"Lightly active" or "active?"

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Meg_78
Meg_78 Posts: 998 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Sorry to double post this, but I'm not sure where to put it!
I have myself set as Lightly active, I'm a personal aid so I'm on my feet a lot of the day, I move and dress a person, and apart from my own household cooking and cleaning chores, I also do it for another person, sometimes if I add together all my food prep in a day, if can be hours! Plus I walk most places, as I don't drive. I only sit still in the evenings, Maybe I should up that to Active?

What level do you consider this?

(PS I'm not trying to lose weight, i just want to get fit and tone up, but I am feeling like I'm sometimes letting myself go hungry as to not go over my calorie goal, esp if I have a busy day and haven't exercised more than just my regular walking. I am having more low blood sugar dips too now that I'm actively counting what I am eating (where I get shaky and faint and I have to eat something quickly), so maybe I am more active than I give myself credit for?)

Meg

Replies

  • HotBodUnderConstruction
    HotBodUnderConstruction Posts: 420
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    Here, this might help you:

    http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/calorie-calculator.html


    Once you figure out your calorie count just adjust your total calories manually.
  • Meg_78
    Meg_78 Posts: 998 Member
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    Here, this might help you:

    http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/calorie-calculator.html


    Once you figure out your calorie count just adjust your total calories manually.

    Thank you! That calculator has me at 2134, MFP has me at 1550 as lightly active and 1650 at active....That's a big difference!!

    Should I go up to 2134 manually you think? or try just having it on active and see how I feel?
  • HotBodUnderConstruction
    HotBodUnderConstruction Posts: 420
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    The difference is that MFP is only accounting for the calories you burn working, while the fitnessfrog calculator is accounting for both the calories burned due to work related activities AND how many calories you burn from exercise. So, if you use the MFP setting you need to manually add every single day how many calories you burn exercising (let's say you burn ~500 a day from exercise) then, you would have your base of 1650 PLUS the calories you burned exercising ~500...which puts you at 2160. So, it just depends on your preference. You can try eating approximately 1800-1900 and see how it goes?
  • Meg_78
    Meg_78 Posts: 998 Member
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    I did up my amount to active, if I'm still feeling shaky/faint I'll adjust it a little more.

    Thanks again!!

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