Activity Level

iluvsparkles
iluvsparkles Posts: 1,730 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi all! i wonder what you all consider 'active'

when i started the site, i was doing Nothing every day, and at a desk job, so i put in lightly active i think...

I am still at the desk job, BUT for the last month or a little more, i go and do 2 hours of cardio three times a week (averages about 1200-1600 calories on my HRM if i do the whole 2 hours, about 500 if i do just one hour)

and then i do core training (pilates) the other 2 days a week. On the weekends i generally take it easy, but try to get at least 30-45 of light cardio just so i dont get too lazy. I am also planning to ad more cardio to the days i do pilates.

ANYWAY, i dont know how active to consider myself! All i do know is that i am not losing as rapidly as i'd like, and im starting to wonder if im not getting enough calories. Perhaps lightly active is not right for me anymore, and i am putting myself in starvation mode at 1200 calories?

any input from yall on this?

Replies

  • iluvsparkles
    iluvsparkles Posts: 1,730 Member
    Hi all! i wonder what you all consider 'active'

    when i started the site, i was doing Nothing every day, and at a desk job, so i put in lightly active i think...

    I am still at the desk job, BUT for the last month or a little more, i go and do 2 hours of cardio three times a week (averages about 1200-1600 calories on my HRM if i do the whole 2 hours, about 500 if i do just one hour)

    and then i do core training (pilates) the other 2 days a week. On the weekends i generally take it easy, but try to get at least 30-45 of light cardio just so i dont get too lazy. I am also planning to ad more cardio to the days i do pilates.

    ANYWAY, i dont know how active to consider myself! All i do know is that i am not losing as rapidly as i'd like, and im starting to wonder if im not getting enough calories. Perhaps lightly active is not right for me anymore, and i am putting myself in starvation mode at 1200 calories?

    any input from yall on this?
  • shar0124
    shar0124 Posts: 21
    Hi, I am wondering about this also. I am trying to stay at about 1200 calories per day on food intake. I work out with a trainer 1 hr. each 2 times a week for about 500 calories - includes strength training mostly and some cardiio.

    Are we supposed to consume more calories to make it NET 1200 calories. When I looked at the report for the last 7 days I see an 800 calorie day. That was one training day when I guess I didn't eat enough. Is this putting my body into starvation mode??

    Shoud I increase my calories on the days of training? Seems to me that if I am going to eat the calories I have sweated off that I am wasting my efforts. I have been training and dieting for 2 1/2 weeks and have only lost 2 lbs.

    Appreciate input from more experienced among you.

    Thanks for the support.:flowerforyou:
  • lotusfromthemud
    lotusfromthemud Posts: 5,335 Member
    If you're entering your workouts in as exercise, then they don't count as activity.

    And, sly, yes the goal is NET calories. So, when you're exercising during the day, you need to ingest those calories as well, otherwise your deficit gets too big.

    I enter my activity level as sedentary, but I log everything that isn't sedentary. So, if I walk to the store (a forty minute round trip) I log it under "exercise". Since I don't walk to the store every day. I also log cleaning, as per my HRM it burns about 300 calories in an hour, and I definitely do NOT do that every day.:tongue:

    Also, sparkles, what is your BMI? You look in the "healthy" range to me, so your calories may be too low. Did you read banks's (banks's. . .:laugh: ) post about the big deficit and a healthy BMI? Maybe a smaller deficit would give you better results. . .it's worked for me.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/12250-1000-calorie-deficit-not-for-people-with-healthy-bmi?hl=banks&page=2#posts-90670
  • iluvsparkles
    iluvsparkles Posts: 1,730 Member
    my bmi is 27.8 at this point.

    i am definitely starting to wonder what i am doing wrong. in 3 months ive lost just 7 lbs, tho i know i have gained muscle. I just expected more i guess... im definitely going to read this post...maybe itll help.

