Goal setting: Activity level?

PlunderingSteelGorilla

I've switched goal settings many times during my MFP time, never sure if correct.

Monday to Friday I spend my work day seated in front of a computer. Saturday - Sunday I work in a garage, almost always on my feet. Moving but rarely enough to raise my pulse.

I consider that sedentary.

But I walk to/from work daily. 40-50 minutes each way at a brisk pace. So 90+ minutes of walking daily.

Do I switch from Sedentary to Lightly Active or do I use the walking as "Weekly Workout Goals" with 14 45 minute workouts per week?

At this time of year, the walking commute and shovelling snow are the primary activities.

nowine4me

You would REALLY benefit from a Fitbit (or similar) device that does the calculations for you and reports them back to MFP.

Ming1951

For me I consider the setting sedentary, as that what I am most days. I have a fitbit zip that counts my steps/calories burned. So it automatically adds calories back. I don't use them though but I know I have them if I am unusually hungry.

jemhh

The weekly workout goal is not factored into your calorie goal.

I would choose lightly active. After 4 weeks evaluate. Losing too slowly? Eat less. Too quickly? Eat more.

PlunderingSteelGorilla

I track all designated activites using my phone and Endomondo. Set it before I leave, shut it off at destination. It is linked to MFP so it logs my calories burned for me.

PlunderingSteelGorilla

All good thoughts, but still not certain.
1 vote for sedentary and 1 vote for lightly active.

jemhh

PlunderingSteelGorilla wrote: »

All good thoughts, but still not certain.
1 vote for sedentary and 1 vote for lightly active.

Actually the vote for lightly active was a vote for adjusting based on biofeedback.

H_Ock12

I would set it for sedentary and log your walk to work as exercise five days a week.

diannethegeek

PlunderingSteelGorilla wrote: »

All good thoughts, but still not certain.
1 vote for sedentary and 1 vote for lightly active.

Pick one. Log accurately for several weeks. Adjust your goals based on your real-world results.

cwolfman13

I have a desk job...I was always set to light active...I twitch a lot and when I get home I'm pretty much on my feet for 3-4 hours.

At any rate, just pick one and go with it...watch the trends and adjust as necessary...I think I used MFP's targets for maybe a month before customizing my own calorie target as per the data I was looking at.

lemonychild

If u have something to count your steps and it gives you an approximation calorie burned for the steps taken I'd leave it on sedentary and just add those cals to your allowance. Also, try just calculating your tdee

PlunderingSteelGorilla

I had it set as lightly active for months. Minimal results. Today I set it for Sedentary and goals of 12 45 minute workouts per week. Will see if this has better results.

Thanks.

Tacklewasher

lemonychild wrote: »

If u have something to count your steps and it gives you an approximation calorie burned for the steps taken I'd leave it on sedentary and just add those cals to your allowance. Also, try just calculating your tdee

Just a note on this, I wear a tracker 23/7 (i hour a day to charge). Changed my settings from sedentary to lightly active. MFP gave more more calories to eat but then took 1/2 away based on the adjustment. If I set it to sedentary, I start with less and it adds some. So I would end up in the same place either way. Which makes a lot of sense to me. I've left it at sedentary because I'd rather see the add back than a deduction.

cwolfman13

PlunderingSteelGorilla wrote: »

I had it set as lightly active for months. Minimal results. Today I set it for Sedentary and goals of 12 45 minute workouts per week. Will see if this has better results.

Thanks.

keep in mind that your workout goals have no bearing on your calorie target...

PlunderingSteelGorilla

cwolfman13 wrote: »

PlunderingSteelGorilla wrote: »

I had it set as lightly active for months. Minimal results. Today I set it for Sedentary and goals of 12 45 minute workouts per week. Will see if this has better results.

Thanks.

keep in mind that your workout goals have no bearing on your calorie target...

Can you clarify?

jemhh

PlunderingSteelGorilla wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

PlunderingSteelGorilla wrote: »

I had it set as lightly active for months. Minimal results. Today I set it for Sedentary and goals of 12 45 minute workouts per week. Will see if this has better results.

Thanks.

keep in mind that your workout goals have no bearing on your calorie target...

Can you clarify?

