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Help with determining 'sedentary' vs 'lightly active'

Seokie
Seokie Posts: 197 Member
edited December 2024 in Food and Nutrition
Hi guys - I have a question for you all:

I'm trying to change some stuff around to see better results and I'm a little unsure of 'sedentary' vs 'lightly active'. I see a lot of 'lightly active' definitions as exercising ~3/week, which I definitely do but I have a desk job and I'm a student. So I sit at work and I sit a lot in my off time as well for studying, being on laptop, etc BUT I do workout usually at least 3-4/week (hard workouts - at least intense for me).

Is working out 3-4/week really enough that I should be looking at the 'lightly active' #'s or because I have to sit a lot should I still use sedentary?

Any feedback would be really appreciated!!!

Thanks!


**** I should clarify - I don't set my cal goals according to what MFP recommends and then 'eat back cal' from exercising.

I'm trying to create a deficit based on my TDEE and my question about sedentary vs lightly active is for calculating my TDEE :) ****

Replies

  • InIt2WinIt
    InIt2WinIt Posts: 68
    Hey girl! I sit at my job everyday so I always mark mine as sedentary no matter how many workouts I may have. I actually changed mine to lightly active to increase my caloric intake and my pounds are shedding faster now. If you work out 3-4 times per week, I would change it to lightly active depending on how many calories you want to take in everyday, but I don't know much. Ask love4fitnesslove4food, she is really good at this type of thing and her advice along with my trainers advice has helped me progress even more. If she isn't your friend, look her up in my friends list and add her -- she is amazing!! :-)
  • Seokie
    Seokie Posts: 197 Member
    Hey girl! I sit at my job everyday so I always mark mine as sedentary no matter how many workouts I may have. I actually changed mine to lightly active to increase my caloric intake and my pounds are shedding faster now. If you work out 3-4 times per week, I would change it to lightly active depending on how many calories you want to take in everyday, but I don't know much. Ask love4fitnesslove4food, she is really good at this type of thing and her advice along with my trainers advice has helped me progress even more. If she isn't your friend, look her up in my friends list and add her -- she is amazing!! :-)

    Thanks so much for your input :) And I will def look her up
  • love4fitnesslove4food_wechange
    love4fitnesslove4food_wechange Posts: 6,897 Member
    Hey girl! I sit at my job everyday so I always mark mine as sedentary no matter how many workouts I may have. I actually changed mine to lightly active to increase my caloric intake and my pounds are shedding faster now. If you work out 3-4 times per week, I would change it to lightly active depending on how many calories you want to take in everyday, but I don't know much. Ask love4fitnesslove4food, she is really good at this type of thing and her advice along with my trainers advice has helped me progress even more. If she isn't your friend, look her up in my friends list and add her -- she is amazing!! :-)

    Awww you're so sweet :blushing:
  • love4fitnesslove4food_wechange
    love4fitnesslove4food_wechange Posts: 6,897 Member
    Well you're bit sedentary but the nature of your job is such that using the sedentary function and logging your exercise would be most accurate. If you give me yor stats I can help you figure out a plan for your calorie intake--also details about what you're doing and for how long would be helpful!!
  • Seokie
    Seokie Posts: 197 Member
    Well you're bit sedentary but the nature of your job is such that using the sedentary function and logging your exercise would be most accurate. If you give me yor stats I can help you figure out a plan for your calorie intake--also details about what you're doing and for how long would be helpful!!

    Thanks so much! I'll send it over :)
  • ahmommy
    ahmommy Posts: 316 Member
    Here's the way I see it - unless you're not going to log your exercise, you need to set your activity to "sedentary." I have mine set to sedentary and then I log my exercise. The kicker here is to make sure you eat more on the days that you exercise, since you're not accounting for that in your activity level. If you were to set your activity level to "light activity" and then log your exercise and eat back those calories, you'd be doubling up.

    I work 3 days a week at a desk job, and then on the other days I'm chasing after a 3 yr old and will soon be chasing after my baby once she learns to crawl. I still have mine set to sedentary, and I'm trying to decide if I need to eat a little more on my days "off" since I'm moving around more and not logging it as formal exercise.
  • Seokie
    Seokie Posts: 197 Member
    I should clarify - I don't set my cal goals according to what MFP recommends and then 'eat back cal' from exercising.

    I'm trying to create a deficit based on my TDEE and my question about sedentary vs lightly active is for calculating my TDEE :)
  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member
    Here's the way I see it - unless you're not going to log your exercise, you need to set your activity to "sedentary." I have mine set to sedentary and then I log my exercise. The kicker here is to make sure you eat more on the days that you exercise, since you're not accounting for that in your activity level. If you were to set your activity level to "light activity" and then log your exercise and eat back those calories, you'd be doubling up.

    I work 3 days a week at a desk job, and then on the other days I'm chasing after a 3 yr old and will soon be chasing after my baby once she learns to crawl. I still have mine set to sedentary, and I'm trying to decide if I need to eat a little more on my days "off" since I'm moving around more and not logging it as formal exercise.

    You probably do need a little more on your non-workout days. I am a SAHM and have figured out that I burn way more than MFP thinks I do at sedentary. I bumped mine up to lightly active. I burn probably 3-500 calories/day more than the sedentary setting accounts for. Originally I set my goal to lose .5 lbs/week and lost 8.6 lbs in 5 weeks and that's with eating back all my exercise calories (about 3500/week).
  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member
    I should clarify - I don't set my cal goals according to what MFP recommends and then 'eat back cal' from exercising.

    I'm trying to create a deficit based on my TDEE and my question about sedentary vs lightly active is for calculating my TDEE :)

    The MFP settings are different than other calorie calculators. MFP is trying to decide how much you burn outside of activity... so that when you log exercise it's always going to add those calories to your eating goal. Something like Scooby's Workshop calculator is for your actual workouts and your actual TDEE. That will ask you about your exercise habits. You'll notice MFP is only asking about the regular non-workout (i.e. job) activity that you do.
  • Seokie
    Seokie Posts: 197 Member
    I should clarify - I don't set my cal goals according to what MFP recommends and then 'eat back cal' from exercising.

    I'm trying to create a deficit based on my TDEE and my question about sedentary vs lightly active is for calculating my TDEE :)

    The MFP settings are different than other calorie calculators. MFP is trying to decide how much you burn outside of activity... so that when you log exercise it's always going to add those calories to your eating goal. Something like Scooby's Workshop calculator is for your actual workouts and your actual TDEE. That will ask you about your exercise habits. You'll notice MFP is only asking about the regular non-workout (i.e. job) activity that you do.

    Thanks - I do get that - but again I'm NOT using the MFP settings. But I definitely will google Scooby's Workshop :)
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