Am I sedentary or lightly active?

Calichick94

I'm a 19 year old female and last week I found out about "eat more to weigh less" and I've started my metabolism reset and I set my activity on lightly active on the scooby site but now I'm not sure if it's correct.

The thing is now that I'm back in university I don't have much time to exercise. Like maybe I can squeeze in once, twice or three times a week tops for 30 min to an hour or so ( burning 200-350 calories) by running/ walking intervals on the treadmill. Most of the time I'm sitting down and studying. I'm on campus everyday but I just go to my lectures and leave. I don't have that much walking. Maybe twice a week I walk about 3,000-5,000 steps? And the rest of the week it's minimal.

My numbers based on lightly active

BMR 1530
TDEE 2101
TDEE - 15% fat 1786

and for sedentary would be

TDEE 1834 and - 15% fat is 1558.

I'm already having a difficulty time increasing my cals and frankly 2,000 is too much. I was just thinking that since I'm not sure when or how long I'll exercise, I'll just eat back my cals on the day I do exercise when I burn more than 276 I believe (my deficit). So where am I exactly?

Also, I eat at maintenance until my weight stabilizes, right? I just want to make sure. Then I start my cut and I start weight lifting (light). If I don't weight lift will I still lose weight even though I'm in sedentary?

Thank you,

psuLemon

I would suggest starting with 1600 calories and see how it goes for a month. If you find yourself very active that day, just add a few hundred extra calories.

goldensmartie

Sedentary is normally for those who do very little movement at all. I.e. practically bed-bound. So you would be lightly active if not more.

jmayerovitch

Whether or not you count yourself as sedentary or lightly active for MFP purposes also depends on what you plan on tracking. If you plan on tracking your calories burned for every workout, walk, etc. then you should count yourself as sedentary. If you're not plan on tracking those calories then count yourself as lightly active.

For example: I count myself as sedentary for the purposes of MFP. Why? Because my schedule is pretty much get up, workout, go to work (more often sitting at a desk than not, even though I'm military), go workout again, go home. Eat dinner, play with cat, go to bed. And I'm tracking all the calories I burn during my two workouts separately. So, outside of those workouts, I'm pretty much sedentary.

This is only true for weekdays. Weekends, I'm much more active outside of my regular workouts.

katelynnsmom1978

Go to http://www.health-calc.com/ and click weight loss tab then energy expenditure advanced. this will give you a better idea based on your daily activities. it was a real eye opener for me.

elisabeisme

<5000 steps/day = sedentary

I would set your base as sedentary and then log/eat back your treadmill workouts.

Athena98501

<5000 steps/day = sedentary

I would set your base as sedentary and then log/eat back your treadmill workouts.

This isn't always a good benchmark. On days when I get even close to 5000 steps, my calorie burn is well into the moderately active range. I'm into lightly active around 3000ish steps.

pavrg

If you have to ask, pick sedentary. If you're trying to lose weight it's good to slightly underestimate activity.

Francl27

<5000 steps/day = sedentary

I would set your base as sedentary and then log/eat back your treadmill workouts.

This isn't always a good benchmark. On days when I get even close to 5000 steps, my calorie burn is well into the moderately active range. I'm into lightly active around 3000ish steps.

I'm only into lightly active with 5000 steps.

Definitely sedentary. Maybe eat like 50 more calories a day or something, so 1600 calories seems about right.

skadoosh33

Sounds like a sedentary life to me.