Am I active enough?

youmnahm96

I just hit my weight loss goal this week (I am now 120lbs, at 5ft5 and 18 years old). I want to increase my calorie intake but I don't have the time to exercise for 60 minutes per day nor the ability to exercise rigorously. I am trying to figure out my activity level to understand what would be a reasonable caloric intake to continue toning up and losing midriff fat.

I am a high school student and I exercise for half an hour every day, although not rigorously (I use FitnessBlender workouts because they're awesome people). Is that too much, too little or enough exercise to qualify me as moderately active?

I am at a complete loss with what to do next; I'm glad I've lost weight and made some changes in my life to finally get more active but I honestly feel so unhappy and a little trapped by constantly logging that I question if I am doing something wrong. This should be a lifestyle not a chore; any advice would be appreciated.

-Confused teen

Francl27

I suggest you use http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ to figure out what your TDEE is... try the lightly active setting. Then increase your calories by 100-200 until you get there, and see if you maintain.

youmnahm96

But my question is whether 30 minutes of light/moderate exercise per day qualifies as lightly active or moderately active. Not knowing that makes me skeptical of the TDEE calculator

renley

Set your activity level to sedentary and log all your exercise. Get a pedometer and count your steps/miles per day. That will give you the amount of calories burned which will be added to your daily caloric amount.

scottkjar

Wow, I think Renley is naked in that picture. I think that's the first actual naked picture I have seen on MFP.

Dragonslayer183

Yeah, that is totally okay. I use the same website (I love fitness blender!) and if you want, they have 20 minute videos that burn over 200 calories, tone up your body, and makes you feel good afterwards. I recommend using the HIIT videos, because those give you the most burn. I'm also a high school student, and finding time to workout can be hard. On days that you can't get a workout in, eat a little less. Don't stress out over it too much.

To answer your question, it can count as both light or moderate activity, depending on how active you are throughout the day ( sitting vs. standing/walking most of the time) and how vigorous your workout videos are.

Mitzigan94

I think it depends. Someone told me here on mfp that even though I exercise and I'm in a sedentary lifestyle..Then still I havve to be on the sedentary weight loss goal. Because if I put it on lightly active I might have to double calculate the numbers.
Actually I didn't get much of that explanation. All I can say is that, if u sit all day long.. You gotta set your mfp to sedentary. But if, you have a mailman job, where you can stand, walk, bike throughout the day then you must be lightly active. But if you spend time for exercising,then you are active.


Anyways, for me mfp is accurate. It uses mifflin st jeor(the most accurate calorie calculator).
So, yeah. I really trust mfp.

Good luck on what works best for you.

AnneMousey

An hour a day is a must if you are going to maintain a healthy weight. See my Blog at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/AnneMousey
You can walk, jog, bicycle, dance, play sports, whatever, but do an hour a day. You can combine
shorter times of different activities, too, it does not all have to be at one time. Take 15 min. walks before and after lunch and dinner,
for example. Best of luck! Keeping it off is (in my opinion) harder than losing it.
Weigh yourself daily to see how you're doing, and adjust food intake and activity accordingly.

MMFabrizio

Whether you should use lightly active or moderately active depends on how active the majority of your lifestyle is. If you're moving around most of the day, and getting in that 1/2 hr of exercise you should be able to increase it to moderately active.

If you're unsure, try adding 100 calories to your daily allowance for up to a month. Weigh yourself weekly. If you're still losing, add another 100 calories, and so on, until you're maintaining at your desired exercise level.

sijomial

But my question is whether 30 minutes of light/moderate exercise per day qualifies as lightly active or moderately active. Not knowing that makes me skeptical of the TDEE calculator

Remember that if you are following the MFP method of eating back exercise calories then dedicated exercise is NOT part of your activity level.

To be honest I'm wondering why you think these settings are necessary to agonise over. You know the calorie level you needed to lose weight so that is your best guide to maintenance calories. There is absolutely no need to start all over again creating what is only an estimate.

Either just walk up your calories over a period of weeks until your weight stabilise or work out what your actual calorie deficit was when you wanted to lose weight.

TavistockToad

An hour a day is a must if you are going to maintain a healthy weight. See my Blog at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/AnneMousey
You can walk, jog, bicycle, dance, play sports, whatever, but do an hour a day. You can combine
shorter times of different activities, too, it does not all have to be at one time. Take 15 min. walks before and after lunch and dinner,
for example. Best of luck! Keeping it off is (in my opinion) harder than losing it.
Weigh yourself daily to see how you're doing, and adjust food intake and activity accordingly.

why exactly is an hour a day a 'must'??

TavistockToad

But my question is whether 30 minutes of light/moderate exercise per day qualifies as lightly active or moderately active. Not knowing that makes me skeptical of the TDEE calculator

Remember that if you are following the MFP method of eating back exercise calories then dedicated exercise is NOT part of your activity level.

To be honest I'm wondering why you think these settings are necessary to agonise over. You know the calorie level you needed to lose weight so that is your best guide to maintenance calories. There is absolutely no need to start all over again creating what is only an estimate.

Either just walk up your calories over a period of weeks until your weight stabilise or work out what your actual calorie deficit was when you wanted to lose weight.

all of this is great advice