What would you set your activity level to?
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Kelceybyers
Posts: 56 Member
I technically have a desk job. However most days I can do anywhere from 6k-10k steps just at work. I have it set to lightly active but because it's a desk job should I put it at sedentary?
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Replies
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The activity level has more to do with your job than what you do in your spare time.
In another thread some time ago, @tomatoey describes it like this ...Sedentary: Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)
Lightly Active: Spend a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. teacher, salesman)
Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. waitress, mailman)
Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)
So I have a desk job, and count myself as sedentary despite the fact that I walk 30-40 flights of stairs each day, walk part of my commute to and from work, and walk at lunch. I count those things separately.
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Keep it at "lightly active". If you feel like it's hurting your weight loss, or you want to give yourself an extra buffer, then you can change it to sedentary. But if you're walking that much then you really are not sedentary.0
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Set it sedentary. Do your self a favor, set it to sedentary. Desk job is not slightly active.
Eat back a portion of your exercise calories (calories burned through steady state cardio). this is will take all confusion about eating back or not eating back exercise calories and works really well when loosing weight with a deficit.0 -
The activity level has more to do with your job than what you do in your spare time.
In another thread some time ago, @tomatoey describes it like this ...Sedentary: Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)
Lightly Active: Spend a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. teacher, salesman)
Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. waitress, mailman)
Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)
So I have a desk job, and count myself as sedentary despite the fact that I walk 30-40 flights of stairs each day, walk part of my commute to and from work, and walk at lunch. I count those things separately.
LOL - those are the definitions in MFP settings
I'd do sedentary and invest in a fitbit zip or one and let it adjust for me .. but then I like toys0 -
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The activity level has more to do with your job than what you do in your spare time.
In another thread some time ago, @tomatoey describes it like this ...Sedentary: Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)
Lightly Active: Spend a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. teacher, salesman)
Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. waitress, mailman)
Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)
So I have a desk job, and count myself as sedentary despite the fact that I walk 30-40 flights of stairs each day, walk part of my commute to and from work, and walk at lunch. I count those things separately.
LOL - those are the definitions in MFP settings
I'd do sedentary and invest in a fitbit zip or one and let it adjust for me .. but then I like toys
Where in the MFP settings? So I can find them there rather than hunting for them in threads.
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6k - sedentary. 10k - light active. I guess it's up to whether you're closer to 5k or 10k most days.0
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yep, sedentary and get a tracker. I've got the fitbit zip. Set and forget, it works out everything for you.
@Machka9 I think you can find those settings when you fill out your profile and choose your activity level0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »yep, sedentary and get a tracker. I've got the fitbit zip. Set and forget, it works out everything for you.
@Machka9 I think you can find those settings when you fill out your profile and choose your activity level
Yep, got it. Thanks!
Under "Update Diet/Fitness Profile"
How would you describe your normal daily activities?
Sedentary: Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)
Lightly Active: Spend a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. teacher, salesman)
Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. waitress, mailman)
Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)
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Set it sedentary. Do your self a favor, set it to sedentary. Desk job is not slightly active.
Eat back a portion of your exercise calories (calories burned through steady state cardio). this is will take all confusion about eating back or not eating back exercise calories and works really well when loosing weight with a deficit.
I'm an admin assistant, so technically I have a desk job. However, one of the lawyers I work for is on another floor and I routinely log 8-10K steps before I leave for the day. I've lost 95 lbs setting it at lightly active. Setting it to sedentary would mean my deficit would be bordering on the unhealthy.
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Is it true that your body adapts to that 6k-10k of steps each day so it doesn't "count" as activity?0
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Christine_72 wrote: »yep, sedentary and get a tracker. I've got the fitbit zip. Set and forget, it works out everything for you.
@Machka9 I think you can find those settings when you fill out your profile and choose your activity level
What if you are like me and get 99% of my steps post dinner?0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »yep, sedentary and get a tracker. I've got the fitbit zip. Set and forget, it works out everything for you.
@Machka9 I think you can find those settings when you fill out your profile and choose your activity level
What if you are like me and get 99% of my steps post dinner?
