SAHM-Sedentary or Lightly Active??

cari4jc1
cari4jc1 Posts: 233
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm a SAHM to 3 boys...I'm curious how other SAHM's have their settings. Sedentary or Lightly Active etc. ?? I'm p/retty sure I'm not sedentary..lol, but when I put lightly active it makes my calories go even higher. I have them set at 1510 right now.

Replies

  • cardbucfan
    cardbucfan Posts: 10,571 Member
    I have a body media fit and I have to have my MFP settings set to active to come close to the calorie burn I get from my body media. I'm at 1640 without exercise and am set to lose .5 per week. Have two teenagers so my activity comes from just keeping up with the house and all the errands that have to be done.
  • teresadutton
    teresadutton Posts: 217 Member
    I am a SAHM too and I have mine set at sedentary. I am not sitting all day but I didnt think I would be lightly active either.
  • danifo0811
    danifo0811 Posts: 544 Member
    I say lightly active but I don't count any cleaning, hauling a baby around in my arms or walking /playing at the park. Somedays are really active and others are sedentary. So far it feels like it averages out.
  • cari4jc1
    cari4jc1 Posts: 233
    Bump...any other SAHM'S?
  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 2,951 Member
    i have mine set at sedentary and this way i eat my cals back.. some days i am more active then the next so i won't over eat every day, it balances it self out...
  • AlyRoseNYC
    AlyRoseNYC Posts: 1,075 Member
    Sedentary.
  • LauraHasABabyJack
    LauraHasABabyJack Posts: 629 Member
    I have mine set at lightly active. I'm definitely not sitting around all day, some days I have a 30 lb toddler attached to me constantly. We also only have one bathroom so I'm up and down the stairs all day and the washer and dryer are in the basement so more up and down stairs for that. Even on days that we "sit around" all day, it involves lots of wrestling and lifting the kid.
  • mtaylor33557
    mtaylor33557 Posts: 542 Member
    I was a SAHM for 2 years, and now I work a office job. I am sedentary now... before, I would say I was lightly active. I have a toddler boy, so we went to the park a lot, I did house work, we went for walks, we walked all over the mall.. some days were more active than others, but I NEVER sat as much as I do now!!
  • cari4jc1
    cari4jc1 Posts: 233
    I was a SAHM for 2 years, and now I work a office job. I am sedentary now... before, I would say I was lightly active. I have a toddler boy, so we went to the park a lot, I did house work, we went for walks, we walked all over the mall.. some days were more active than others, but I NEVER sat as much as I do now!!


    I know what you mean! I worked full time until I had my 2nd son and I had a desk job and worked on a computer all day. I definitely move wayyyy more now than I did then.
  • cari4jc1
    cari4jc1 Posts: 233
    i have mine set at sedentary and this way i eat my cals back.. some days i am more active then the next so i won't over eat every day, it balances it self out...

    This is a good way to look at it. Some days I eat a little of my exercise calories back and some days I don't. Just depends.
  • wolftrax
    wolftrax Posts: 50
    I am not a SAHM, but I can add this:

    Sedentary allows 20% to the BMR for food cals..
    Lightly active adds 17.5% more food to intake.37.5%
    Moderate adds 17.5% more food..55%

    Most people do not burn more than the 20% per day unless they are plowing fields with a mule team or running a jack-hammer on a road crew..

    Most people attempting weight loss should set at sedentary and no more that 1 lb./week weight loss...I set mine at .5 #/week and eat back exercise cals , around 200 / day, 5 days..I am on schedule to be at target right on schedule..MFP set my cals from the goals..they know a lot about it..

    P.S. I have been dieting back to target for many years from weight creep...this is my umpteenth time..
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    but when I put lightly active it makes my calories go even higher.
    That is kind of the point.

    Why don't you choose one and see if you lose weight?
  • cari4jc1
    cari4jc1 Posts: 233
    I currently have it set at sedentary. 3 weeks ago I updated my profile settings, which I hadn't done since I signed up last year sometime. It had me set at 1200 calories, but after zero weight loss, headaches and fatigue I posted about it in the forums here and everyone and their mom told me to update my info and up my calories. When I updated my info it jumped my calories to 1530 and I immediately started losing weight. I've lost 6 pounds in the last 3 weeks so I know eating more is working for me. I was just playing around with plugging different numbers in to see what I'd get and it just got me curious about what other mom's have theirs set at. (I am also signed up on Jillian Michael's website and on there it says if you're a SAHM to put your activity on lightly active, but I have kept mine on sedentary just in case.)
  • bm99
    bm99 Posts: 597 Member
    I have it set to sedentary and I eat calories back.

    So, for example, I don't count general housekeeping or lifting kids, but I do count our walks to the park and eat those calories back.
  • NWdreaming
    NWdreaming Posts: 95 Member
    I'm a SAHM and used to use the programmed settings until I got on the BMR and TDEE bandwagon. Now I have mine custom set to 1800 calories because I do not want to eat below that as it is my BMR. While I'm not active all day, I do workout 6 days a week now which, with everything else I do, really does equate to being active. When I had mine set to sedentary and 1200 cals, I eventually stalled out also, which is why I am eating more now.
  • jfaure23
    jfaure23 Posts: 114 Member
    It depends on whether you are going to log all those extra exercises... such as housecleaning, walking, workouts, etc. If you want to log those activities, I would set you as Sedentary and log the activities. If you did not want to log those, I would put you at lightly active, and then only log the activities that are in addition to your 'regular day-to-day' ones (so when you play a sport, or go out for a walk or run, or do a fitness exercise).

    I am also a mom of 3 boys, and recently purchased a heart rate monitor. The heart rate monitor is very much in line with the calories estimated for me on MFP. I have a calculated TDEE of about 2100, and have my net cals set to 1530 being lightly active, but often eat about 1700 to 1800. I prefer to go over than under. I am set as Sedentary on MFP and I only log exercise/workout calories so that I can eat those back. As I said, the HRM is in line with MFP, so it gives me more confidence in the numbers MFP provided.
  • cari4jc1
    cari4jc1 Posts: 233
    It depends on whether you are going to log all those extra exercises... such as housecleaning, walking, workouts, etc. If you want to log those activities, I would set you as Sedentary and log the activities. If you did not want to log those, I would put you at lightly active, and then only log the activities that are in addition to your 'regular day-to-day' ones (so when you play a sport, or go out for a walk or run, or do a fitness exercise).

    I am also a mom of 3 boys, and recently purchased a heart rate monitor. The heart rate monitor is very much in line with the calories estimated for me on MFP. I have a calculated TDEE of about 2100, and have my net cals set to 1530 being lightly active, but often eat about 1700 to 1800. I prefer to go over than under. I am set as Sedentary on MFP and I only log exercise/workout calories so that I can eat those back. As I said, the HRM is in line with MFP, so it gives me more confidence in the numbers MFP provided.

    That totally makes sense. I don't log daily activities. I only log actual exercise or if I do something extra that actually makes me sweat or raise my heart rate...like taking all 3 kids to the zoo for a few hours or if I go running or hiking etc.

    I'm glad you mentioned that about the heart rate monitor. I have been looking into getting one for my birthday this week. What kind do you have?

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