am I sedentary?

MissMissle
MissMissle Posts: 293 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok, please don't make me regret asking this question here... I'm asking because there are a lot of sucessful people here who know what they are doing... not because i want to start a fight or get bashed...

<---- walks in room hesitently for fear of the message boards...

I joined this site not long ago at all and said I was sedentatry. I was 100% sure I was...now I'm not so sure? And there seems to be so many different ideas on what that means - but the difference in my goals is about 300 calories, and I have lost no weight in two + weeks.... so I want to do this as correctly as possible?!?!

My day - I get up and Im out of the house in 15 minutes
Drive to work - 1 hour
Sit at desk - 8.5 hours with bathroom breaks only, otherwise, I don't move. I bring my lunch everyday and eat at my desk. i do sit on a ball, LOL.
Drive to barn - 1 hour or a little more
At barn - Im walking around, gabbing, brushing my horse, riding - doing all of that for anywhere from 2-3 hours
Drive home - 1 hour
At home - im on my feet showering, making dinner, doing dishes, etc, for about an hour
Then I sit for about an hour or less (eat dinner, relax for the 5 seconds the American lifestyle allows for!!) , then I go to bed.

To me, this is sedentary, but the more I read about it...I thought, maybe Im lihgtly active? Picking this option brings me from 1270 calories a day to 1430 I think? I also don't weigh my food - I use measuring cups and thats all Im really willing to do right now for non related reasons I don't feel like getting into - so, I was thinking sticking to 1200 calories was a good idea in case I was under estimating calories by not weighing...

I know I can't hit my daily calories / nutrient goals perfectly unless I weight my food - I know I will not have the best results if i dont weight my food - but Im not right now - sooo is it safter to stay at the 1270 calories in case i go over? Or should i be at that because I am actually sendentary? Or... should I eat more because maybe I am lightly active? I just feel like I sit ALL day...if this is anything with the word "active" in it is scares me for what sedentary people are! Anyway, i just don't know if I should add more calories...seems counter productive since im not losing, yet so many suggest it who have lost far more than me!

All I know is doing the same thing and not getting results yet expecting results is crazy... and that's where I'm at right now :-(

Replies

  • Angylisis78
    Angylisis78 Posts: 32
    Yes I would keep your activity level at sedentary. I am on my feet all day as a SAHM and a small biz owner and use my feet as my main source of transportation. MFP lists my activity level as "lightly active".

    From MFP:

    Sedentary: Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)
    Lightly Active: Spend a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. teacher, salesman)
    Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. waitress, mailman)
    Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)

    If you don't spend a "good portion of the day on your feet" I'd leave it at sedentary.


    ETA: I will say MFP's "activity levels" are weird on here. You can't really compare them to other places. I used another diet site about 7 years ago to lose 102 lbs and I was "moderately actively" on that site.
  • MissMissle
    MissMissle Posts: 293 Member
    Ok - thank you - that's just it, I don't spend a "good portion of the day" on my feet - just my bum!
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    You lightly active. The barn is your time to get in a workout. I would try it for a week or two. Also weight loss is a patient journey if you want the pounds to stay off. Anything worth having does not come quick nor easy. That why I am in my third try at weight loss.
  • dammitjanet0161
    dammitjanet0161 Posts: 319 Member
    I wouldn't say you're sedentary because of your evenings, I'd go for lightly active.
  • schelly81
    schelly81 Posts: 161 Member
    I would go up to lightly active. I have a desk job but I also have 2 small children and I find the lightly active calories are working for me quite well.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    If it were me I would choose lightly active just for the barn work...I know how hard that is...

    As well since you don't sit much at home as well.

    If you are worried I would choose sedentary and log the barn work to see what happens with your calories.
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member
    I used to do barn work; definitely not sedentary! Especially when you're mucking out the stalls; now that's a good weight lifting workout, haha!

    I would choose lightly active. 2-3 hours of barn work is definitely not a sedentary activity, and it seems like you're off your bum a good portion of each evening.
  • MissMissle
    MissMissle Posts: 293 Member
    Thanks guys ... maybe i will just leave sedentary but log more time at the barn as walking calories? Im not actually doing "barn work" - I used too, then I stopped, and gained 30 pounds! All I do there is you know, socialize, but Im on my feet - the only work I do is riding - which I log...but, I don't have a HRM so I have NO idea how many calories I actually burn riding!
  • MomTo3Lovez
    MomTo3Lovez Posts: 800 Member
    You can also figure out your TDEE and mins 10-20% from that and use that as your calories, that's what I have started doing and it seems to be working. Just a thought, there are a bunch of sites to find out what your TDEE is and then you don't need to log your activity because your TDEE already accounts for it. Just a thought.
  • MissMissle
    MissMissle Posts: 293 Member
    You can also figure out your TDEE and mins 10-20% from that and use that as your calories, that's what I have started doing and it seems to be working. Just a thought, there are a bunch of sites to find out what your TDEE is and then you don't need to log your activity because your TDEE already accounts for it. Just a thought.

    A couple people suggested it as well and i think I like the idea - just have to measure myself to figure out my BMI
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
    Thanks guys ... maybe i will just leave sedentary but log more time at the barn as walking calories? Im not actually doing "barn work" - I used too, then I stopped, and gained 30 pounds! All I do there is you know, socialize, but Im on my feet - the only work I do is riding - which I log...but, I don't have a HRM so I have NO idea how many calories I actually burn riding!
    if you are logging the riding then I would keep your setting at sedentary. You are already not losing, so you are most likely not logging accurately. Therefore bumping your calories up will only hurt your weight loss.
  • lalee93
    lalee93 Posts: 52 Member
    I would probably just keep it set to sedentary and then add what you do at the barn as a workout, so you can add those calories back. That way you don't cheat yourself.

    That's what I do since I am a college student. Sometimes I get a workout in and some days I don't. I didn't want that pre-calculated for me, I wanted to be able to manage that myself, so I chose sedentary, even though I walk around campus, take stairs, etc.
  • Swiftdogs
    Swiftdogs Posts: 328 Member
    I also thought I was sedentary based on MFP's definitions. But when I started wearing a Fitbit I found out my time with my dogs kicks me way over that. I always get an adjustment of several hundred calories a day.
  • D_squareG
    D_squareG Posts: 361 Member
    In my opinion, if you are not losing weight then you are eating too much. You are either inaccurate in measuring or logging or overestimating calories burned. Increasing you calorie goal won't help unless it helps you be more accurate in logging.

    Good luck!:smile:

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