What do you have your activities set to?

shaycat

I keep changing mine, because I think I am somewhere in the middle.
I am a SAHM so I am on my feet a lot.
What do you have your set to?

MIKE1SS

Mine set active im a train conductor so im on my feet all day I lift weights 3 or 4 days a week and use the elliptical 3 or 4 days plus I chase my two little sons around

Jennifer0878

I have mine set at sedentary. I'm a SAHM and my kids are 4, 2, and 7 months. I'm on my feet A LOT, but I don't want to overcompensate for how many calories I'm burning each day. I haven't played around with my settings, but maybe I will.

I should also add that I lift weights 3 days a week and try to do cardio 3-5 days a week. Basically, I try to workout for about an hour a day (except on my off day...or two).

shaycat

Jennifer I just changed mine to lightly active. I think you should too. You sound active
I try to workout about an hour a day as well.
Actually have you changed your setting to maintain yet? Your bug is crawling away!

lilsassymom

I have mine set at sedentary. I'm a SAHM and my kids are 4, 2, and 7 months. I'm on my feet A LOT, but I don't want to overcompensate for how many calories I'm burning each day. I haven't played around with my settings, but maybe I will.

I should also add that I lift weights 3 days a week and try to do cardio 3-5 days a week. Basically, I try to workout for about an hour a day (except on my off day...or two).

I have mine set to active. I am also a stay at home mom to a 4, 3, and a 6 month old. I am also on my feet a lot. I also workout about 5-6 hours a week.
I recently changed mine to active because I hadn't been losing on sedentary OR lightly active. I haven't lost anything in like a month and it is very frustrating and discouraging so I got to thinking that maybe MFPs calculations were wrong so I did some research.

So, I am going by my BMR and TDEE off of the Harris Benedict Formula and my TDEE on Harris Benedict is 1854. Whereas--MFP thinks my TDEE on sedentary is 1540 and at lightly active MFP thinks my TDEE is 1660.
On MFP the closest setting to the Harris Benedict TDEE is the active setting and that is 1780. I hear that MFP underestimates and the Harris Benedict Formula is used quite a lot---so I am going to try it and see. If the Harris Benedict Formula is correct and MFP is wrong then I would be under-eating if going by MFPs calculations. Which in turn could be the reason I wasn't losing...

For the record my BMR according to MFP is 1229 but according to the Harris Benedict Formula it is 1348---quite a bit different.

MFP wants me to eat 1290 a day on sedentary, 1410 on lightly active , and 1530 at active. If HBF is correct and my TDEE is truly 1854 then on MFP calculations I would be taking a deficit of 564 and 444 calories on sedentary and lightly activen setting. That is a pretty high deficit when I am so close to my goal. When you are close to your goal you only want a 250 calorie deficit. Sorry, if this isn't making any sense:laugh: .

Meggles63

I have mine set at sedentary. I'm a SAHM and my kids are 4, 2, and 7 months. I'm on my feet A LOT, but I don't want to overcompensate for how many calories I'm burning each day. I haven't played around with my settings, but maybe I will.

I should also add that I lift weights 3 days a week and try to do cardio 3-5 days a week. Basically, I try to workout for about an hour a day (except on my off day...or two).

I have mine set to active. I am also a stay at home mom to a 4, 3, and a 6 month old. I am also on my feet a lot. I also workout about 5-6 hours a week.
I recently changed mine to active because I hadn't been losing on sedentary OR lightly active. I haven't lost anything in like a month and it is very frustrating and discouraging so I got to thinking that maybe MFPs calculations were wrong so I did some research.

So, I am going by my BMR and TDEE off of the Harris Benedict Formula and my TDEE on Harris Benedict is 1854. Whereas--MFP thinks my TDEE on sedentary is 1540 and at lightly active MFP thinks my TDEE is 1660.
On MFP the closest setting to the Harris Benedict TDEE is the active setting and that is 1780. I hear that MFP underestimates and the Harris Benedict Formula is used quite a lot---so I am going to try it and see. If the Harris Benedict Formula is correct and MFP is wrong then I would be under-eating if going by MFPs calculations. Which in turn could be the reason I wasn't losing...

For the record my BMR according to MFP is 1229 but according to the Harris Benedict Formula it is 1348---quite a bit different.

This^^^ that is exactly what happened to me also...I set mine to active for the same reason.

lilsassymom

I have mine set at sedentary. I'm a SAHM and my kids are 4, 2, and 7 months. I'm on my feet A LOT, but I don't want to overcompensate for how many calories I'm burning each day. I haven't played around with my settings, but maybe I will.

I should also add that I lift weights 3 days a week and try to do cardio 3-5 days a week. Basically, I try to workout for about an hour a day (except on my off day...or two).