What do you mean? I get 99.9% of my steps before dinner too.
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Christine_72 wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »yep, sedentary and get a tracker. I've got the fitbit zip. Set and forget, it works out everything for you.
@Machka9 I think you can find those settings when you fill out your profile and choose your activity level
What if you are like me and get 99% of my steps post dinner?
What do you mean? I get 99.9% of my steps before dinner too.
I mean I work until midnight at the grocery store and I usually start after dinner. So I get most of my steps in after I've already concluded eating for the day so having calories being added back doesn't help as much0 -
I'm confused. Do you walk after midnight, or between dinner time and going to work?
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Christine_72 wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »yep, sedentary and get a tracker. I've got the fitbit zip. Set and forget, it works out everything for you.
@Machka9 I think you can find those settings when you fill out your profile and choose your activity level
What if you are like me and get 99% of my steps post dinner?
What do you mean? I get 99.9% of my steps before dinner too.
I mean I work until midnight at the grocery store and I usually start after dinner. So I get most of my steps in after I've already concluded eating for the day so having calories being added back doesn't help as much
Let me see if I understand your question.
You're saying ... you have consumed all your calories for the day and then you go for a walk which gives you more calories to consume?
If so, that's all right ... isn't it?
A 1-hour walk will only give you about 200 calories out of which you may want to eat 100 calories ... so it isn't much. If you know you're going to go for a 1-hour walk after you've finished eating for the day, just eat 100 calories more during the day.
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Is it true that your body adapts to that 6k-10k of steps each day so it doesn't "count" as activity?
Nope, it all counts, but if you wondering if your body gets more efficient the more you exercise and lose weight, then yes, that is true, but only to some extent.
Here's the best discussion I have seen about adaptive thermogenesis:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1077746/starvation-mode-adaptive-thermogenesis-and-weight-loss/p1
The message I take from this is that it's important to track everything and adjust your calorie goal based on your actual results and not on what you think you should be losing. I like that he advocates taking diet breaks and strength training. I'm good at the diet breaks, but I need to work on the strength training. Lol.0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »yep, sedentary and get a tracker. I've got the fitbit zip. Set and forget, it works out everything for you.
@Machka9 I think you can find those settings when you fill out your profile and choose your activity level
What if you are like me and get 99% of my steps post dinner?
What do you mean? I get 99.9% of my steps before dinner too.
I mean I work until midnight at the grocery store and I usually start after dinner. So I get most of my steps in after I've already concluded eating for the day so having calories being added back doesn't help as much
Let me see if I understand your question.
You're saying ... you have consumed all your calories for the day and then you go for a walk which gives you more calories to consume?
If so, that's all right ... isn't it?
A 1-hour walk will only give you about 200 calories out of which you may want to eat 100 calories ... so it isn't much. If you know you're going to go for a 1-hour walk after you've finished eating for the day, just eat 100 calories more during the day.
This.
You should see a pattern emerging after a couple of weeks. If you roughly burn the same amount of calories every night, then you can use that number, that may be a bit hit and miss though.
Or you could switch to the TDEE method where you eat a set number of calories everyday, as your exercise is already included in the figure.
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Is it true that your body adapts to that 6k-10k of steps each day so it doesn't "count" as activity?
Nope, it all counts, but if you wondering if your body gets more efficient the more you exercise and lose weight, then yes, that is true, but only to some extent.
Here's the best discussion I have seen about adaptive thermogenesis:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1077746/starvation-mode-adaptive-thermogenesis-and-weight-loss/p1
The message I take from this is that it's important to track everything and adjust your calorie goal based on your actual results and not on what you think you should be losing. I like that he advocates taking diet breaks and strength training. I'm good at the diet breaks, but I need to work on the strength training. Lol.
thanks for the clarification0 -
most people, especially when they first begin, are in the sedentary category.
even with an hour and a half of exercise (pretty much every day)... i still fall in the lightly active category based on steps. i leave my activity level at sedentary
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