Can someone help me determine my activity level?

merbear787

Hello everyone! I'm struggling finding out my activity level, would anyone have any advice? I'm 26, 5'10", woman, currently 166 looking to lose about 25 pounds. I have a desk-ish type job (I work in property management so I'm constantly up helping residents and walking the property) I can usually hit my 10,000 steps without exercise on a busy day, otherwise it's more like 7,000 on a slow day. If I run than I can easy get over 20,000 steps. I also do weights/resistance 3x a week (about 30 minutes) and then run for 45 minutes 3x a week. Any advice would help! I toggle between using MFP goal and then TDEE, but it gets pretty confusing

DebSozo

Tips: Since you are already at a healthy weight don't go for an aggressive deficit. Aim towards a 0.5 pound weight loss a week. Don't worry about little stalls or fluctuations. Look at the averages over time and the downward trend.

If you go by what MFP says (NEAT) then eat back 1/2 of your aerobic calories but don't eat back any weightlifting calories.

queenliz99

I would go with sedentary and eat back your purposeful exercise calories.

merbear787

Thanks! I do find if I go into too much deficit I get grumpy now haha. I think I like TDEE because it's hard to tell what calories I actually burn! Do you think I should set it as lightly active because of my desk job though I work out?

merbear787

Thanks @queenliz99! I may that method for a week and see how it goes since I usually try TDEE... I guess they're the same thing in the end lol

DebSozo

Queen Liz has a good idea. Nothing is written in stone. You can always tweak a bit as you go along.

ncfitbit

What device are you using to count steps? I only know about fitbit, but I have it linked to my mfp and allow negative adjustments so if I'm more sedentary than usual (I'm set at lightly active) it will take away calories, but if I'm more active than usual it will add them. I actually found it harder to use TDEE because I found that my activity varied too much from week to week for me to feel comfortable with it. If you are pretty consistent with your activity, that might work for you. With fitbit, I know exactly how much I've burned each day and it is a big motivator for me to move more . That might not be the case for you. You sound very active to me!

The fact that you are so active makes it sound to me like you will probably want to focus on your logging. It doesn't sound like you need to add activity.

merbear787

@ncfitbit I have a Fitbit too! That's why I was thinking of doing the MFP method over TDEE because some days I just want to Netflix and chill. Haha! I also allow for negative adjustments. I think I had too aggressive a goal so I've just changed it and the calorie allowance for a completely sedentary day feels MUCH more attainable (I'm not about that 1200 calories! Lol) I'll try that and eat back 50% of my calories and see how things go

cwolfman13

merbear787 wrote: »

Hello everyone! I'm struggling finding out my activity level, would anyone have any advice? I'm 26, 5'10", woman, currently 166 looking to lose about 25 pounds. I have a desk-ish type job (I work in property management so I'm constantly up helping residents and walking the property) I can usually hit my 10,000 steps without exercise on a busy day, otherwise it's more like 7,000 on a slow day. If I run than I can easy get over 20,000 steps. I also do weights/resistance 3x a week (about 30 minutes) and then run for 45 minutes 3x a week. Any advice would help! I toggle between using MFP goal and then TDEE, but it gets pretty confusing

You will note that MFP's activity settings only describe your job and day to day...there is no mention of exercise...if you have a desk job, pick the activity level with the descriptor that says desk job. You account for deliberate exercise with MFP after the fact when exercise is logged and you earn additional calories to account for that otherwise unaccounted for activity.

With little weight to lose, your deficit shouldn't be too aggressive...you're already at a healthy weight...it's just going to be slow.

ncfitbit

merbear787 wrote: »

@ncfitbit I have a Fitbit too! That's why I was thinking of doing the MFP method over TDEE because some days I just want to Netflix and chill. Haha! I also allow for negative adjustments. I think I had too aggressive a goal so I've just changed it and the calorie allowance for a completely sedentary day feels MUCH more attainable (I'm not about that 1200 calories! Lol) I'll try that and eat back 50% of my calories and see how things go

That sounds like a really good plan. Choosing a more sustainable goal will make it easier to stick to (as soon as I go too agressive, I find myself going crazy on the weekends and blowing my deficit anyway) and as others have said, you don't have much to lose in all likelihood.

merbear787

@cwolfman13 thanks for the tips! I think my goal was too aggressive because it had me at 1200 without exercise which always leaves me unhappy. I've adjusted my goal a bit, and just need to take it slow and steady!

DebSozo

I go with TDEE minus 250 calories to lose 1/2 pound a week. But I don't have variations in activity level on average. I like not fussing with subtracting activity calories.

