Lightly Active or Active

sonjavon

Since I started, I've changed my profile, my goals, etc. several times. When I started I had everything set up so that MFP was telling me that I should be eating about 1900 calories a day - but I also had planned to exercise for an hour a day, 6 days a week.... ha, ha lofty goals for someone who is out of shape, busy and sore much of the time right now.

So, I changed my activity level to "lightly active", my weight loss goals to 1.9 lbs a week and my exercise goals to 30 minutes - 5 days a week. MFP now gives me about 1590 calories.

There are some days when that's not enough and other days when I only eat about 1300. I always eat my exercise calories. While I haven't lost weight in the last week, that's not my main issue. My issue is that I FEEL better when I eat about 1700 calories...

Here's my question - what is Lightly Active and what is Active?
Here's my lifestyle... I'm a Stay at home mom. I walk on the treadmill for 30-40 minutes every day. I do 2-3 loads of laundry a day, clean, cook etc. (in other words - I'm not at a desk all day). I work in my garden, grocery shop, help my son practice baseball or football, wash the dogs, brush the dogs, feed the dogs... I spend about 3 hours a day on the computer writing articles, making lesson plans and posting on the message boards.

How would you classify me???

sonjavon

Since I started, I've changed my profile, my goals, etc. several times. When I started I had everything set up so that MFP was telling me that I should be eating about 1900 calories a day - but I also had planned to exercise for an hour a day, 6 days a week.... ha, ha lofty goals for someone who is out of shape, busy and sore much of the time right now.

So, I changed my activity level to "lightly active", my weight loss goals to 1.9 lbs a week and my exercise goals to 30 minutes - 5 days a week. MFP now gives me about 1590 calories.

There are some days when that's not enough and other days when I only eat about 1300. I always eat my exercise calories. While I haven't lost weight in the last week, that's not my main issue. My issue is that I FEEL better when I eat about 1700 calories...

Here's my question - what is Lightly Active and what is Active?
Here's my lifestyle... I'm a Stay at home mom. I walk on the treadmill for 30-40 minutes every day. I do 2-3 loads of laundry a day, clean, cook etc. (in other words - I'm not at a desk all day). I work in my garden, grocery shop, help my son practice baseball or football, wash the dogs, brush the dogs, feed the dogs... I spend about 3 hours a day on the computer writing articles, making lesson plans and posting on the message boards.

How would you classify me???

weeble2008

I would classify you as Active. Sounds like your moving for the better part of your day. I wouldn't worry too much about going over and/or under on your calories....I try to look at my overall week and make sure I'm as close to target as possible as far as how many calories I've eaten and burned. If you feel better at 1700 calories, try to burn some more caloies during your day and get your total calories to 1700. I think it's so different for everyone, it may take some time to play around and figure out what works best for you!
Good luck! :flowerforyou:

sculley

I would say to just put the lightly active and then the washing of the dog and stuff like that in as home calistentic exercise. Just my opinion. That is what I would do because your still at a desk

aprilvet

I think forget about MFP's active vs. lightly active. If you feel better eating 1700 cals a day, do it. Do not include any life activities- i.e. washing the dogs, vacuuming, etc. as exercise. Those are your life! Get a hrm to track your calories burned with true exercise. My question for you is do you eat 1700 cals a day or is this your net after exercise? I.e. eat 2100 cals then subtract 400 exercise cals. With the amount of weight you want to lose, your body might handle a more extreme deficit than if you only had 30 pounds to lose. So if you only eat 1700 cals a day, then exercise for 400 cals giving you a net of 1300 cals, you might still lose at a fair clip. For some, however, this is too much of a deficit. In which case, eat more!!!!:bigsmile:

I hope this helps!:flowerforyou:

sonjavon

I think forget about MFP's active vs. lightly active. If you feel better eating 1700 cals a day, do it. Do not include any life activities- i.e. washing the dogs, vacuuming, etc. as exercise. Those are your life! Get a hrm to track your calories burned with true exercise. My question for you is do you eat 1700 cals a day or is this your net after exercise? I.e. eat 2100 cals then subtract 400 exercise cals. With the amount of weight you want to lose, your body might handle a more extreme deficit than if you only had 30 pounds to lose. So if you only eat 1700 cals a day, then exercise for 400 cals giving you a net of 1300 cals, you might still lose at a fair clip. For some, however, this is too much of a deficit. In which case, eat more!!!!:bigsmile:

I hope this helps!:flowerforyou:

I can't wait to get a HRM... but it's not in my budget right now... just bought a new treadmill. I don't include anything other than my treadmill as exercise because right now it's the only thing I can somewhat accurately calculate calories burned for. Even my stretching, leg lifts, pushups and crunches that I'm doing while I watch TV at night I don't count.

MFP says that I should eat 1590 without exercise. Normally when I exercise I'll burn somewhere between 300-500 calories a day... so I'll eat those as well. But even on the days that I don't exercise, I feel better eating more than 1590. I currently weigh 268 lbs... when I go over my calories - it's generally with protein or fruit... so I know I'm not killing myself. LOL!

I just wondered if I was underestimating my activity level. When I started MFP, I was extremely sedentary... I mean, honestly, if there was something LESS than sedentary - that was me. I'd sleep til 9 or 10AM, get up, feed the dogs, do a load of laundry while going over school with my son. Eat lunch, take a nap from 1-3, get up, do another load of laundry, fix dinner (or order in) and we'd go to basketball or baseball and watch my son practice, come home, feed the dogs and watch tv. Then go to bed around midnight. I went from that to up at 6AM, breakfast, feed the dogs, put a load of laundry in, walk for 30-40 minutes, do another load of laundry, pick a room to clean, vacuum all the floors (yes, every day - we have 3 dogs), schoolwork with son, work in the yard/grocery shopping, lunch, play with the dogs, a few hours on the computer, dinner, sports practice, tv time and in bed by 11 or 12.

lessertess

When determinining your activity level I advise that you don't count any exercise since you can add that back in. Instead, look at your life and your job.

For example:

I work in an office and most of my day is sitting in meetings or sitting at my desk. I classify that as "sedentary".

A few years ago, I worked as a retail manager and walked and was on my feet most of the day and that I would classify as "lightly active".

If I worked as a laboror or as a farmer or something that required physical work I would classify it as "active".

That classification will give you the base calories and then you can add in the calories for any actual exercise that you do.

Based on your post I would say that you are "lightly active".