How to choose activity level?

holothuroidea
holothuroidea Posts: 772 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I'm new to this whole calorie counting adventure and I have a question I haven't been able to find an answer to.

I stay at home with babes. I've developed sedentary habits during the day, but this is something I'm really striving to change (to be honest, hanging around MFP has not been helpful so far :P ). I think optimally, I'd be at a moderately active activity level.

Realistically, though, I'm not going to jump into a whole new lifestyle overnight and I think it's reasonable to expect a few lapsing days of sedentary activity.

So my question is, what do I choose for my baseline activity level when determining my TDEE? Do I put my goal, or the minimum that I do?

Any input would be appreciated. :)

Replies

  • Katetw
    Katetw Posts: 188 Member
    I put sedentary. Then, when I do exercise (which is more and more frequently) I put that in and eat back about 1/2 the calories I have earned (I don't trust the machines at the gym to give me an accurate number).

    That way I'm not overeating on days I don't exercise.

    Hope that helps! Good luck :)
  • holothuroidea
    holothuroidea Posts: 772 Member
    Well the problem is that if I put my activity level as sedentary, it allots me 1200 calories for the day. This is basically the minimum, and if I have an active day I would be worried about under eating.

    I would rather loose weight slower than under eat. I have a lot of fitness goals and the weight loss is secondary to me.

    Thanks, I think I know what I'm going to do now. :)
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    Are you talking about TDEE or MFP's settings? There's a difference. Your TDEE takes into account your BMR and adds your activity. From that number you deduct up to 20% (depending on what you have to lose) to create your deficit. You don't log or eat exercise calories back with this method.

    For MFP you would select sedentary then you add you exercise calories back on and you can eat them. 1200 is as low as MFP will go so you either have next to nothing to lose or you've chosen too aggressive of a goal.
  • holothuroidea
    holothuroidea Posts: 772 Member
    I'm using MFP's method.

    I've decided to make my activity level lightly active. I don't want to be sedentary any more, and so I don't want to eat like a sedentary person. This is just what makes sense to me. I'm sure that in a few weeks being lightly active will be my norm. :)

    I'm 5'3'' and my goal weight is 115 lbs. That's flexible, though, I'm not really fixated on the number I just had to pick one. Do you think that is too aggressive? It puts my BMI at 20.5. I have a petite frame, and that was my weight before I started gaining.

    I was thinking that it was close to the minimum because I am smaller.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    MFP asks for an activity level based on your daily "job". I set mine to sedentary because I have a desk job so a good part of my day is sitting at my computer. That setting still assumes that you get up, take care of your home, look after your personal needs, shop, commute to and from work, and generally have a life. If I do exercise then I add it separately in the Exercise tab and I can eat those calories back because I earned them. Lightly active would be someone who is on their feet all day such as a teacher. Setting your activity level higher doesn't make you more active, it just gives you more calories that you may not have earned. A sedentary person will get less of a calorie budget than a lightly active one.

    115 may be a fine goal weight but you get your calorie budget based on how much you chose as a weight loss per week goal. With what you have to lose your shouldn't be choosing more than 1 lb/week as your goal.
  • holothuroidea
    holothuroidea Posts: 772 Member
    My "job" is not a desk job, but I'm not required to be on my feet if I don't want to. I could sit or I could stand, my choice. I'm choosing to stand, so I'm going to put lightly active. However, I recognize that I've chosen to sit for 4 years and I know that habits aren't broken overnight. So that's why it's hard to choose. I've decided that I would rather eat more calories than I "earned" on days that I end up sitting than under eat on days I end up standing.

    I do have my goal set at 1/lb per week.
  • Purplebunnysarah
    Purplebunnysarah Posts: 3,252 Member
    I set my activity level to sedentary but I wear a Fitbit so if I manage to be more active, I just eat more. My goal is to manage to be lightly active or even active most days.

    However, I don't log exercise most days... just let the Fitbit track my steps. The types of exercise I do are generally picked up well by the Fitbit.

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