Activity level stump

azzkicker65

Hey good day....I am about to start Shaun T insanity program today....
I'm 5'11" 260.....I work a sedentary desk job, and was wondering what activity level I should include in my goals. Any advice on this would be most helpful

Lietchi

Your activity level should only take into consideration your daily activity, not counting exercise (exercise should be logged separately).
So what you should look at is your job, commute, household chores, pets and/or children you take care of, etc.

cwolfman13

If you are using MFP as designed, your activity level is just your day to day hum drum. You log exercise after the fact and get additional calories to account for that activity. As you will note, there is no mention of exercise whatsoever in MFPs activity level descriptors...this is why.

Many people use the TDEE method which includes exercise in your activity so you have a higher calorie target to begin with. Going this route I would suggest using a TDEE calculator and customizing your targets on MFP as a TDEE calculator will use different multipliers for activity vs MFP where even an activity of very active presumes quite a bit of movement, but also presumes that movement to be pretty low level and not particularly strenuous.

I think TDEE is great for people who exercise regularly and that exercise is pretty consistent in terms of duration and intensity. The MFP (NEAT) method works well for people new to exercise who may not be quite as consistent as they can still lose weight without exercise and can log exercise when they get around to doing it. It's also beneficial for those who have a really variable exercise routine day to day.