A question about activity level

ladybug4233

So I have lost 1-1.5 pounds a week consistently for a little over 4 months. Now that the weather is nicer and I am in better shape I have increased my steps. I get 9500-12000 steps a day consistently. Should I change my activity level from lightly active to active? These steps do not include my intentional exercise. Thank you for the help.

TavistockToad

yes, you can do, particularly if you feel you need the extra calories or that the rate of loss is getting a little fast.

ladybug4233

Thanks for the response.

collectingblues

Yes -- if those steps *don't* include your intentional exercise, you can change your activity level. Or, you can just eat them back -- it's totally up to you, and what you feel comfortable with.

RoxieDawn

I look at this two ways. If you are moving more in general that is not purposeful exercise then yes increase activity level. If you are adding in for example extra purposeful walks that can be considered exercise, I would add it like that.

Either way you do it, its just about giving you additional calories to eat.

LiftHeavyThings27105

As others have stated, absolutely. NEAT, which is what you are doing via your "not intentionally exercise" stuff, is indeed part of your TDEE. TDEE is comprised of BMR, NEAT, PAL, and TEF.

So, total daily energy expenditure is comprised of:
1. Basal Metabolic Rate
2. Non-exercise activity thermogenesis
3. Physical Activity Level (this is your "gym time")
4. Thermal Effect of Food (this is your 'digestion')

So, with all that walking around your are increasing #2 (NEAT).

There are typically five different levels for PAL....

A. Sedentary
B. Light Exercise
C. Moderate Exercise
D. Heavy Exercise
E. Athlete

Does this help?

ladybug4233

LiftHeavyThings27105 wrote: »

As others have stated, absolutely. NEAT, which is what you are doing via your "not intentionally exercise" stuff, is indeed part of your TDEE. TDEE is comprised of BMR, NEAT, PAL, and TEF.

So, total daily energy expenditure is comprised of:
1. Basal Metabolic Rate
2. Non-exercise activity thermogenesis
3. Physical Activity Level (this is your "gym time")
4. Thermal Effect of Food (this is your 'digestion')

So, with all that walking around your are increasing #2 (NEAT).

There are typically five different levels for PAL....

A. Sedentary
B. Light Exercise
C. Moderate Exercise
D. Heavy Exercise
E. Athlete

Does this help?

Thank you for your explanation. Where I get confused is how to count my activity level between my steps and 5 days at the gym.

LiftHeavyThings27105

So, to your confusion.....

Since MFP does things a little bit different, I might suggest that you take the posts that I made about TDEE and use them as a "Big Picture" thing....a "Concept Thing" thing...... and keep that in the back of your head and then use MFP for this.

So, and forgive me if I mess this up as I do not use MFP for any tracking at all (just does not jibe with my head and my thought process)...so someone who actually does all of their logging / tracking within MFP will, I am sure, correct my errors...

You would set your "goals" and macro breakdown (40/40/20 or whatever it might be). You also log your activity and your exercises. So, if you did gardening for two hours (yes, not a typo!) and your fitbit tells you that you burned 150 calories then you log that (150 calories - gardening). If you then went to the gym and did 45 minutes of resistance training and you - according to some 'device' - burned 100 calories you would log that (100 calories - resistance training).

And, I want to be clear here, I think that when you log your "caloric expenditure" that you log it all in the same place....you would just have different "line-item entries"....one for gardening and one for resistance training. Does that make sense?

And, anyone who actually uses MFP for this.....PLEASE HELP THIS YOUNG LADY OUT! Not trying to add confusion to this for her (or anyone, for that matter).

janejellyroll

LiftHeavyThings27105 wrote: »

So, to your confusion.....

Since MFP does things a little bit different, I might suggest that you take the posts that I made about TDEE and use them as a "Big Picture" thing....a "Concept Thing" thing...... and keep that in the back of your head and then use MFP for this.

So, and forgive me if I mess this up as I do not use MFP for any tracking at all (just does not jibe with my head and my thought process)...so someone who actually does all of their logging / tracking within MFP will, I am sure, correct my errors...

