TDEE: Am I sedentary or active? I can't decided-Help!

trysha1231

So when figuring out my TDEE it asks if I am sedentary (a desk job) which is a YES. But then I exercise everyday doing either Couch to 5k with strength training, or Zumba for 45 minutes, so would I consider myself very active?

I am confused because sedentary would have me at 1686, while being active would be 2423. This is a huge difference when trying to figure out if I am eating enough calories and not putting myself into starvation mode and hindering any weight loss.
I've calculated my BMR to be 1403, and MFP has put me at 1200 net calories for the day. I've not seen any weight loss in three weeks.
HELP!!!

Reckabek

I have the same question, i put sedetary, cause although i do work out almost everyday, i dont work and im on the couch on this thing the rest of the day and i sleep alot. I figured i would go by what the majority of the day is. Good question tho

psuLemon

It depends on the approach you want to take. I include exercise into my TDEE and I won't eat back exercise calories. If i don't include exercise into my TDEE calculation, then I eat back my exercise calories.

I would consider you moderately active based on your lifestyle and exercise.

wolfchild59

I originally had myself as sedentary because I have a desk job. But after I got my BodyMedia Fit, not counting exercise, I found that I was burning more each day than what sedentary would have me at. When I moved it to the very next level up from sedentary it matched up better to my average, non-exercise, daily burn.

So if you're hesitant at all about if you're sedentary or not, set it higher. You can always adjust later if it's not working.

susannamarie

If you enter moderately active, don't enter/eat your exercise calories, as those are part of your lifestyle.

If you enter sedentary, enter/eat your exercise calories.