Is 'Light Activity' too generous?

walkerkt00

I'll be honest, when I get the chance- I am a couch potato. Lately I have been calculating through MFP at light activity, and I was just hoping I could get an opinion on whether or not I'm doing harm to my goals.

I am a student so I spend a lot of time sitting in lecture during the day, or sitting around doing homework in the evening, but I make sure I stay extremely active on my breaks, doing flights of stairs I do not enter as activity.

I am a mom of two young children so I am doing daily heavy cleaning that I do not enter, and run after my children or walk to and from school with them- all which I do not enter as exercise.

Do these small activities justify the light activity selection? I see a lot of comments on threads about how people are generally wrong to calculate their activity this way-

maggie16sweetxoxo

No it's not too generous. As long as you don't add stupid daily stuff as an exercise, you're good.

naydene_w

I would not count as that is what you already do on a day to day basis. I would not count and get extra calories. I think what you are doing now as a young mom and student, you are adding bits when you can and that is good. Somehwhere down the road you can get free time to do stuff like take walks etc, but this is not that time. Just wondering if there is no time during week you could just go for a walk or something just by self to get extra exercise? It may also be a great mind booster for all the other stuff you do to just get out and do something by self.

naydene_w

Oh, and beautiful pic of you and baby!

Boofuls

It's tricky. I think that sedentary may be a better fit but why don't you leave it as lightly active and change if you don't lose?

NoAdditives

Being set to lightly active is not too generous. I'm a SAHM and I spend a fair amount of time sitting with my newborn, pumping, etc. But, I also clean a lot, get up to change diapers, make food, and all sorts of other things. I'm set at lightly active and it hasn't stopped my progress. I just make sure I only log actual exercise, not the little things that are part of m y daily routine.

cmacphee3

I also worry about this. I work on my feet 40 hours/week, but when I'm at home, other than cooking, cleaning and taking my dogs out (sometimes for longer walks) I sit around a whole lot. I never log any exercise anymore because I worry I'm already too high on what I'm burning.

SmartAlec03211988

Unless you're lying in bed all day, or are confined to a wheelchair, you're not sedentary.

Boofuls

Unless you're lying in bed all day, or are confined to a wheelchair, you're not sedentary.

I completely agree on the dictionary definition but not how MFP works it out. I have to hit 7000 steps or so to avoid a negative calorie adjustment when set to lightly active. On days when I am at home (even when babysitting so running about after kids) I end up at around 2000 steps.

It doesn't matter really though, just find a level where you're losing.

cwolfman13

I personally find it rather amusing that so many people actually think they're sedentary just because they have a desk job. I mean yeah...if you go to work and sit on your *kitten* all day and then come home and hit the couch and then off to bed, you're probably sedentary but I know very few people who do that.

The vast majority I believe can be classified as lightly active. That's where I am at...I have a desk job and spend a good chunk of my day sitting at my desk...but really, I don't sit down at home much at all...I"m always chasing around my 1 y.o. and 3 y.o. and cooking or cleaning something or doing the dishes or fixing something or mowing the lawn, etc. My wife and I get home from work around 6 and we don't generally sit down until 9...that's three hours right there of being "light active"...we also have about 2 hours in the morning where we're flying around the house. I've been light active ever since I started here despite the "desk job" descriptive.

If you're having issues, you may want to really make sure you're estimating your intake correctly. If you're just pretty much eyeballing servings and portions and logging then it's likely you are underestimating. Numerous studies have shown that people tend to underestimate consumption by as much as 20 - 30% when they don't weigh and measure out portions and ingredients.

LorinaLynn

The difference on MFP between sedentary and lightly active is only about 140 calories a day. It's not going to make that much of a difference in your deficit or weight loss, but that extra 140 calories could be the difference between feeling deprived and quitting, or feeling like this is sustainable long term.

It makes much more sense to set yourself to lightly active than to set it as sedentary and log every small activity and chore.

OlyTriNoob

Unless you're lying in bed all day, or are confined to a wheelchair, you're not sedentary.