You would set your "goals" and macro breakdown (40/40/20 or whatever it might be). You also log your activity and your exercises. So, if you did gardening for two hours (yes, not a typo!) and your fitbit tells you that you burned 150 calories then you log that (150 calories - gardening). If you then went to the gym and did 45 minutes of resistance training and you - according to some 'device' - burned 100 calories you would log that (100 calories - resistance training).

And, I want to be clear here, I think that when you log your "caloric expenditure" that you log it all in the same place....you would just have different "line-item entries"....one for gardening and one for resistance training. Does that make sense?

And, anyone who actually uses MFP for this.....PLEASE HELP THIS YOUNG LADY OUT! Not trying to add confusion to this for her (or anyone, for that matter).

You don't log your routine daily activities -- those should be accounted for when you're choosing your activity level. You do log intentional exercise.

Although you certainly have the option to log gardening, I wouldn't recommend it for most people. The more routine activities you're logging, the higher the risk you're "double-counting" and eating back more than you really should.

Calliope610

I set my daily caloric goal to TDEE sedentary - 500cals for a 1lb/wk weight loss. I wear a FitBit Charge 2 and usually get 15000+ steps per day. About 4000-6000 of that is what I call "structured activity" i.e. exercise.

I don't worry about my daily activity calories burned - I'm pretty much doing the same stuff I did when I was gaining weight. I do however log my exercise.

And I try not to eat back the exercise calories in order to increase my deficit and speed up the weight loss.

tinkerbellang83

LiftHeavyThings27105 wrote: »

So, to your confusion.....

Since MFP does things a little bit different, I might suggest that you take the posts that I made about TDEE and use them as a "Big Picture" thing....a "Concept Thing" thing...... and keep that in the back of your head and then use MFP for this.

So, and forgive me if I mess this up as I do not use MFP for any tracking at all (just does not jibe with my head and my thought process)...so someone who actually does all of their logging / tracking within MFP will, I am sure, correct my errors...

You would set your "goals" and macro breakdown (40/40/20 or whatever it might be). You also log your activity and your exercises. So, if you did gardening for two hours (yes, not a typo!) and your fitbit tells you that you burned 150 calories then you log that (150 calories - gardening). If you then went to the gym and did 45 minutes of resistance training and you - according to some 'device' - burned 100 calories you would log that (100 calories - resistance training).

And, I want to be clear here, I think that when you log your "caloric expenditure" that you log it all in the same place....you would just have different "line-item entries"....one for gardening and one for resistance training. Does that make sense?

And, anyone who actually uses MFP for this.....PLEASE HELP THIS YOUNG LADY OUT! Not trying to add confusion to this for her (or anyone, for that matter).

See infographic on the other post. https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10670519/having-trouble-staying-asleep#latest

WinoGelato

Do you use an activity tracker like a FitBit, etc?
Is it synced with MFP?
What calorie target are you set at?
How much weight do you have left to lose?

LiftHeavyThings27105

tinkerbellang83 wrote: »

LiftHeavyThings27105 wrote: »

So, to your confusion.....

Since MFP does things a little bit different, I might suggest that you take the posts that I made about TDEE and use them as a "Big Picture" thing....a "Concept Thing" thing...... and keep that in the back of your head and then use MFP for this.

So, and forgive me if I mess this up as I do not use MFP for any tracking at all (just does not jibe with my head and my thought process)...so someone who actually does all of their logging / tracking within MFP will, I am sure, correct my errors...

You would set your "goals" and macro breakdown (40/40/20 or whatever it might be). You also log your activity and your exercises. So, if you did gardening for two hours (yes, not a typo!) and your fitbit tells you that you burned 150 calories then you log that (150 calories - gardening). If you then went to the gym and did 45 minutes of resistance training and you - according to some 'device' - burned 100 calories you would log that (100 calories - resistance training).

And, I want to be clear here, I think that when you log your "caloric expenditure" that you log it all in the same place....you would just have different "line-item entries"....one for gardening and one for resistance training. Does that make sense?

And, anyone who actually uses MFP for this.....PLEASE HELP THIS YOUNG LADY OUT! Not trying to add confusion to this for her (or anyone, for that matter).

See infographic on the other post. https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10670519/having-trouble-staying-asleep#latest

@tinkerbellang83 - I did! Thank you. I really like that "chart". I will educate myself and try to stick to the MFP-way of doing things.