question about activity level
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BCSMama
Posts: 348
Hi everyone! I'm trying to maintain my weight and do strength training 2-3 times per week with some cardio 1-2 times per week thrown in. I've gone to the scooby calculator and have a question.
Other than the exercise, I have a desk job and am pretty sedentary. So, if I enter sedentary, it gives me a TDEE of 1679. If I enter light exercise (1-3 hrs/week) it gives me 1924. So, I start thinking, well what is "light exercise" since that is a pretty big difference over a week. The difference is 245 calories per day. Multiply that by 7 days a week is an additional 1715 calories. Well, if one only exercises say the 3 hours per week (which would be the max for selecting lightly active), that is a works out to 571.6 calories per hour working out! I am pretty sure I don't burn nearly that much in an hour, so I'm really questioning the accuracy of the calculator.
Entering moderate exercise, which at first glace is what I would consider myself, it gives me a TDEE of 2169, which is a difference of 490 per day from the sedentary setting. Using the same math, that would give an average burn of 686 per hour over the 5 hours of exercise per week! Again, pretty sure I'm not burning that much per hour.
Am I missing something here? I am female, 5'10" and 134 lbs. Pretty sure I'm not burning that much even working really hard exercising. Would it be more accurate to just eat at the sedentary rate and eat back my estimated exercise calories?
As you can probably tell, I'm stressing a lot about maintaining my weight and probably over thinking, but the math just doesn't seem right to me.
Other than the exercise, I have a desk job and am pretty sedentary. So, if I enter sedentary, it gives me a TDEE of 1679. If I enter light exercise (1-3 hrs/week) it gives me 1924. So, I start thinking, well what is "light exercise" since that is a pretty big difference over a week. The difference is 245 calories per day. Multiply that by 7 days a week is an additional 1715 calories. Well, if one only exercises say the 3 hours per week (which would be the max for selecting lightly active), that is a works out to 571.6 calories per hour working out! I am pretty sure I don't burn nearly that much in an hour, so I'm really questioning the accuracy of the calculator.
Entering moderate exercise, which at first glace is what I would consider myself, it gives me a TDEE of 2169, which is a difference of 490 per day from the sedentary setting. Using the same math, that would give an average burn of 686 per hour over the 5 hours of exercise per week! Again, pretty sure I'm not burning that much per hour.
Am I missing something here? I am female, 5'10" and 134 lbs. Pretty sure I'm not burning that much even working really hard exercising. Would it be more accurate to just eat at the sedentary rate and eat back my estimated exercise calories?
As you can probably tell, I'm stressing a lot about maintaining my weight and probably over thinking, but the math just doesn't seem right to me.
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Replies
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Bump for a friend.0
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I hear what you are saying, the math doesn't make sense does it. And, I thought the same thing.
I tried the Scooby calculator as well and it didn't make sense for me. So, now I am using the spreadsheet that is on the group "In Place of a road map"
Besides all the regular info like age, gender, weight, etc., it lets you put in body fat % or measurements to determine that. And, it lets you tell it how many minutes of various levels of activity you do duiring the course of a week. Lighter to More active, to lifting times, etc......so in other words it takes in a whole lot more info than Scooby's or Fitness Frogs calculators do.
Here is the link to the spreadsheet, you download and then save a copy so you can put your numbers in the yellow boxes. Also go to the groups stickies that will explain more about it.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Amt7QBR9-c6MdGVTbGswLUUzUHNVVUlNSW9wZWloeUE0 -
bump,
Thanks, I'm going to check out the spreadsheet!
any other thoughts?0 -
I've actually just had a play around with the spread sheet too and I found it really useful! :drinker:0