Not necessarily. I think the following provides a decent guideline into determining activity levels...you need a pedometer though.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14715035

(i). <5000 steps/day may be used as a 'sedentary lifestyle index';
(ii). 5000-7499 steps/day is typical of daily activity excluding sports/exercise and might be considered 'low active';
(iii). 7500-9999 likely includes some volitional activities (and/or elevated occupational activity demands) and might be considered 'somewhat active';(
(iv). >or=10000 steps/day indicates the point that should be used to classify individuals as 'active'.
(v).Individuals who take >12500 steps/day are likely to be classified as 'highly active'.

Prismapencils

I think I should switch mine to sedentary because I'm a full-time student, reading all day. However, I've had it set to lightly active before because I used to work more (walking up and down hallways, assisting elderly with ADLs) . That, and on other days, I'm hiking around campus with my big ol' backpack. But seriously, on days where I'm at home, I'm not doing anything until around dinner. Then I might jog or do a hour's worth of exercise DVD.

walkerkt00

The difference on MFP between sedentary and lightly active is only about 140 calories a day. It's not going to make that much of a difference in your deficit or weight loss, but that extra 140 calories could be the difference between feeling deprived and quitting, or feeling like this is sustainable long term.

It makes much more sense to set yourself to lightly active than to set it as sedentary and log every small activity and chore.

I have to agree with the feeling deprived- sometimes that 100 calories makes a huge difference especially when it means getting a second green shake in my day. I approve of your logic

Thank you to everyone, that does help. I just wasn't sure if the spurts of energy I expend would balance out all of the sitting I am stuck doing. I make sure to only log significant workouts, so I guess for now I'll stick with where I am.

gigglesinthesun

I chose lightly active for me as a stay at home mum. Why don't you give it a go and see. If you are not losing any weight and your weighing and measuring is totally accurate, you can always eat less.

Mokey41

Unless you're lying in bed all day, or are confined to a wheelchair, you're not sedentary.

No that wouldn't be sedentary. Sedentary is someone who works a desk job, commutes to and from work, does housework, personal care, makes food, lives a normal life. Lightly active is someone who is on their feet most of the day but not doing heavy labor.

I have no idea why there is such a stigma about being sedentary. A large portion of the population is sedentary just because they have a desk job and therefore sit all day. You don't have to be comatose to be sedentary.

Definition of sedentary:

Sleeping - 8 hours
Personal care (dressing, showering) - 1 hour
Eating - 1 hour
Cooking - 1 hour
Sitting (office work, selling produce, tending shop) - 8 hours
Driving car to/from work - 1 hour
General household work - 1 hour
Light leisure activities (watching TV, chatting) - 3 hours

yankeedownsouth

Not necessarily. I think the following provides a decent guideline into determining activity levels...you need a pedometer though.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14715035

(i). <5000 steps/day may be used as a 'sedentary lifestyle index';
(ii). 5000-7499 steps/day is typical of daily activity excluding sports/exercise and might be considered 'low active';
(iii). 7500-9999 likely includes some volitional activities (and/or elevated occupational activity demands) and might be considered 'somewhat active';(
(iv). >or=10000 steps/day indicates the point that should be used to classify individuals as 'active'.
(v).Individuals who take >12500 steps/day are likely to be classified as 'highly active'.

I like this because it puts quantifiable numbers to something that often seems so arbitrary...

Ottawa_Randy

I like that post as well.
I'm pretty sure that at work I would do less than the 5000 but make it up after hours and would be at least "somewhat active"..

I also find that by short time my activities to make sure that I make my calorie deficit for the day. I had originally put myself as active from the sports/workouts and aimed low at a pound a week but since joining DietBet I altered that to a 2pound/week and short my recorded workout by 15-20% to be sure I lose enough but still be under my calorie target here.
Circuits by time or Dodgeball get shortened from an hour to 45 minutes just to be sure I hit my correct numbers as far as defecit and loss go.
Everyone may vary but it is working great for me now and I love how simple the cals/day are here and how it works for me now.
I suppose everyone's milage varies in how they do things but its working for me know and I expect to lose my 4%/month at DietBet.