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How do you decide what to set your goal settings to?

modelktford
modelktford Posts: 24 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I've been using MFP for almost a month, and so far it's pretty cool--but I see a lot of people talking on the forums about over/underestimating their daily intake/needs so now I'm a little curious. How do you determine whether to put "sedentary", "lightly active", etc.? Like, what counts? I put myself as "sedentary" because right now I'm not really working, and on any given day I might get up to do some moderate housework and cooking--I exercise 3-5 times a week, but for the most part I'm on my computer job searching! I go out to run errands sometimes too, like grocery shopping or just getting out of the house, and we go on walks sometimes, but I don't know if that's really enough to count as "active". At my last job, as a preschool teacher, I felt like "moderately active" worked because on top of exercising a lot, I was always out of the house and rarely sitting still and at work I was constantly chasing kids around.

Based on that, is "sedentary" probably okay for now? I'm still trying to get a grasp on my needs, so I feel like underestimating how many I need is better than overestimating, but I'm not sure.

Replies

  • laurie04427
    laurie04427 Posts: 421 Member
    If you're working out 3-5 days I wouldn't consider it sedentary. I work out two hours a week and I set mine to lightly active. Seems about right for me anyhow.

    Edit: clarified.
  • SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage
    SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage Posts: 2,668 Member
    Following this thread because I'm curious too
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
    Read OP: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1235566-so-you-re-new-here

    :smile:
  • modelktford
    modelktford Posts: 24 Member
    That post was really informative, thanks! :) I'm still a tiny bit unsure of what mine should be (I'm really thinking of getting one of those fitbit things!) but I'll continue to do my research!!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Sedentary and log your workouts.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,571 Member
    I think about 3800 steps or fewer is sedentary for MFP.

    I put myself in as sedentary and then log major activities. I use a step counter (fitbit zip) and log things like heavy gardening (mucking out chicken coops) or biking. Before I had a step counter I would log the time of my walking.

    Someone recently wrote that those of us who vary our activities a lot like to set at sedentary and log exercise. Those with set exercise or activity routines like to set a higher activity level and not log. That's probably true. It doesn't matter as long as it accurately estimates your energy expenditure over the course of a week.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    If you're working out 3-5 days I wouldn't consider it sedentary. I work out two hours a week and I set mine to lightly active. Seems about right for me anyhow.
    Workouts are not part of your activity setting on MFP - think you are confusing this with TDEE sites.
    That's why on MFP you are supposed to log and eat back exercise calories.

    OP - make your best guess for your activity setting, log accurately and consistently. After a few weeks adjust your calorie goal (if required) based on actual results.
    All the calculators can do is give you a reasonable start point.

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