Activity level question

mkdm291

Hello all! I currently weigh 150 at 5'4. I am looking to lose about 20 pounds. I work a desk job Monday through Friday with little movement during my work hours. I also run (on the treadmill during the winter) 3-4 days a week for at least 3.5 miles.
Should I put my activity level as sedentary or lightly active? I would love to lose a pound a week. I'm just not sure because other than the running I am quite still until I get home and care for my two very active little boys! Sedentary will put my calorie allowance at 1200 and I actually want to stick to my weight loss this time! 1200 seems really hard for me, but willing to do what it takes.
Any thoughts?

sweetpea813

You can try lightly active and if you're not losing at the rate you want to lose, you can adjust. I couldn't do 1200 calories. I am at 1600 and exercise 5 times a week in a high intensity cardio class with some weight training here and there. I settled on lightly active for myself after trying different levels on MFP. I also chase around my 2 young boys

malibu927

MFP's activity level is based on your activity outside of exercise, so it would be sedentary. As for 1200 calories, with how little you have to lose I would change your loss rate to either .5 or 1 pound a week. This will give you more calories to work with.

ZephieC

If you are mainly sedentary you should probably put that. Keep in mind that if you are exercising most days you will be earning more calories to eat anyway. A lot of people don't worry about being at the exact same calorie goal each day but look at their weekly average. I am 5'6" and looking to lose 40lbs....well, 30 lbs now. I have been on 1200 calories a day for the last month and doing quite well. It is certainly not for everyone. I plan carefully and weight and measure everything. With a young active family to care for it just might be ridiculous for you. You have to find and do what works for you. If you aren't happy than you won't stick to it.

SusanMFindlay

Can I assume that you're looking after the two active little boys on weekends too? Going to playgrounds, going for walks, etc.? (In other words, stuff that keeps you moving as well as them.) If so, you'll probably find that weekends + evenings with kids is enough to put you at "lightly active".

I'll echo the commenters above that say to aim for just 0.5 pounds/week. Especially if you decide to start at "sedentary". ("Sedentary" with a 0.5 pound/week goal will be almost the same calories as "lightly active" with a 1 pound/week goal.)

cwolfman13

bandbmc wrote: »

Hello all! I currently weigh 150 at 5'4. I am looking to lose about 20 pounds. I work a desk job Monday through Friday with little movement during my work hours. I also run (on the treadmill during the winter) 3-4 days a week for at least 3.5 miles.
Should I put my activity level as sedentary or lightly active? I would love to lose a pound a week. I'm just not sure because other than the running I am quite still until I get home and care for my two very active little boys! Sedentary will put my calorie allowance at 1200 and I actually want to stick to my weight loss this time! 1200 seems really hard for me, but willing to do what it takes.
Any thoughts?

MFP's activity level is based on your day to day which is why you see no mention of exercise in the descriptors...this is called the NEAT method (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis). The way MFP is designed is to account for exercise after the fact when you log it and you get additional calories to account for that activity. Otherwise I'd go with a TDEE calculator (Total Energy Expenditure) that is designed to account for exercise activity in your activity level and just customize your calorie targets based on that...obviously you wouldn't want to log exercise and eat those calories because then you would be double dipping.