How do you determine activity level?

honeylissabee

I've been struggling with trying to figure out my activity level.

I am female, 21 years old, 5'5", and I weigh 189.4 pounds as of Monday.

I work at a preschool, primarily with two-year-olds. I do get an hour-long lunch break, but I spend a good chunk of it walking around- I rarely sit and take a break at work. I am also prone to going on long walks around Target, etc, and my friend and I just joined a gym and we're going to go a few times a week.

I wear a FitBit to monitor my activity.

On Monday, I burned 2,871 calories according to Fitbit. (Didn't wear it Tuesday). Wednesday, I burned 2,975. Thursday I burned 2,551. According to MFP, if I'm very active I burn about 2,520 calories per day doing normal daily activities. Yesterday, I didn't walk around during my lunch break or dance with the kids and I burned 2,551 calories. Does this mean that I'm considered to be "very active"? I don't feel like I'm active at all- even with being on my feet all day.

honeylissabee

bump

Rickd530

Very active seems accurate. You are not sedentary. Or even lightly active.

kabertrand63

Here's a good rule of thumb:

Activty Level:

Sedentary: little or no exercise
Lightly Active: light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week
Moderately Active: moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week
Very Active: hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week
Extra Active: very hard exercise/sports and physical job

honeylissabee

But right now, I don't do a single workout, but I do spend most of the day on my feet walking around. I don't do any hard physical labor though.

Idabud

What is your diet?

It doesn't matter how much activity you have if you are not eating the right foods. And focus more on food with nutrients that worrying so much about calories. Try to stay away from fast food and processed food. Eat fresh as much as possible.

RaeLB

lightly active to include your job and errand walks

then log your exercises

SilverLotusGirl

Doesn't MFP have something to help for this? Sedentary is like office work, spending most of the day on your bum. Lightly active is about 5000-7000 steps and spending a good part of the day up walking like a teacher. Active is 7000-9000 steps and like a waitress as a busy restaurant spending most of the day on your feet, Very active is over 9000 like a bike messenger or something like that.

ps, don't bash me if the numbers are off a bit but I think that's about what MFP uses for guidelines that don't take workouts or sports into it.

honeylissabee

Ok. I'll put down that I am lightly active then. I burned an estimated 2,800-something calories going to the store and working one day which gave me like 600 exercise calories if I'm "lightly active"- and I did NOT do a single workout that day. But I guess I'm lightly active.

ApexLeader

i work out 2 hours a day and put "sedentary" and then i just record my exercise calories as accurately as possible (using my heart rate monitor) and eat whenever i'm hungry. it has worked well so far.

rduhlir

If you are doing it for MFP settings, then lightly active because they don't include exercise.

If you are doing it for TDEE/BMR reasons then I would say you are slightly/moderately active with the amount of calories you burn as per your FitBit.

But...I could be wrong.

FredDoyle

i work out 2 hours a day and put "sedentary" and then i just record my exercise calories as accurately as possible (using my heart rate monitor) and eat whenever i'm hungry. it has worked well so far.

I agree with this. It's easier to adjust upwards if you are hungry or overly active. Worked for me.

Martucha123

Yes. Very active and even more.
If you use fitbit all the time, you can link your account with mfp and it will adjust your activity level.
If you dont want to do that, you should go with very active and consider adding exercise manually (walking) when according to fitbit you burn significantly more then 2500

LorinaLynn

Personally, I'm not a very active person - I'd say lightly active for myself - but I would need to set my MFP activity level to very active AND eat my exercise calories to get the right amount. I find it easier to just go by TDEE, and completely ignore the "in five weeks" message.

Try it for a few weeks and see how it goes.

DebbieLyn63

Doesn't MFP have something to help for this? Sedentary is like office work, spending most of the day on your bum. Lightly active is about 5000-7000 steps and spending a good part of the day up walking like a teacher. Active is 7000-9000 steps and like a waitress as a busy restaurant spending most of the day on your feet, Very active is over 9000 like a bike messenger or something like that.

ps, don't bash me if the numbers are off a bit but I think that's about what MFP uses for guidelines that don't take workouts or sports into it.

