Tour guide: lightly active or active?

Options
vegaslounge
vegaslounge Posts: 122 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello! I know this question has been asked 1000 times before, but I'm slow...or at least just confused.

I'm a walking tour guide who pretty regularly clocks 80-90,000 steps a week (average 12k/day). I'm trying to figure out what activity level this would equate to. I've been on "active" but, since I'm on a bit of a stall, I decided to shake up my routine by lowering both my calories and activity level to "lightly active". I use a Fitbit and it's pretty well calibrated to my steps, but now it seems I am earning a HECKUVA lot of extra calories for the same amount of movement I did at the active level.

So, which one should I choose? The suggestions (postman has this level, waitress has this one) seem arbitrary to say the least. I wish there was a formula where you could plug in your steps and it would generate your activity level, but alas, until then I must pick the brains of those smarter (or at least more experienced) than myself.

Thank you all so much!

Replies

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    Options
    What do you mean by a bit of a stall? If you are a man has it been 4+ weeks since you saw any downward movement on the scale? If you are a woman has it been the length of one menstrual cycle, or 6+ weeks if you don't have a period, since you saw any loss? If not, you aren't in a stall.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
    edited June 2017
    Options
    If you're syncing your Fitbit it doesn't really matter which level you choose because the sync will adjust the calories for the steps. If you choose active, Mfp will give you more base Cals and you won't get was many extras via the sync as when you choose a lower level.
  • vegaslounge
    vegaslounge Posts: 122 Member
    edited June 2017
    Options
    jemhh wrote: »
    What do you mean by a bit of a stall? If you are a man has it been 4+ weeks since you saw any downward movement on the scale? If you are a woman has it been the length of one menstrual cycle, or 6+ weeks if you don't have a period, since you saw any loss? If not, you aren't in a stall.

    I'm in a stall for me and the cycles I tend to lose weight in. I know weight loss isn't linear but I've been maintaining for longer than I intended to and needed to adjust my calorie goals down anyway (MFP had me at 1920 for the last couple of months or so- losing 1 lb a week- and frankly that was starting to seem too high so I adjusted to 1600 just to see how that feels for a week).

    I'm really just trying to shake things up because I'm starting to get, if not lazy, settled and comfortable and that's pretty much a death sentence for any continued progress on my part.

    For stats and assurance that I'm not suddenly cutting ALL THE CALORIES, I started at 191lb in Sept, current weight as of this morning 173 (true weight probably 169-171, I'm retaining water like a *kitten* right now) goal weight is 145. I'm a 5'6" 32-year-old female, so I'm well used to losing slowly and don't have a crazy low goal in mind. I'm honestly trying to tighten up my logging and tracking and knowing what my "actual" activity level is would certainly help.

    Thank you!

Categories