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Lightly Active vs Sedentary help

Pink_Tina
Pink_Tina Posts: 164
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, I'm not new here, but I've been wondering about about this for a while. Am I really considered lightly active or am I actually sedentary?

See, I just started my new routine of lifting heavy Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays and doing 30 minutes of cardio Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Mondays are my rest day. HOWEVER, I don't work, I don't have kids to chase after, I sleep 9 to 10 hours a day (sometimes more), and I hardly ever go outside but to grocery shop for an hour (once a week). My days are spent either behind my computer doing school work or in my reclyiner playing video games (both in my pajamas). The only activity I get besides my workouts is getting up to open the fridge or to use the bathroom. Yes, I know. My life is hard. LOL

So, back to my question, am I still considered lightly active? Or would I really be considered sedentary? Thanks in advance for your help. :flowerforyou:
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Replies

  • LilacSnow
    LilacSnow Posts: 238 Member
    um... i have no idea, i just wanted to say that i do everything possible in pyjamas as well. :laugh:
  • CristinaL1983
    CristinaL1983 Posts: 1,119 Member
    I think you could either do sedentary and add your exercise calories each day or lightly active and not add exercise calories. JMO, I'm not positive.
  • jadams1650
    jadams1650 Posts: 139 Member
    Sedentary, without a doubt.
  • lizzardsm
    lizzardsm Posts: 271 Member
    You sound like me! I'm a work at home grad student so other than my workouts (lifting 4days/week) I barely ever move - ok, I go to campus 1 day/week and an internship 1 day per week.

    I'd still consider you lightly active. All that working out has an effect! Sedentary is only for people who don't exercise and sit all day and do nothing, period. As a comparison point, I have a bodymedia fit that calculates my calories burned for the day and I'm a bit above lightly active.
  • littlebre33
    littlebre33 Posts: 318
    I have no answer for you but I am wondering this as well. I am a stay at home mom, with 2 kids (2.5 y/o and 5 months) and I am currently doing 6 week 6 pack everyday. I go grocery shopping about 3-4 times a week and I have my activity set to sedentary. I am not sure if i should up my activity level..

    Hope a good answer comes..
  • babymaddux
    babymaddux Posts: 209 Member
    it does sound like the activity level of someone with a desk job. getting up once every couple hours to go to the printer/bathroom. i have a desk job so i consider myself to be sedentary, even though i walk 3.5 miles every evening with my dog and try to swim a couple miles a week. i'd rather have lower activity levels and work to increase them than set my calories too high and fail when i get lazy.
  • jzammetti
    jzammetti Posts: 1,956 Member
    I have a hard time assigning myself a level too. I finally gave up and bought a heart rate monitor to track actual calories burned. I eat at a deficit from the average of three typicaly days. I am so happy I bought it!
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    Are we talking MFP settings? If so I would say sedentary. MFP does not account for exercise.
    Outside calculators - at least lightly active as they account for your exercise.
  • fresh_start59
    fresh_start59 Posts: 590 Member
    You might try posting this on the In Place of a Roadmap group (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/8017-in-place-of-a-road-map) or the Eat More to Weigh Less group (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less).

    Personally, I'd consider you to be lightly active. But I think you would be safe using the above suggestion to set yourself at sedentary and eat back your exercise calories.

    In the meantime, you might want to look at heybales chart on the In Place of a Roadmap group. It might help you to figure it out:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/717858-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-and-deficit-calcs-macros-hrm
  • kdeaux1959
    kdeaux1959 Posts: 2,675 Member
    Even though my activity level includes leaving the house and doing things... I stand for a good portion of the day but I often sit for a good portion of the day as well. For that reason, I count my activity level as sedentary. I do go to the gym and lift most days (I do tricep/chest/shoulder one day, bicep/back/core one day and lower body/core another day (usually have a rest day or two per week. Each day I go to the gym, I also do 30-45 minutes of cardio. I count my activity level as sedentary BUT add my exercise calories in. It seems to work out approximately at a level consistent with what it should as far as net calories to results. ALSO, if I have a day where I have an unusual amount of activity such as building something, yard work, moving boxes, etc, I will add that in as exercise... Again, it seems pretty accurate for the most part.
  • Shadowknight137
    Shadowknight137 Posts: 1,243 Member
    If you're heavy lifting, I'd set you to lightly active. Puts a lot of stress on the body.

    At the very least, set yourself to that and see how it goes.
  • Pink_Tina
    Pink_Tina Posts: 164
    Are we talking MFP settings? If so I would say sedentary. MFP does not account for exercise.
    Outside calculators - at least lightly active as they account for your exercise.

    Oh, thank you! Yes, I was meaning for both MFP settings and outside calculators, because I was thinking about doing Dan's in-place-of-a-roadmap 2.0.
  • Shadowknight137
    Shadowknight137 Posts: 1,243 Member
    *Delayed post.
  • lives21
    lives21 Posts: 78 Member
    I use TDEE (in place of a roadmap), and am a bit more active than you OP, but I calculated for both and split the difference. Most days I'm below the sedentary setting, but I'm sure that will change as I lose more. If you aren't sure try one and if it doesn't work for you try the other. Although, my guess is that you should calculate for sedentary though.
  • lizzardsm
    lizzardsm Posts: 271 Member
    Are we talking MFP settings? If so I would say sedentary. MFP does not account for exercise.
    Outside calculators - at least lightly active as they account for your exercise.

