question about my activity level - please help!

TrishaTripps

Hi there! Here's my question, I am a bit confused on my activity level and need some help from you guys. I am sitting most of the day with little non-exercise activity the majority of most days, but I am doing Chalean Extreme 5 days a week, turbo fire greatest hiits once a week, Jillian Michaels yoga meltdown 1-2 times a week, and those are in the morning. Then in the evening I go hiking for about 60-80 minutes about 5 times a week. So I just wonder what my activity level is because I workout almost every morning and also almost every night. I take off one full day from everything a week... Meaning I am mostly sitting doing nothing. The problem I find with bmr and tdee calculators is that they only give you the option to put "moderate exercise 3-5 times a week" or "strenuous exercise 6-7 times a week" ...
I don't feel that what i'm doing is really "strenuous" per se, so why is there no option for moderate exercise 6-7 times per week? And are they calculating in that although I workout so much that maybe I don't have a job that allows me to be moving all day??
It's so confusing because i'm trying to eat more and not eat too low, however, I feel like mfp way overestimates how many calories i'm burning.
What I need to know is, being mostly sedentary and exercising so much, am I moderately or very active?
Keep in mind, on my evening hikes, i'm mostly climbing up the red rocks here in sedona for about 30-40 minutes followed by a 30-40 minute downhill... It is a real hike... Not just glorified walking.
I've upped my calories from about 1600 per day to 1900 per day, but really haven't changed weight... I don't really care what the scale says... I'm just focusing on lifting heavy and trying to be active enough to eat more.
In case it's needed here are my stats:
Female
33
5'9"
170.4 lbs.
31.9% body fat
Starting to eat about 1900/day
my exercise schedule is above, and i'm sedentary the rest of the time (mostly)
I lift as heavy as allows in the chalean extreme program to failure
When I workout I am on a mission, and try to push myself harder every time... I do not dial it in. maybe to some my exercise is considered strenuous, to me it is just normal because i'm used to pushing myself and I like to get myself nice and uncomfortable.
I'm sorry this is so long, and possibly confusing ... If you have any questions please ask!
I just need to know my activity level so I know how much to consume without going too low or too high.
Thanks in advance, guys!!
-Trisha

TrishaTripps

Anyone?

AnitraSoto

You are definitely very active, not moderate... That is a lots of exercise! One thing you don't want to do with EM2WL is underestimate activity, as it will only result in continued under eating. Go with very active.

If you up your calories to believed TDEE and don't have any true scale gains, maybe even try to push it up even higher...

Dlacenere

I second what Anitra said - I don't move a whole lot in my job, but I do exercise quite a bit so I know I am very active. I like this TDEE calculator the best, use the Katch McCardle since you know your body fat - it gives you more options on activity levels.

http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

TrishaTripps

Thank you guys so much!! I actually did look at the katch mcardle simply because it gives me a lower bmr, and I figured that was more realistic because of using the body fat %
I'll definitely put in very active and cut from there, but should I cut 20% below, or 15%?
I don't want to cut too low, however, I would like to burn my fat off

Dlacenere

I am not sure what your goals are, but I would think 15% is plenty - the closer you get to goal, the smaller you want your cut to be.

AnitraSoto

How far away from goal are you? You said you weren't really interested in the scale any more, but instead losing fat. Depending on your goals, 10 - 15% is probably best...

TrishaTripps

Ok good to know! I'm not sure what my goal is because i've never been smaller than 150 lbs. But at that time I really had no muscle, just was still flabby. I'm really trying to ignore the scale and go by inches lost and body fat %... I guess my goal is to lose the flabby parts and build nice lean body mass. I know my scale will fluctuate doing this, so I'll only use it about once a month just to plug in for bf % and also to reevaluate my bmr/tdee about every five pounds or so. This is the first time in my life I've gotten away from just reducing calories and doing tons of cardio... I'm sooooooo incredibly happy that I got away from that type of dieting.I really want this to be a lifestyle change this time around, and i'm loving the weight training
When I move to Germany in October, I won't be hiking anymore, but I'll still be doing my weights and my N.E.A.T. will go up because I'll be walking everywhere. I'll reevaluate my activity level at that time.
thanks so much for the replies!

AnitraSoto

Sounds like you are absolutely on the right track! Just remember, you can't really build muscle when you are eating at too much of a deficit, so you will want to stay at or near your TDEE (or maybe even consider bulk/cut cycles...)

TrishaTripps

Sounds good... I thought about that too... Not being able to gain muscle without giving the muscles something to gain with. I think I'll cut for a little while at a small % and see how that goes and then eat more and try to gain some muscle for a while. Is there kind of a formula for bulking/cutting? I mean like 3 mos. cutting then 3 mos. Bulking? I've never done this before.