Thank you!! This sounds like a very good explanation. Even tho I usually work out 4-5 days a week, the rest of my day is spent very sedentary. I recently used a pedometer to see how many steps I took a day and was surprised that I barely hit 1000. Even with an hour workout, I struggle to reach 4000 for a day. Therefore, I am still considered Sedentary instead of active or even lightly active.

To the OP, if your fitbit says you burn around 2500 cals or so, and that seems comparable to the amount of calories you eat when you are maintaining your weight, then that sounds like your TDEE. Labels like active, or lightly active, etc can vary between programs, so like someone else said, just go by your TDEE and see how it goes. If you lose at a rate you like, great, if not, then adjust up or down.

honeylissabee

If you are doing it for MFP settings, then lightly active because they don't include exercise.

If you are doing it for TDEE/BMR reasons then I would say you are slightly/moderately active with the amount of calories you burn as per your FitBit.

But...I could be wrong.

What does TDEE mean anyways?

I do want to make my MFP settings as accurate as possible so I can go in and pre-track and see what I need to aim for in advance. However, I am also wanting to use my Fitbit to determine my activity level. I don't specificially work out much, but I still spend most of the day walking around and I'm on my feet all day.

alasin1derland

If your fitbit tells you how many calories you burn in a 24 hour period, if you eat 1000 less than that number everyday you will lose 2 lbs a week, if you eat 500 less a day, you will lose 1lb per week.

bdamaster60

Trial and error. And Watching the scale, tracking your weight.

Sunflowergirl1

TDEE-Total Daily Energy Expenditure. There are calculators to figure out the total calories you usually expend each day. Then people eat a certain percentage below that to have a specific calorie deficit each day to lose weight. They don't eat back the exercise calories because the TDEE takes that into the equation already.

MFP, even though they ask you about your daily activity level, don't factor in your daily exercise/activity when setting the calorie deficit, so if you go by MFP's calculations you should eat back most, if not all, of your exercise calories or you could easily be eating below your BMR (basically the calories you burn while in a coma and you run the risk of losing muscle and not adequately supporting your basic bodily functioning.

ashleab37

Definitely trial and error. I had myself as sedentary (I have a desk job) which gave me 2400 calories a day for maintenance. With my BodyMedia Fit, I burn around 3,000 - 3,200 calories a day, which would put me at very active.

honeylissabee

TDEE-Total Daily Energy Expenditure. There are calculators to figure out the total calories you usually expend each day. Then people eat a certain percentage below that to have a specific calorie deficit each day to lose weight. They don't eat back the exercise calories because the TDEE takes that into the equation already.

MFP, even though they ask you about your daily activity level, don't factor in your daily exercise/activity when setting the calorie deficit, so if you go by MFP's calculations you should eat back most, if not all, of your exercise calories or you could easily be eating below your BMR (basically the calories you burn while in a coma and you run the risk of losing muscle and not adequately supporting your basic bodily functioning.

So if I have it set to lose 1 pound per week I can still leave 500 exercise calories if I want to lose 2 pounds a week, right?

LorinaLynn

With only 50-some pounds to lose, two pounds a week is really pushing it. Two pounds a week is more for those who have 75+ pounds to lose. You might be able to get away with a pound and a half a week for a little while.

Generally speaking, if you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal (1000 calorie deficit). If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal (750 calorie deficit). If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal (500 calories). If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal (500-250). If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal (250).

Mokey41

I'd set your MFP budget to lightly active because even though you're on your feet all day just walking around in your job won't be burning a huge amount of calories regardless of what FitBit says. You need to have your heart rate significantly elevated for 20 minutes or more to get into big calorie burns. Since you don't do intentional exercise I wouldn't eat anything beyond the budget that MFP gives you. From looking at your diary you overshoot your budget significantly every day so try to stick to it and not over eat.

