activity level
kennyscott77377
Posts: 12 Member
Hi Guys
I'm trying to work out what my activity level should be.
I'm down as lightly active at the moment, but I'm not sure that is correct my weekly activity looks as follows:
Monday - Gym - 2.3-mile run, 9-mile cycle
Tuesday - Walking - 10k steps only stop once I achieve this, so I go out in the evening for a walk
Wednesday - Gym - 2.3-mile run, 9-mile cycle then I have a band rehearsal for 3 hours which has plenty of movement
Thursday - walking - 10k steps only stop once I achieve this, so I go out in the evening for a walk
Friday - Gym - 2.3-mile run, 9-mile cycle
Saturday - swimming with my little boy then I make sure I do enough to get 10k steps throughout the day/evening
Sunday - Mountain biking every Sunday anywhere for 6 - 20 miles depending on where we go and the trail
My day job is sitting mostly looking at reports are stuff, so I don't do much during the day.
for me, that seems to be active? but I'm not so sure.
I'm trying to work out what my activity level should be.
I'm down as lightly active at the moment, but I'm not sure that is correct my weekly activity looks as follows:
Monday - Gym - 2.3-mile run, 9-mile cycle
Tuesday - Walking - 10k steps only stop once I achieve this, so I go out in the evening for a walk
Wednesday - Gym - 2.3-mile run, 9-mile cycle then I have a band rehearsal for 3 hours which has plenty of movement
Thursday - walking - 10k steps only stop once I achieve this, so I go out in the evening for a walk
Friday - Gym - 2.3-mile run, 9-mile cycle
Saturday - swimming with my little boy then I make sure I do enough to get 10k steps throughout the day/evening
Sunday - Mountain biking every Sunday anywhere for 6 - 20 miles depending on where we go and the trail
My day job is sitting mostly looking at reports are stuff, so I don't do much during the day.
for me, that seems to be active? but I'm not so sure.
0
Replies
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MFP doesn't count exercise as "activity"; you're supposed to eat back exercise calories instead.3
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I would say that's active to very active. I have a desk job but I'm very active as I walk to and from work, lift and do extra cardio. I get about 15K daily steps and at 5"6" @ 155lbs my (observed) tdee is about 25001
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Activity level is what you do outside of exercise. It mostly means your job. Teachers and retardant workers are standing/walking around 8+ hrs a day, while an office worker is mostly sitting with some walking.
You then add exercise on top of that. The idea is that your activity level is stable while your exercises may wax and wane. I am an office worker so I have my activity level set to Sedentary and I log all exercise.2 -
Active /very active.
I sit for my job but in general I'm lightly active. Anything over 5k steps means a person is not sedentary in general.0 -
RunRutheeRun wrote: »Active /very active.
I sit for my job but in general I'm lightly active. Anything over 5k steps means a person is not sedentary in general.
Nope. From the settings:
How would you describe your normal daily activities?- 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, salesperson)
- Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. food server, postal carrier)
- Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)
I log all of my exercise and eat back 50-80% of the calories I earn by working out. You could, theoretically, change your activity level to be very high and then not log exercises. The risk there is that you don't exercise as much or become more efficient and burn fewer calories and then eat too much.0 -
kennyscott77377 wrote: »Hi Guys
I'm trying to work out what my activity level should be.
I'm down as lightly active at the moment, but I'm not sure that is correct my weekly activity looks as follows:
Monday - Gym - 2.3-mile run, 9-mile cycle
Tuesday - Walking - 10k steps only stop once I achieve this, so I go out in the evening for a walk
Wednesday - Gym - 2.3-mile run, 9-mile cycle then I have a band rehearsal for 3 hours which has plenty of movement
Thursday - walking - 10k steps only stop once I achieve this, so I go out in the evening for a walk
Friday - Gym - 2.3-mile run, 9-mile cycle
Saturday - swimming with my little boy then I make sure I do enough to get 10k steps throughout the day/evening
Sunday - Mountain biking every Sunday anywhere for 6 - 20 miles depending on where we go and the trail
My day job is sitting mostly looking at reports are stuff, so I don't do much during the day.
for me, that seems to be active? but I'm not so sure.
If you're going to use the TDEE method, I'd suggest using a TDEE calculator and then just customizing your calorie targets here. MFP is set up to use the NEAT method which only accounts for your day to day hum drum in your activity level and then you log exercise separately and get additional calories to account for that additional activity.
