit, you should be losing... that said, weight loss isn't linear and a new lifting program might be causing you to hold on to more water than usual.
I'm weighing everything obsessively. Again, I'm not extremely concerned with the number on the scale. I'm just not wanting to be stalling progress with my muscle growth. I'm eating a pretty clean diet, I've cut out almost all sugars, watch what carbs I'm taking in and eating enough protein.
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you wont get muscle growth eating at a deficit anyway.0
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It's unlikely you'll have much progress in muscle growth on 1280 a day, unless you are very, very tiny.bluefish86 wrote: »Do you weigh everything you eat? If you're eating at a deficit, you should be losing... that said, weight loss isn't linear and a new lifting program might be causing you to hold on to more water than usual.
I'm weighing everything obsessively. Again, I'm not extremely concerned with the number on the scale. I'm just not wanting to be stalling progress with my muscle growth. I'm eating a pretty clean diet, I've cut out almost all sugars, watch what carbs I'm taking in and eating enough protein.
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DeguelloTex wrote: »
It's unlikely you'll have much progress in muscle growth on 1280 a day, unless you are very, very tiny.bluefish86 wrote: »Do you weigh everything you eat? If you're eating at a deficit, you should be losing... that said, weight loss isn't linear and a new lifting program might be causing you to hold on to more water than usual.
I'm weighing everything obsessively. Again, I'm not extremely concerned with the number on the scale. I'm just not wanting to be stalling progress with my muscle growth. I'm eating a pretty clean diet, I've cut out almost all sugars, watch what carbs I'm taking in and eating enough protein.
I'm not that tiny. 5'4 129. Healthy weight range. I am noticing my body composition changing. My legs, arms and stomach are showing definition. But nothing massive obviously.
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That's almost certainly fat loss allowing you to see what was already there, not new muscle. Not that that's a bad thing, but at 5'4" 129, 1280 probably isn't a sufficient surplus for reasonable muscle growth.DeguelloTex wrote: »
It's unlikely you'll have much progress in muscle growth on 1280 a day, unless you are very, very tiny.bluefish86 wrote: »Do you weigh everything you eat? If you're eating at a deficit, you should be losing... that said, weight loss isn't linear and a new lifting program might be causing you to hold on to more water than usual.
I'm weighing everything obsessively. Again, I'm not extremely concerned with the number on the scale. I'm just not wanting to be stalling progress with my muscle growth. I'm eating a pretty clean diet, I've cut out almost all sugars, watch what carbs I'm taking in and eating enough protein.
I'm not that tiny. 5'4 129. Healthy weight range. I am noticing my body composition changing. My legs, arms and stomach are showing definition. But nothing massive obviously.
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That's my overall question, should I be eating more? I took the long way around it but that's basically what I was meaning to ask. Lol0
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DeguelloTex wrote: »
That's almost certainly fat loss allowing you to see what was already there, not new muscle. Not that that's a bad thing, but at 5'4" 129, 1280 probably isn't a sufficient surplus for reasonable muscle growth.DeguelloTex wrote: »
It's unlikely you'll have much progress in muscle growth on 1280 a day, unless you are very, very tiny.bluefish86 wrote: »Do you weigh everything you eat? If you're eating at a deficit, you should be losing... that said, weight loss isn't linear and a new lifting program might be causing you to hold on to more water than usual.
I'm weighing everything obsessively. Again, I'm not extremely concerned with the number on the scale. I'm just not wanting to be stalling progress with my muscle growth. I'm eating a pretty clean diet, I've cut out almost all sugars, watch what carbs I'm taking in and eating enough protein.
I'm not that tiny. 5'4 129. Healthy weight range. I am noticing my body composition changing. My legs, arms and stomach are showing definition. But nothing massive obviously.
Ok, so then how to I figure out what I should be taking in? I realize this is something that takes time, which I've got and am not trying to rush. But I want to be sure I'm feeding myself enough for my lifestyle without putting on fat.0 -
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If you're adding muscle, you'll be adding some amount of fat. It's almost inevitable.DeguelloTex wrote: »
That's almost certainly fat loss allowing you to see what was already there, not new muscle. Not that that's a bad thing, but at 5'4" 129, 1280 probably isn't a sufficient surplus for reasonable muscle growth.DeguelloTex wrote: »
It's unlikely you'll have much progress in muscle growth on 1280 a day, unless you are very, very tiny.bluefish86 wrote: »Do you weigh everything you eat? If you're eating at a deficit, you should be losing... that said, weight loss isn't linear and a new lifting program might be causing you to hold on to more water than usual.
I'm weighing everything obsessively. Again, I'm not extremely concerned with the number on the scale. I'm just not wanting to be stalling progress with my muscle growth. I'm eating a pretty clean diet, I've cut out almost all sugars, watch what carbs I'm taking in and eating enough protein.
I'm not that tiny. 5'4 129. Healthy weight range. I am noticing my body composition changing. My legs, arms and stomach are showing definition. But nothing massive obviously.
Ok, so then how to I figure out what I should be taking in? I realize this is something that takes time, which I've got and am not trying to rush. But I want to be sure I'm feeding myself enough for my lifestyle without putting on fat.
You can try doing a recomp -- which very, very, very slowly tends to increase muscle while decreasing fat -- by eating at or slightly below maintenance and lifting.
The weight gain forum has a lot of good posts.
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bluefish86 wrote: »
I'm having my bfp checked tomorrow to find out where I'm at. Last time I checked I was in 22% range. I'd like to get down to 17% ultimately. So would you suggest focusing on fat loss or muscle gain?
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DeguelloTex wrote: »
If you're adding muscle, you'll be adding some amount of fat. It's almost inevitable.DeguelloTex wrote: »
That's almost certainly fat loss allowing you to see what was already there, not new muscle. Not that that's a bad thing, but at 5'4" 129, 1280 probably isn't a sufficient surplus for reasonable muscle growth.DeguelloTex wrote: »
It's unlikely you'll have much progress in muscle growth on 1280 a day, unless you are very, very tiny.bluefish86 wrote: »Do you weigh everything you eat? If you're eating at a deficit, you should be losing... that said, weight loss isn't linear and a new lifting program might be causing you to hold on to more water than usual.
I'm weighing everything obsessively. Again, I'm not extremely concerned with the number on the scale. I'm just not wanting to be stalling progress with my muscle growth. I'm eating a pretty clean diet, I've cut out almost all sugars, watch what carbs I'm taking in and eating enough protein.
I'm not that tiny. 5'4 129. Healthy weight range. I am noticing my body composition changing. My legs, arms and stomach are showing definition. But nothing massive obviously.
Ok, so then how to I figure out what I should be taking in? I realize this is something that takes time, which I've got and am not trying to rush. But I want to be sure I'm feeding myself enough for my lifestyle without putting on fat.
You can try doing a recomp -- which very, very, very slowly tends to increase muscle while decreasing fat -- by eating at or slightly below maintenance and lifting.
The weight gain forum has a lot of good posts.
Ok, I'll take a peek. Thanks!
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It sounds like you're really in this for the long haul. You also seem to be in the last few pounds. In that case you should be trying more for recomp than "weight loss". You just don't have that much to lose. Given what stats I could pull from your post you should probably be eating upwards of 2200 calories. This is your basic intake + all the activity exercise you do with a very small deficit (5%). If your activity level is fairly consistent week on week, you could just eat this much everyday. That's after slowely increasing to get there.
It helps to make your diary public and give stats.0
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