    right now, all of the weight that i want to lose is directly around my belly button. ( i have a 'bagel' if you know what i mean) and on my back, where my bra cuts in. Other than i have very little fat to lose, my arms are fairly slim and my legs are down right lean. its hard to target areas like that!! Its frustrating!
  • lotusfromthemud
    lotusfromthemud Posts: 5,335 Member
    Ah yes, I have the same issues in the same places. (I think we have a sim. body type, but I envy your abs.:wink: )

    This is the dreaded "old fat" that Banks speaks of in the post. . .first on, last off . . .Bleeaaarrgh. Takes. for. ever. Again. . .Bleeeeaaaarrrgh! I have the lovely issue of loose skin in the same locales. . .pretty!

    I'm eating at a 250 calorie deficit from maintenance, but exercising nearly every day, in the hopes that I can bust through a few more body fat % points.
  • iluvsparkles
    iluvsparkles Posts: 1,730 Member
    wanted to bump this also to get some others feedback.
  • shorerider
    shorerider Posts: 3,817 Member
    I don't use exercise to determine my daily caloric intake--I enter that separately.

    What is your daily deficit?
  • iluvsparkles
    iluvsparkles Posts: 1,730 Member
    if i am not mistaken, my deficit is set at 770 calories. My estimated calories from normal daily activity is 1,970 and im taking in approx 1200 so that makes 770.

    i have not had an 'unactive day' to wear my hrm to determine my bmi more accurately yet...id love to but i just never have a sedentary day.

    how is the pulsewear working for you shorerider? i know we have the same kind of hrm bc i bought mine off of a link you provided!

    im starting to wonder if im getting too few calories. I was having a time getting to 1200 as it was, and now im seriously increased my cals burned over the last couple of weeks, but havent changed my intake as much as i probably should have. (its tough for me as i dont have the internet at home making it harder for me to log)

    so i think its time for me to buckle down and at least write things down that i eat to enter them in at work the next day, so i can better track how many cals im eating.

    anyway...
  • msarro
    msarro Posts: 2,748 Member
    I still enter my activity level as sedentary because I sit at a desk all day long with no movement other than occasionally walking back to the data center or moving servers every few days. So - no real movement so to speak.

    But I get at least an hour of cardio in every day now.
  • shorerider
    shorerider Posts: 3,817 Member
    Seems to me that you might need to increase your calories. That's a big deficit, I think, for someone so close to goal as you are. I have about a 900 a day deficit and I've got over a 100 pounds yet to lose!

    My HRM is working great! I can't figure out how to turn the stupid beeping off now though and it drives me nuts when I'm riding and it's "beep, beep, beep" all the time.

    I'm glad I got it, too, because since I've increased my riding time, MFP was getting increasingly off on the calories burned. I could have been majorly overeating!
  • iluvsparkles
    iluvsparkles Posts: 1,730 Member
    same here, i dont even really use the mfp calculations for exercise anymore now that i have the hrm. they were way off for the estimations i was using!
  • shorerider
    shorerider Posts: 3,817 Member
    I check them just to get the dreamy look in my eyes at the thought of having 3500 calories to burn after a 30-40 mile ride? The possibilities that many calories presents are endless!
    av-1.gifFatGuy03.gif


    Then I enter in my HRM numbers and come back down to earth and reach for my blender and my banana smoothies! banana.gif
  • shar0124
    shar0124 Posts: 21
    Thanks for your reply. I since read a very detailed post on this subject which explained that we must eat our exercise calories and how not doing so will put us in a starvation senerio for the day. So I am stepping up my eating on the days that I exercise.

    I think I am getting a handle on what I can have for 1200 calories. I am more consistance this past week or so. Must be working....... I have lost 3 lbs. It's a start. I love seeing the scale moving in the right direction. Also with the exercising I can feel a small decrease in my tummy area. No one else would notice, but I do. Either I am tightening muscles and holding my tummy in or have lost some bloat. Either way it gives me hope that I may be able to tuck in my blouse and wear a belt again someday.:laugh:

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