I've done both methods and they're basically 6 of 1...early on, the MFP method worked best for me due to the fact that I wasn't particularly consistent or regular with my exercise...as time went on I became more consistent and regular with exercise so I switched to the TDEE method.4 -
RunRutheeRun wrote: »Active /very active.
I sit for my job but in general I'm lightly active. Anything over 5k steps means a person is not sedentary in general.
Nope. From the settings:
How would you describe your normal daily activities?- 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, salesperson)
- Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. food server, postal carrier)
- Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)
I log all of my exercise and eat back 50-80% of the calories I earn by working out. You could, theoretically, change your activity level to be very high and then not log exercises. The risk there is that you don't exercise as much or become more efficient and burn fewer calories and then eat too much.
The TDEE method works well for a lot of people, particularly if they're pretty routine in their exercise...efficiencies don't really have a material impact on the calories you burn with a particular exercise either. If anything, the more fit you become, the harder and further you can go in the same time frame and burn more calories.3 -
Personally I am down as inactive because I sit at a desk for work all day. I walk 10,000 steps daily but I don't count that as active since I am already getting extra calories for it as exercise. I have lost 88 pounds on MFP using this as a guide and eating back around half of my exercise calories. Everyone is different but if you aren't losing you might want to adjust your settings.1
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I'd use TDEE too... http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ worked pretty well for me, you just have to adjust the numbers a bit (I hate how it goes from moderate exercise to strenuous exercise with no in-between).0
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cwolfman13 wrote: »RunRutheeRun wrote: »Active /very active.
I sit for my job but in general I'm lightly active. Anything over 5k steps means a person is not sedentary in general.
Nope. From the settings:
How would you describe your normal daily activities?- 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, salesperson)
- Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. food server, postal carrier)
- Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)
I log all of my exercise and eat back 50-80% of the calories I earn by working out. You could, theoretically, change your activity level to be very high and then not log exercises. The risk there is that you don't exercise as much or become more efficient and burn fewer calories and then eat too much.
The TDEE method works well for a lot of people, particularly if they're pretty routine in their exercise...efficiencies don't really have a material impact on the calories you burn with a particular exercise either. If anything, the more fit you become, the harder and further you can go in the same time frame and burn more calories.
Totally true. TDEE is great but not the default for MFP settings/instructions. OP is a new user with an ambitious new-user fitness plan. As for "harder and further you can go" ... this is true for some types of fitness, like progressive plans. It's not true for a lot of people like me who knock out a mile on the treadmill in the same amount of time every time with no goal towards getting faster or going further.0 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »RunRutheeRun wrote: »Active /very active.
I sit for my job but in general I'm lightly active. Anything over 5k steps means a person is not sedentary in general.
Nope. From the settings:
How would you describe your normal daily activities?- 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, salesperson)
- Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. food server, postal carrier)
- Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)
I log all of my exercise and eat back 50-80% of the calories I earn by working out. You could, theoretically, change your activity level to be very high and then not log exercises. The risk there is that you don't exercise as much or become more efficient and burn fewer calories and then eat too much.
The TDEE method works well for a lot of people, particularly if they're pretty routine in their exercise...efficiencies don't really have a material impact on the calories you burn with a particular exercise either. If anything, the more fit you become, the harder and further you can go in the same time frame and burn more calories.
Totally true. TDEE is great but not the default for MFP settings/instructions. OP is a new user with an ambitious new-user fitness plan. As for "harder and further you can go" ... this is true for some types of fitness, like progressive plans. It's not true for a lot of people like me who knock out a mile on the treadmill in the same amount of time every time with no goal towards getting faster or going further.
Even so, efficiencies have very little impact on actual energy expenditure...running is basically going to be .63 * bodyweight * distance, regardless of efficiency.1 -
Bottom line is you can only pick one.
For example if you walk your dog for an hour a day and include that to push yourself to lightly active, you can't count the dog walking as deliberate activity.1 -
RunRutheeRun wrote: »Active /very active.
I sit for my job but in general I'm lightly active. Anything over 5k steps means a person is not sedentary in general.
Nope. From the settings:
How would you describe your normal daily activities?- 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, salesperson)
- Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. food server, postal carrier)
- Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)
I log all of my exercise and eat back 50-80% of the calories I earn by working out. You could, theoretically, change your activity level to be very high and then not log exercises. The risk there is that you don't exercise as much or become more efficient and burn fewer calories and then eat too much.
