Do I live a Secondary or Lightly active lifestyle?

whisperfitandhappy
whisperfitandhappy Posts: 101 Member
edited November 12 in Fitness and Exercise
Hey, so quick question. I'm a full time university student living on campus and I walk around a lot and am always going up and down stairs. Would I be considered secondary or lightly active?
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Replies

  • ReignOerMe
    ReignOerMe Posts: 24 Member
    I'm also a student and have mine set to lightly active because I wait tables during the summer and decided not to change it despite having a desk job during the school year. I'm still losing at about the same rate. I would suggest you try lightly active and if you find you aren't losing weight, change it to sedentary.
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  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    I have a primary and secondary lifestyle.

    DADT.

    O_o
  • fatcity66
    fatcity66 Posts: 1,544 Member
    It's sedentary, not secondary.

    You are sedentary. You are not lightly active as a student.

    Actually, I have a desk job, and set mine to lightly active. As long as I eat within my calories, I lose at the same rate, so...I think she's lightly active. She's definitely more active than me!
  • Daphnerose86
    Daphnerose86 Posts: 77 Member
    I would suggest sedentary. Lightly active is more for people who spent most of their time standing with a little walking. As a student you spend more time sitting through classes and studying. But I wouldn't stress over it. If you set your limits aligned with lightly active and find over a couple weeks that you aren't seeing any results try changing it to sedentary and see if that helps. It's good that you walk and take the stairs. Every little bit counts!
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  • marinabreeze
    marinabreeze Posts: 141 Member
    I would say sedentary.

    I had an MFP membership from some time ago and started back using it a couple of weeks back. I had a different app I was using before and it had me at a similar calorie per day target as MFP, and I wondered why I wasn't losing. When I started back on MFP, I checked the settings when changing my starting weight, and realized the level was set to lightly active from back when I was a professor and was standing up a good part of the day. I work in business now and I have a desk job. I still do some walking but overall it's sedentary. I changed to sedentary and the weight is starting to finally drop. Having been a college student, walking to and from class and student activities is still sedentary, even if you are on a large campus.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    That's not possible. You are not being truthful.

    Yeah....that's a good way to keep a conversation moving forward...it would be great if you could maybe work a conversational ***** slap into your next attempt at being helpful, you know, just for emphasis.

    :smokin:
  • Annie_01
    Annie_01 Posts: 3,096 Member
    From all the research that I have done this is what I use to determine my activity level for the day...

    Sedentary...up to 5000 steps
    Lightly Active...Between 5000 to 7500 steps
    Moderately Active...Between 7500 to 10000 steps
    Active...Between 10000 to 12500
    Highly Active...12500 and up

    I adjust my calories accordingly but never exceed the Active range even though I have walked as much as 24000 steps.

    My MFP account is set to Lightly Active.

    I think it depends on how much walking you do around campus but I would think that you would at least qualify for Light lyActive...unless you live right next door to your class room!
  • Annie_01
    Annie_01 Posts: 3,096 Member
    It's sedentary, not secondary.

    You are sedentary. You are not lightly active as a student.

    Actually, I have a desk job, and set mine to lightly active. As long as I eat within my calories, I lose at the same rate, so...I think she's lightly active. She's definitely more active than me!

    That's not possible. You are not being truthful.

    The definition says a "lightly active person is like a teacher", on your feet all day. Not just sitting at a desk all day. That is sedentary. But, do what ever you want. I don't care. I was trying to help.

    I have worked for two different school systems. Many teachers at both schools spent a lot of their time sitting at their desks. When they were standing they were usually stationary in front of a chalk board or strolling around the class room.

    Yes I know standing burns more calories than sitting but honestly...how many more. At the end of the day these teachers got in cars and drove home and at some point sat behind a desk and graded papers. If I had to guess...a college student walking back and forth to classes is more active. Plus...almost every college that I have been to...they are spread out...have hills...steps...and the places off campus where they hang out also mostly requires walking.
  • whisperfitandhappy
    whisperfitandhappy Posts: 101 Member
    I only sit in classes 50 minutes at a time, but it takes me 10 minutes or more to walk from my dorm to class, plus going up and down stairs in between every class..I don't know. I'm not going to argue and say im active but at the same time I'm not always sitting around either.
  • stephanieluvspb
    stephanieluvspb Posts: 997 Member
    I only work 3 days a week so when I put in sedentary MFP gave me 1200 calories daily. I refuse to starve myself so I "lied" and put very active and it gave me 1700 calories. Am I " very active"? No. Will the MFP gods come and get me for lying? No. I lose 1 1/2 pounds a week. So basically if you pit in lightly active you will still lose weight. Good luck :happy:
  • PrizePopple
    PrizePopple Posts: 3,133 Member
    I only sit in classes 50 minutes at a time, but it takes me 10 minutes or more to walk from my dorm to class, plus going up and down stairs in between every class..I don't know. I'm not going to argue and say im active but at the same time I'm not always sitting around either.

