How sedentary is sedentary?

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theMDfit
theMDfit Posts: 9
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi, all!

It's my 1st post but I have been reading the boards for months and the wealth of information here is fantastic. I'm hoping someone can help me.

What the title says, really - what is included in the sedentary activity level? (BMR x 1.2). I consider myself sedentary as I don't exercise (that's about to change - going for my 1st PT session on Monday!) but I walk to and from work at least 4 times a week - that's around 7km there and back combined, as well as a 30 min walk during lunchtime.

I'm confused as somebody with my physical stats, who lives 5 minutes from work, will also use the sedentary formula and our recommended intake will be exactly the same! Clearly, I will use more calories during the day.

If anyone could shed any light on this, I'd be grateful. Going by the formula, I can only eat around 1400 calories per day to lose fat (at 15% deficit) and I've been trying to stay within this limit but am hungry a lot of the time and overeat massively at least once/twice a week. I'm recovering from bulimia so this pattern isn't great...

Thank you!

Replies

  • paulperryman
    paulperryman Posts: 839 Member
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    according to one of the main contributors on this site MFP calculates sedintary based on the following
    Sedentary is base activity that is built on, which already includes weekly - 40 hr work sitting, 56 hr sleeping, 65 hr sitting/standing, 7 hr slow walking
  • brightblueskie
    brightblueskie Posts: 10
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    It sounds to me like you are not as sedentary as you think you are. You are walking probably at least 110 minutes a day, depending on how fast you walk (about 80 minutes round trip for the 7km and then 30 minutes at lunch).

    Why don't you try logging your walks as exercise? They definitely are - I firmly believe in a good walk! And it will raise your calorie allowance (as you should, if you are walking that much) so that perhaps you can be less hungry and stop the pattern you pointed out.

    Congratulations on the PT appointment, too!! These are great steps!
  • paulperryman
    paulperryman Posts: 839 Member
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    i would say you are light activity + any additional exercise you incoporate
    Activity level should be whatever you do naturally moving about or sitting around like a vegetable or being in a coma Exercise to me is anything you do ntentionally to get your heart rate up and to get fitter, so walking to work and walking during your break is technically exercise cause you could take lazier alternatives possibly

    Unless ofcourse that walking is just a stroll, if you're heart rate doesn't get up enough to atleast make you breath a bit heavier it's not really exercise or you are really fit already.

    personally my job is a forklift driver in a flat chat environment for the most part and i tried setting mine at moderate which is what some sites suggests and according to a Heart Rate monitor i burned around 3500 calories in a normal day but when setting mine to moderate and trying to eat that i was struggling to get it all in and still wasn't losing any appreciable weight or anything off the tape measure that was also adding in 6-8hrs of intentional Cardio/Weights a week after work and in the mornings of the weekends

    So you just have to fiddle around with things and see what works best for you unfortunately there is no set in stone answer

    But the things that dont change from situation to situation is (least from my reasearching)
    1) Drink atleast 8x250ml of water a day preferably upto 12
    2) Any exercise should get your heart rate to the point you can still talk but not full sentences without struggling to breathe
    3) Do Weights and Cardio a good combination of both is most beneficial for weight loss and general body health
    4) Eat atleast 4 moderate meals a day rather then 3 Huge meals which would take longer to digest etc and don't skip breakfast under any circumstances thats when you need food the most. (whether you do it before or after workouts and how much is purely upto you)
    5) Keep Sodium intake levels to 2500mg + some extra for any exercise (in general)

    lastly if you are about to change your general activity level considerably from what your body is use to, expect to lose alot of weight really quick which is probably just water loss and then it will slow down considerably after a few months and you will continue to retain water on and off for muscle repair so don't get discouraged. Depending on your current body structure ofcourse
  • debaloo
    debaloo Posts: 129 Member
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    Take exercise out of the equation because you will log that and get extra calories for it. Sedentary is sitting in a chair or laying in a bed most of the day. Walking only to and from your car, etc. If you do any walking at your job or are on your feet a lot doing house work and running kids around you are not sedentary. I realized this when I got a BodyMedia arm band. On busy days I would go to school and walk around a bit, run an errand (you can get about 2,000 steps just walking around Target), taking my kids to practices, cleaning my house, etc. There were other days when I didn't leave the house and watched TV or sat on the computer most of the time. There is about a 400 calorie difference in burn between those two days.
  • phoenixgirl81
    phoenixgirl81 Posts: 309 Member
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    Personally, I would set you as sedentary and then you get to claim the walking as additional exercise! That's what I've done the whole way through and I've lost 64kg (143 lbs)
  • anaconda469
    anaconda469 Posts: 3,463 Member
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    Then I have a question about this: I am retired, and live alone. Have Bi-Polar and have extreme motivation problems. My day consists of getting up, dressed and ready for the day. I sit down and eat breakfast, get on the computer and I look at my clock and see that 2 or 3 hours have gone by. I eat lunch and start that pattern all over again, eat dinner and go lay down watch TV then go to bed. This has gone on for at least a year. I put in sedentary as my fitness level. Well this month I have started walking 2 to 3 miles on somedays and ride my bike 7-10 miles a day on other days, so I am burning extra calories. I have ordered a Polar FT4 so i can get an idea of HR etc, but I know I am getting my heart rate up and running. My question is this: what activity am I now, sedentary, lightly active or active?

    I forgot to mention I do these walks/hikes/rides 7 days a week.
  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
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    If you're going to log the activity and eat back the calories, you should not include that activity in your "activity level" assessment.

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