SCoil123

If you link your fitbit to MFP and allow negative adjustments for when activity levels are lower the numbers seem pretty accurate in my experience. I eat some or all of the adjustment and only enter activity now through fitbit. Im set to sedentary here but have them linked (average 8-10k steps a day and work out 5-6 days) and earn anywhere from 200-600 calories a day based on activity level.

DebSozo

merbear787 wrote: »

@cwolfman13 thanks for the tips! I think my goal was too aggressive because it had me at 1200 without exercise which always leaves me unhappy. I've adjusted my goal a bit, and just need to take it slow and steady!

1200 is really rough when you are tall and relatively active. I found that I was "white knuckling" it at 1200 until I eventually upped mine to 1500. A couple hundred calories can make a difference.

BrunetteRunner87

I've been wondering this too. I use the TDEE method and usually pick the moderate exercise category (3-5 days per week of moderate exercise). However I have a desk job and on days I don't run or purposely go for a walk I'm usually around 3000 steps. I do crossfit 3x per week which are hour long to hour and fifteen minute long classes, but only about 7-15 minutes of that is crazy, the rest is weight lifting, stretching and mobility. I run 3x per week for about a total of 2 - 2.5 hours per week, and I try to do one hour long yoga class per week (just a regular flow class). So I'm worried that my desk job doesn't balance all that out enough to be in the moderate category. And I don't have children to chase around either.

merbear787

@SCoil123 sounds just like my experience too! I'm going to try that out and see how it goes!

merbear787

@DebSozo so true! I've tried 1200 and always end up falling off the wagon because I'm so hungry haha

savithny

The research articles that study activity levels generally say that you are "sedentary" if you get less than 6000 steps a day from daily activity. 6-12K (ish, depending on study) is "lightly active."

I'd put yourself down as "lightly active" and then only count purposeful activity over your activities of daily living as "exercise." So log your runs and your weight lifting. Eat back some portion of the calories those activities give you.

daniip_la

savithny wrote: »

The research articles that study activity levels generally say that you are "sedentary" if you get less than 6000 steps a day from daily activity. 6-12K (ish, depending on study) is "lightly active."

I'd put yourself down as "lightly active" and then only count purposeful activity over your activities of daily living as "exercise." So log your runs and your weight lifting. Eat back some portion of the calories those activities give you.

Those numbers don't match with MFP's activity levels, however. If you take more than 2,500 steps a day, you're not considered sedentary by MFP.

But if the OP is using a fitbit and allowing it to make adjustments, it doesn't really matter. It'll adjust it however it needs to in order for the numbers to match up at the end of the day.

merbear787

@BrunetteRunner87 I feel the same way! Weight lifting and what not obviously doesn't get me more steps or more calories burned to enter but I know in the long run it builds muscle! I think I'll try to set my goal at sedentary and then eat back 50% of my calories. If it gets too complicated for me I'll go back to TDEE

merbear787

@daniip_la that makes sense! I worry about the level being too high so I may try to eat back 50% of the adjustment and go from there... when I'm at sedentary however it can add back maybe up to 1000 calories at one point! But I've lowered my goal a bit from 2 lbs a week so I'll see how that goes

Bearbo27

I wear my Fitbit 24/7 and set my activity level on mfp to sedentary. Most days though I walk 10,000+ steps. It adjusts my calorie goal throughout the day based on my activity level. On days where I don't move as much, it will keep me closer to 1200 so it motivates me to move more. On days where I got 10,000 steps, it will add on around 500 extra calories (so I can eat 1700). I add any additional exercise in separately.

kshama2001

merbear787 wrote: »

@ncfitbit I have a Fitbit too! That's why I was thinking of doing the MFP method over TDEE because some days I just want to Netflix and chill. Haha! I also allow for negative adjustments. I think I had too aggressive a goal so I've just changed it and the calorie allowance for a completely sedentary day feels MUCH more attainable (I'm not about that 1200 calories! Lol) I'll try that and eat back 50% of my calories and see how things go

merbear787 wrote: »

@DebSozo so true! I've tried 1200 and always end up falling off the wagon because I'm so hungry haha

Yes, you're 5'10" and only have 25 pounds to lose - 1200 calories will indeed make you miserable and prone to diving off the wagon. Change your weight loss goal to 0.5 pound per week and enjoy those extra calories.

I set my activity level to Sedentary, eat all of the calories I earn from my fitbit, and some, but not all of the exercise calories from the MFP database (which is inflated compared to fitbit.)

daniip_la

merbear787 wrote: »

@daniip_la that makes sense! I worry about the level being too high so I may try to eat back 50% of the adjustment and go from there... when I'm at sedentary however it can add back maybe up to 1000 calories at one point! But I've lowered my goal a bit from 2 lbs a week so I'll see how that goes

Track your results from eating back only 50% and see how it goes. I tracked my intake/expenditure/weight loss for a few months and found that my fitbit's adjustment was completely accurate. I'm able to eat 100% of the adjustment back and still lose my 2lbs a week.