    If you have a smartphone or a pedometer perhaps you could log your steps/distance in an average day and go from there.
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  • whisperfitandhappy
    whisperfitandhappy Posts: 101 Member
    Do what ever you want then. Good luck. I walk to my car, drive to work, walk to my office. Walk to the bathroom, up and down stairs, back and forth to meetings, often in different bldgs,, I move a lot talking to people and doing what I do. But, it's sedentary, not active. Everyone at work is fat because it's sedentary. And, they eat too much. If you want to call that "lightly active", go ahead, but it's not. It's mostly sitting on your *kitten* all day. I think if you have to ask, you should default to the lesser, then monitor the results. In the end, it doesn't matter because you will either not get results and have to make adjustments, or it will be fine. So, it's really a moot point. But, a student in school all day is sedentary.

    Why are you being rude? arguing your point is fine without the swearing. But okay fine. I'm taking your opinion into consideration. Thanks for your input.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    Uh, if you think that is swearing...

    you might find sparkteens a better community for now until you have a few miles on your and a few millimeters of skin built up.
  • codycsweet
    codycsweet Posts: 1,019 Member
    I only sit in classes 50 minutes at a time, but it takes me 10 minutes or more to walk from my dorm to class, plus going up and down stairs in between every class..I don't know. I'm not going to argue and say im active but at the same time I'm not always sitting around either.

    When I got my Fitbit over a year ago I was amazing how much and little I moved. Even on a day that I'm not doing much I still get 4-5k steps which puts me at lightly active. I'm a preK teacher. I sit at my desk half the day, with kids for 3.5 hrs of which 1 hr s breakfast and lunch and I easily get over 7-8k without even trying. For me 10 min of walking is just over half a mile. Personally I go with lightly active bc the Bly time I'm sedentary is when I'm sick and in bed/couch all day.
  • spectralmoon
    spectralmoon Posts: 1,179 Member
    If you're only using MFP for the food/diet end, I'd go with sedentary.

    But, if you're making time to work out during the day after class (or before, if you can swing it), I'd go with lightly active. I had my own set for lightly active when I started (as a student) because I busted *kitten* when I got home. Seems to have made a difference.
  • _Waffle_
    _Waffle_ Posts: 13,049 Member
    Hey, so quick question. I'm a full time university student living on campus and I walk around a lot and am always going up and down stairs. Would I be considered secondary or lightly active?

