Detailed Descriptions Of Activity Categories - to check out

A lot of us have been confused about how to accurately describe our daily activities. Should I be sedentary, lightly active, etc. I've been "googling" this question and I found a paper from the Univ. of Hawaii, (a biology 100 level class) that talks about a bunch of things like calculating you RMR, thermic effect of foods and exercise, etc. (which we talk to death here on MFP- LOL)

But, it was really interesting to see some "real" and detailed descriptions about what each category means.

I cannot vouch that this is "the end all beat all" truth, but it did answer a few questions in my head. In the Lightly active category and up, it gives examples of how long one might sleep, sit, or exercise (and at what rate) to put yourself in that category. Much more detailed that anything I have found so far.

The paper does gives multipliers and advice on the multipliers if you feel you are between categories.

I hope this can help anyone with all the same questions!

Best!

Here is the link:

http://krupp.wcc.hawaii.edu/BIOL100L/nutrition/energy.pdf

you'll need to scroll down just a bit.

Here's a copy and paste of it as well:

As implied by its name, your TEE depends on how active you are. To simplify the
estimation of your TEE we will define five levels of activity: Sedentary, Lightly Active,
Moderately Active, Very Active, and Extremely Active. These levels are defined below.

Sedentary: Sometimes under the care of someone else. Resting
metabolic rate plus a factor for minimal activities - playing cards,
watching TV, reading, etc
.
Lightly Active: Most students, office workers, and professionals;
lawyers, doctors, shop workers, teachers, drivers, lab workers, playing a
musical instrument, housewives/househusbands with mechanical
appliances, unemployed persons. This includes eight hours sleep and 16
hours of sitting or standing. Three of the 16 hours must include light
activity (walking, laundry, golf, ping pong) and one hour must be
moderate activity (tennis, dancing, walking briskly, aerobics, etc.).

Moderately Active: Most persons in light industry, electrical,
carpentry and building trades (excluding heavy laborers), many farm
workers, soldiers not in active service, commercial fishermen,
housewives/househusbands without mechanical appliances. If you have an
office or driving occupation (see Lightly Active category), you may have
to average 1.5 to 2 hours of exercise per day (like jogging 5 to 6
miles/day) to be "Moderately Active."

Very Active: Full time athletes, unskilled laborers, some agricultural
workers (especially peasant farming), forestry workers, army recruits and
soldiers in active service, mine workers, steel workers. This level requires
moderate intensity activity for most of the work day or exercise
comparable to running 9 to 13 miles/day.

Extremely Active: Lumberjacks, blacksmiths, female construction
workers, heavy manual digging, rickshaw pullers, and coal mining.
Moderate to high level of physical activity for most of the work day or
exercise comparable to running 14 to 17 miles/day.