Activity Level in DC (or any city where you walk a lot)

ak440

I just moved to DC about a month ago. I am adjusting to life without my ford explorer, walking everywhere. I have been losing weight rather quickly. I am wondering if my daily activity level should be set to 'lightly active' instead of 'sedentary' since my days now involve a lot of walking. Anyone have any thoughts on this? I only add in exercise calories from my actual workouts, not getting around town.

brraanndi

I don't see why not. You can always try adjusting it up and tracking your goals to see if loss stalls?

You could also get a pedometer ( or something Fitbit which will do a calorie adjustment based off of your steps ) to see how many steps you are now do.

healthycyb

I would change it to 'lightly active' because now that you're walking a lot more, it'll probably give you a more accurate amount of calories that you should be eating.

Also, this is really off-topic but how do you like DC? I was thinking of going to Howard for grad school next year.

omnomnomicon

I live in Maryland, and I walk everywhere and have for years. I walk a bare minimum of 4 miles 5 days a week, though most days its more like 6-8 miles at least one or two of those days. I'm marked under lightly active, and I don't log my walking. As long as I still stay 500 under net cals, I still progress.