What activity level am I?

SLLRunner

To those of you who say lightly active (and the OP), the reason I say active:

I have a desk job, work out five to six days a week (running and weight lifting) and my activity level is set to active. Sedentary and lightly active, I lose weight.

I think it's more trial and error than anything, and everybody is different.

Do you log at least your running separately or are you using more of a TDEE approach? MFP settings assume you will log your exercise separately as mentioned by a previous poster. I suppose another method if you don't feel like you can properly quantify your exercise is to pick a higher activity level than you really may be

Per the app: Sedentary: on your buns most of the day - desk job. Lightly active: on your feet most of the day - teacher, salesman . Active: a good part of the day doing physical activity - waiter, mailman. Very active: heavy physical activity - bike messenger, carpenter.

I don't count calories for my weight lifting exercises or my leisurely walks to and from parking to the office or anything like housecleaning or other tasks, but I do count running and spinning, and if I take a serious brisk sweaty walk. I weigh all my food mostly in grams, sometimes in ounces. I have my activity level set to active as well.

It has been my experience that the app is a guideline only, and their activity levels have not been accurate for me.

SLLRunner

To those of you who say lightly active (and the OP), the reason I say active:

I have a desk job, work out five to six days a week (running and weight lifting) and my activity level is set to active. Sedentary and lightly active, I lose weight.

I think it's more trial and error than anything[\b], and everybody is different.

Chose a number, work with that.
You can also use your own data after a few weeks to create your own estimate.



http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/EvgeniZyntx/view/new-mfp-data-export-tool-major-update-659927

I am currently using my own data to come up with my TDEE.

KylaDenay

I have a desk job, I don't do much else except for clean my home and cook a bit. I may walk back and forth a few times in the office. I have no kids to run around after, since mine is 12. I do not count my exercise in my activity level. I add it separately using the MFP method. I have my activity level set to lightly active and I lose 1 lb a week with that. So I would really think that the OP is active. Trial and error though.

MelodyandBarbells

To those of you who say lightly active (and the OP), the reason I say active:

I have a desk job, work out five to six days a week (running and weight lifting) and my activity level is set to active. Sedentary and lightly active, I lose weight.

I think it's more trial and error than anything, and everybody is different.

Do you log at least your running separately or are you using more of a TDEE approach? MFP settings assume you will log your exercise separately as mentioned by a previous poster. I suppose another method if you don't feel like you can properly quantify your exercise is to pick a higher activity level than you really may be

Per the app: Sedentary: on your buns most of the day - desk job. Lightly active: on your feet most of the day - teacher, salesman . Active: a good part of the day doing physical activity - waiter, mailman. Very active: heavy physical activity - bike messenger, carpenter.

I don't count calories for my weight lifting exercises or my leisurely walks to and from parking to the office or anything like housecleaning or other tasks, but I do count running and spinning, and if I take a serious brisk sweaty walk. I weigh all my food mostly in grams, sometimes in ounces. I have my activity level set to active as well.

It has been my experience that the app is a guideline only, and their activity levels have not been accurate for me.

If you were able to accurately measure and report your strength training and HIIT, etc that you do and record as 1 calorie, I suspect it would come closer. I would say you are doing an MFP/TDEE hybrid and this is most likely why the activity level chosen could not match your actual non exercise activity level. I do agree about trial and error being best

SLLRunner

To those of you who say lightly active (and the OP), the reason I say active:

I have a desk job, work out five to six days a week (running and weight lifting) and my activity level is set to active. Sedentary and lightly active, I lose weight.

I think it's more trial and error than anything, and everybody is different.

Do you log at least your running separately or are you using more of a TDEE approach? MFP settings assume you will log your exercise separately as mentioned by a previous poster. I suppose another method if you don't feel like you can properly quantify your exercise is to pick a higher activity level than you really may be

Per the app: Sedentary: on your buns most of the day - desk job. Lightly active: on your feet most of the day - teacher, salesman . Active: a good part of the day doing physical activity - waiter, mailman. Very active: heavy physical activity - bike messenger, carpenter.

I don't count calories for my weight lifting exercises or my leisurely walks to and from parking to the office or anything like housecleaning or other tasks, but I do count running and spinning, and if I take a serious brisk sweaty walk. I weigh all my food mostly in grams, sometimes in ounces. I have my activity level set to active as well.

It has been my experience that the app is a guideline only, and their activity levels have not been accurate for me.

If you were able to accurately measure and report your strength training and HIIT, etc that you do and record as 1 calorie, I suspect it would come closer. I would say you are doing an MFP/TDEE hybrid and this is most likely why the activity level chosen could not match your actual non exercise activity level. I do agree about trial and error being best

The problem is you can't accurately measure weight lifting or hiit, not even with a hrm. I had my thyroid checked recently. While it leans toward hypothyroidism, it is in the normal range and I have no other symptoms of an overactive thyroid. Thus, I suspect you are right about why "active" works for me.

That said, I still think a cashier on her feet all day is active.