If I went by that take on it and set it to sedentary because of my desk job plus exercise cals and ate what MFP then told me I would keep losing weight. Because despite having a desk job, I am still active in my work day.
Its a good job I actually use the TDEE method and maintain effortlessly that way.0 -
RunRutheeRun wrote: »RunRutheeRun wrote: »Active /very active.
I sit for my job but in general I'm lightly active. Anything over 5k steps means a person is not sedentary in general.
Nope. From the settings:
How would you describe your normal daily activities?- 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, salesperson)
- Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. food server, postal carrier)
- Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)
I log all of my exercise and eat back 50-80% of the calories I earn by working out. You could, theoretically, change your activity level to be very high and then not log exercises. The risk there is that you don't exercise as much or become more efficient and burn fewer calories and then eat too much.
If I went by that take on it and set it to sedentary because of my desk job plus exercise cals and ate what MFP then told me I would keep losing weight. Because despite having a desk job, I am still active in my work day.
Its a good job I actually use the TDEE method and maintain effortlessly that way.
When I first started MFP I was set to sedentary because of the whole desk job thing and was losing faster than I wanted to...bumped it up to light active to account for the fact that at the time I had a 2 year old and an infant at home that kept me pretty busy in the mornings and evenings. I also get up and walk around a lot at work to talk to colleagues and whatnot.
I think the bottom line is that whatever one chooses, it's just a reasonably good estimate to get started...after that, you really just have to analyze your own data and make adjustments as necessary. Calorie targets aren't really "gospel" like a lot of people think they are.2 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »RunRutheeRun wrote: »RunRutheeRun wrote: »Active /very active.
I sit for my job but in general I'm lightly active. Anything over 5k steps means a person is not sedentary in general.
Nope. From the settings:
How would you describe your normal daily activities?- 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, salesperson)
- Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. food server, postal carrier)
- Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)
I log all of my exercise and eat back 50-80% of the calories I earn by working out. You could, theoretically, change your activity level to be very high and then not log exercises. The risk there is that you don't exercise as much or become more efficient and burn fewer calories and then eat too much.
If I went by that take on it and set it to sedentary because of my desk job plus exercise cals and ate what MFP then told me I would keep losing weight. Because despite having a desk job, I am still active in my work day.
Its a good job I actually use the TDEE method and maintain effortlessly that way.
When I first started MFP I was set to sedentary because of the whole desk job thing and was losing faster than I wanted to...bumped it up to light active to account for the fact that at the time I had a 2 year old and an infant at home that kept me pretty busy in the mornings and evenings. I also get up and walk around a lot at work to talk to colleagues and whatnot.
I think the bottom line is that whatever one chooses, it's just a reasonably good estimate to get started...after that, you really just have to analyze your own data and make adjustments as necessary. Calorie targets aren't really "gospel" like a lot of people think they are.
Sooooo true!
OP, don't agonize about the settings.
Decide whether MFP's built-in NEAT method works better for you (activity level is work/daily life, log exercise explicitly - good if exercise burn varies unpredictably), or if TDEE method is better (use outside calculator to estimate calories, set MFP calorie goal manually, don't log exercise separately - simpler if exercise is predictable).
If you're unsure, I'd suggest using the MFP method for starters, as you won't have to outsmart built-in software assumptions.
If you do use the MFP method, make your best intuitive guess at daily life activity level without stressing about it. Then test-drive the process for 4-6 weeks, and adjust based on your actual results.
MFP's estimates are close for most people. However, I'm sedentary in real life outside of intentional exercise (retired, probably < 1000 steps in a typical day). I had to set MFP all the way to fully active to get it even close to the right calorie estimate . . . and it still thinks I'd gain on calories that in reality make me lose slowly, in year 3 of maintenance!
Any of the calculators may be inaccurate for specific individuals . . . but your body doesn't lie.
Best wishes!1 -
I’ve kept it as lightly active. I started on the 2nd January and have not missed a day of logging so far. had a couple of cheat days and 1 or 3 bad days.
Current weight loss is 10 lbs in 21 days which seems like it’s a good effort.
I’ll keep on the current setting but if I continue at 3.3 lbs per week I may up my food intake slightly as that seems fast to lose weight.
I started at 14stone 2lbs and need to lose 2 1/2 stone so it’s all heading in the right direction0
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