Calories burned in your normal day

alsion1

Just signed up to this, and I can't find anywhere to add info about my regular day lifestyle/activities. It only gives work, for which I am "sedentary", being in a desk-based office job. How come they don't give you an option of grading the rest of your life in this way?

e.g. every day I walk to work and back (2 miles, 40 mins total a day), to the shops/pub/friends (similar distances/times), I have 3 flights of stairs to my flat just to for poping outside. This doesn't seem extraordinary, but presumably there's some people who use a car to get everywhere ever.

So what is the "normal" assumed level of activity in a day? Is mine normal? Or do I need to add "fetch a pint of milk" as an exercise activity?! I can't find any guidance on this on the website.

Thanks for your advice

Runningcircuits

I would log your walks to work as exercise, just be sure to try and be accurate on your pace. A slow, leisurely stroll is going to be far different than walking at 4 mph. If you climb your stairs once or twice a day, I probably wouldn't log that. Now, if you go up and down & up and down until your heart is racing, then I'd log that.

Good luck!

grimendale

Based on what you are describing, I would set you to "lightly active" and only log any actual exercise. I'm the same way. I have a desk job, but I don't log cleaning, yard work, climbing the stairs in my building, etc. The MFP buckets are estimates, so you need to find what works for you. Try something and adjust as necessary.

TeaBea

Just signed up to this, and I can't find anywhere to add info about my regular day lifestyle/activities. It only gives work, for which I am "sedentary", being in a desk-based office job. How come they don't give you an option of grading the rest of your life in this way?

e.g. every day I walk to work and back (2 miles, 40 mins total a day), to the shops/pub/friends (similar distances/times), I have 3 flights of stairs to my flat just to for poping outside. This doesn't seem extraordinary, but presumably there's some people who use a car to get everywhere ever.

So what is the "normal" assumed level of activity in a day? Is mine normal? Or do I need to add "fetch a pint of milk" as an exercise activity?! I can't find any guidance on this on the website.

Thanks for your advice

MFP calculates your deficit based upon activity level....and nothing more. Then you log exercise & get more calories added based upon that. There are other calculators (TDEE) that add exercise up front...another option.

If you're looking for a more concrete number, something like a FitBit comes in handy. This is a fancy pedometer you wear 24/7. People who move around a lot during the normal course of the day get a higher reading..... other people find out just how sedentary they actually are.

Here's a "step" chart that outlines different activity levels (a regular pedometer would be helpful too)

<5000 steps/day may be used as a sedentary lifestyle
5000-7499 steps/day is typical of daily activity might be considered low active
7500-9999 likely includes some volitional activities considered somewhat active
10,000 steps/day indicates the point that should be used to classify individuals as active
>12500 steps/day are likely to be classified as highly active