    Oh, thank you! Yes, I was meaning for both MFP settings and outside calculators, because I was thinking about doing Dan's in-place-of-a-roadmap 2.0.

    If you are doing "In Place of a Roadmap" (which is an AWESOME start), definitely put yourself as lightly active!
  • sun_ny
    sun_ny Posts: 35
    Hi I found this description of activity levels which is useful and easy for people to compare their daily activity against:-

    A paper on metabolism used a definition of "vigorous exercise" as expenditure of 14.1 to 16.3 kcal/kg of ideal body weight per day.[1] Using the rounded figure of 15 Calories per kilogram of body weight, then "vigorous exercise" for a person weighing 150 pounds (68 kilograms) corresponds to 1020 Calories per day. If walking at 4 miles per hour burns about 300 Calories per hour, then you would need to walk 3 hours and 24 minutes to burn off 1020 Calories.

    The activity factors for the Calorie Restriction Calculator are:
    1.200 = sedentary (little or no exercise)
    1.375 = lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week, approx. 590 Cal/day)
    1.550 = moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week, approx. 870 Cal/day)
    1.725 = very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week, approx. 1150 Cal/day)
    1.900 = extra active (very hard exercise/sports and physical job, approx. 1580 Cal/day)

    The activity factor lightly active corresponds to walking 2 hours per day, moderately active corresponds to walking 3 hours per day, very active corresponds to walking 4 hours per day, and extra active corresponds to walking 5 hours per day (20 miles). More strenuous exercises, such as climbing stairs or running, burn more calories per hour. Most people who exercise from 30 minutes to 45 minutes per day are in the "lightly active" category. You can use the CR calculator to determine the number of calories for each level of exercise for your particular weight by subtracting the calories for a specific activity level from the calories for the sedentary option.
  • billsica
    billsica Posts: 4,741 Member
    sedentary
  • slavonka23
    slavonka23 Posts: 177 Member
    I need advice too...

    4 times a week PUMP training in my gym (60min) => sth like this http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/les-mills-pump-workout.do

    1x after PUMP - HITT (2min walking + 1min running) = 21min

    1x cardio 60min
    ___________________________

    5x times a week exercising...170cm / 72kg / 24years / 1800kcal...carb cycling ( 110/60/60/60/0/0/90g Carbs)

    What should I choose? Is this good way to loose weight?

    Thank you so much!
  • TriShamelessly
    TriShamelessly Posts: 905 Member
    My humble opinon - Probably the most accurate way to track would be to set your lifestyle as sedentary - you sit around most of the time at a desk/recliner - and then track your exercise. However, if you choose lightly active (or even moderately active and not track exercise), then it'll simply set your calorie goal slightly higher and you'll lose a little more slowly is all. I prefer the first approach for me, but whatever works for you is just as good.
  • Aluysione
    Aluysione Posts: 1
    Hi I found this description of activity levels which is useful and easy for people to compare their daily activity against:-

    A paper on metabolism used a definition of "vigorous exercise" as expenditure of 14.1 to 16.3 kcal/kg of ideal body weight per day.[1] Using the rounded figure of 15 Calories per kilogram of body weight, then "vigorous exercise" for a person weighing 150 pounds (68 kilograms) corresponds to 1020 Calories per day. If walking at 4 miles per hour burns about 300 Calories per hour, then you would need to walk 3 hours and 24 minutes to burn off 1020 Calories.

    The activity factors for the Calorie Restriction Calculator are:
    1.200 = sedentary (little or no exercise)
    1.375 = lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week, approx. 590 Cal/day)
    1.550 = moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week, approx. 870 Cal/day)
    1.725 = very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week, approx. 1150 Cal/day)
    1.900 = extra active (very hard exercise/sports and physical job, approx. 1580 Cal/day)

    The activity factor lightly active corresponds to walking 2 hours per day, moderately active corresponds to walking 3 hours per day, very active corresponds to walking 4 hours per day, and extra active corresponds to walking 5 hours per day (20 miles). More strenuous exercises, such as climbing stairs or running, burn more calories per hour. Most people who exercise from 30 minutes to 45 minutes per day are in the "lightly active" category. You can use the CR calculator to determine the number of calories for each level of exercise for your particular weight by subtracting the calories for a specific activity level from the calories for the sedentary option.


    This is something I was always confused about. When it says
    1.375 = lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week, approx. 590 Cal/day) does that mean you need to burn an extra 590 per EVERY day, even though you only exercise 1-3 days? Or does it mean you burn an extra 590 on the days where you do light sports/exercise?? Because you'll burn more then 590 on some days when you exercise and less on days you don't. Or does it mean over all, you burn an average of 590 through standing a lot, walking around at work and light activity 1-3 days a week?

    I'm pretty sure I'm considered sedentary as the OP but that gave me a calorie consumption suggestion of 1270 which is as many would consider way too low as it's the lowest you can even go for a female. I set it at light activity and it was a much more reasonable 1420 which sounded just about right to me.

    I will be starting up on working out 5 days a week for about 20-40 minutes doing either interval training, cardio or strength training. Probably straight cardio (walking at 3mph on the trail we have for about an hour or doing the elliptical for half an hour) on Monday's - Strength train Thrusday and Sunday (either with light weights or using own weight with things like push-ups and squats. - Cardio/interval training (3 min cardio 3 min move with weights, such as bicep curls or tricep for the total of an hour) Tuesday and Friday and take Saturday and Wednesday off because I do better having break days in-between the week rather then two days straight.

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