moderately active? or strenuous?

MessyLittlePanda

OK so I've done the TDEE calculator thing. But I'm not sure how active I should class myself as being. I have a desk job. I work 15 miles away from home, and once a week I have been riding my road bike to and from work so a 30 mile round trip. I then usually do a shorter ride at the weekend either on my road bike (15-20 miles) or mountain bike (8-15 miles). I also do a BodyPump class once a week, and in between I walk my dog and do wii fit stuff which helps with my balance and co-ordination on the bike. I am training for a MTB race at the moment, so my training will need to start going up.

I plan to start doing an extra off road ride during the week or commuting to and from work twice (weather isn't great here in the UK, and the trails are pretty soggy at the moment, so right now I'm doing more road riding). I up my weights in BodyPump every 2-3 weeks.

I'm just not sure what scooby's definition of moderate or strenuous activity would be.....

I'm 143lb at the moment. I would like to lose some, as a cyclist, less weight helps you get up the hills, but you also need power and muscle, so 1200 calorie starvation is definitely not for me. I'll add as well that even at 1800 and eating the majority of exercise cals, I feel hungry a lot! I'm going to make a change towards more protein though as I've often exceeded my carbs but got nowhere near the protein.

Raynn1

I'll add as well that even at 1800 and eating the majority of exercise cals, I feel hungry a lot! I'm going to make a change towards more protein though as I've often exceeded my carbs but got nowhere near the protein.

Based on this alone, I would be increasing my cals.

Its not an exact number science for this. Scooby gives you the weekly amount of time doing activity as a guide to help you calculate your level... so if in your week you are doing more than 5 hours of activity, then you would be strenuous. Since your body is basically crying for more food, I would feed it:)

Give it a few weeks eating at the higher level, and see what happens. You can always readjust as you go

MessyLittlePanda

Thanks - I thought it went on the type of activity you did, 5 hours walking isn't as strenuous as 5 hours of crossfit or mountain biking for example. At the moment I've been on the bike for around 4-5 hours a week and done Bodypump and other bits on top, but the bike time is about to increase to 6-8 hours. Maybe it is time to eat more! In the past when I've got to that level, I haven't really needed to watch what I eat that much, though obviously not stuff my face with pizza and chocolate every night, when you're training for a race you need proper body fuel.