Activity level, help!

Tkb1331

What activity level should I put down?? I'm at light active, but maybe I should change it to active. It makes a world of a difference for me calorie wise. I go to the gym 5 days a week 20-25 minutes on elliptical and 45 minutes weight training. I'm at a desk all day, and walk about 2 miles a day with my dog. Thanks in advance!

kathrynjean_

Rather than adjusting your activity level, I would change whatever you have your rate of loss to set to (e.g. Change from aiming to lose 2 lbs a week to 1 lb a week).

Activity level refers to your daily life activities - and exercise should be logged separately. If you up your activity level and then log (and eat back) exercise cals, you will be "double dipping". What is your current approach for logging exercise and what percentage are you eating back?

Tkb1331

Ohhh I didn't realize that exercise isn't considered part of activity level, thanks a lot! I log my exercises in and pretty much eat most of them back. I'm at 1500 cals per day trying to lose 2lbs a week, I work out and burn about 400 cals per day, and eat no less than 1500 and no more than 1900. But I think I might change it to 1lb a week like you said, thanks so much!

kathrynjean_

No problem - I'm glad that my explanation made sense! I think slowing down your rate of loss is a good call and often makes the weight loss more sustainable for many.

As a note, while weightlifting is great for you, it doesn't have a huge calorie burn. Just be wary of how many cals you eat back for that.

You can also look at how much you've lost on average over the last 4-6 weeks and adjust from there (Or, if you don't have that much data yet, reevaluate in a couple of weeks.)

Cahgetsfit

I count all my exercise as 1 calorie burnt and don't eat them back. On days I'm hungry I may eat over a bit, but overall I don't think that's so bad considering all things

KiwiAlexP

I set myself as sedentary due to an office job and wear a fitbit to adjust for exercise and active days