I have mine set to active. I am also a stay at home mom to a 4, 3, and a 6 month old. I am also on my feet a lot. I also workout about 5-6 hours a week.
I recently changed mine to active because I hadn't been losing on sedentary OR lightly active. I haven't lost anything in like a month and it is very frustrating and discouraging so I got to thinking that maybe MFPs calculations were wrong so I did some research.

So, I am going by my BMR and TDEE off of the Harris Benedict Formula and my TDEE on Harris Benedict is 1854. Whereas--MFP thinks my TDEE on sedentary is 1540 and at lightly active MFP thinks my TDEE is 1660.
On MFP the closest setting to the Harris Benedict TDEE is the active setting and that is 1780. I hear that MFP underestimates and the Harris Benedict Formula is used quite a lot---so I am going to try it and see. If the Harris Benedict Formula is correct and MFP is wrong then I would be under-eating if going by MFPs calculations. Which in turn could be the reason I wasn't losing...

For the record my BMR according to MFP is 1229 but according to the Harris Benedict Formula it is 1348---quite a bit different.

This^^^ that is exactly what happened to me also...I set mine to active for the same reason.

Are you a stay at home too? Have you lost weight since switching to the Harris Benedict Formula? I am interested to see if MFP calculations are off...I know it is only an estimate but I am curious because I hit a wall with my weight loss.

hsmithway

I'm a stay at home mom, and my days are really erratic, so I set mine to sedentary and then I try to log anything out of the ordinary. I don't log things like doing the dishes, but I will log it if I go far a walk.

silkysly

Mine is set atLightly Active, but I’m really stuck in fast forward every day. I do it because it keeps the numbers low & what I burn is a bonus. (I run 4 days a week & do P90X 6 days a week too.)

thefuzz1290

You guys are clear you're not supposed to include your exercise in your daily activity settings, if you do you shouldn't count them again for extra calories burned. If you set at a desk all day, but work out 5 days a week, your lifestyle is sedentary, but you log your workouts for extra calories. Likewise, if you work on a loading dock and still workout 5 days a week, you're active and log your exercises.

I'm lightly active. I play with my daughter every day, rough housing basically, and I am in and out of a car at work with an occasional fight or footchase.

Tamstar1985

i'm a housewife, basically. i don't consider the cooking, cleaning, and laundry that i do on a daily basis to be much activity, so i have my activity level set to sedentary. i am fidgety and can't sit still for longer than half an hour, as well, but don't want to count that. i only log deliberate excercise. for those of you with children, though, especially ones at home, lightly active is probably spot-on!

KellyBurton1

http://leanbodylifestyle.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-many-calories-day-to-lose-weight.html

Hope this helps!

MelissaL582

I'm a stay at home of a 7,4 & 3 year old. When I first started on MFP, I had it set to sedentary. After I lost my first 20lbs, I changed it to lightly active and continued to lose. Well, here I am and I am not seeing the results I wanted to. I gave in and a bought a HRM to see what I'm actually burning and it turns out I'm burning a lot more than what MFP tells me. I don't log my cleaning- I mean that's a non stop thing in my house. I do log my walks, even if it's to the grocery store but only log in half of the time if I'm gone for more than an hour.

karenwill2

I'm a stay at home mom, and my days are really erratic, so I set mine to sedentary and then I try to log anything out of the ordinary. I don't log things like doing the dishes, but I will log it if I go far a walk.

Same with me! I am a Full Time Mom and I go to school but I have lazy days too. (I don't consider laundry and etc to be real calorie burners) So I log my workouts and nothing else. I do have a lot of weight to lose so this helps me stay on track. When I do go over by 100-200 I don't worry too much. My calories vary greatly from day to day so I am never in danger of starvation.

Jennifer0878

Shaycat--Yes, I have changed my calories to maintain. I changed them a few weeks ago. As long as I eat close to my allotted calories each day (about 1500 calories), I maintain. Whenever I eat under that, I tend to lose.

I guess I should also add that I don't log cleaning, running errands, running up and down the stairs 15,000 times a day etc. as exercise. I only log my my actual exercise. (I'm not saying that cleaning, running errands, etc. isn't exercise, but I just choose not to count it in my diary. I'm not trying to start a debate here.) I still have my activity level set as sedentary. If I feel like I'm not progressing like I should be, I'll definitely change it.

shaycat

Jennifer, do you "eat back" your calories?
I tend to either lose or gain, whatever I am stuck in. I just cant maintain. I am trying to NET 1500-1700 calories a day

I think of myself as lightly active since I never sit down and I do go up and down the stairs all day long. I dont log anything as exercise except my workouts. I dont really log the extra sit ups I get in while the kids are playing around me.