When you enter your workout goal, MFP does not use it to set your calorie goal. You can leave it blank or enter a goal of an hour every day and your MFP goal will be the same.

nosebag1212

90+ minutes of straight walking a day is lightly active at the very least

Christine_72

Tacklewasher wrote: »

lemonychild wrote: »

If u have something to count your steps and it gives you an approximation calorie burned for the steps taken I'd leave it on sedentary and just add those cals to your allowance. Also, try just calculating your tdee

Changed my settings from sedentary to lightly active. MFP gave more more calories to eat but then took 1/2 away based on the adjustment. If I set it to sedentary, I start with less and it adds some. So I would end up in the same place either way. Which makes a lot of sense to me. I've left it at sedentary because I'd rather see the add back than a deduction.

Same here, I changed from sedentary to lightly active and I got a couple hundred extra calories, but they got taken away again by the end of the day!! So i changed back to sedentary and just let my Fitbit do it's thing.

PlunderingSteelGorilla

Christine_72 wrote: »

Tacklewasher wrote: »

lemonychild wrote: »

If u have something to count your steps and it gives you an approximation calorie burned for the steps taken I'd leave it on sedentary and just add those cals to your allowance. Also, try just calculating your tdee

Changed my settings from sedentary to lightly active. MFP gave more more calories to eat but then took 1/2 away based on the adjustment. If I set it to sedentary, I start with less and it adds some. So I would end up in the same place either way. Which makes a lot of sense to me. I've left it at sedentary because I'd rather see the add back than a deduction.

Same here, I changed from sedentary to lightly active and I got a couple hundred extra calories, but they got taken away again by the end of the day!! So i changed back to sedentary and just let my Fitbit do it's thing.

What do you mean taken away at the end of the day?

Christine_72

PlunderingSteelGorilla wrote: »

Christine_72 wrote: »

Tacklewasher wrote: »

lemonychild wrote: »

If u have something to count your steps and it gives you an approximation calorie burned for the steps taken I'd leave it on sedentary and just add those cals to your allowance. Also, try just calculating your tdee

Changed my settings from sedentary to lightly active. MFP gave more more calories to eat but then took 1/2 away based on the adjustment. If I set it to sedentary, I start with less and it adds some. So I would end up in the same place either way. Which makes a lot of sense to me. I've left it at sedentary because I'd rather see the add back than a deduction.

Same here, I changed from sedentary to lightly active and I got a couple hundred extra calories, but they got taken away again by the end of the day!! So i changed back to sedentary and just let my Fitbit do it's thing.

What do you mean taken away at the end of the day?

Because if you're set at lightly active or above, mfp expects you to keep up that activity til midnight. Because i go to bed early,7pm, There's 5 hours of below sedentary activity level for me, so i lose around 200 calories between bed and midnight if I'm set at lightly active. I lose around 70 calories at sedentary as it is, even i though i do around 20k steps everyday.
I also have 'negative adjustments' enabled which allows mfp to subtract calories if I'm having a particularly lazy day, and don't meet my expected activity level.

Is this answer as clear as mud lol ?

PlunderingSteelGorilla

Clearer, thanks. Do not recall seeing any negative adjustment in settings though. Will check again.

Christine_72

PlunderingSteelGorilla wrote: »

Clearer, thanks. Do not recall seeing any negative adjustment in settings though. Will check again.

It's under 'settings' then 'diary settings'. Negative adjustments should be ticked.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

PlunderingSteelGorilla

Christine_72 wrote: »

PlunderingSteelGorilla wrote: »

Clearer, thanks. Do not recall seeing any negative adjustment in settings though. Will check again.

It's under 'settings' then 'diary settings'. Negative adjustments should be ticked.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

Thanks. It was checked. Unseen on mobile app, needed to use web interface.

SusanMFindlay

90 minutes/day walking at 3.5 miles/hour would be just over 5 miles per day - or just over 10,000 steps/day before day-to-day life steps. That's somewhere in the lightly active to active range (depending how many day-to-day steps you're getting).

I agree with those who say to start with "lightly active" and monitor your calorie intake and weightloss for 4-6 weeks. If you're losing faster than expected, raise the activity level to "active". If you're losing slower than expected, either drop to "sedentary" or (more likely) check your logging. If you're losing as expected, stick with "lightly active".

PlunderingSteelGorilla

It was set to lightly active with minimal results.
I set it to Sedentary with workout goals. Will see how it goes now.

Well, after today i will see how it goes. Today I am on "The Flu Diet".