How do you figure activity level if not specifically

rachmass1

Hi,

I do 10-20 hours a week of light activity, not 1-3 hours. I don't really do much moderate activity, maybe 3 hours total per week. How do you count this? Moderately active or lightly active, or do you take it in between? I am trying to get a good 15% cut off my TDEE as I have less than 25 pounds to lose at this point.

rachmass1

From what I see on various calculator sites, walking equates to about 100 calories per mile for most people, but that seems agressive and it would actually be less (if it were the case, then I'd be burning about 500 calories a day just from walking, which isn't likely). There is a big difference in TDEE on Scooby from lightly active to moderately active and I am tempted at this point to just set myself in between and hope for the best. I have been gaining weight lately taking in between 1500-1700 calories per day as a 5'2" 153 LB 51 year old woman. Don't want to eat too much but want to hit a level where I lose 2-3 pounds a month and can sustain for life.

Suggestions would be helpful if you can offer them. I do lift and do some HIIT, but mainly walk 5+ miles a day.

bizco

The activity level is meant to cover what your job is; what you spend 40 hours a week doing if you're employed full time. You should not include dedicated exercise in this setting. Log workouts (and sports activities) using the Exercise tab.

Going by the limited information you provided I would choose "light active" and stick with that for one month before making further adjustments.

maricash

I think you need to just estimate and then see what happens. I have mine set to lightly active, mainly because I walk 3-6 miles every day. I eat at a 20% cut from that on most days. If I exercise in addition to the walking, and find that I am hungry, I will eat some of my exercise calories.

I have tracked my weight daily for six months and have found that I am losing an average of a pound a week. Since this is what the numbers "predicted", I figure I must have things set up right. I think you really can't tell what is or isn't working until you have some data. So chose a number, record your weight over a period of time and see what happens.

Make sure you give it some time though. Your weight will fluctuate every day for reasons that have nothing to do with fat loss, so it may take a month or longer to see if it's working the way you want. Eat at a consistent level for a month or so and then see how it's going. Then make changes if necessary and give it another month. You'll hit on the exact number at some point.

rachmass1

Thanks guys. I have a treadmill desk and walk 2-4 hours a day during work depending on how I am feeling. I have lost 30 pounds since January but started running into stalls and increases about three months ago and I downloaded that "trendweight" app a couple of weeks ago which is showing my weight increasing over time so I thought perhaps I am eating too much. I don't sit still at work too much because I hate being behind the computer too long. I intersperse little breaks doing planks, lifting weights, etc, plus get on the ellptical and do HIIT a couple times a week. I don't log anything and let little FittyBitty do the tracking but I figured I'd just work off Scooby and set a certain goal and stick with it instead of the FB since it started decreasing my calories burned and I am not buying it (went from an average close to 2,000 a day to under 1800 a day in a month without much weight loss and with an increase in speed and volume so that didn't make sense). I am worried I eat too little since I am hungry a lot of the time, and I have upped protein to try and deal with that but I am a hungry bugger half the time.

I sure as heck hope I am not going to have to maintain at 1,400 calories a day for life because it takes about 1,700 a day to feel good.

ixap

The activity level is meant to cover what your job is; what you spend 40 hours a week doing if you're employed full time. You should not include dedicated exercise in this setting.

That's true for this site, but it sounds like she's trying to calculate her total daily energy expenditure, including exercise, for use in a formula from another site.

I agree with "just estimate and see what happens" - you can adjust up or down once you see if you are progressing like you want to.
I think your approach of setting it in between the two levels is smart.

rachmass1

The activity level is meant to cover what your job is; what you spend 40 hours a week doing if you're employed full time. You should not include dedicated exercise in this setting.

That's true for this site, but it sounds like she's trying to calculate her total daily energy expenditure, including exercise, for use in a formula from another site.

I agree with "just estimate and see what happens" - you can adjust up or down once you see if you are progressing like you want to.
I think your approach of setting it in between the two levels is smart.

Yes, I have been tracking for quite some time and am trying to adjust. I could just try and go up, or go down and see if that works, but I'd rather eat more than less since I want this to be for life and I don't fancy being hungry all the time.

ixap

Yes it would be awesome to know for sure up front, but we all have to guess at first b/c even if you could quantify your activity level perfectly, there is individual variation - even two people who weight the same and do the same activities will need different amounts of calories. You should see a trend within a couple of weeks in any case, and by 30 days you can feel even more confident about your numbers.

cebreisch

Get a Fitbit. It's an activity tracker, and is awesome! (and it syncs with MFP). They're coming out with a new one in November that syncs with an iphone or ipad.