MFP Activity level?

dralicephd
dralicephd Posts: 402 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Current situation: I've been working from home. Consequently, I have MFP set to sedentary and am adding exercise calories.

Upcoming Change: I will be going back to work in a few weeks and am wondering if/how I should adjust this setting. I will be going back to a job where I stand & walk around a small room for about 6 hours at a time, but only two days per week. My instinct is to leave it at sedentary and add extra calories on those days, but I'm not really sure what an accurate calorie count would be for that. Does anyone have a good resource for calculating that? Or is "lightly active" a better choice?

Thoughts?

Replies

  • Cheesy567
    Cheesy567 Posts: 1,186 Member
    Do you have a step counter/ pedometer or an activity monitor to use? That’s one way to capture small bursts of activity through the day.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    If you set your activity level temporarily to Active (6hrs of movement is rather more than Lightly Active) you would get a number for the difference between those two days and the rest of your week.
    You could eat that difference on your working days or simply compare the totals of:
    7 days Sedentary
    5 day Sedentary / 2 day Active
    7 days Lightly Active

    You won't get, or need, accuracy but a test and adjustment period will be required.
    Even a step counter would be a compromised estimate as small steps around a small room are not the same as outdoor steps walking.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,416 Member
    edited November 2021
    I would start at Lightly Active. Sedentary is too low for almost everyone. Run those numbers for 4-6 weeks and see how you do before making any more changes.

    As an example, I'm retired. I live in a small condo so my housework is pretty light. I am set at Active, I add in and use all my Exercise calories and that is my level of needed calories. If I set it to Sedentary I'd be under-eating by over 500 calories a day. I found that out by trial and error, good data collection, using my food scale and my body weight scale - and time. That's kind of what we all have to do.

    I may be an outlier? I don't know, but I've read similar experiences from several other long-term users of this forum.
  • dralicephd
    dralicephd Posts: 402 Member
    Thanks everyone! I appreciate the insight.

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