    http://secondlife.com/
    second20life.jpg


    Probably just stick with lightly active. Personally I like to select sedentary and just add in calories from exercise when I do that. I'd say your best option would be sedentary and then add in a FitBit to account for how much walking around you do.
  • maya4210
    maya4210 Posts: 1
    edited February 2015
    So I'm a little late to the party, but I think everyone is forgetting something important. A college student is going to be around 18 to 22 and has a much better metabolism than a 40 something desk worker or even a 40 something professor. Whisperfit is probably more fit than both these examples without needing to do as much exercise. I know I used to be able to get away with a lot more stuff in college than I can now.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    Secondary.
  • AdventureVix
    AdventureVix Posts: 46 Member
    I agree with lightly active, depending on what activity level you were used to before uni. I went to a huge campus uni and lost weight purely by walking between lectures and my dorm every day. I would definitely recommend you get a pedometer to work out your average steps.
    I'm a sales manager now and stood up all day but am not as active as I was in uni walking around campus.
    Like everyone says, you can always change it if it's not giving results :)
    Good luck :)
  • Penny5518
    Penny5518 Posts: 33 Member
    I probably average around an hours walking a day to/from classes and a little bit (5-10 mins) of weight lifting and my calorie burn reflects somewhere between lightly and moderately active, if that helps?
  • penneysfit
    penneysfit Posts: 97 Member
    Since I have a desk job I would qualify as sedentary. However, at lightly active my goal is 1660 a day ... I am sure it'll be around 1200 at the sedentary level. I will starve at 1200 cals a day. It's hard enough not being hungry at 1660. However, when I weigh myself on Monday I'll see how my progress has gone. Hopefully I'll still be losing!
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    I put mine to lightly active when I was in school because I was walking around a lot. Walking to the bus, to class, up and down stairs, to my car, etc. I guess I could have set it to sedentary but I still lost weight all the same. Now that I'm done with school and have a desk job, I have it set to sedentary.
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    Try lightly active and then if you don't lose a few pounds over a month, move down one. Better to lose while eating as many cals as you can :)
  • midato
    midato Posts: 17 Member
    SedentaryIf you’re sedentary, your daily activities include:Activities of daily living only, such as shopping, cleaning, watering plants, taking out the trash, walking the dog, mowing the lawn and gardening.No moderate of vigorous activities.Unless you do at least 30 minutes per day of intentional exercise, you are considered sedentary.
    Spending most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)The majority of people will be considered sedentary.Lightly ActiveIf you’re lightly active, your daily activities include:Activities of daily living only, such as shopping, cleaning, watering plants, taking out the trash, walking the dog, mowing the lawn and gardening.Daily exercise that is equal to walking for 30 minutes at 4mph.  For an adult of average weight, this amount of exercise will burn about 130-160 additional calories.More intense exercise can be performed for less time to achieve the same goal.  For example, 15-20 minutes of vigorous activity, such as aerobics, skiing or jogging on a daily basis would put you in this category.Spending a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. teacher, salesman)ActiveIf you’re active, your daily activities include:Activities of daily living only, such as shopping, cleaning, watering plants, taking out the trash, walking the dog, mowing the lawn and gardening.Daily exercise that is equal to walking for 1 hour and 45 minutes at 4mph.  For an adult of average weight, this amount of exercise will burn about 470-580 additional calories.More intense exercise can be performed for less time.  For example, jogging for 50 minutesper day.Spending a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. waitress, mailman)Very ActiveIf you’re very active, your daily activities include:Activities of daily living only, such as shopping, cleaning, watering plants, taking out the trash, walking the dog, mowing the lawn and gardening.Daily exercise that is equal to walking for 4 hours and 15 minutes at 4mph.  For an adult of average weight, this amount of exercise will burn about 1,150-1400 additional calories.More intense exercise can be performed for less time.  For example, jogging for 2 hours minutes per day.Spending most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)
  • midato
    midato Posts: 17 Member
    SedentaryIf you’re sedentary, your daily activities include:Activities of daily living only, such as shopping, cleaning, watering plants, taking out the trash, walking the dog, mowing the lawn and gardening.No moderate of vigorous activities.Unless you do at least 30 minutes per day of intentional exercise, you are considered sedentary.
    Spending most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)The majority of people will be considered sedentary.Lightly ActiveIf you’re lightly active, your daily activities include:Activities of daily living only, such as shopping, cleaning, watering plants, taking out the trash, walking the dog, mowing the lawn and gardening.Daily exercise that is equal to walking for 30 minutes at 4mph.  For an adult of average weight, this amount of exercise will burn about 130-160 additional calories.More intense exercise can be performed for less time to achieve the same goal.  For example, 15-20 minutes of vigorous activity, such as aerobics, skiing or jogging on a daily basis would put you in this category.Spending a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. teacher, salesman)ActiveIf you’re active, your daily activities include:Activities of daily living only, such as shopping, cleaning, watering plants, taking out the trash, walking the dog, mowing the lawn and gardening.Daily exercise that is equal to walking for 1 hour and 45 minutes at 4mph.  For an adult of average weight, this amount of exercise will burn about 470-580 additional calories.More intense exercise can be performed for less time.  For example, jogging for 50 minutesper day.Spending a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. waitress, mailman)Very ActiveIf you’re very active, your daily activities include:Activities of daily living only, such as shopping, cleaning, watering plants, taking out the trash, walking the dog, mowing the lawn and gardening.Daily exercise that is equal to walking for 4 hours and 15 minutes at 4mph.  For an adult of average weight, this amount of exercise will burn about 1,150-1400 additional calories.More intense exercise can be performed for less time.  For example, jogging for 2 hours minutes per day.Spending most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)
  • midato
    midato Posts: 17 Member
    http://antranik.org/proper-activity-level-for-calorie-intake/

    Check this out
  • HollyFromTexas
    HollyFromTexas Posts: 29 Member
    I feel horrible for WhisperFitandHappy. I do not understand the anger here. I have my personal opinions why people might be acting like that towards her but I am going to keep them to myself in order to avoid another round of crappy comments from these individuals.

    I found my way here doing a google search so I too could understand the differences. I am unfortunately sedentary but I think she could get away with lightly active. However it is up to her to decide. I just don't understand why people have to correct peoples mistakes and be downright <insert appropriate curse word here>!

    You're doing a great job "Whisper" getting an education and being active between and after classes. Don't let these rude people here be your measure to how wonderful others on this site can be!
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