Activity level

Ashlove5

How do choose your perfect activity level? I know some people put not active and add up their workout calories while some people put their activity level and follow that to eat. I put my activity level as not active but i workout 5 times a week and i jot down my workout for the extra calories. Should i continue doing that or should i change my activity level and also log down my workouts?

cwolfman13

There are two primary methods of calorie counting...the NEAT method (MFP) and the TDEE method (most other calculators). With a NEAT calculator like MFP, your activity level is your day to day hum drum...that's why you see NO...ZERO mention of exercise in the descriptor for your activity level. With MFP and other NEAT method calculators you are meant to account for exercise as additional activity beyond your day to day hum drum by logging it and getting additional calories to "eat back" to account for that activity. The pros here are that if you're actually doing things as intended, you better learn to fuel your body for exercise and other things and can also be beneficial for those who don't exercise (calorie target is a weight loss target assuming ZERO exercise) or who's exercise is irregular...either hit or miss or in some cases individuals with very high amounts of exercise on some days and little to no exercise on other days.

The TDEE method is what most other calculators use and includes all of your activity...day to day and exercise in your activity level and thus you get a higher base calorie target to begin with. If you use the TDEE method, you should use a TDEE calculator to arrive at your calorie target and customize your calorie target on MFP. This is because they use different algorithms and even an active setting on MFP is not going to equal and active setting on a TDEE calculator because MFP is going to assume "active" but still a low level of exertion...ie you're just on your feet a lot and moving around, but not necessarily "working out". Pros to the TDEE method are a more uniform calorie target day to day and IMO, it's easier if you exercise regularly and your exercise is fairly consistent in terms of energy requirements and such. The downside is for one, best of intentions to exercise regularly at a level that has been set in a calculator...but it doesn't happen...or life gets in the way...injury, etc that prevent one from being as active as they would like and they forget to change their activity level and adjust calories. With TDEE, you wouldn't log your exercise because it's already accounted for in your activity level and thus your calorie target...so logging it again and getting additional calories would be double dipping.

spiriteagle99

The activity level depends on your life outside deliberate exercise. Deliberate exercise is logged separately. If you spend the day sitting at a computer and the evening watching TV, then you'd be sedentary, even if you also spend two hours working out. If you set your activity as active and then also logged your exercise, you'd be double counting and wouldn't lose weight as quickly as you expect.

janejellyroll

MFP's intention is for you to set your activity level based on your regular lifestyle OUTSIDE of intentional exercise. You then log your intentional exercise and eat back those calories.

Some people prefer different ways, so you'll sometimes read about people using those.

I would give up on the idea of choosing a "perfect" activity level. Whichever method you choose, you just need for it to be close enough. Whatever you decide, you'll want to use that method for a few weeks and then compare it to your real life results to determine if you need to make adjustments.

I personally choose "sedentary" and then sync a fitness tracker (Fitbit) to make all the adjustments for me.

cwolfman13

janejellyroll wrote: »

MFP's intention is for you to set your activity level based on your regular lifestyle OUTSIDE of intentional exercise. You then log your intentional exercise and eat back those calories.

Some people prefer different ways, so you'll sometimes read about people using those.

I would give up on the idea of choosing a "perfect" activity level. Whichever method you choose, you just need for it to be close enough. Whatever you decide, you'll want to use that method for a few weeks and then compare it to your real life results to determine if you need to make adjustments.

I personally choose "sedentary" and then sync a fitness tracker (Fitbit) to make all the adjustments for me.

Very good point...OP, this isn't an exact science...there's nothing "perfect" about any of this.

sijomial

I put my activity level as not active but i workout 5 times a week
Your workouts are absolutely nothing to do with the MyFitnessPal activity setting.
You could be completely sedentary outside of your exercise or be a construction worker - whatever your lifestyle activity setting exercise is in addition to the base calorie goal you get.

and i jot down my workout for the extra calories. Should i continue doing that or should i change my activity level and also log down my workouts?
You should select whatever actvity level best reflects all your waking hours but excluding purposeful exercise.

If you want a same every day goal (which includes an average of your weekly exercise) instead of MyFitnessPal's variable goal then go to a TDEE estimator rather than try to fudge the system here. You can then add that goal manually and in that case you wouldn't be logging your exercise as it's already accounted for.
This TDEE calc is better then most - https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/

Perfection (well sort of...) comes from consistency over an extended period of weeks and making adjustments if nessessary. Think of the initial goal set up as a starting point.

wunderkindking

I'm going against the grain - sort of.

The deal here is, that I do very little intentional exercise. I don't go to a gym. I don't work out - like at all - beyond some weight stuff.

My job is sitting in front of a computer.

