Confused. Standing at a desk all day...

ammre513

I work at a desk job but I stand behind my desk all day. I never sit. Occasionally I will have to walk and get something. I have my activity level set at lightly active right now. Should I actually have it set as sedetary since my heart rate is never being raised?

chantel14

No, because you burn twice as many calories standing than you do sitting all day... So I would say lightly active sounds right.

Brittney24

I stand all day at work and walk around, I'm listed as sedentary since I'm not really doing much and then I track about 20-30 minutes each day as walking at a very slow pace.

chevy88grl

Sedentary is sitting down all day long. Since you're standing all day - I think lightly active is perfect.

pbeans

I stand at a counter most of the time but I selected sedentary because I don't feel like I'm doing a lot.

carbonboy

Unless you're a construction worker, I think it's best to put "sedentary" and then add in your specific workouts. It will give you a more conservative baseline. It's always best to underestimate your burn and overestimate your consumption.

kneeki

I think you're fine where it is. If you were /really/ curious, you could wear your heart rate monitor for one day; to gauge. In the end, it won't matter much what you have it set as anyway. =]

LauraMarie37

Here's another vote for lightly active, since you have to use way more muscles to maintain a standing position than you do for a sitting position. Standing is actually a very effective fat burner if it's combined with one or two short, brisk walks during the day.

TTHdred

I think you should keep it at lightly active.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/291071-activity-level-and-logging-exercise

stanvoodoo

sedentary is correct. The difference between standing and sitting is not enough to make a difference and the last thing you want to do is over eat.

You can do it!

ammre513

Thanks for all the responses everyone! I am going to change the setting to sedentary. Standing may be better for my muscles but I realize now I am not moving enough to be considered active. I got a hrm monitor and have been putting in less calories than it said I burned because I felt like it was so high and I got so use to underestimating everything on the site before I got the hrm. So to fix this I guess I will change it to sedentary and put in the right amount of calories it says I burned.

ammre513

I think I will also wear my hrm all day tomorrow to see what it says.