UGH! Activity level and workouts. CONFUSED!

graysmom2005

In conjunction with my previous post about weekly goals. I have my level set to high activity since I teach a lot of exercise classes...but was told that I shouldn't count my classes as calories burned because my level is set to high. Is that right? If I'm set to high activity I shouldn't log my calories burned during my classes? I'm sooooo confused. Help!!!

lisa_lotte

I would set your activity level to whatever it would be without ur classes, and then log them as exercise....

So maybe set your activity level to low, and then log the calories burnt after each class )

Lisa

sd892310

i too get really confused with what activity levels should / shouldn;t be set at, and what exercises should or shouldnt be logged.

From advice i have been given....if you set your activity level to high to account for the fact you are an exercise instructor and do this regulary, then you wouldn't add in the exercise class for your exercise each day too, because then in effect you are logging it twice if that makes sense.

The exercie calories are for those that are done differently to your usual daily activities.

for example i have mine set to sedentary as i work in an office, but i am also mum to a 3year old so indoors i spend a lot of time running round after lil one, tidying up, cleaning, cooking, playing etc. then i will log when i do things like go for a walk at lunch time, or do a BIG clean of house, or some exercises indoors or exercise class etc.

Hopefully some other people will be able to shed some light on this too. Hope this helps!

erickirb

In conjunction with my previous post about weekly goals. I have my level set to high activity since I teach a lot of exercise classes...but was told that I shouldn't count my classes as calories burned because my level is set to high. Is that right? If I'm set to high activity I shouldn't log my calories burned during my classes? I'm sooooo confused. Help!!!

I would have to agree. If you were set to light active, or sedentary then it would be okay to log them, or else you will be double counting many of the calories. As an example, if you are set to sedentary MFP may give you a weight loss caloric intake of 1200, but under very active you may get 1700, which is meant to account for the activity that you do, if you end up logging everything when you are set to very active, you will double count the 500 (1700-1200), assuming you chose your activity level based on the classes.

If you are still very active outside of the classes, putting your setting at very active and logging the classes would be fine, but if it is the classes that cause you to choose very active, then you should not log them as they would be taken into account in your "normal daily activity" caloric burn, that you can see in you goals tab.

graysmom2005

ARGH. Ok....I thought I had this down...and now I don't. Ok...so I'm a stay at home mom when I'm not teaching...so I put sedentary because i'm usually running errands/lightly cleaning/sitting my butt down and on the computer. :-) I switched to 1.5lbs a week...and I'm now down to 1200 calories a day due to the activity..only down 50 calories from when I had really active but wanted to lose 2lbs a week. Not sure if I should change it to one pound a week...but honestly most days it's a struggle to net 1200 with all the working out..so maybe I should just keep it at 1200 plus eating back my exercise calories. Hoping that's enough food. I've got a lot of muscle from body pump..plus I'm just naturally muscular..had calves at 2 years old. LOL! Should I go higher than 1200? I just want to get this RIGHT so I can break through this nasty endless plateau. Thanks for any help!

erickirb

ARGH. Ok....I thought I had this down...and now I don't. Ok...so I'm a stay at home mom when I'm not teaching...so I put sedentary because i'm usually running errands/lightly cleaning/sitting my butt down and on the computer. :-) I switched to 1.5lbs a week...and I'm now down to 1200 calories a day due to the activity..only down 50 calories from when I had really active but wanted to lose 2lbs a week. Not sure if I should change it to one pound a week...but honestly most days it's a struggle to net 1200 with all the working out..so maybe I should just keep it at 1200 plus eating back my exercise calories. Hoping that's enough food. I've got a lot of muscle from body pump..plus I'm just naturally muscular..had calves at 2 years old. LOL! Should I go higher than 1200? I just want to get this RIGHT so I can break through this nasty endless plateau. Thanks for any help!

I would suggest you change your goal to 1 lb/week, and once you get to the last 10-15lbs change to 0.5 lb/week loss goal. the less you have to lose, the smaller your caloric deficit should be, to ensure you lose less muscle than necessary. If you have more than 50 lbs to lose 1.5/week is a good goal, and if you are around the 75 or more than 2 lbs/week would be a safe weight loss goal, but with what you have I would suggest a maximum of 1 lb/week.

graysmom2005

Thanks! I'm down to my last 10-15, so I'll change it to 1lb a week. Thank you for your help!

graysmom2005

AAAAAnd that bumped me up to a whopping 1280 a day. LOL. *sigh*

erickirb

AAAAAnd that bumped me up to a whopping 1280 a day. LOL. *sigh*

Not that much of a change. But you do get to eat back the calories you burn on the days you teach, or do your regular workouts.

graysmom2005

Which is pretty much every day. LOL! Today I teach spinning and Body Pump, so that will probably give me another 800 or so calories to feast on today. ;-)

LizC26

This is how I've come to understand this....

If you are highly active, you not only burn calories while actually working out, but you average calorie burn goes up too, because you have more muscle mass. So if you are highly active, that base rate it gives you is NOT actually including your exercise, but only the difference in your calories burned the rest of the day. So you should still add your exercise classes as an exercise.

graysmom2005

This is how I've come to understand this....

If you are highly active, you not only burn calories while actually working out, but you average calorie burn goes up too, because you have more muscle mass. So if you are highly active, that base rate it gives you is NOT actually including your exercise, but only the difference in your calories burned the rest of the day. So you should still add your exercise classes as an exercise.

Thanks...yeah, it's confusing...although even at sedentary it doesn't make much of a difference. I have a lot of muscle mass so I'm sure my metabolism is buzzing more than others. I don't want to eat too much, but I'm wondering if around 1400-1500 would make more sense for me? I'm very turned around on this now.