Activity Level

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Hello, so the past few weeks I've been starting to use Striiv, the pedometer at. My activity level is set at sedentary, but I'm wondering if maybe I should change this based on how many steps I take a day. Does anyone know what MFP defines sedentary as, as in amount of steps?

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  • conorpatmanCHANGED
    conorpatmanCHANGED Posts: 253 Member
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    Bump?
  • ww1900
    ww1900 Posts: 11 Member
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    I'm not sure, but MFP seems to take an average approach to their profiles, goals, etc by following current medical research.

    I've seen that usually 5000 steps is considered sedentary

    "we propose the following preliminary indices be used to classify pedometer-determined physical activity in healthy adults: (i). <5000 steps/day may be used as a 'sedentary lifestyle index'; "

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14715035
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    Steps a day aren't really an indicator of activity. I can go out and run for an hour for the same steps that someone wandering around all day at a leisurely pace takes. I've burned far more calories by keeping my HR up for all that time while the other person hasn't raised theirs at all.

    A pedometer is a great way to motivate yourself to move more but it isn't a great way to estimate calorie burn.
  • Tanja_CHH
    Tanja_CHH Posts: 216 Member
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    I know that if you burn 400 calories a day working out, then that would be "active". as thats what Ive set, and Id rather just eat 400 more everyday, then 600 one day and 200 another day when I know I average out to about 400
  • melissanorth35
    melissanorth35 Posts: 33 Member
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    If you have a desk job that keeps you on your butt for 8 hours a day, plus a commute, you are sedentary. Period. The End.

    I have a desk job and I'm an avid runner, packing on big miles for an upcomming marathon in less than 2 weeks. I am sedentary. I might hit over 10,000 steps a day running and have my HR up for nearly 2 hours doing intense cardio, but it does not change the fact that during my waking hours, at a bare minimum, I'm sitting for 40 hours a week. Usually much more when one factors in a commute, television, eating, and relaxing.