What would you set your activity level to?

pchca

It's taken me a while to figure this out too. For me, the most success I've had is leaving it at Sedentary, and logging the 60+ minute walk I go on each day. I normally end my day with around 13k-16k steps. I enter my walk as a leisurely pace, even tho I am hauling *kitten*. That way I'm giving myself a buffer for the exercise calories MFP says I can eat. So my daily cal goal is 1410 - I usually eat around 1500. This has been the only way to get the scale to move down. Just my two cents

cwolfman13

Machka9 wrote: »

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.

actually, the descriptors are pretty generic...on MFP one would want to consider all of their daily activity other than deliberate exercise.

I have a desk job but was always set to light active because I have a 5 y.o. and a 3 y.o. and I cook and clean and do yard work and all kinds of other activity day to day that wouldn't necessarily rise to the level of exercise, but it's activity...

Someone who's doing stuff and moving, despite having a desk job is not sedentary. A sedentary activity level is 5,000 steps per day or less.

brb_2013

Honestly just try it and see. If you're not losing how you'd like, adjust it. Because only your body will be able to tell you for sure so watch your weight loss.

I have had a few off track days, but overall I expected to see a loss already and haven't, so today I adjusted from lightly active (I get 8k steps each day minimum as a nanny for twins) to sedentary because I feel I may not have a big enough deficit. So I suggest trying out at lightly active for a few weeks and see what happens!

kshama2001

Kelceybyers wrote: »

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?

You're not spending enough time at your desk for it to count as a desk job

I'm set at Sedentary because I have a FitBit and it's easier this way. I've taken 6627 steps today and gone up 11 floors and my FB has given me 309 extra calories.

So, due to your 6-10K steps per day while at work you're technically Lightly Active, but if you are using a FitBit, you may wish to leave yourself on Sedentary.

srecupid

Machka9 wrote: »

srecupid wrote: »

Christine_72 wrote: »

srecupid 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.

Nope I have a "lightly active" job but, i don't start becoming lightly active until after dinner when I actually go to work. I usually have some calories leftover easily and by the time i get off a new day is starting. So any calories i may "earn" from the job don't really do anything for me if I start at sedentary. Should I start at sedentary but, eat for lightly active and see if the numbers are in red or green at end of the day?

sunnybeaches105

sedentary

Machka9

srecupid wrote: »

Machka9 wrote: »

srecupid wrote: »

Christine_72 wrote: »

srecupid 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.

Nope I have a "lightly active" job but, i don't start becoming lightly active until after dinner when I actually go to work. I usually have some calories leftover easily and by the time i get off a new day is starting. So any calories i may "earn" from the job don't really do anything for me if I start at sedentary. Should I start at sedentary but, eat for lightly active and see if the numbers are in red or green at end of the day?

Yes ... start at sedentary and see how it goes.

pchca

I've only been at this a few weeks, but I find FitBit's suggestion of how many calories to eat way off. Someone else worded it well, and said that Fitbit tracks every step... even if that's just going to the bathroom. So if you have IBS one day and make a million bathroom trips, there's no way that's burning off the same number of calories as going for a run. So... moral is that while I am very active at my job, 10k steps without trying, I set MFP at sedentary and only add in that actual exercise I do. This is what works for me...

Protranser

I average 15-18k steps a day, and out of a 24 hour period, i get those steps from 2 hours of meaningfully moving( jogging, brisk walking) for exercise. I have a sedentary desk job.

I have mfp set to very active. When it was set to sedentary i was still getting the same calorie budget per day through fitbit adjustments ( roughly 3100 calories a day)

So now, with mfp set to active, my exercise adjustment is something like 300-400 with my base calories of 2790. When it was sedentary, my base calories were around 1790 and I'd get 1300-1400 in exercise adjustment from fitbit.

Both scenarios gave me 3100ish calories a day. The active setting in mfp versus the sedentary setting just lets me plan my budget easier.

shadowfax_c11

I am in the set it to sedentary and wear a Fitbit group. Takes all of the guessing out of it. I don't log exercise other than some work I do with horse hoof care that is low step count but high effort.

I prefer to keep the sedentary setting because there is usually one day a week that I am truly sedentary and I want to try to keep my calories down for that day. The rest of the week I get a huge adjustment yes, but after 9 months of using a Fitbit, I expect it so I plan my breakfast and lunch accordingly and still have enough left for a nice full dinner.