What's my activity level?

lyssasm

I just wanna attempt to be as accurate as possible. I currently have myself set at lightly active. I stand 8 hours a day at my job, and I'm in a mini retirement home deli. So I walk around and make food and ring people up in a small space. What would my active level be? Thanks for the help!

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt

Lightly active sounds about right to me. I would suggest using that as your starting point, put your goals into MFP, and test that level for about 6 weeks or so. If after 6 weeks you're not losing at the expected rate, adjust accordingly.

Liftng4Lis

I'd go with lightly as well.

SusanMFindlay

Start with lightly active and a conservative weight loss goal - no more than 1 pound/week (more like 0.5 pounds/week if you're already at a healthy weight). That way, if you're underestimating your activity level, you'll be able to tell from your weight loss results but won't be drastically undereating. IMO, there's zero chance you're sedentary. You're most likely either lightly active or active. So, this is the best compromise given that we don't know which one you are.

For reference, I thought I was lightly active based on my job description. I turned out to be very wrong about that and am actually more than "very active". How fast you lose weight will tell you your actual activity level within a month.

lyssasm

Thanks, everyone!

Ahanaz

SusanMFindlay wrote: »

For reference, I thought I was lightly active based on my job description. I turned out to be very wrong about that and am actually more than "very active". How fast you lose weight will tell you your actual activity level within a month.

So how exactly do you know which way to adjust? If you don't lose a lot? Which way to adjust it? And what is "too much"? I still don't understand that.

SusanMFindlay

Ahanaz wrote: »

SusanMFindlay wrote: »

For reference, I thought I was lightly active based on my job description. I turned out to be very wrong about that and am actually more than "very active". How fast you lose weight will tell you your actual activity level within a month.

So how exactly do you know which way to adjust? If you don't lose a lot? Which way to adjust it? And what is "too much"? I still don't understand that.

You adjust based on how fast you actually lose weight. Your actual weight loss is your only "real" indication of what your deficit is. Basically, if you lose faster than expected, eat more. If you lose less than expected, eat less. To lose 1 pound/week, it takes a calorie deficit of 500 cals/day.

In my case, I was told to eat ~1600 cals/day to lose 1 pound/week. I actually ate ~1750 cals/day and I actually lost 2 pounds/week (for well over a month; ignore any data from the first week; you usually drop a few pounds of water weight in the first week). So, based on actually losing 2 pounds/week, I knew that my deficit was 1000 cals/day. That was twice as high as I wanted, so I ate more. Because I didn't want to overshoot, I raised my calories in several smaller steps rather than just jumping up by 500 cals/day right away. Eventually, I got a FitBit and it confirmed the calorie burn I'd estimated from the weight loss (but the FitBit was not necessary to figure out the initial numbers; it was just nice to see confirmation that I wasn't crazy).

Ahanaz

SusanMFindlay wrote: »

Eventually, I got a FitBit and it confirmed the calorie burn I'd estimated from the weight loss (but the FitBit was not necessary to figure out the initial numbers; it was just nice to see confirmation that I wasn't crazy).

I got a fitbit as well. How accurate is the value of burned calories if you don't wear it 24/7? I think I'm sensitive to the band, cause it starts to itch when I wear it for too long in one go, but it still somehow seem to estimate/assume what I'm burning despite not wearing it. (It has a number >0 under burned when I first pick it up in the morning).

jennifer_417

I agree with lightly active.

Orphia

https://www.verywell.com/how-many-pedometer-steps-per-day-are-enough-3432827

Activity Classification Based on Pedometer Steps for Healthy Adults
Tudor Locke's research established these categories:

1. Sedentary Lifestyle Index: Under 5000 steps per day is an indicator of being inactive and sitting too much, which raises health risks.

2. Low Active: 5,000-7,499 steps/day is typical of daily activity excluding sports/exercise and might be considered low active. The average American walks 5,900 to 6,900 steps per day, putting the majority in the low active category.

3. Somewhat Active: 7,500-9,999 steps/day likely includes some exercise or walking (and/or a job that requires more walking) and might be considered somewhat active.

4. Active: 10,000 steps/day indicates the point that should be used to classify individuals as active. This makes it a good daily goal for healthy people who want a quick indicator they are getting in their daily exercise.

