When to set to "sedentary"??

wordpainter09

Hi all,
I workout five days a week but I have a desk job. I try to get up during the day and move (and sit on an exercise ball!) but I'm still relatively sedentary.
Would you set your activity level to "sedentary" despite the workouts? That puts me at only 1200 per day and I've been reading the "women eating more than 1800 calories" thread and decided to eat more like that.
Help!

zafferFL

You work out 5 days a week, not even close to sedentary, use active.

almc170

As a "woman who eats more than 1800 calories" and has a desk job, I have my activity level set to sedentary. However, I workout six days a week and eat the exercise calories earned. My deficit is also set to .5lb/week. My net calories are around 1600, and I eat a total of 1800-1900. That approach worked for me, but there are definitely other ways to manage it.

robin52077

you're not sedentary.

mallory3411

If you set your daily activity level higher don't eat your exercise calories back.

LorinaLynn

I work from home part time (web publisher, artist, housewife) and call myself lightly active to get enough calories. And I eat my exercise calories.

I think of sedentary as someone like Peg Bundy who only sits on the couch eating bonbons all day, not someone who sits most of 8 hours at a job, but also does housework, takes care of pets or kids, exercises, etc.

robin52077

If you set your daily activity level higher don't eat your exercise calories back.

not necessarily.
If using MFPs inflated estimates maybe not ALL of them, but if using a more reliable method like an HRM, then you should.

cynthiaj777

I wonder about this too. I have a desk job, and on average, I will not move from my chair for 4-5 hours at a time when I get deep into a project. However, I work out 3-4 times a week....and that includes trying to get at least two 10k runs in along with kickboxing twice a week and weight lifting. I have mine set to sedentary because for most of the day, I am sitting.

What is the logic with deciding which option to choose? How many hours a day should one be active to each setting?

purpleipod

Those settings are referring to your daily activity, not factoring in exercise. If I had a desk job I'd probably set mine to sedentary.

cynthiaj777

Those settings are referring to your daily activity, not factoring in exercise. If I had a desk job I'd probably set mine to sedentary.

That was my logic because this is your normal daily activity. Exercising is outside of that sedentary life.

swaymyway

Those settings are referring to your daily activity, not factoring in exercise. If I had a desk job I'd probably set mine to sedentary.

That's my understanding too.

If you spend most of your day sitting at a desk job etc but work out - set as sedentary and log (and eat back) your exercise calories. Your 'lifestyle' isn't meant to account for your level of exercise, just what you do day to day.

Mine is lightly active because I work from home and spend a lot of time at the computer - but I also do lots of housework, chasing after a puppy and don't drive so walk every where I need to go - I don't log any of those things as exercise. I work out (running, cycling, turbofire, swimming, long walks etc) 6 days a week and log all of that seperately.

That's how I've always done it any way.

a_stronger_steph

If you set yourself to "sedentary," then log all of your exercise, and eat back the calories that you've burned while doing that exercise.
If you set yourself to "active," then you're essentially doing the same thing, except you won't log your exercise every day because it's already accounted for in your activity level.

I'm a grad student, so I spend most of my day sitting as well. However, I also walk to/from work every day, and do strength training as well as running. I have my activity level set to sedentary, but I log those walks to work, and all of my workouts. If I were set to "lightly active," I would likely not log my walks or strength training.

Aliciaaah

Just make sure you don't double count it. You could set your activity level to Active to compensate for your exercise, but you'd be double counting exercise if you logged it and then ate those calories back. Count them either in your activity level OR your diary, but not both. This also applies to people who set their activity level to active because they run around taking care of kids all day and cleaning, but then they're logging that cleaning as exercise. You may still lose weight because of the healthy choices and exercise, but your numbers will be misleading.

I work out 4 times a week well over an hour a session but I have mine set to sedentary because I have a desk job and I'm a student.

a_stronger_steph

Oh, I forgot to mention: there's another way to get to eat more calories. If you're set to 1200 net, you probably have your loss rate set to 1-2 lbs per week. I see you only have about 10-15 lbs to lose, so personally, I'd go with a deficit that will give you a loss rate of 0.5 lbs per week. It may take longer, but you won't feel like you're starving yourself, and you'll help preserve some of your lean muscle mass (especially if you keep your protein intake up and incorporate strength training into your workouts, if you're not already doing so!).

lgladybug

I have a desk job so initially I had mine set to sedentary. However, at my job I move around a lot lifting bending and stooping because I do office manager/accounting assistant tasks. I was stuck at a plateau until I changed my daily activity to lightly active. I work out around 4 to 5 times a week and I wasn't eating my cals back. I noticed a change when I started watching my net cals consumed. I went back and saw that on some days I was netting 900 to 1200 and that wasn't enough for me. Everyone loses weight differently. I would try looking at your net cals regardless of the activity level that you choose. Keep it up regardless you're doing a fab job.

wordpainter09

Thank you! I appreciate all the insight and encouragement from you. Great to hear the different approaches and what has worked for you.

wordpainter09

Oh, I forgot to mention: there's another way to get to eat more calories. If you're set to 1200 net, you probably have your loss rate set to 1-2 lbs per week. I see you only have about 10-15 lbs to lose, so personally, I'd go with a deficit that will give you a loss rate of 0.5 lbs per week. It may take longer, but you won't feel like you're starving yourself, and you'll help preserve some of your lean muscle mass (especially if you keep your protein intake up and incorporate strength training into your workouts, if you're not already doing so!).

Good idea! I think I'll change it. I may also change to lightly active since I never count walks, shopping, cleaning etc.

wordpainter09

You work out 5 days a week, not even close to sedentary, use active.

I did that at first but then I thought I might be double counting my exercise like some have said... confusing :P I consider myself active but I think MFP doesn't.