HOWEVER, my LIFESTYLE includes 5 dogs and participating in dog sports. That means at least 5 days a week (and usually 7) I am spending 2 hours of my day doing some sort of movement. Some of that movement is basically walking, some of it's hiking more challenging terrain, and some of it's sprinting like crazy. Weekends during trial season I spend 8-10 hours a day mostly walking with periods of flat out sprints.

For me, because it is SUCH a static part of my life, and because it is so freaking variable, I take the 200 calorie adjustment and set my activity to 'lightly active'.

When I took up jogging, I added THAT as exercise calories to track (sometimes, I often don't bother because I am not doing distance stuff here - most of my jogs are maybe 20-30 minutes). But that's something outside my life; I carve out time for it.

The dog stuff is static. It is my life. It isn't dedicated workout time. It's just what I do.

That said my weight loss rate seems in line with this adjustment so no worries for me there, but I'd certainly adjust if it *wasn't* aligning right/verifying my assumptions.

janejellyroll

wunderkindking wrote: »

I'm going against the grain - sort of.

The deal here is, that I do very little intentional exercise. I don't go to a gym. I don't work out - like at all - beyond some weight stuff.

My job is sitting in front of a computer.

HOWEVER, my LIFESTYLE includes 5 dogs and participating in dog sports. That means at least 5 days a week (and usually 7) I am spending 2 hours of my day doing some sort of movement. Some of that movement is basically walking, some of it's hiking more challenging terrain, and some of it's sprinting like crazy. Weekends during trial season I spend 8-10 hours a day mostly walking with periods of flat out sprints.

For me, because it is SUCH a static part of my life, and because it is so freaking variable, I take the 200 calorie adjustment and set my activity to 'lightly active'.

When I took up jogging, I added THAT as exercise calories to track (sometimes, I often don't bother because I am not doing distance stuff here - most of my jogs are maybe 20-30 minutes). But that's something outside my life; I carve out time for it.

The dog stuff is static. It is my life. It isn't dedicated workout time. It's just what I do.

That said my weight loss rate seems in line with this adjustment so no worries for me there, but I'd certainly adjust if it *wasn't* aligning right/verifying my assumptions.

I don't think you're going against the grain at all. What you're describing -- looking at the regular, consistent activity related to your lifestyle and setting your activity level based on that -- is exactly what would be recommended for anyone planning to use MFP "as designed," especially since you're tracking the actual results and they're in line with what you expect.

What (I think) MFP is trying to avoid is asking people to choose an activity level based on how much they THINK they will exercise when they're setting up a new account. Why? Well, so many of us are very optimistic when we're beginning a new fitness/weight management plan. It would be easy for someone to say "I'm going to run five miles six days a week," get a calorie goal based on that, and then fall short of that and wonder why they're not losing weight as they're expected.

It's specifically BECAUSE exercise is a hard habit for some people to pick up that they separate it and capture it separately. But if running after dog or stocking shelves or whatever is part of your lifestyle, that's going to be happening even if you're struggling to make time for exercise.

For someone who has made exercise a solid and established habit, it may make more sense to go with a TDEE approach (but that person can still prefer NEAT). But for the average person who is juggling commitments and is figuring out how to make regular exercise work or who just isn't able or willing to get to it consistently, I believe MFP's approach may be much more sustainable.

(Just my two cents).

yirara

wunderkindking wrote: »

I'm going against the grain - sort of.

The deal here is, that I do very little intentional exercise. I don't go to a gym. I don't work out - like at all - beyond some weight stuff.

My job is sitting in front of a computer.

HOWEVER, my LIFESTYLE includes 5 dogs and participating in dog sports. That means at least 5 days a week (and usually 7) I am spending 2 hours of my day doing some sort of movement. Some of that movement is basically walking, some of it's hiking more challenging terrain, and some of it's sprinting like crazy. Weekends during trial season I spend 8-10 hours a day mostly walking with periods of flat out sprints.

For me, because it is SUCH a static part of my life, and because it is so freaking variable, I take the 200 calorie adjustment and set my activity to 'lightly active'.

When I took up jogging, I added THAT as exercise calories to track (sometimes, I often don't bother because I am not doing distance stuff here - most of my jogs are maybe 20-30 minutes). But that's something outside my life; I carve out time for it.

The dog stuff is static. It is my life. It isn't dedicated workout time. It's just what I do.

That said my weight loss rate seems in line with this adjustment so no worries for me there, but I'd certainly adjust if it *wasn't* aligning right/verifying my assumptions.

This sounds exactly how the activity setting should be used: you're doing this pretty much every day. In a way it doesn't matter if you're working on your feet all day, running behind toddlers, or going out with your dogs. It's part of your day to day routine.

Mind you, I'm totally sedentary! If I would not be exercising I'd have about 1200-3000 steps per day. You probably can't get more couch potato than that