Goal setting and acitivity level - info, please?

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neeser01
neeser01 Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all! I am a stay-at-home mom to 2 daughters. I exercise for 45-50 mins every day on my elliptical machine, and I also have begun doing push ups and tricep dips every other day. I'm wondering what to enter in as my activity level when updating my goals? Does the fact that I work out 7 days a week for 45+ mins mean I am very active? Other than the elliptical, my daily routine involves half the time on my feet running a lot of errands, doing laundry which never ends, and down time on the computer, reading to my kids, watching a movie with them, etc. I need help understanding this. I guess what I want to know if, do you set your activity level WITHOUT counting the exercise? Or does exercise count toward your daily activity level? Thanks, and sorry if this is a noob question that has been answered 10 million times. I did a search on here and I haven't really found a solid answer....
Thanks!
Denise

Replies

  • Vailara
    Vailara Posts: 2,454 Member
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    If you're using the MFP system, then you set your activity level WITHOUT exercise. If you read the descriptions of the activity levels, they are to do with what kind of job you have and don't mention how much exercise you do. MFP is trying to calculate your calorie burn before exercise. If I was you I'd work out what description is closest to your daily activities (e.g. on your feet most of the day) and enter that as your activity level. Then you would log all your exercise and eat back the calories (but not log the day to day being on your feet, because you've already accounted for that in your activity level). I hope that makes sense!
  • Ohnoes
    Ohnoes Posts: 98 Member
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    i had trouble figuring it out, too... in fact i asked here when i started and got very few (one) responses. so ill try to help, but i am no expert!

    exercise does not count towards you activity level, its everything else you do!

    ill tell you what i have been doing (which is working, i am losing weight and down a pants size). MFP lets you log regular daily activities like gardening, cleaning the house, etc. i dont log those. those things are part of my daily active life. i dont log walking to the bus stop, i dont log vacuuming. i only log intentional exercise... lifting, cardio, hiking. but i have myself set as active because i am. i walk everywhere, i keep a house full of children and animals clean and fed, i maintain a very large vegetable garden that feeds my family, i only sit down at the end of the day or if im eating. if it wasnt for the garden, which takes up several hours of my day and involves moving water and soil and lots of hard physical labor i would likely set myself at lightly active. it was really a judgement call on your part, and you have to be honest about how much you are moving in your day or it wont work.

    so, in conclusion, make an honest guess about how active you are in your daily life, not including workouts. you can always change this later if it does not work. then, enter your exercise every day and MFP will calculate how many calories you need based on activity level and your workout. good luck!
  • neeser01
    neeser01 Posts: 4 Member
    Options
    i had trouble figuring it out, too... in fact i asked here when i started and got very few (one) responses. so ill try to help, but i am no expert!

    exercise does not count towards you activity level, its everything else you do!

    ill tell you what i have been doing (which is working, i am losing weight and down a pants size). MFP lets you log regular daily activities like gardening, cleaning the house, etc. i dont log those. those things are part of my daily active life. i dont log walking to the bus stop, i dont log vacuuming. i only log intentional exercise... lifting, cardio, hiking. but i have myself set as active because i am. i walk everywhere, i keep a house full of children and animals clean and fed, i maintain a very large vegetable garden that feeds my family, i only sit down at the end of the day or if im eating. if it wasnt for the garden, which takes up several hours of my day and involves moving water and soil and lots of hard physical labor i would likely set myself at lightly active. it was really a judgement call on your part, and you have to be honest about how much you are moving in your day or it wont work.

    so, in conclusion, make an honest guess about how active you are in your daily life, not including workouts. you can always change this later if it does not work. then, enter your exercise every day and MFP will calculate how many calories you need based on activity level and your workout. good luck!

    This is great info! Thank you so much for taking the time to respond :) I'm thinking I fall into the lightly active area, which is where I already set myself in MFP. I think it might be better for me to underestimate than OVER estimate my activity level, which varies from day to day. That being said, it's time I headed out the door instead of spending all day on MFP researching, LOL!
    But at least now I "get it" as far as activity levels, so thanks again!
  • neeser01
    neeser01 Posts: 4 Member
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    If you're using the MFP system, then you set your activity level WITHOUT exercise. If you read the descriptions of the activity levels, they are to do with what kind of job you have and don't mention how much exercise you do. MFP is trying to calculate your calorie burn before exercise. If I was you I'd work out what description is closest to your daily activities (e.g. on your feet most of the day) and enter that as your activity level. Then you would log all your exercise and eat back the calories (but not log the day to day being on your feet, because you've already accounted for that in your activity level). I hope that makes sense!

    Thanks so much! This helps a lot!

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