Sedentary vs lightly active

Nikoruo

Hello everyone i'm trying to figure this out!

Am i sedentary or lightly active?

Here's how my highest activity days go vs my lower activity:

Highest: Wake up at 8am, walk maybe 5 mins total between buses but takes bus for an hour and a half to go to school, sits at school for an hour and a half and then does the whole bus thing again with maybe 5 mins walk between. Get home and have a few minutes rest and possibly eat something. (30mins rest), then i get back on the bus and head to work (5mins walk at most again), then i'm at work as a custodian (not super hard work, i'm not sweating but nor am i just taking it super easy i'm at work for 5 hours), then i go to the buses again to go home (10minutes approximate walk in between) and get home where i relax for about an hour or so before i go to bed.

Medium range: This is either just going to school in the morning and staying home doing absolutely nothing or waking up late in the morning before work. Either way i'd say look above for the details on how i go about that.

low range: Essentially weekends, no work, no school. Maybe a bit of walking in the day but essentially i don't get up unless i need to stretch, go to the washroom or make something to eat.

As for any other exercises such as planned stuff (in which i should be starting to go to the gym soon when i can fit around my schedule just right) I wear my HRM and log that more accurately.

I'd also say on average lately i'll be more to the higher range of activity of my life because i am working 5 days a week and go to school at least 2-3 days a week. Weekends being the lowest. Let me know what you think!

toutmonpossible

It's hard to say without knowing the exact intensity. I would set your level at "Sedentary." If after a month you're losing weight at a precipitous rate change it to "Lightly Active." Most people overestimate their activity level.

Mokey41

I'd go with sedentary and log intentional exercise. Your decision if you eat some of that back.

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

bizco

I say go with light active. Be consistent and accurate (digital food scale is a must!) with logging your food for one month. If you aren't seeing results, then change it to sedentary.

jess17587

at first i wrote sed but the calories and weight prediction was just ridiculous but when i changed it to light act the predictions and results made a bit more sense btw I'm a lazy teen who is training at college and does some housework every other day and doesn't like to sit down for too long
i also think a lot of it makes a difference if you have stairs for a house or flat or do house work because we are talking about everyday activity not extra exercise

CorlissaEats

I think sedentary assumes that you sit for most of the day.
Lightly active is standing & walking for up to half a day. No intensity- sales people and social settings would fit in this category. Being a custodian for 5 hrs would make me think that you are moving a fair amount? Not just sitting at a desk. If you choose sedentary then I might log your work since you need calories for fuel- getting enough is as important as having a sufficient deficit.

cadaverousbones

I would do lightly active for a month and see how that goes, if you dont see results change it to sedatary. but if you stand at your job usually they recommend to do lightly active

Francl27

How many days a week do you work? I'd say probably lightly active if it's more than 4 days a week.

nytrifisoul

Just wear your HMR all day and you can get a good estimate of how much calories you burn in a day. Then add what your BMR would be while sleeping.