Goals Activity Level Setting

BillB513

I started my journey to lose weight on 8/10/21, starting at 300 lbs and now weigh in at 235 lbs so I have been extremely diligent using MFP. I work in a desk job 5 days/week. Up until recently, I started walking (started in Feb/March timeframe) approx 7,000-12,000 steps per day. Should I change my Activity Level setting? If so, to Lightly Active or Active. I don't think my walking constitutes Very Active....

Thanks in advance!

cwolfman13

If you're using MFP as designed, your activity level is your day to day humdrum...as you will note, there is no mention of deliberate exercise in the activity level descriptors. Using MfP as designed, you log purposeful exercise after the fact to account for it. Or in the case with steps, many people use a synched device that will send over a correcting/reconciling calorie allotment in the event that your actual activity level exceeds that which you have selected in MFP.

Others like myself use the TDEE method as my exercise is fairly regular and routine. The TDEE method accounts for your day to day as well as deliberate exercise upfront in your activity level. It's perfectly viable method if you exercise regularly. "Steps" can be a little tricky in that they don't necessarily give you any context. Steps just walking around doing your day to day stuff are going to be different than steps taken on a deliberate quick paced walk. Steps on a deliberate quick paced walk are going to be different than steps doing a 5K run or something..."steps" lacks to context of intensity.

As sort of a general rule of thumb, though not gospel...

<5,000 steps is generally considered sedentary
up to 8.000 steps is generally considered lightly active
up to 10,000 steps is generally considered moderately active
>10,000 steps is generally considered active

So I'd say you fall somewhere between light and moderately active

AnnPT77

How fast are you actually losing weight, on average? That's the important thing.

If you're not losing so fast you create unnecessarily high health risk, but are losing at a rate you personally find satisfying, no need to change anything.

If you're losing faster than 0.5% of current weight weekly, and are feeling hungry, fatigued, weak, cold all the time, or anything similar, then definitely eat more (whether by changing your activity level, or just adding calories to your goal).

If you're losing faster than 1% of current weight weekly on average, and your current weight isn't an acute health threat in itself, and you aren't under close medical supervision for nutritional adequacy and other health risk mitigation, then it'd be smart IMO to eat more (whether by changing your activity level, or just adding calories to your goal).

If you're losing slower than 0.5-1% of current weight weekly on average, but your current weight isn't an acute health risk in itself, and you'd be happier (or better able to stay the course) by eating more, it's fine to lose slower, and you can eat more: Increase your calorie intake (whether by changing your activity level, or just adding calories to your goal).

P.S. 10,000 steps plus tends to be around the upper border of MFP's Active setting, for a lot of people, but it matters how much overall movement you have in your day. Actual average weight loss rate is the best way to gauge what's sensible, though, once you have enough personal experience data to do so - as you presumably do.

P.P.S. for completeness, even though it sounds like it wouldn't be applicable in your individual case: If you feel like you're losing too slowly, and are losing slower than 0.5-1% of your current weight per week on average - with a bias toward the lower end of 0.5% - then it's fine to eat a little less.

BillB513

The 10k includes routine and deliberate steps(I usually walk deliberately 1 mile in AM, 2.3 miles at lunch and another 1 mile in PM; the rest are routine day steps). I am losing weight at an acceptable level. I never go under 1500 calories in any given day and I have a "treat" day where I eat whatever I want to eat. I started almost exactly 9 months and lost 65 lbs. My eating habits have focused more on clean eating (except for my treat day, lol).
Edit: I also drink a minimum of 1 gallon of water/day.

Thanks for responses...