Help determining my activity level for TDEE?

clynnharris12

I have about 15 lbs to lose and have been having trouble using the WW points plus system, so I am back here to try to get a more accurate picture of how many calories I am eating.

My BMR is 1400 but I am having trouble determining what my activity level should be for my TDEE. I'm a stay at home mom with a toddler and I walk briskly for 20 mins day 5-6x/week for exercise.

Based on what I've read about calories burned at each activity level, I'd probably be sedentary but I'm not sure. I'm trying to determine if WW is having me eat too few or too many calories so I want to be as precise as possible.

Any advice?

EDIT: Also, what should my daily target be for reasonable weight loss??

Thanks!

trudijoy

i'd put it as light, personally. You're excercising at moderate frequency but not at moderate intensity/duration, so I'd call it light and then any extra is a bonus deficit.

I wouldn't call it sedentary - partly because you DO exercise and partly because you have a toddler so I don't think you're sat on your butt 24/7!

cwolfman13

A stay at home mom with a toddler is hardly sedentary...and if you're exercising, that gets factored into your TDEE as well. Really, it's just trial and error...I'd start with light active and take your cut from that and see how it goes.

fatfudgery

Go with sedentary.

DemoraFairy

Most websites say sedentary is get up, drive to work, sit at a desk all day, drive home, watch tv, go to bed. No exercise at all. You don't do that, so I'd say you're at least lightly active. You can always go with a value between sedentary and light if you don't feel you quite qualify for light.

SLLRunner

I think the activity levels are not all that accurate her eat MFP. Because I have a desk job I put my initial activity settling to sedentary. Then I read somewhere that sedentary is when a person is either comatose or sits on the sofa all day doing nothing. So, I changed to lightly active. I was losing weight more than my .5 goal per week, and eating most of my exercise calories back, so I set it to plant old active.

I still have my desk job but I exercise almost every day, and usually with a lot of intensity- weight lifting, running, elliptical, stationary bike, occasionally walking or hiking. I think exercising every day is what qualifies me as active.

I am losing weight at a slower rate now, which is exactly what I want.

SLLRunner

Go with sedentary.

Why? She's not sedentary with kids.

fatfudgery

Go with sedentary.

Why? She's not sedentary with kids.

Because (1) TDEE calculators only give you a rough estimate of your actual daily caloric requirement, (2) they tend to overestimate calories burned through activity and (3) her goal is to lose weight. She already understands that figuring out the exact number is a trial-and-error process, so starting out with the sedentary setting, monitoring her weight after 3-4 weeks and increasing her calories if necessary, is better than going with a higher TDEE and finding out 4 weeks later that it was too high.

MityMax96

I was thinking sedentary for reasons similar to what alk posted.

See where she is at in about 3 - 4 weeks, and tweak again if needed.

Mr_Knight

Yes, agree with sedentary as the starting point, adjust as necessary.

clynnharris12

Thanks all! I'll start with sedentary. How much should I cut for maximum weight loss?

trudijoy

Thanks all! I'll start with sedentary. How much should I cut for maximum weight loss?

don't look for max weight loss, look for max sustained effectiveness.

TDEE- 20%