Activity Level and Logging Exercise

Lauriek70

Good job as always. Thanks for clearing up the activity levels!

FryingPanda

This won't be a problem for many people, but for some it can be. In general, someone who does light to moderate exercise shouldn't consider exercise at all when determining activity level because they'll have "average" muscle mass. However, someone who does moderate to frequent exercise, and especially a lot of weights and/or HIIT, will often have a higher LBM% than average. So, yes, higher muscle mass means more calories burned even when at rest. In this case, it may be appropriate to bump activity level up one to account for the higher LBM% and more cals burned all day - and then of course still log exercise separately. But, this is kind of a trial and error situation, where you need to try one cal level for a month or two and see how it does, then tweak if necessary. There aren't really any RMR calculators that account for differences in LBM% or body type - it's one of their basic flaws, but again, it's not a huge deal for most people.

Alternatively, you can use something like a BodyBugg or Bodymedia Fit that can estimate your calories burned in 24 hours. Or, you can just get RMR tested - many gyms can do it (whether you're a member or not.) That's kind of a "moment in time" picture, but it will still give you a starting point.

Thanks for the information. As with most things in life there is no simple answer. :laugh: Ah well, trial and error it is!

ladyhawk00

This won't be a problem for many people, but for some it can be. In general, someone who does light to moderate exercise shouldn't consider exercise at all when determining activity level because they'll have "average" muscle mass. However, someone who does moderate to frequent exercise, and especially a lot of weights and/or HIIT, will often have a higher LBM% than average. So, yes, higher muscle mass means more calories burned even when at rest. In this case, it may be appropriate to bump activity level up one to account for the higher LBM% and more cals burned all day - and then of course still log exercise separately. But, this is kind of a trial and error situation, where you need to try one cal level for a month or two and see how it does, then tweak if necessary. There aren't really any RMR calculators that account for differences in LBM% or body type - it's one of their basic flaws, but again, it's not a huge deal for most people.

Alternatively, you can use something like a BodyBugg or Bodymedia Fit that can estimate your calories burned in 24 hours. Or, you can just get RMR tested - many gyms can do it (whether you're a member or not.) That's kind of a "moment in time" picture, but it will still give you a starting point.

Thanks for the information. As with most things in life there is no simple answer. :laugh: Ah well, trial and error it is!

Haha, yeah, unfortunately once you get a point of very good fitness, the details become a lot more important and the inherent (small) inaccuracies in intake/expenditure estimation have more of an impact. But it's usually not too hard to overcome, if you watch things like BF% and see what the trends are. Good luck with it! :laugh:

k2quiere

Thanks so much for clearing some things up that were going through my head. I actually, just today, changed my activity level from lightly active to sedentary because I am a teacher on summer break. I'm no longer on my feet all day, and I didn't think I needed as many calories as mfp was giving me; in fact, I almost never met them hunger-wise. If, when school starts, I see that mew job has me on my feet a lot, which I doubt, then I will change it again.

This post was great!

edited: I'm on summer break, although my mind may already be thinking about next spring break...lol

ladyhawk00

Thanks so much for clearing some things up that were going through my head. I actually, just today, changed my activity level from lightly active to sedentary because I am a teacher on summer break. I'm no longer on my feet all day, and I didn't think I needed as many calories as mfp was giving me; in fact, I almost never met them hunger-wise. If, when school starts, I see that mew job has me on my feet a lot, which I doubt, then I will change it again.

This post was great!

edited: I'm on summer break, although my mind may already be thinking about next spring break...lol

Thanks, glad it helped! :flowerforyou:

ladyhawk00

Bump

candiigraham

Bump to read later

kathywoo10

bump! good post!

vim_n_vigor

bump

Tobi1013

Bumping this so that I have it to refer to later. Great information!

beaner1st

Very helpful thanks. bump

FearAnLoathing

bump

rafor

bump

Lauriek70

bump

Yori1

bump

Tobi1013

bump

baisleac

bump

_Corinne_

bump

VeganGal84

Now I'm wondering if I should switch from "sedentary" to "lightly active" and just stop logging my cleaning and stuff. Interesting! Thanks for this information.

ladyhawk00

Bump