RobD520

queenliz99 wrote: »

I would go with sedentary and eat back your purposeful exercise calories.

No one has ever explained to me how someone burns calories different with activity based upon whether or not it is "purposeful". Why does activity that is not "purposeful exercise" not count? I usually get 15000-20000 steps in addition to my workouts just going through life. My net calories would be VERY low were I not to count any of this activity.

merbear787

Thanks everyone! I'll try to eat back 50% and follow fitbits guide as it seems to work for lots of people.

SusanMFindlay

queenliz99 wrote: »

I would go with sedentary and eat back your purposeful exercise calories.

I would not. She's getting 7,000-10,000 steps/day of non-purposeful exercise. That easily puts her in the "lightly active" category and she should still log purposeful exercise on top of that. She might even be "active" and should keep that in mind if she finds herself losing at a faster rate than expected.

I get 16,000-20,000 steps of non-purposeful exercise on most days. I started myself off at "lightly active", logging my workout classes and, though my deficit was set to 500 cals/day, I was actually losing 2 pounds/week (despite eating a little over my calorie allowance). I increased my activity level to "active" and it still wasn't enough. I now have a FitBit hooked up (and stopped logging my extra workouts) and I now get several hundred "extra" calories over and above my "active" calorie allowance. Still set to 1 pound/week. Negative calorie adjustments enabled just in case I have a low day.

Non-purposeful steps can really add up and are very difficult to log/track without something like a FitBit. Someone with a lot of them should not set themselves as sedentary or they will be undereating.

Christine_72

In the end it doesn't matter what activity level you choose if you have a fitbit synced with MFP. You'll get the same calories at the end of the day whether you're set at sedentary or active, as long as you have negative adjustments enabled. With the Active setting, you start off with more calories but it takes a hell of a lot more activity to start getting positive adjustments compared to the sedentary setting where the calories start going up at around 2000 steps.

Plus with lightly active or above you'll get calories taken away if you don't keep up with that activity level all day. I always lost around 200 calories every night when i was set at lightly active, even on the days i got 20,000+ steps.

tomteboda

Christine_72 wrote: »

In the end it doesn't matter what activity level you choose if you have a fitbit synced with MFP. You'll get the same calories at the end of the day whether you're set at sedentary or active, as long as you have negative adjustments enabled. With the Active setting, you start off with more calories but it takes a hell of a lot more activity to start getting positive adjustments compared to the sedentary setting where the calories start going up at around 2000 steps.

Plus with lightly active or above you'll get calories taken away if you don't keep up with that activity level all day. I always lost around 200 calories every night when i was set at lightly active, even on the days i got 20,000+ steps.

How on earth could you lose 200 calories every night at lightly active with 20K steps? I only get 250 extra calories for being "lightly active" as opposed to "Sedentary" to begin with!

Christine_72

tomteboda wrote: »

Christine_72 wrote: »

In the end it doesn't matter what activity level you choose if you have a fitbit synced with MFP. You'll get the same calories at the end of the day whether you're set at sedentary or active, as long as you have negative adjustments enabled. With the Active setting, you start off with more calories but it takes a hell of a lot more activity to start getting positive adjustments compared to the sedentary setting where the calories start going up at around 2000 steps.

Plus with lightly active or above you'll get calories taken away if you don't keep up with that activity level all day. I always lost around 200 calories every night when i was set at lightly active, even on the days i got 20,000+ steps.

How on earth could you lose 200 calories every night at lightly active with 20K steps? I only get 250 extra calories for being "lightly active" as opposed to "Sedentary" to begin with!

Maybe because my active day ends at around 4pm, I turn into sloth mode after that. Plus i'm in bed every night at 7-7:30. So there's 8 full hours where I'm very sedentary everyday.

trigden1991

RobD520 wrote: »

queenliz99 wrote: »

I would go with sedentary and eat back your purposeful exercise calories.

No one has ever explained to me how someone burns calories different with activity based upon whether or not it is "purposeful". Why does activity that is not "purposeful exercise" not count? I usually get 15000-20000 steps in addition to my workouts just going through life. My net calories would be VERY low were I not to count any of this activity.

Maintenance calories on MFP accounts for your daily activities (sitting, standing, walking). When you start doing significant exercise such as an additional 10k steps or an intense workout, this is above your average TDEE.