Activity Level / Recording exercise

poptastic
poptastic Posts: 151 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
This is probably a stupid question, but...

Until recently I had Activity level set to sedentary. I now think this isn't accurate, as I cycle 9 miles per day, and go to the gym 3 times a week, so I'm going to change it to Lightly Active, should I still record exercise when I do it, or is it included in the activity level? ie. if I go running and burn 400 cals, should I track that separately, or is that already accounted for when working out my daily calories based on activity level?

Replies

  • leahstaeb
    leahstaeb Posts: 12 Member
    My understanding is that the activity level is what you do outside of exercise. So if you have a desk job, you would select sedentary since you probably sit for the majority of your work day. I am a special education teacher, and I am rarely sitting during the school day (maybe an 2 hours, tops). I incorporate a lot of physical activity into my instruction because it keeps my students more focused, so I have my activity level set to lightly active. When you exercise, you log the exercise and calories burned. If you are not lightly active outside of your exercise regimen, you shouldn't set it to lightly active. I was tempted to set mine at a higher activity level since I run 3-4 days a week and go to boot camp 2 days a week, but I think it messes with your calorie setting, and I was reading the descriptions for each and lightly active describes my routine outside of exercise.
  • JenMc14
    JenMc14 Posts: 2,389 Member
    I set mine to sedentary because i have a desk job. I do walk around a bit at work, and am often on my feet for an hour or two at a time, and do the grocery shopping, etc., but I think sedentary is appropriate. My running and weight lifting and other purposeful workouts/activities, I log separately. So, in your case, I'd keep the sedentary modifier and add in the activities like biking and the gym separately. Although, if your 9 mile bike ride is something you do say, for work, so you don't miss a ride and it's "routine" and it's not super intense, perhaps a change to lightly active would be appropriate. At the end of the day, it's just going to allow you to eat more. So, if you need to eat more, do it. If it slows your weight loss, go back to sedentary, if not, then YAY! you get to eat more. It's really all just a grand science experiment until you find what works for you.
  • poptastic
    poptastic Posts: 151 Member
    The bike ride is to/from work every day, so I do that on a daily basis whatever the weather, and I wouldn't really count it as my exercise routine, it's just how I get around (at weekends, too, because it saves me so much money on transport!) I've never bothered logging the bike ride as it's not particularly intense exercise, but I always log when I go to the gym as I'm usually running or doing a cardio class, followed by weights, and am exercising for an hour or more.

    So I guess actually my question is two parts:

    1) Does cycling 9 miles per day and spending about 50/50 time at work sitting/walking around qualify me to be "lightly active" rather than sedentary (assuming that I don't log the biking as separate exercise)...

    2) If I put "lightly active" then would I still track gym sessions of cardio/weights, or is it assumed that a lightly active person would go to the gym a few times a week?
  • leahstaeb
    leahstaeb Posts: 12 Member
    Given that information, you probably could set it at lightly active. Then you would continue to not log your bike rides, but you should still log your exercise time.
  • JenMc14
    JenMc14 Posts: 2,389 Member
    Given that information, you probably could set it at lightly active. Then you would continue to not log your bike rides, but you should still log your exercise time.

    I agree with this.

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