MFP Activity Level

jomariewill

I work from home so the only exercise I get is my aerobics some mornings and my 2 mile walks about 4 days a week. I originally put my activity level as moderate it I want to change it to the lowest possible and get less calories. I think they wanted to know my activity level prior to my lifestyle change, which was seditary. I tried to change it, but it won't adjust my calories. Help!

shadow2soul

Activity level is supposed to be based on what you do that isn't exercise. If you exercise, you log it and eat those extra calories. This works really well for people who don't have a consistent exercise routine.

If you set your activity level to account for exercise, then just don't log exercise or don't eat the cals back if you do log them. This is fine for people who have a set routine that they stick to every week.

if you still want to change go to your goals section. In fine print at the top you will see a blue link that says guided recalculation or something to that effect. That is what you need to go through to change your activity level.

jemhh

The lowest calorie goal you will get is 1200. Are you trying to go lower than that?

jomariewill

Mine is 1600 now. I could do the math and make it 1200 on my own, would just prefer to not see it like an overage every day.

Asher_Ethan

Activity level is what you do that is not exercise.
example- I'm a ballet teacher and my activity level is perfect at lightly active.
I teach 5x days a week. I never log that as exercise except for Friday's when I teach 3 classes in a row.

ccsernica

Put yourself down as sedentary, if your work from home is essentially chairbound, and log your exercise when you do it. MFP will add the exercise calories to your limit, so you'll have a decent idea of how much you can eat with the exercise you're doing.

Not sure what the problem is if changing your diet/fitness profile doesn't change your calories goals. It works for me. You're clicking the "Update Profile" button when you're done, right?

savithny

One of the biggest thigns I see people doing with MFP is way overestimating their activity level.

Even if you took a 2-mile walk every day and counted it in your activity level? If that's your only "get up and move around" time in the day, you wouldn't be moderately active, youd be barely lightly active.

When you read the studies that activity levels are based on, many of them used pedometers and classified daily activity using number of steps. Most of the studies I've seen use 6,000 steps a day as the line between sedentary and lightly active, and the much-advertised 10,000 steps a day is still only "lightly active." The definitions reflect the fact that until very recently we lived in a world where people moved around a LOT more than they do now (and this probably has a lot to do with the "obesity epidemic," as we have experienced it in the US).

Put yourself down as sedentary and then log your aerobics but not your walks.

Annie_01

jomariewill wrote: »

I work from home so the only exercise I get is my aerobics some mornings and my 2 mile walks about 4 days a week. I originally put my activity level as moderate it I want to change it to the lowest possible and get less calories. I think they wanted to know my activity level prior to my lifestyle change, which was seditary. I tried to change it, but it won't adjust my calories. Help!

I had the same problem for a while. I would try to change my calorie goals...it would look like it changed on the update page but when I went back to my diary it would still be at the old setting. Finally after 2 or 3 weeks of trying it finally updated to the new figure.

Machka9

jomariewill wrote: »

I work from home so the only exercise I get is my aerobics some mornings and my 2 mile walks about 4 days a week. I originally put my activity level as moderate it I want to change it to the lowest possible and get less calories. I think they wanted to know my activity level prior to my lifestyle change, which was seditary. I tried to change it, but it won't adjust my calories. Help!

Are you trying to make the change on your phone or on a computer?

trigden1991

Why are you trying to force your calories lower? Are you losing weight at your current calorie intake?