5. Highly Active: Individuals who take more than 12,500 steps/day are likely to be classified as highly active.

lemonychild

Do u have a step counter ? 8 hrs on your feet (if you're walking) is above lightly active but u should have something to count your steps for sure

SusanMFindlay

Ahanaz wrote: »

SusanMFindlay wrote: »

Eventually, I got a FitBit and it confirmed the calorie burn I'd estimated from the weight loss (but the FitBit was not necessary to figure out the initial numbers; it was just nice to see confirmation that I wasn't crazy).

I got a fitbit as well. How accurate is the value of burned calories if you don't wear it 24/7? I think I'm sensitive to the band, cause it starts to itch when I wear it for too long in one go, but it still somehow seem to estimate/assume what I'm burning despite not wearing it. (It has a number >0 under burned when I first pick it up in the morning).

If you don't wear it when you're sleeping, that won't make much difference. If you don't wear it sitting at a desk, that won't make much difference if you mostly stay put. If you don't wear it during times when you're up and down a lot (e.g. if you're working but keep having to walk down the hall to a co-worker's office), it'll start to underestimate your burn a bit - by how much depends on your overall lifestyle and ratio of "incidental steps" to "purposeful steps". Google Fit was a huge underestimate for me because I'm mostly "incidental steps" so my phone missed over half my daily steps since I don't carry it with me 24/7. FitBit will be the same. That said, if you have it in your pocket when you're not actively wearing it, it should catch pretty much everything and be decently accurate.

ogtmama

lemonychild wrote: »

Do u have a step counter ? 8 hrs on your feet (if you're walking) is above lightly active but u should have something to count your steps for sure

That's what I was thinking. Especially adding in the rest of her day outside of work.

TonyB0588

This is what it says on the MyFitnessPal profile page:

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 you're Lightly Active based on this., although some of of your activity is a bit like the Waitress in the Active category. You'd have to determine how big a portion of your day is serving food.

Francl27

Ahanaz wrote: »

SusanMFindlay wrote: »

Eventually, I got a FitBit and it confirmed the calorie burn I'd estimated from the weight loss (but the FitBit was not necessary to figure out the initial numbers; it was just nice to see confirmation that I wasn't crazy).

I got a fitbit as well. How accurate is the value of burned calories if you don't wear it 24/7? I think I'm sensitive to the band, cause it starts to itch when I wear it for too long in one go, but it still somehow seem to estimate/assume what I'm burning despite not wearing it. (It has a number >0 under burned when I first pick it up in the morning).

Look for metal bands on Amazon or something (if yours is interchangeable).

cnbbnc

I say lightly active as well. I too spend a fair amount of the work day on my feet but it's in a very small office so I'm not really moving around all that much.

Also, since MFP exercise calorie estimates tend to be overinflated anyway, setting yourself to active may give you way too much extra. Just try it and see how it goes over a few weeks.

Ahanaz

Francl27 wrote: »

Ahanaz wrote: »

SusanMFindlay wrote: »

Eventually, I got a FitBit and it confirmed the calorie burn I'd estimated from the weight loss (but the FitBit was not necessary to figure out the initial numbers; it was just nice to see confirmation that I wasn't crazy).

I got a fitbit as well. How accurate is the value of burned calories if you don't wear it 24/7? I think I'm sensitive to the band, cause it starts to itch when I wear it for too long in one go, but it still somehow seem to estimate/assume what I'm burning despite not wearing it. (It has a number >0 under burned when I first pick it up in the morning).

Look for metal bands on Amazon or something (if yours is interchangeable).

Thanks, but mine is not interchangeable, it's the Charge HR.

SusanMFindlay

TonyB0588 wrote: »

This is what it says on the MyFitnessPal profile page:

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 you're Lightly Active based on this., although some of of your activity is a bit like the Waitress in the Active category. You'd have to determine how big a portion of your day is serving food.

Yeah, I tried following that advice (with a similar job). It had me undereating by more than 500 calories/day. The activity levels here are ridiculously underestimated for people with active jobs. (I teach for a living; 19,000 steps/day; burn 400-600 calories/day *more* than "active" on days I don't work out. Blow "very active" out of the water on days I work out.)