What would you consider my activity level to be?

AmyEm3
AmyEm3 Posts: 784 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am working on figuring out my activity level in order to determine a TDEE number. I don't know which acitivty level I am though. which would you use? Lightly active, moderate, etc?

I have a desk job.
I run 8-10 minute miles 5-6 days a week, currently 3-5 miles at a time, usually 3-4 miles lately.
I do some of the P90x dvds. Each week I do plyometrics, legs, 1 or rarely 2 of the arms, and 1/2 of the core dvd.
Once a week, but lately every other week, I do a 6-10 mile bike ride at a fairly easy speed.
I play tennis usually once a week for about an hour but it's not really a workout b/c I stink at tennis :)

Would you call this moderate (what I am thinking) or heavy/very active? Thanks.

Replies

  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
    Very active.
  • SlimJanette
    SlimJanette Posts: 597 Member
    Very active
  • ateamtrainer
    ateamtrainer Posts: 12
    Hate to be the bearer of bad news but your activity level is not very active. You say you have a desk job. If you are very active, what would a construction worker or tree surgeon be? Your exercise seems to total about an hour a day, so one hour a day with a desk job may just about make you lightly active. Best bet is set your level as sedentary and then put all your exercise in whenever you do it.
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member
    Hate to be the bearer of bad news but your activity level is not very active. You say you have a desk job. If you are very active, what would a construction worker or tree surgeon be? Your exercise seems to total about an hour a day, so one hour a day with a desk job may just about make you lightly active. Best bet is set your level as sedentary and then put all your exercise in whenever you do it.

    Sedentary: Little or no exercise (ex: desk job)
    Lightly Active: Light exercise (ex: exercising 1-3 days/week)
    Moderately Active: Moderate exercise (ex: exercising 3-5 days/week)
    Very active: Heavy exercise (ex: exercising 6-7 days/week)
    Very Very Active (lol): Daily exercise (ex: exercising 7 days/week and working a physical job)

    OP is NOT sedentary.

    Edit: Or from Scooby's Workshop, which I use to set my levels

    Multiplier My Description Alternative Description
    1.2 Desk job with little exercise Little to no exercise
    1.375 1-3 hrs/wk of light exercise Light exercise (1–3 days per week)
    1.55 3-5 hrs/wk of moderate exercise Moderate exercise (3–5 days per week)
    1.725 5-6 hrs/wk of strenuous exercise Heavy exercise (6–7 days per week)
    1.9 7-21 hrs/wk of strenuous exercise/work Very heavy exercise (twice per day, extra heavy workouts)
  • ateamtrainer
    ateamtrainer Posts: 12
    I didn't say the OP was sedentary, but she does have a desk job. So for the bulk of her day her activity level is sedentary. That's why the best bet is set activity level to sedentary and then add all the calories from exercise.
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member
    I didn't say the OP was sedentary, but she does have a desk job. So for the bulk of her day her activity level is sedentary. That's why the best bet is set activity level to sedentary and then add all the calories from exercise.

    It isn't solely her desk job that determines her activity level, but what she does with the rest of her day. By your standards I'd be sedentary (Spend most of my day loafing about) but with this handy calculator http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ which includes a setting to compute your activity level I come in at moderately active.

    What's the point of activity levels anyway if we're all just gonna ignore them and use sedentary?
  • lilcutemonkees
    lilcutemonkees Posts: 83 Member
    I didn't say the OP was sedentary, but she does have a desk job. So for the bulk of her day her activity level is sedentary. That's why the best bet is set activity level to sedentary and then add all the calories from exercise.

    It isn't solely her desk job that determines her activity level, but what she does with the rest of her day. By your standards I'd be sedentary (Spend most of my day loafing about) but with this handy calculator http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ which includes a setting to compute your activity level I come in at moderately active.

    What's the point of activity levels anyway if we're all just gonna ignore them and use sedentary?

    I agree with this guy. I also am 'sedentary' for m,y job but I manage to get 20k steps in a day plus a minimum of 4 workouts a week. If I go based on my sedentary levels I end up bloated and hungry. I'd start off as moderate and see how it goes. Perhaps increase it slowly after a couple weeks?
  • ateamtrainer
    ateamtrainer Posts: 12
    Your activity level is more significantly influenced by what you spend most of your day doing. So a desk job is sedentary, a teacher is lightly active, nurse, moderately active, construction worker, very active. The reason it's better to add in any exercise done after that is for accuracy. Most people overestimate their activity level, as the first 2 replies showed. People believe that a desk job and 1 hour of exercise a day makes them very active.

    In my opinion it's better to underestimate calories burnt and overestimate calories in food as people tend to do the opposite.
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member
    Your activity level is more significantly influenced by what you spend most of your day doing. So a desk job is sedentary, a teacher is lightly active, nurse, moderately active, construction worker, very active. The reason it's better to add in any exercise done after that is for accuracy. Most people overestimate their activity level, as the first 2 replies showed. People believe that a desk job and 1 hour of exercise a day makes them very active.

    In my opinion it's better to underestimate calories burnt and overestimate calories in food as people tend to do the opposite.

    Well as long as you're aware your definition differs from that on activity calculators.

    OP i would suggest using a calculator to figure it out as opposed to listening to anyone in this thread. That's what i did when i found sedentary+exercise calories left me sluggish and snappy and I am happier for it. It moved me from 1327 base to 1625 before workouts, my weight loss didn't stop or stall. I have since scrapped that and do TDEE-20% and am slowly making my way to the suggested 1840.

    Tl;dr: take some time and sort yourself out, you wont regret it.

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