Sedentary or Lightly Active?

kknudson

Right now I have my profile set as "lightly active", because I try to do 25-30 min of cardio 5x/week plus strength training on alternate days. But it's occured to me that I have a desk job where I sit and calculate things for 8-9 hours per day. Plus my greatest joy comes from reading and writing, so even after all that sitting it's not uncommon for me to curl up with a book for a few hours in the evening.

Would it be more appropriate for me to set my profile to "sedentary"?

hroush

It depends on how much of these exercises you plan on adding in to your exercise calculator. If you add them all in, I would say go sedentary as the rest of your day is sitting. If you don't, then go lightly active.

MaryDreamer

I have mine as Sedentary with a desk job because I didn't start excercising until I joined MFP.

NoAdditives

Don't count your exercise in your activity level, exercise gets counted separately. I would change your activity level to sedentary because that's more accurate for your normal daily activity.

taso42_DELETED

Your mileage may vary, but I found that I had to bump mine to Very Active (and then I still had to manually increase the calories target even more) in order to get MFP to give me an accurate calorie target. My job is sedentary, but I work out hard 6x a week.

I opened a thread on it here a week or two ago...
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/184243-fitness-profile-labels-are-wrong-misleading

Consult a variety of online calculators and/or get your BMR tested, log religiously, and eventually you will get a clear idea of your true daily calorie burn.

TiniTurtle

i'm in the same sort of situation, i'm in school 5 days a week for 8 hours a day, basically sedentary... but i work out 3-5x a week for at LEAST a half hour each. i figure that i'd rather eat less & have a larger caloric deficit by setting it at sedentary, than lightly active with a higher calorie allowance & have weeks where i'm less active & don't burn as much daily, slowing my weight loss. ) do what you think is best for you.

DeadZip2010

Don't count your exercise in your activity level, exercise gets counted separately. I would change your activity level to sedentary because that's more accurate for your normal daily activity.

if you are not active for the majority of rht day then sedentary is the right option, i also work out pretty hard and pretty ofter, but my desk job keeps me on my butt for 40 hours a week. just like slouching will weeken your abs and chances at a six pack, its not about your activity level while working out, its the other 23 hours of the day that matter in this situation.

kknudson

Don't count your exercise in your activity level, exercise gets counted separately. I would change your activity level to sedentary because that's more accurate for your normal daily activity.

Good point, but does the metabolism boost from frequent excercise warrant a bump into the lightly active category, or should I say that due to my job my metabolism isn't a roaring fire?? OR am I just overthinking this whole thing?

kknudson

Don't count your exercise in your activity level, exercise gets counted separately. I would change your activity level to sedentary because that's more accurate for your normal daily activity.

if you are not active for the majority of rht day then sedentary is the right option, i also work out pretty hard and pretty ofter, but my desk job keeps me on my butt for 40 hours a week. just like slouching will weeken your abs and chances at a six pack, its not about your activity level while working out, its the other 23 hours of the day that matter in this situation.

I just worry about not eating enough to fuel my frequent-ish workouts if I am only eating enough calories for a sedentary lifestyle. I mean I want a deficit, because I'm here to lose weight, but I also trying to get out of a plateau, so I don't want to eat too much or too little.... You're making sense though. Maybe I should just pick one and try it?

taso42_DELETED

Don't count your exercise in your activity level, exercise gets counted separately. I would change your activity level to sedentary because that's more accurate for your normal daily activity.

Good point, but does the metabolism boost from frequent excercise warrant a bump into the lightly active category, or should I say that due to my job my metabolism isn't a roaring fire?? OR am I just overthinking this whole thing?

In my personal experience, the metabolism boost was very significant - not to lightly active, but to very active and then some. You're not really overthinking it, because the difference in daily calories may be in the hundreds, thereby throwing you way off course. Check the other thread linked above for gory details. But like I said, your mileage may vary.

misssuperstitious

Don't count your exercise in your activity level, exercise gets counted separately. I would change your activity level to sedentary because that's more accurate for your normal daily activity.

if you are not active for the majority of rht day then sedentary is the right option, i also work out pretty hard and pretty ofter, but my desk job keeps me on my butt for 40 hours a week. just like slouching will weeken your abs and chances at a six pack, its not about your activity level while working out, its the other 23 hours of the day that matter in this situation.

I just worry about not eating enough to fuel my frequent-ish workouts if I am only eating enough calories for a sedentary lifestyle. I mean I want a deficit, because I'm here to lose weight, but I also trying to get out of a plateau, so I don't want to eat too much or too little.... You're making sense though. Maybe I should just pick one and try it?

That's why you eat your workout calories

street_wi

I think it should be at sedentary, that's what mines at. I'm a stay at home mom with a 17 month old who keeps me running around but I wouldn't call it actually active. I run 30-40 miles a week but most of the day, I'm sedentary. That's the point I think... Hope it helps!