If you see that you're losing huge amounts of weight quickly you can always adjust upwards later.

honeylissabee

I'd set your MFP budget to lightly active because even though you're on your feet all day just walking around in your job won't be burning a huge amount of calories regardless of what FitBit says. You need to have your heart rate significantly elevated for 20 minutes or more to get into big calorie burns. Since you don't do intentional exercise I wouldn't eat anything beyond the budget that MFP gives you. From looking at your diary you overshoot your budget significantly every day so try to stick to it and not over eat.

If you see that you're losing huge amounts of weight quickly you can always adjust upwards later.

I'm actually tracking what I eat normally. This is my first week on MFP. I just want to see where I'm starting. Usually, I jump right into a diet, but this time, I really want to track my current intake for at least a week to get a good starting point.

Does it make a difference that I'm on my feet MOVING all day? I don't just stand still. Whenever I have to stand, I'm always moving my feet- I can't stand still.

I just find it so weird that I am earning so many exercise calories when I set my activity level to lightly active when I'm not working out regularly. However, when I set it to very active, I am pretty much right on target with my calorie burn from Fitbit matching MFP.

This is so confusing!

es2189

I'd set your MFP budget to lightly active because even though you're on your feet all day just walking around in your job won't be burning a huge amount of calories regardless of what FitBit says. You need to have your heart rate significantly elevated for 20 minutes or more to get into big calorie burns. Since you don't do intentional exercise I wouldn't eat anything beyond the budget that MFP gives you. From looking at your diary you overshoot your budget significantly every day so try to stick to it and not over eat.

If you see that you're losing huge amounts of weight quickly you can always adjust upwards later.

I'm actually tracking what I eat normally. This is my first week on MFP. I just want to see where I'm starting. Usually, I jump right into a diet, but this time, I really want to track my current intake for at least a week to get a good starting point.

Does it make a difference that I'm on my feet MOVING all day? I don't just stand still. Whenever I have to stand, I'm always moving my feet- I can't stand still.

I just find it so weird that I am earning so many exercise calories when I set my activity level to lightly active when I'm not working out regularly. However, when I set it to very active, I am pretty much right on target with my calorie burn from Fitbit matching MFP.

This is so confusing!

It sounds like you pretty much understand what's going on, so no need to listen to people who are confused themselves. Yes, it obviously matters that you move all day. You have a fitbit for a reason: to see how many calories you are actually burning. It doesn't matter what MFP says; those are just estimates. Figure out which activity level corresponds to the average number of calories that you burn per day. It seems to me like it's probably the highest level of activity, given that I burn about 2200 a day and I'm at the second highest. Again, that will just be an estimate, but you can use it to pre-track and then on days when you end up burning a lot more, you can have an extra tablespoon of peanut butter or a half an avocado in the evening.

honeylissabee

I think I may set my device to allow for negative calorie adjustments. I am pretty lazy on the weekends. I went on a 2 mile round-trip walk to get my nails done today, and I STILL had a lower calorie burn than I do on my work days, so unless I really try, I have a hard time being as active on the weekends as I am during the work week. Then, I don't have to worry about over-eating if I'm inactive because my target will adjust- and it will also motivate me to stay more active on the weekends.

kabertrand63

I think I may set my device to allow for negative calorie adjustments. I am pretty lazy on the weekends. I went on a 2 mile round-trip walk to get my nails done today, and I STILL had a lower calorie burn than I do on my work days, so unless I really try, I have a hard time being as active on the weekends as I am during the work week. Then, I don't have to worry about over-eating if I'm inactive because my target will adjust- and it will also motivate me to stay more active on the weekends.

Sounds like you just should use MFP numbers and forget about TDEE. I mean, it's totally find to use TDEE-20% even on days you don't exercise.