Activity Level

ferd_ttp5

I'm really confuse what should i set a activity level. I exercise every morning (some of days i doesnt do) either i do a 45 minute of running/walking cycle in the road or a 30 minute cycling at medium fast rate. I spend my day standing and sitting if im tired and a going to school walk and also walking to go home. Sometimes i do some cycling exercise in the afternoon if i feel that i want to exercise thats what i do every week, my question is what activity should i set? Im an lightly active person or a active person? Thanks guys ask me in the comment if some of my statement above that i need to clear.

seska422

MyFitnessPal separates out the areas for general daily activity and specific exercise.

Activity level is based upon your non-exercise daily activity. You base your activity level on how active you are generally outside of exercise time.

Exercise is added separately on an as-done basis in order to vary your calorie intake so that you get more calories on days when you use more calories from exercise.

Ultimately, it matters less which column your calories come from than it does that you get as close as you can to your actual number. Some people set a high activity level and then record their exercise as 1 calorie so that it doesn't change their base calorie goal. Some set a lower activity level and record their exercise calories and eat 50-100% of them back.

Counting calories in and out isn't an exact science and we all start from the population averages for calories out based upon our stats. After you record your calorie intake and output for a while, you'll be able to see how your personal results compare to your expected results and make adjustments from there.

PAV8888

Are you planning on logging all these things as separate exercise activities or are you trying to include everything you listed in a single base "level" of activity?

MFP has the "idea" that you pick a "base level" of "non exercise" activity and anything above that gets added separately as exercise.

This makes it easier for people to capture non regular exercise activities and it also helps people realize that they can lose weight regardless of whether they are able/willing to engage in formal exercise activities.

If you plan to include all the items you listed in a single base level of activity and NOT log them as separate exercise it sounds like the "highly active" setting might be high enough to accommodate.

In any case you would log your food and your activity and evaluate your actual results after 4-6 weeks and adjust.

ferd_ttp5

PAV8888 wrote: »

Are you planning on logging all these things as separate exercise activities or are you trying to include everything you listed in a single base "level" of activity?

MFP has the "idea" that you pick a "base level" of "non exercise" activity and anything above that gets added separately as exercise.

This makes it easier for people to capture non regular exercise activities and it also helps people realize that they can lose weight regardless of whether they are able/willing to engage in formal exercise activities.

If you plan to include all the items you listed in a single base level of activity and NOT log them as separate exercise it sounds like the "highly active" setting might be high enough to accommodate.

In any case you would log your food and your activity and evaluate your actual results after 4-6 weeks and adjust.

I want to include everything in a single base level of activity because i doesnt have any physical tool for counting my calorie burn exercise

Tacklewasher

ferd_ttp5 wrote: »

PAV8888 wrote: »

Are you planning on logging all these things as separate exercise activities or are you trying to include everything you listed in a single base "level" of activity?

MFP has the "idea" that you pick a "base level" of "non exercise" activity and anything above that gets added separately as exercise.

This makes it easier for people to capture non regular exercise activities and it also helps people realize that they can lose weight regardless of whether they are able/willing to engage in formal exercise activities.

If you plan to include all the items you listed in a single base level of activity and NOT log them as separate exercise it sounds like the "highly active" setting might be high enough to accommodate.

In any case you would log your food and your activity and evaluate your actual results after 4-6 weeks and adjust.

I want to include everything in a single base level of activity because i doesnt have any physical tool for counting my calorie burn exercise

It's not really how MFP is set up to work, but you can make it do what you want. You need to find a TDEE calculator. Try http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
You put in the number of calories it give you and do not use MFP, calculations. Then you don't record activities/exercise. Just be aware that these calculators seem to be a bit more conservative on the weight loss than MFP is. Even set for 25% reduction, it gives me more calories than I am currently eating (~2250 vs 2000).

LessCookiess

Place it at sedentary and eat back at least half of your workout calories.

Tacklewasher

xchocolategirl wrote: »

Place it at sedentary and eat back at least half of your workout calories.

So, go completely against what the poster said they are trying to do?

LessCookiess

Tacklewasher wrote: »

xchocolategirl wrote: »

Place it at sedentary and eat back at least half of your workout calories.

So, go completely against what the poster said they are trying to do?

The user Seska42 said the same thing; however, this forum will give you multiple opinions. So feel free to do what you feel comfortable doing and what works for you.

Good luck on your journey!!

Tacklewasher

xchocolategirl wrote: »

Tacklewasher wrote: »

xchocolategirl wrote: »

Place it at sedentary and eat back at least half of your workout calories.

So, go completely against what the poster said they are trying to do?

The user Seska42 said the same thing; however, this forum will give you multiple opinions. So feel free to do what you feel comfortable doing and what works for you.

Good luck on your journey!!

Yes, before the OP posted "I want to include everything in a single base level of activity because i doesnt have any physical tool for counting my calorie burn exercise".

I'm sorry but I get frustrated when an OP comes back and answers a relevant question and the answer is ignored. Drives me nuts. No wonder so many don't bother coming back and answering questions.

Have a good day.

PAV8888

Based on your input of how you want to use MFP the answer as already mentioned is "highly active" and revaluate down the road.

Ultimately it also depends on how big a deficit you are trying to create and how much fat you have available to lose.

The closer to a normal weight level you are the more lean mass you lose when you create deficits that are too large.

So, if you are obese and aiming for a 250 Cal a day deficit, I would be tempted to chose a lower activity level, like active, because if you make a mistake and lose faster... well, as an obese person you can afford to do so!

If you are BMI 22 trying to get to BMI 21 and are aiming for 2lbs a week I would stop now.

But even if you were "only" aiming for 500 Cal a day at a slightly overweight to normal level weight level, I would chose "highly active" (which is as high as MFP goes). Losing slower in that situation is better for lean mass preservation and for maximizing the effectiveness of your exercise.

In terms of online TDEE calculator comparison, highly active is an activity factor of 1.8 and active is set at 1.6

Again you adjust based on your weight trend results and your logging after 4-6 weeks (look up trending weight apps and web sites: trendweight, libra, happy scale)

ferd_ttp5

Thanks a lot for those wonderful answers ☺