lighlt active vs active?

lin7604

how do i figure out if i am lightly active or active? I was sedentary for most of my weigh loss that i have had. i have now a new job and have to change my setting. I am not sure what it should be set at, as i have been at my new job just over a month and have put on 3 lbs and my new "lower size" jeans are now too tight I know it could be many things why i have put weigh on, so i need to figure a few things out. Not sure if it's muscle weight or muscle repairing itself/ water weight? usually when i gain a bit, it comes off just as easy with in a few days, this time it's not. I then thought, maybe i am eating too much or not enough? I am on my feet all day pretty much as i work with preschoolers, the only time i sit pretty much is at nap for 30 min rubbing backs and then again at the lunch table, otherwise it's up and down, etc all day. when i was on sedentary i was set at 1260, lightly active put me at 1370 and active put me at 1470.I always ate my exercise cals. My exercise isn't a whole lot right now, i am just doing rin30 3-4 days a week, but i did up my weight from 5 to 10 lbs a month ago, same time i started my new job. so what do you think, should my cals be set at lightly active or active?

SomeoneSomeplace

I'd say lightly active personally I think active is more like physical work. I worked in a pre-school and I now work at a residential treatment program during the summer and I consider it lightly active I'm only my feet all day but don't do that much physical work.

gaylynn35

I would put lightly active.

lin7604

awesome thank you so much, i agree with lightly active.. as it's not a real physical job.... i will adjust my cals...

_kannnd

Technically, I'm Sedentary while I am working, and MFP had me set at 1200 calories a day. While it worked for a bit, I hit a plateau for a couple months. Since I was working out a lot, I changed my settings to be Active. It pushed my calorie goal up to 1430 a day. Once I started eating more, the weight started coming off. A lot of people think they always need lower calories to lose, but your body needs fuel. Try the higher calories, while eating good healthy calories, and see the results that you get.

lin7604

thanks. well i will have my cals set to lightly active for a few weeks and if no change then i will move it up to active. my maintenance cals are 1600 and i still have 5-7 lbs to go to hit my goal. I was so hoping i would of hit my goal by the end of the year but with the scale been going up this month it making it less touchable. who knew this process woudl be so hard and take so long to lose 20-25 lbs! it's been a year now and still haven't hit it. I did up my weight a few weeks ago while doing my dvd's from 5-10 ls so even if i don't see the scale go down but i still see some inches off i will be happy but as of right now my pants are snug again with this last gain, so i need to do something about that. I am not sure if i should just up my exercise dvd to 5 days a week again, or just concentrate on eating really good choices to get me there faster? i know ideally both would be best i guess but i don't want to start exercising more if i am not eating enough as of now..... then i will never know what it is that i need to fix.