Activity level help pls

Nina1007
Nina1007 Posts: 150
in Health and Weight Loss
I need help determining my activity level for MFP AND factoring my TDEE. I'm a stay at home mom. Half the day I would say I'm sitting (watching a Disney movie, driving, watching kids ball games). But then of course the other half of the day i cook, clean, run errands, and chase and carry around an 11 month old. (No, I don't log housework as exercise). Right now I have this set at light activity. Would you agree?

Now for my TDEE, I do the above, but I also exercise for an hour a day (typically 5 days/week). I generally burn about 400 calories calories doing a half hour on the elliptical (300 calories) and walking (100 calories). Is this considered light exercise or moderate exercise?

I'm trying to calculate both the TDEE method and MFP method, as I am curious to find out what the calorie difference would be. I'm only 5 foot, but I weigh 142lbs. Thanks!

Replies

  • dgoradia
    dgoradia Posts: 109 Member
    Light.
  • herblackwings39
    herblackwings39 Posts: 3,930 Member
    Lightly active sounds right for what you mentioned for MFP since it's only asking for your "job" activity, not exercise. The TDEE ...I think most of them ask for hours of exercise. So at 5 hours that could be considered moderate or split the difference and try it both ways and eat between the numbers?
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    I'd set my MFP setting to sedentary. There's a misconception that it means "sits on *kitten* all day and does nothing" when in reality if just means you aren't someone who works at a physical job all day ie: construction worker. Most people do cooking, cleaning, running kids around, etc in their day along with working some kind of job. While those things are better than laying in bed they aren't huge calorie burners.
  • Nina1007
    Nina1007 Posts: 150
    Thanks for the advice. That had crossed my mind about the sedentary activity level. At a goal to lose 1 lb per week, it would only be a 40 calorie difference.
  • Nina1007
    Nina1007 Posts: 150
    I'm tring to lose 21 lbs. When would it be appropriate to change my weight loss goal down from 1lb/week to .5lbs/week?
  • m_shuman
    m_shuman Posts: 179
    I'm tring to lose 21 lbs. When would it be appropriate to change my weight loss goal down from 1lb/week to .5lbs/week?
    Since you are only trying to lose 21 lbs I would go ahead and set your goal to .5 LBs a week. Focus on eating lots of veggies, healthy carbs and lean proteins.

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