Yet another TDEE Question - Activity Level?

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JessByrdy
JessByrdy Posts: 7 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I know my BMR, my TDEE and my TDEE - 15-20%.
I've been eating approx 17% less than my TDEE and have been having great success .... more success than predicted. Which makes me think I may have selected the wrong "activity level".
I plan not to change my activity level when calculating my TDEE (because it's working for me), but I'm just curious how to define the activity levels.

Here are a few excerpts I've found on the topic:

Website #1.
Sedentary - desk job and little to no exercise
Lightly Active - light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk
Moderately Active - moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk
Very Active - hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk
Extremely Active - hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or training

Website #2.
No Exercise (desk job/couch potato)
3 times/week
4 times/week
5 times/week (*intense)
Everyday
Everyday (*intense) or twice daily

Website #3.
Desk job with little exercise
1-3 hrs/wk of light exercise
3-5 hrs/week of moderate exercise
5-6 hrs/week of strenuous exercise
7-21 hrs/week of strenuous exercise/work

Website #4.
Little or no exercise (ex: desk job)
Light exercise (ex: exercising 1-3 days/week)
Moderate exercise (ex: exercising 3-5 days/week)
Heavy exercise (ex: exercising 6-7 days/week)
Daily exercise (ex: exercising 7 days/week and working a physical job)

So, My dilemma is: On average I work out
5 DAYS per week but only an average of 3 HOURS per week
And I use the elliptical and weight lifting - so I would consider that light-moderate exercise

All of the above definitions are different (days/wk vs hours/wk +/- intensity)

So what's you're take? How do you categorize yourself & why? And what would you categorize me?

Thanks! :)

Replies

  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
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    You are way over thinking it. If you are having good success don't change a thing. TDEE calculators are just an estimate and you adjust the number based on actual results. If I were you, I would not change anything until weight loss stalls. At that point I'd reduce intake by about 10%.
  • MississippiMama87
    MississippiMama87 Posts: 204 Member
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    Not many people IMHO are actually sedentary.

    I work out 3 or so times a week but I have 2 small children and rarely sit down at home. I cook, clean, chase bad *kitten* kids, give baths, etc. That's at least light-moderate in my book.

    if you don't plan on changing, then don't worry about it unless you find yourself super duper hungry all day.
  • terbusha
    terbusha Posts: 1,483 Member
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    What I do and what I recommend to people is to eat at a calorie level that allows you to drop 1-2 lbs/week. This assumes an average calorie burn from you getting in all of your workouts. This will be different for everyone, so you'll have to do some trial and error to figure it out. I'd start ~1600 cal/day. Hit this goal, along with your macros and getting in your workouts, for a week. If you lose 1-2 lbs, you're good to go. If you lose too much, increase your intake and repeat. If you don't lose enough, reduce your intake a bit and repeat. After a few weeks, you'll figure out what works for you in your situation.

    Allan

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