What activity level should I set MFP too?

tula1980

I'm a stay at home mum doing the usual play with-and-lifting-of-baby plus household domestic chores. I walk the dog whilst pushing the pram off road at a brisk speed for 45 minutes every day. I do 60 minutes of Pilates 5 times a week and I spend about 6 hours a week gardening (digging, lifting, moving soil/plants etc). According to my pedometer I average 12,000 steps a day.

Is 'lightly active' appropriate or do I do enough to scrape 'medium'?

Francl27

That's not how MFP works really. Your activity seems to be lightly active, but you have to log your walks/pilates as exercise too and eat those calories back.

The other option is just to switch to TDEE-20% and eat that every day (http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/), with calories somewhere in between lightly active and moderately active.

tula1980

Thanks, I'm going to try the TDEE method as I'd rather eat my 'average' calories daily. If I am aiming to loose only 10lb of weight whilst retaining as much lean mass as possible would I be better doing TDEE - 10, or even 5%?

Francl27

I'd do 10% honestly, so there's a bit more margin for error, and if it doesn't work, I'd go 15%.